[pending revision] | [pending revision] |
Content deleted Content added
+cat |
64.251.54.132 (talk) ←Replaced page with ' Lewis was Awesome! Clark sux' |
||
Line 1: | Line 1: | ||
Lewis was Awesome! |
|||
{{Infobox Person |
|||
| name = Meriwether Lewis |
|||
| image = Meriwether Lewis.jpg |
|||
| image_size = |
|||
| caption = portrait by [[Charles Willson Peale]] |
|||
| birth_date = [[August 18]], [[1774]] |
|||
| birth_place = {{flagicon|United States}} [[Charlottesville, Virginia]] |
|||
| death_date = [[October 11]], [[1809]] (aged 35) |
|||
| death_place = {{flagicon|United States}} [[Grinder's Stand]] |
|||
}} |
|||
Clark sux |
|||
'''Meriwether Lewis''' ([[August 18]], [[1774]] – [[October 11]], [[1809]]) was an [[United States|American]] [[List of explorers|explorer]], [[soldier]], and public administrator, best known for his role as the leader of the [[Lewis and Clark Expedition|Corps of Discovery]], whose mission was to explore the territory of the [[Louisiana Purchase]]. |
|||
Meriwether Lewis was born near [[Charlottesville]], [[Virginia]], to John Lewis, and was of [[Welsh people|Welsh]] ancestry. He moved with his family to [[Georgia (U.S. State)|Georgia]] when he was ten. At thirteen, he was sent back to Virginia for education by private tutors. One of these was Parson Matthew Maury, an uncle of [[Matthew Fontaine Maury]]. Parson Maury was a son of [[James Maury]] who was [[Thomas Jefferson]]'s teacher for two years. In the 1790s, Lewis graduated from Liberty Hall Academy in [[Lexington, Virginia]] (now [[Washington and Lee University]]), joined the Virginia [[militia]], and in 1794 was sent as part of a detachment involved in putting down the [[Whiskey Rebellion]]. In 1795, he joined the regular [[United States Army|Army]], in which he served until 1801, at one point in the detachment of his [[William Clark (explorer)|William Clark]]. He achieved the rank of [[Captain]]. |
|||
He was appointed private secretary to President [[Thomas Jefferson]] in 1801. Originally, he was to provide information on the politics of the United States Army, which had seen an influx of [[Federalist]] officers as a result of [[John Adams]]'s "[[Judiciary Act of 1801|midnight appointments]]." He later became intimately involved in the planning of the expedition and was sent by Jefferson to [[Philadelphia, Pennsylvania|Philadelphia]], [[Pennsylvania]], for instruction in cartography and other skills necessary for making scientific observations. Lewis departed Pittsburgh for St. Louis--the capital of the new Louisiana Territory--via the Ohio River in the summer of 1803, gathering supplies, equipment, and personnel along the way. |
|||
Between 1804 and 1806, the Corps of Discovery explored thousands of miles of the Missouri and Columbia River watersheds, searching for an all-water route to the Pacific Ocean. Generally sharing leadership responsibilities with [[William Clark (explorer)|William Clark]], although technically the leader, Lewis led the expedition safely across the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific and back, with the loss of a single man--who died of apparent appendicitis. In the course of the journey, Lewis observed, collected, and described hundreds of plant and animal species previously unknown to science. The expedition was the first point of Euro-American contact for several Native American tribes; through translators and sign language, Lewis conducted rudimentary ethnographic studies of the peoples he encountered, even as he laid the groundwork for a trade economy to ensure American hegemony over its vast new interior territory. <ref>[[Stephen Ambrose|Ambrose, Stephen]]. Undaunted Courage: Meriwether Lewis, Thomas Jefferson, and the Opening of the American West. Simon & Schuster: 15 February 1996. ISBN 0-684-81107-3.</ref> |
|||
On [[August 11]], [[1806]], near the end of the expedition, Lewis was shot in the hip by Pierre Cruzatte, a near-blind man under his command. His wound hampered him for the rest of the journey.<ref>''Undaunted Courage'', Stephen Ambrose, pg.385</ref> |
|||
After returning from the expedition, Lewis received a reward of 1,500 [[acre]]s (6 [[kilometre|km]]²) of land. In 1807, Jefferson appointed him governor of the [[Louisiana Territory]]; he settled in [[St. Louis, Missouri|St. Louis]]. Lewis was a poor administrator, often quarreling with local political leaders and failing to keep in touch with his superiors in Washington.<ref>http://www.pbs.org/weta/thewest/people/i_r/lewis.htm</ref> |
|||
He was a member of the [[Freemasonry|Freemasons''']]<ref>Initiated, passed and raised in ''Door To Virtue Lodge No. 44'' in Albemarle, VA between 1796 and 1797. See Dunslow's ''10,000 Famous Freemasons ''(Missouri Lodge of Research, 1959).</ref> On [[August 2]], [[1808]], Lewis and several of his acquaintances submitted a petition to the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania in which they requested a 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]]. Here his heavy drinking persisted.[http://www.pagrandlodge.org/freemason/0503/tot.html] |
|||
Lewis died under mysterious circumstances of two gunshot wounds in 1809 at a [[tavern]] called [[Grinder's Stand]], about 70 [[mile]]s (110 km) from [[Nashville, Tennessee|Nashville]], [[Tennessee]], on the [[Natchez Trace]], while in route to [[Washington, DC|Washington]] to answer complaints about his actions as governor. Whether Lewis committed suicide or was murdered remains a mystery to this day. <ref>''Who Was Who in America, p. 314''</ref> Jefferson believed the former, while his family continually maintained the latter. |
|||
The explorer was buried not far from where he died. He is honored today by a memorial along the [[Natchez Trace Parkway]]. |
|||
== Legacy == |
|||
Although Lewis died without legitimate heirs, he does have the putative DNA model haplotype for his paternal ancestors lineage, which was that of the Warner Hal. He was also related to Robert E. Lee and Queen Elizabeth II, among others. <ref>Moses, Grace McLean. The Welsh Lineage of John Lewis (1592-1657), Emigrant to Gloucester, Virginia. Baltimore, MD, USA: Genealogical Publishing Co., 2002 </ref> Lewis never married due to his shy personality. He was related to [[George Washington]] by marriage: his great-uncle was [[Fielding Lewis]], Washington's brother-in-law. Not only that, but he was a second cousin once removed of Washington's on his father's side. |
|||
For many years, Lewis's legacy was overlooked, inaccurately assessed, and even tarnished by his alleged suicide. Yet his contributions to [[science]], the exploration of the Western U.S., and the lore of great world [[explorers]], are considered incalculable.<ref>[[Stephen Ambrose|Ambrose, Stephen]]. ''Undaunted Courage: Meriwether Lewis, Thomas Jefferson, and the Opening of the American West''. Simon & Schuster: 15 February 1996. ISBN 0-684-81107-3.</ref> |
|||
Several years after Lewis's death, Thomas Jefferson wrote: |
|||
<blockquote>Of courage undaunted, possessing a firmness and perseverance of purpose which nothing but impossibilities could divert from its direction, ... honest, disinterested, liberal, of sound understanding and a fidelity to truth so scrupulous that whatever he should report would be as certain as if seen by ourselves, with all these qualifications as if selected and implanted by nature in one body for this express purpose, I could have no hesitation in confiding the enterprise to him.<ref>Jefferson, Thomas, Paul Allen, 18 August 1813, in ''Letters of the Lewis and Clark Expedition with Related Documents: 1783–1854'', edited by Donald Dean Jackson. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1962, pp. 589–590.</ref></blockquote> |
|||
Jefferson also stated that Lewis had a "luminous and discriminating intellect." |
|||
The [[Alps|alpine]] [[plant]] ''[[Lewisia]]'' (family [[Portulacaceae]]), popular in [[rock garden]]s, is named after Lewis, as is [[Lewis's Woodpecker]]. Geographic names that honor him include [[Lewis County, Tennessee]]; [[Lewisburg, Tennessee]]; [[Lewiston, Idaho]]; and the U.S. Army installation [[Fort Lewis]], [[Washington]]. |
|||
==Notes== |
|||
{{reflist}} |
|||
== External links == |
|||
* {{gutenberg author| id=Meriwether+Lewis | name=Meriwether Lewis}} |
|||
* [http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=623 Meriwether Lewis's Gravesite] |
|||
{{start box}} |
|||
{{succession box| |
|||
before=[[James Wilkinson]]| |
|||
title=[[List of Governors of Missouri|Governor of Louisiana Territory]]| |
|||
years=1807-1809| |
|||
after=[[Benjamin Howard (Missouri)|Benjamin Howard]] |
|||
}} |
|||
{{end box}} |
|||
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lewis, Meriwether}} |
|||
[[Category:Lewis and Clark Expedition people]] |
|||
[[Category:Explorers of North America]] |
|||
[[Category:American explorers]] |
|||
[[Category:American naturalists]] |
|||
[[Category:United States Army officers]] |
|||
[[Category:People from Virginia]] |
|||
[[Category:Welsh-Americans]] |
|||
[[Category:Suicides by firearm in the United States]] |
|||
[[Category:1774 births]] |
|||
[[Category:1809 deaths]] |
|||
[[Category:History of Lancaster, Pennsylvania]] |
|||
[[Category:Thomas Jefferson]] |
|||
[[Category:Explorers of Oregon]] |
|||
[[da:Meriwether Lewis]] |
|||
[[de:Meriwether Lewis]] |
|||
[[es:Meriwether Lewis]] |
|||
[[fr:Meriwether Lewis]] |
|||
[[he:מריוותר לואיס]] |
|||
[[nl:Meriwether Lewis]] |
|||
[[ja:メリウェザー・ルイス]] |
|||
[[pl:Meriwether Lewis]] |
|||
[[sv:Meriwether Lewis]] |
|||
[[zh:梅里韦瑟·刘易斯]] |
Revision as of 18:11, 28 November 2007
Lewis was Awesome!
Clark sux