There has been great controversy regarding how Captain Meriwether Lewis actually died. One Prominent Idaho citizen claims in a semi-historical novel that he committed suicide. No other publication has ever made such a bold statement, nor has it ever been proven that he ended his own life. Some say he was murdered, while most of the others say he was either murdered or committed suicide,…the majority leaning towards the murder theory. When then President Thomas Jefferson was informed of the death of Captain Lewis, the information conveyed to him was that it was a suicide. No investigation at that time, however, had been made. President Jefferson wrote a letter which has since been quoted by those who lean toward the suicide theory. In his letter, President Jefferson speaks of the tendency of Captain Lewis to melancholia (depression) otherwise known as “the blues,” and that if he had actually taken his own life it would have to have been during one of these fits of despondency. As a matter of fact, Captain Lewis was subject to fits of the blues, and it is stated that these were brought on mainly by thoughts of a romantic love affair with the daughter of former Vice President of the United States, Aaron Burr.

Captain Lewis carried with him (on his body) a pistol at the time of his death. It had a bore greater than a half inch in diameter. A shot from it in a vital spot on the human body is certain death to the recipient. It has always seemed inconceivable that a man used to and accustomed to firearms of any kind from childhood on up, as was Captain Lewis, armed with such a formidable weapon as this large bore pistol, would find it necessary to fire two shots into himself if he wished to actually commit suicide. And then to not find an immediately fatal spot with either shot.

Miss Edna H. Bailey of Charlottesville, Virginia, a blood relative of Meriwether Lewis had this to say about the man.

“On August 18, 1774, Meriwether Lewis was born at Locust Hill, seven miles distant from Charlottesville, Virginia near Ivy Depot, to the north of the village about half a mile beyond the present railway. The original building which was burned down in 1837 had been twice added to and was a comfortable mansion. The earliest part of the building was of logs, boarded over. The son of William Lewis of the Belvoir family, a revolutionary officer, and of Lucy Meriwether, descendant of Nicholas Meriwether of “The Farm,” was by birth and rearing a true son of Albe-marle. As William Lewis died in 1780, it was the mother’s influence which formed the boy’s early years. Of this excellent woman Governor Gilmer, in “The Georgians.” says:

‘She was sincere and truthful, industrious and kind without limit–Meriwether Lewis inherited the energy, activity, and good understanding of his admirable mother.’ ”

Anecdotes of her still survive in the neighborhood. It is told that during the war, and while her husband was absent with his command, a party of British officers from the prison camp at the Barracks, made a visit to Locust Hill. Becoming somewhat uproarious, they, as a joke, extinguished the lights, whereupon the young matron took down her gun, called her servants, and in person expelled them from the premises.

Upon another occasion, her home was a gathering place of a party of hunters. All was in readiness. In the morning the dogs flushed up a fine deer and the guests were off in great form. Later in the morning, Mrs. Lewis was interrupted in her household duties by the news that a deer was in sight of the house. With the dogs, gun, and servants she drove it into the yard against the corner of the chimney, and the servants, being frightened, shot and killed it herself. She also cut its throat with her own hand and superintended its preparation for the meat house. At evening the hunters returned despondent, having met without any success. Mrs. Lewis made no comment but at supper the guests were served with a smoking venison haunch.

Upon another occasion her husband took her bear hunting and left her sitting on a rock while he went into the woods. She was surprised a little later to see a bear coming toward her. She kept perfectly quiet and the bear came closer and crawled into a hole just under the rock upon which she sat.

Another story is told how on one occasion when Meriwether had been teasing his half brother, she had a servant tie him to a young sapling in order that she might whip him. To her amazement, he pulled up the tree and walked off with it as she approached him with the whip.

These incidents merely go to show where Meriwether Lewis got his energy and bravery. With this background it is not surprising that at the age of eight Meriwether Lewis was a seasoned hunter. It is said that on winter nights at this age, being waked by the baying of the hounds, he would slip from the house and pursue his game through the forest and over frozen streams alone by himself.

After Mrs. Lewis’ second marriage to Captain John Marks, she moved with him to Georgia, taking the future explorer with her. Governor Gilmer gives this account of one young Lewis’ adventures there:

“From 1790 to 1795, the Cherokee Indians were very troublesome to the frontier people of upper Georgia. During the restless, uneasy state of the people, created by constant apprehension of attack, a report reached the Virginia Settlement on Broad River that the Cherokees were on the war path from Georgia. Men, women, and children collected together. It was agreed that the house where they were located could not be defended. They therefore sought refuge in a deep secluded forest. While they were assembled around a fire, at night, preparing something to eat, the report of a gun was heard. ‘Indians! Indians!’ was heard from every tongue. All was confusion and dismay. There belonged to the company a boy who alone retained self possession. Whilst everyone was hesitating what to do, the light of the fire was suddenly extinguished, by his throwing a vessel of water on it. When all was dark the sense of safety came upon everyone. The boy who poured out the water was Meriwether Lewis.”

Mrs. Caroline D. M. Goodlett, of Nashville, Tennessee, a descendant of Captain Lewis’ family, wrote a letter to Olin D. Wheeler, who published the “Trail of Lewis and Clark,” in which she states that the above incident occurred near Charlottesville, Virginia, when Lewis was but nine years of age.

Young Lewis was sent back to Albemarle to complete his education. It is known that he was a pupil of the famous Maury School, then taught by the old parson’s son. During this period and while visiting his relatives at Clover Fields it is said that he was attacked by a savage bull which he promptly shot dead in its tracks. At the age of 17 he assumed the management of Locust Hill, having inherited the estate by the law of primo-geniture. Some years later, upon the death of Captain Marks, he was sent to Georgia and brought back his mother and half-brother making the long journey in a carriage built for him at Monticello by Thomas Jefferson’s skillful artisans.

Of the short but brilliant life of Meriwether Lewis, Governor Gilmer has the following summary to give:

“When he arrived at maturity his love of action led him into the regular army. He was the private secretary of President Jefferson when the government determined to have the territory of Louisiana explored, which had shortly before been purchased from France. His known intrepidity and perseverance pointed him out as the fittest person to head an expedition for that purpose. He selected for his aide and companion his friend Captain William Clark of the army. He passed from St. Louis, through difficulties which few men would have taken, and still fewer have overcome, and acquired for his country the title to a vast region having taken possession of the Pacific Coast. As he was traveling from St. Louis, the seat of government of the Missouri Territory, of which he was then governor, to Washington, he stopped for the night at a little inn on the roadside somewhere in Tennessee. In the morning, he was found shot. The family always believed that Lewis was murdered by the keeper of the inn, and greatly regretted Jefferson’s published statement in favor of the theory of suicide.”

The deposition taken by Alex Wilson, the famous ornithologist, who visited the spot to inquire into the tragedy, cast strong suspicion upon the household. The account which he received was as follows:

“The house or cabin kept by a man and his wife named, Grinder, was 72 miles from Nashville, and the last white man’s land as you enter the Indian country. Grinder was present at this examination but is not quoted. Apparently he had been absent on the night of the death. The woman’s testimony was that Governor Lewis arrived (October 10, 1809) about sunset followed by two servants. As was then customary, he called for spirits but drank very little. Though she said that his mental state greatly alarmed her, she only described his walking up and down with a flushed face, which was followed by kind and gentle conversation. It now being dusk, he lay down on a bearskin and buffalo robe on the floor, and his servants retired to the barn.”

Mrs. Grinder stated that she heard him walking about and talking to himself for several hours, then two pistol shots, and a fall. In a few minutes she heard him at the door calling out: ‘Oh, madam, give me some water and heal my wounds.’ The logs being open and unplastered she saw him stagger back and fall. He crawled some distance, and once more got to his room. Afterwards he came to the kitchen door but did not speak; then she heard him scraping the bucket with a gourd. (In the early days of the United States, and even today in some parts of the South, gourds or calabashes are raised in the garden, one side cut away and the gourd used as a dipper). When day broke she sent out her two children to the barn to bring in the servants. And in going in altogether they found him lying on a bed, and wounded in the side and forehead. He begged that they would take his rifle and blow out his brains and he would give them all the money in his trunk. (No money was ever returned to his family, but it is certain that a man in his position, and starting on a long journey, would have been handsomely provided for.) His quoted speech was ‘I am no coward, but I am so strong, so hard to die.’ ”

He expired in about two hours, and was buried near the common path, with a few loose rails thrown over his grave.

In a woman accustomed to the rough life of the frontier such cowardice as was exhibited by Mrs. Grinder in not going to the aid of Meriwether Lewis when he asked for water and stated he was wounded is incredible, while her callous conduct shows a nature too degraded for belief under oath. It is a local tradition that the Grinders moved to another country and bought land and slaves, having previously been poverty stricken. Meriwether Lewis was 35 years old at the time of his death.

In 1848 a monument was erected to him by the legislature of Tennessee. This monument stands to this day at the place where this great explorer died, in the state of Tennessee.

Peace And Love to All of You…………………Poppa Bear