The mysterious end of Meriwether Lewis
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- čas přidán 25. 06. 2024
- Lewis and Clark are known for their expedition across the west in the early 1800s...but many people don't remember what happened afterwards. Even MORE people aren't aware of the grizzly nature of Lewis' death and why there are questions around it to this day.
Intro: 0:00
Who is Meriwether Lewis?: 0:19
After the Lewis and Clark expedition: 2:02
Meriwether Lewis as Governor: 2:41
Meriwether Lewis' death: 4:16
Suicide or Murder?: 5:33
Pioneer Cemetery: 6:47
Lewis' Legacy: 8:07
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Want to know more about his mysterious death? talkwithhistory.com/lewis
A very nice and tasteful treatment of this story. Learning about Lewis and Clark was one of my major interests as a child. A year and a half ago my PhD research took me to Natchez Trace SP - a little west of where you were - and en route my wife and I stopped at the grave to pay our respects. A very solemn experience.
If you’re ever back in the area of central Tennessee, Shiloh NMP and the Tennessee State Museum in Nashville are both worth a visit.
I'd seen something a few years ago that people researching the Lewis & Clark voyage were looking for mercury presence in soil around suspected campsites. Mercury used for centuries to address gastric and digestive problems. Water, in streams and some spring, while clear and fresh smelling, often contained bacteria, microscopic parasites, etc. that would infect gut.(Although it wouldn't be until later part of 19th century, through Pasture, Lister and others recognized the 'germ' theory.) Physicians of Lewis's era recognized that mercury would treat the symptoms of these infections, thus often used by those traveling as a 'stomach' remedy. The campsites often had a latrine, a hole dug to contain feces, and that feces would contain small amounts of the mercury used to treat the symptoms of gut problems. Among the side affects of mercury are mental health issue ("mad as a hatter" since mercury also used in hat making in past) and this may ave contributed to the mental health issues ascribed the Lewis. .
Great video! I have read Ambrose book, it's a great read and I agree with his opinion that Lewis committed suicide. His past history and family history show that he had this problem. Very sad to think that after all he did for our country that he couldn't live to enjoy it.
So sad. He was so young. I do wish the family would have had an answer about whether it was suicide or not though.
Very true
I live 20 mins from this site in Lawrenceburg Tn, and learned about Lewis & Clark in school . Never knew until I stumbled upon this it was here. Nearby is also The Shiloh Battlefield, Natchez trace is very historical. Imo Mrs grinder was complicit in his death.
Dang I wish had known yall where going to be here. I live 30 minutes from where you filmed this. Great job on yet another informative video
Oh we will be back. We are moving to Tennessee in the next couple of months.
Really. That is awesome. We moved out here a few years ago from WA. We lived just over an hour from where the Lewis and Clark journey ended on the Columbia River. Anyway if yall would like help moving in let me know.
Keep learning new things from you. Great video
Thank you for this video. Have studied books about the incident never have seen where it happened.
So happy we could show it to you!
The notebooks that Lewis were carrying disappeared. It is good to talk about the death, but there is much more about this topic...such as in addition to the northwest passage discovery, Jefferson was also interested in the topic of the giants written about.
Just visited there this past September. Great video~
Thank you for watching. It was a super cool historic place to visit.
Just listened to the pod cast on the way home from work, tonight. I learned a lot from the pod cast and had to watch the video, when I got home.
It’s a very interesting event in history. Thank you for listening and watching.
I live in Macon County TN. I might have to make a trip down that way. Thanks for another great video.
You should!
Another good job on this video young lady ! Up here in Montana there is a huge rock called " pompies pillar " ( excuse the spelling ) where Clark scribed his name into it . Today it is incased in a glass box cause the rock is sandstone and it is very easy to scribe into it has cameras around it to keep people honest .. W. M. CLARK JULY 6 1806 , I PRETTY SURE THATS THE DATE. you should do a video on that. THANK YOU FRANK FROM MONTANA....PS it's about 20 miles east of billings.....
I watched your video and I was glad that you did it to inform people of the details surrounding his death. I heard you mention he was Thomas Jefferson's personal Secretary. But I wanted to inform you that I am related to William Clark. He was my 4th Great Grandfather's 1st cousin. His Mother's Maiden Name was Ann Rogers and she married Capt. John Clark and became Ann Rogers Clark. His older brother was Brigadier General George Rogers Clark. The Founding Father of the Illinois Territory that became 5 States. However I and them were almost certainly related to Thomas Jefferson. As his Paternal Grandmother's Maiden Name was Jane Rogers. Her ancestry, I have only been able to trace back a couple of generations. But almost certainly she was related as we were related to virtually all of the Rogers in Virginia.
An epic trek of great importance in American history, but not given the attention that it deserves. Nice video.
Glad you enjoyed it!
Good video young lady . there is a huge rock on the Yellowstone river where W. M. CLARK carved his name into it. Today it's a park the initials are under a glass case the rock is sandstone and not very strong .plenty of cameras . You should do a video on that. It's about 20 miles east of billings on the river. THANK YOU FRANK FROM MONTANA PS.. good video....
Thank you! We’ll definitely have to add that to the list 😊
I feel as though I’ve learned more from you than I have from my own history professor
😊
Didn’t Clark drink himself to death? Anyway, I don’t think it was a suicide. Why shoot yourself in the chest reload in immense pain and shoot yourself in the head? You didn’t say how many guns, if any, were found. Just my humble opinion
There were 2 - one bullet pistols. And the historians say it was the head shot that was first. That part of 2 shots, with the head shot first that made me go 🤔
William Clark was quite successful, post Lewis & Clark Expedition. He was the 4th governor of the Louisiana / Missouri Territory to 1820 [ Louisiana Territory was renamed Missouri Territory in 1812, to avoid confusion with the newest State of Louisiana]. Clark then became the 1st Superintendent of the Bureau of Indian Affairs 1822 to his death in 1838 at age 68.
Lewis was carrying two flintlock pistols. He had been carrying them for a week or more loaded, so it is likely the powder charges had drawn dampness and were too weak to inflict a fatal wound.
Lewis was not in a sane state of mind, according to those who traveled down the Mississippi River from St Louis with him. Lewis' original plan was to travel by river boat to New Orleans, then get a ship to Washington D.C. Without any rational explanation, Lewis suddenly departed at Natchez, MS to go overland to Washington DC. Choosing an arduous, long overland journey in place of a relatively easy river/ocean voyage, is NOT sane thinking. Lewis, sadly at that time in 1809, was just a shadow of the Lewis of just a few years earlier. Lewis committed suicide, plain and simple.
We talk about all of this on our podcast.
I grew up in Lewis County, there is more to the story than is allowed to be told. The innkeeper robbed and killed him. ❤
The Meriwether Lewis Memorial Site is property of the National Park Service and the its troublesome and possibly historical sin that the park service has refused the exhumation of Lewis for forensic study. With the medical tools and techniques available today we could have much, much better understanding of what actually happened to Lewis..
One thing that is not taught in high schools is there is some evidence Lewis suffered from syphilis a disease which can lead to madness. He wrote in his diaries about the symptoms and the degree to which the Shoshoni were infected with Syphilis. Eight of the Lewis and Clark Expedition were later diagnosed with syphilis. He was prescribed Mercury which at the time was the treatment for syphilis. Perhaps you remember the Civil War saying, “A night with Venus means a lifetime with Mercury.” Mercury is a substance that can lead to madness.
Modern DNA testing could prove or disprove the VD theory as a reason for Lewis’s demise and modern testing could also lend credence to the suicide /murder theories as well. But the NPS won’t allow the memorial to be opened..
That is all true. I read that was as well while researching. The NPS feels it may set a precedent that other graves can be exhumed and there could be some damage to the other pioneers graves around Lewis since they were buried so close together. But I 💯 agree with you exhuming his body would answers all the questions family has about what happened that night as far as was it murder or suicide. They want to do bullet trajectories as well.
Yes, I read that they were worried about the desacration of other graves.@@WalkwithHistory
THANK YOU for this video! I was not aware of any of this. Very interesting and informative!
Thank you for watching. We were amazed too about how much we learned.
@WalkwithHistory history is so interesting!! I live 20 mins from here. Shiloh battlefield is close as well. Imo Mrs grinder was culpable in his murder. Maybe made a pass at her ?
The story goes she gave him the whole hse, where did she stay? Servants ,where were they. Who all was on the property
Last thing I promise, he was tasked w if there was a land claim on the property Pres Jefferson had just purchased, also called The Louisiana Purchase. This poss cld be why he was murdered? It wld mean someone else owned the whole middle of the US. Thank you for the video
!!!
We just published our podcast where we talk about about these “theories” of his death. There was another cabin on property right beside this main cabin where the kitchen was. That is where Mrs Griner stayed the night with her children. That is why she heard everything that night, or claimed to.
Very nice video. Unfortunately the volume of the background music made it almost imposiible for me to hear your narration.
Thank you for watching and thank you so much for the feedback! We’re always trying to adjust and tweak things like that and your feedback definitely helps. We’ll keep getting better! 😊
Now that you've done Lewis, you should touch on David Thompson...
Loved Reading the Expedition Journals as a kid in the Sixties.
Yes Geek 🤓 even back then.....
🙌🏻
Excellent. Thanks
Thank you!
Check bullets
Excellent
Thank you so much 😀
Thanks again WWH. Great video. I would love to pick your brain. There's so much more I need to learn.
We’ll have to do a live stream sometime soon. Maybe when we hit 20k! 😁
@@WalkwithHistory You deserve 2M subs. I love your stuff.
@@jbrhel 😁
I like your flight jacket! Fly Navy!
Thank you. I love it. 🥰
I didn't know about this story. I thought I knew a lot about Lewis.
very interesting character!
Good story. My blood has some roots in the Mississippi river valley this I know. So i ask who gave the land to politicians to sell? From what I understand it wasnt for sale
I believe the government believed they owned it after the Louisiana Purchase. They bought it from France. How it did France come to own all that land? It pre-dates America as a country.
How do you shoot your self twice with a flint lock? the revolver was not invented yet. Percussion cap was not invented till 1840.
That was my confusion as well. It still doesn’t quite make sense.
Ok I have to stop at 5:34. A climatic point to deduce the multiple gunshot suicide. I understand that a person can be committed to kill themselves but by multiple gunshots? On an expedition that feels more akin to being sent to man an outpost at the South Pole for committing grave mistakes on duty. This Lewis fella was sent “walkabout” in uncharted territory amidst warring Indians, real grizzlies and mountain lions. (Not the kind that pose for selfies today in our parks). Spending fortunes along the way to come back with notebooks. Not gold but notebooks. The story well told isn’t so far out of grasping what really happened. “You spent what and brought back what?” They used flintlocks back then, it takes great skill to hold the pause long enough to take the shot and this guy did it more than once. Hmm. “I’ll take “wonkey” for $200 Alex”.
Yeah. That is why I lay out the facts as they are because even to me suicide by 2 separate pistols that didn’t carry out the job fully sounds far fetched. But it still holds as the most probable theory
Freemason's doing what freemason's do. He used two guns?, come on.
That’s what they say. 2 - one bullet pistols. And he made the head shot first??
What is the difference between the Lewis and Clark Expedition and the moon landing? Lewis and Clark really went to the Pacific ocean.
LOL. 😂
I think that Wilkinson had him killed
There is evidence to support that as well.
The evidence for Wilkinson assassinating Lewis consists of four parts: (1) the general’s reputation as an assassin; (2) proof that the suicide account of Lewis’s death is a lie; (3) A cover-up produced by Wilkinson, known as the “Russell Statement”; (4) his involvement with liberating Mexico after Lewis’s death.
Impossible to shoot yourself twice where he was shot, I don't care who you are
That is one of the questions I had. And they say he shot himself in the head first. So he shot off half his head then had the awareness to get his other pistol and shoot himself in the gut?? It just seems strange.
Badly written
🤔? This is a video…do you mean badly edited?
All signs lead to murder over suicide. First, it is hardly plausible that one can inflicted two deadly shots in unison to the gravity of the particular situation. Eather wound would render someone incapable of further self-infliction. Second, the technology that renders one person to fire a second shot within a short time span wouldn't exist for another 55+ years. Upon discharging the first self-inflicted, fatal shot, Lewis had to regroup and mustard the strength to reload a flintlock revolver. 😎
That is what I thought too. Plus they say he shot himself in the head first, so he is doing all that with a bullet through his skull? Yeah, I don’t think so.