Lewis, Meriwether ___ 1774-1809 ___ American ___ soldier, explorer

BIOGRAPHICAL SUMMARY
Lewis was born in Albemarle County, Virginia and moved with his family to Georgia in 1784. At 13 he was sent back to Virginia to be educated privately. He served in the army for about five years, achieving the rank of captain. In 1801, he was appointed as private secretary to President Thomas Jefferson, who had been a childhood neighbour, and became involved in the planning of an overland expedition to the Pacific coast and back. Lewis was chosen to lead the expedition, afterwards known as the Corps of Discovery, and he selected William Clark as his partner. About 40 men followed the Missouri River westward, through what is now Kansas City, Missouri and Omaha, Nebraska. They crossed the Rocky Mountains and descended through what is now Portland, Oregon, to the Pacific Ocean in December 1805. The journey home began in March 1806 and was completed in September. Thus, Lewis and Clark are considered to have played a key role in forming the United States. On his return, Lewis was appointed governor of the Louisiana Territory and settled in St. Louis, Missouri. He died tragically, aged 35, but whether he was murdered or committed suicide is not known.
A biography link
Wikipedia bio
The Diary Review - White bear, drunk Indians

DIARY DATES, CONTENT DESCRIPTORS
1804-1806 ___ travel exploration geology nature

WEB TEXT LINKS
etext
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ORIGINAL MANUSCRIPT LINKS
Library of the American Philosophical Society

SOME PUBLISHED TITLES
The Journals of Lewis and Clark
The Definitive Journals of Lewis and Clark
 

July 2005, July 2008, April 2013
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IMPORTANT NOTES AND CAUTIONS: 1) The first line of basic information may be incomplete in several ways: some historical figures have different names (titles, pen-names); their birth and death dates may be unknown or uncertain (g - guess, c - circa); similarly, their occupations may be unknown, or they may have had other jobs; and, for early diarists, I've used 'British' a bit too freely. 2) The biographical summary may not be accurate. It was compiled quickly from various sources, mostly on the internet, and the facts were not checked anywhere near as rigorously as they would have been if they'd been intended for publication in a printed form. 3) The journal dates and descriptors (which are in no particular order) must be treated with caution: since I have not examined the diaries myself, the descriptors are only guesses based on bibliographies, anthologies and internet biographies. 4) For the biography and etext links, I have ignored any sites with charges, and I have avoided, wherever possible, those with pop-ups or too much advertising. I have limited myself to providing three etext links where there is some variety between them. 5) For the original manuscript links, I have limited myself to providing a maximum of two (although, for a few diarists, their original diaries are held in more than two places). 6) I have provided the titles - chosen randomly - for up to three printed editions of the diaries.