MERIWETHER LEWIS Explorer Born in 1774 - Died in 1809 Enter your search terms Submit search form   Web gardenofpraise.com

Meriwether Lewis was born on the family plantation in Virginia. He had an older sister, Jane, and later a little brother, Reuben, would be born into the family.

His father fought in the Revolutionary War and died when Meriwether was only five years old.

As a young boy Meriwether enjoyed hunting in the woods, and sometimes he would go out alone at night in all kinds of weather to explore.

His mother remarried and Captain John Marks became his stepfather. The family left the plantation in the care of a relative and moved to Georgia. When he was 13 years old he returned to Virginia for schooling and to learn how to manage the 2,000 acre plantation his father had willed to him.

When he was 18 his stepfather died and his mother moved back to Virginia. Meriwether had come of age and could now manage the plantation himself.

Later he enlisted in the Virginia Volunteer Corps and served well. He was promoted to lieutenant and then to captain.

He had a friend and neighbor who had been watching Meriwether grow up. This friend became President of the United States. His name was Thomas Jefferson. Jefferson liked the qualities he saw in Meriwether and asked him to come to Washington to become his personal secretary. He paid him $500 a year and gave him room and board in the White House. What an opportunity for young Meriwether!

Jefferson had a plan to send an expedition to explore the land from the Mississippi River westward to the Pacific Ocean. He asked Congress for $2,500 to fund * the project. A year earlier in 1803 the United States had bought over 800,000 square miles of land from France for $15,000,000. It was called the Louisiana Purchase. Lewis and Clark would cross this land on their expedition.

The President groomed Meriwether for the job by letting him study with great teachers. He studied botany * , fossils * , astronomy, and mathematics.

Will Clark, his long-time friend, had been chosen to accompany him. Lewis insisted the two of them would each be referred to as captains of the expedition.

Meriwether prepared three boats; a large 55 foot keelboat and two smaller ones. They had to carry a lot of supplies and ammunition; six tons, 12,000 pounds in all. He prepared the gunpowder in lead containers. When the gunpowder was used up from a container they could melt it down to make bullets for their guns.

Included in the supplies were trinkets, beads, and mirrors which would be gifts to the Indians.

Two important people who joined them at the Mandan Indian villages were Touissant Charbonneau ( too SAN SHAR buh no) and his Shoshone wife Sacagawea (SAK uh juh WEE uh or suh KAH guh we uh). He had bought her as a slave from the Blackfoot Indians who had kidnapped her from her people.

Sacagawea Gold Coin

Sacagawea was the interpreter * for the group, and when the Indians saw her with her tiny baby, they felt they had nothing to fear from these strangers. The baby was only two months old when her journey with them began.

The members of the expedition suffered many hardships as they navigated the Missouri River, crossed the Stony (Rockie) Mountains, and followed the Columbia River to the west coast of the country to their first view of the Pacific Ocean. The trip had taken them a year and a half. During that time Meriwether had kept a detailed journal of events, drawn maps, collected plant specimens, and managed to pass peacefully through the Indian territory.

Now they had to retrace their steps back over the mountains and return.

When they got back home each man who had accompanied them was paid in cash, and a record was made of each man's name. The government would give each one of them a gift of land.

Congress gave Meriwether 1,500 acres of land and made him governor of all the Louisiana Territory. Will Clark was given 1,000 acres of land. They made him Indian Agent and gave him the title Brigadier General * .

United States Commemorative Postage Stamps

The end of the story, however, is different for the two men. Three years after their return Meriwether Lewis died tragically from gunshot wounds. Will Clark married, had a family, became governor of the Missouri Territory, and lived to be sixty-eight years old.

The Lewis and Clark Journey of Discovery
National Park Service

Discovering Lewis and Clark

Meriwether Lewis, PBS

Lewis and Clark Trail.com

Lewis and Clark, A Fifth Grade Expedition
(includes diary of the expedition).

Lewis and Clark $10 Bill

Lewis and Clark Biography

Letter from Thomas Jefferson to Meriwether Lewis

Meriwether Lewis
includes copies of lists and receipts

Meriwether Lewis Resources

The Death of Meriwether Lewis

Sacagawea
from Hero History

"Lewis and Clark"
video 16 minutes

Living History
listen to audio clips at PBS as experts answer questions about the expedition

"Conquest, The True Story of Lewis and Clark"
online book

Lewis and Clark
video lesson (be sure volume is turned up )

End of the Frontier
video lesson
(Click on the topics "Interactive Media Files")

At biography.com search for Meriwether Lewis.
Scroll the panel for the "Video & Audio Results".

Lewis and Clark: Explorers of the Louisiana Purchase By Facts On File Meriwether Lewis and William Clark are among America's most famous explorers. From 1804 to 1806, these two brave former soldiers mapped out an enormous unexplored region of North America while seeking the Northwest Passage-a route to the Pacific Ocean.

Sacagawea: Guide for the Lewis and Clark Expedition By Facts On File In the early 19th century, Meriwether Lewis and William Clark led an expedition through an enormous unexplored region of North America while seeking a route to the Pacific Ocean. However, the Lewis and Clark Expedition might not have been successful were it not for the help of their Native American guide, a woman named Sacagawea. Carrying her infant son, and accompanied by her French fur trader husband, Sacagawea helped Lewis and Clark find the safest paths through the western region that president Thomas Jefferson had acquired from France in the Louisiana Purchase. Beginning in 1804, the members of the Corps of Discovery traveled more than 8,000 miles, crossed the Rocky Mountains, reached the Pacific and then returned. Along the way, Sacagawea helped the explorers communicate with the Native Americans they met, and helped teach the men how the Indians survived in the wild.

Meriwether Lewis Word Search


Meriwether Lewis Crossword Puzzle


Meriwether Lewis - Word Scramble

Online Crossword Puzzle

Online Word Search


Meriwether Lewis Study Sheet


Worksheet

Work a Jigsaw Puzzle

From Word Central's Student Dictionary
by Merriam - Webster
(Pronunciation note: the schwa sound is shown by &)

botany
Pronunciation: 'baht-&n-e, 'baht-ne
Function: noun
a branch of biology dealing with plant life

fossil
Function: noun
a trace or print or the remains of a plant or animal of a past age preserved in earth or rock

interpreter
Pronunciation: in-'t&r-pr&t-&r
Function: noun
one that interprets; especially : a person who translates orally
for people speaking different languages

brigadier general
Pronunciation: "brig-&-'di(&)r-
Function: noun
a military commissioned officer with a rank just below major general

fund
Function: verb
to supply funds for

Biographies in this Series

Presidents of the United States	George Washington 1st U.S. President	John Adams 2nd U.S. President	Thomas Jefferson 3rd U.S.President
	James Monroe 5th U.S. President	Andrew Jackson 7th U.S. President	Abraham Lincoln 16th U.S.President
	Franklin D. Roosevelt 32nd U.S. President	John F. Kennedy 35th U.S. President	James Madison 4th U.S. President
	Theodore Roosevelt 26th U.S. President
American Patriots	Benjamin Franklin patriot and statesman	Francis Scott Key Star Spangled Banner	Deborah Sampson woman soldier in the Revolutionary War
World Leaders	Constantine Roman Emperor	Alexander the Great conqueror	Winston Churchill British Prime Minister
Inventors	Alexander Graham Bell telephone	Johann Gutenberg printing press	Cyrus McCormick mechanical reaper
	The Wright Brothers first airplane	Henry Ford Automaker	Thomas A. Edison electric light bulb
	Sequoyah Cherokee alphabet	Nikola Tesla 700 patents	.
Explorers	Christopher Columbus explorer	Meriwether Lewis explorer	Robert Peary Arctic explorer
	John Muir Naturalist	Matthew Henson Arctic Explorer	Sir Edmund Hillary Mr.Everest
	Kit Carson Indian agent	"Johnny Appleseed" orchardist	.
Women who made a difference	Clara Barton founder of the Red Cross	Helen Keller overcame blindness & deafness	Florence Nightingale founder of nursing profession
	Joan of Arc religious and military leader	Amelia Earhart Aviator	Annie Oakley sharpshooter
	Susan B. Anthony Suffragette	Elizabeth Keckly Seamstress	Harriet Tubman deliverer of slaves
	Anne Frank Diarist	Eleanor Roosevelt Humanitarian	.
Scientists	George Washington Carver botanist and educator	Sir Isaac Newton explained gravity and properties of light	Marie Curie scientist, physicist
	Louis Pasteur Biologist	Albert Einstein physicist, genius	Galileo Astronomer, physicist
Educators	Noah Webster writer of dictionary	Booker T. Washington leader and educator	Aristotle Greek philosopher
Physicians	Hippocrates father of medicine	Walter Reed discovered cause of yellow fever	Albert Schweitzer humanitarian
Religious Leaders	Increase Mather Salem witch trials	.
Athletes	Lou Gehrig baseball player	Wilma Rudolph Olympic gold medal winner	Tiger Woods golfer
Civil Rights Leaders	Martin Luther King civil rights leader	Rosa Parks bus desegregation	Sojourner Truth Former slave
	Frederick Douglass Abolitionist	Mary Ann Shadd Cary Civil rights leader	James Forten Inventor, abolitionist
Composers	Beethoven composer
Artists	John James Audubon artist and naturalist	Gutzon Borglum sculptor, Mount Rushmore	Ansel Adams photographer

Home


Back to Famous Leaders

Jigsaw puzzle image by Hans Anderson