Meriwether Lewis was born August 18, 1774, on Locust Hill Plantation in
Albemarle County,
Colony of Virginia, in the present-day community of
Ivy. He was the son of William Lewis, of Welsh ancestry, and Lucy Meriwether, of English ancestry. After his father died of pneumonia in November 1779, he moved with his mother and stepfather Captain John Marks to
Georgia. They settled along the
Broad River in the Goosepond Community within the Broad River Valley in Wilkes County (now
Oglethorpe County). He was also the great-great-grandson of
David Crawford, a prominent Virginia Burgess and militia colonel. Lewis had no formal education until he was 13 years old, but during his time in Georgia, he enhanced his skills as a hunter and outdoorsman. He would often venture out in the middle of the night in the dead of winter with only his dog to go hunting. Even at an early age, he was interested in natural history, which would develop into a lifelong passion. His mother taught him how to gather wild herbs for medicinal purposes. In the Broad River Valley, Lewis first dealt with Native Americans. This was the traditional territory of the
Cherokee, who resented encroachment by the colonists. Lewis seems to have been a champion for them among his own people. While in Georgia, he met Eric Parker, who encouraged him to travel. At age 13, Lewis was sent back to Virginia for education by private tutors. His father's older brother Nicholas Lewis became his guardian. He compiled information on the personnel and politics of the United States Army, which had seen an influx of
Federalist officers as a result of "
midnight appointments" made by outgoing president
John Adams in 1801. Lewis was elected a member of the
American Philosophical Society in 1802. When Jefferson began to plan for an expedition across the continent, he chose Lewis to lead the expedition. Meriwether Lewis recruited Clark, then aged 33, to share command of the expedition.
Expedition west After the
Louisiana Purchase in 1803, Thomas Jefferson wanted to get an accurate sense of the new land and its resources. The president also hoped to find a "direct and practicable water communication across this continent, for the purposes of commerce with Asia". In addition, Jefferson placed special importance on declaring U.S. sovereignty over the Native Americans along the Missouri River. The two-year exploration by Lewis and Clark was the first transcontinental expedition to the Pacific Coast by the United States. They reached the Pacific twelve years after
Sir Alexander Mackenzie did overland in Canada. They demonstrated the possibility of overland travel to the Pacific Coast. The success of their journey helped to strengthen the American concept of "
manifest destiny" – the idea that the United States was destined to reach across North America from the Atlantic to the Pacific.
Return and gubernatorial duties in
Philadelphia, where Lewis met with scientists and purchased supplies in May 1803 before the expedition After returning from the expedition, Lewis received a reward of of land. He also initially made arrangements to publish the Corps of Discovery journals, but had difficulty completing his writing. In 1807, Jefferson appointed him governor of the
Louisiana Territory; he settled in
St. Louis. Lewis's record as an administrator is mixed. He published the first laws in the Upper Louisiana Territory, established roads, and furthered Jefferson's mission as a strong proponent of the
fur trade. He negotiated peace among several quarreling Indian tribes. His duty to enforce Indian treaties was to protect the western Indian lands from encroachment, Bates wrote letters to Lewis's superiors accusing Lewis of profiting from a mission to return a Mandan chief to his tribe. Because of Bates' accusation, the
War Department refused to reimburse Lewis for a large sum he personally advanced for the mission. When Lewis's creditors heard that Lewis would not be reimbursed for the expenses, they called in Lewis's notes, forcing him to liquidate his assets, including land he was granted for the Lewis and Clark Expedition. One of the primary reasons Lewis set out for Washington on this final trip was to clear up questions raised by Bates and to seek reimbursement of the money he had advanced for the territorial government. The U.S. government finally reimbursed the expenses to Lewis's estate two years after his death. Bates eventually became governor of Missouri. However, some historians have speculated that Lewis abused alcohol or opiates based upon an account attributed to
Gilbert C. Russell at Fort Pickering on Lewis's final journey, Others have argued that Bates never alleged that Lewis suffered from such addictions and that Bates certainly would have used them against Lewis if Lewis suffered from those conditions.
Freemasonry See List of Notable Freemasons Lewis was a
Freemason, initiated, passed, and raised in the "Door To Virtue Lodge No. 44" in Albemarle, Virginia, between 1796 and 1797. On August 2, 1808, Lewis and several of his acquaintances submitted a petition to the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania requesting dispensation to establish a lodge in St. Louis. Lewis was nominated and recommended to serve as the first Master of the proposed Lodge, which was warranted as Lodge No. 111 on September 16, 1808.
Lewis and slavery Although Lewis attempted to supervise enslaved people while running his mother's plantation before the westward expedition, he left that post and had no
valet during the expedition, unlike William Clark, who brought his slave
York. Lewis made assignments to York but allowed Clark to supervise him; Lewis also granted York and Sacagawea votes during expedition meetings. Later, Lewis hired a
free African-American man as his valet, John Pernia. Pernia accompanied Lewis during his final journey, although his wages were considerably in arrears. After Lewis's death, Pernia continued to
Monticello and asked Jefferson to pay the $240 owed, but he was refused. Pernia later committed suicide. ==Death==