Meriwether Lewis

Meriwether Lewis (August 18th 1774 - October 11th 1809) was an explorer and American soldier . It carried out, with William Clark, Expédition Lewis and Clark celebrates it through North America.

Wire of William and Lucy (Meriwether) Lewis, Meriwether Lewis was born in the Comté from Albemarle in Virginia (close to Charlottesville). At the 10 years age, he moved in Georgia with his parents. To 13 years, it turned over to Virginia to be educated by particular tutors there.

Lewis enlisted in the Milice of Virginia and in 1794 belonged to a detachment which repressed the Rebellion Whiskey. The following year it integrated the regular army and was useful until 1801. It left the army with the rank of captain.

Lewis was private secretary of President Thomas Jefferson in 1801; it thus was very implied in the preparation of forwarding: it was sent by Jefferson to Philadelphia to learn the rudiments necessary and to establish a chart in particular.

After her return of the Forwarding Lewis and Clark, Lewis received in reward a ground of 6 km ² and was governor of the Missouri; it settled with St Louis in Missouri. Lewis died of a blow of gun in a tavern named Grinder' S Stand to 110 km approximately of Nashville in the Tennessee on the Piste Natchez whereas it went to Washington; it had been wounded with the head and the chest. It is not known if its death is due to a suicide or to a murder but one reported that it was then extrèmement depressive and that it had tried to jump in the the Mississippi little before its death.

The enigma of Mandans

The May 14th 1804, ordering it Meriwether Lewis and its colleague William Clark whereas they opened the terrestrial way until the Pacifique, through the Rocky Mountains (fine in 1806), discovered the Indian tribe of the Mandan S, whose members had an aspect purely Caucasien with a white complexion with the fair hair and the blue eyes.

Moreover, they seemed penetrated of the tradition of the Déluge (what would indicate an Indo-European filiation Mésopotamie if not ).

The Mandan S, drawn by the painter George Catlin in 1832, (almost all) will be decimated by an epidemic of small pox starting from 1833, carrying with them them mystery.

For Catlin, they spoke Welsh and would be the descendants of the mysterious Madoc Welsh chief of the XIIe century.

Posterity

The alpine plant Lewisia (family of the Portulacaceae), which one finds in the rocky gardens bears his name. The Pic of Lewis ( Melanerpes Lewis ) was dedicated to him by the British ornithologist George Robert Gray (1808-1872) in 1849.

The County of Lewis in the Tennessee, the town of Lewiston in the Idaho and the military installation of Fort Lewis in the State of Washington also bear its name. In 1941, a warship was baptized S '' Meriwether Lewis ''. It was torpedoed and run in 1943.

Relations with Clark

In its very beautiful work writes in 2003 " I Should Be Extremely Happy in Your Company" , the author “heterosexual” Brian Hall clarifies that one of the reasons for which Lewis Merriwether would have committed suicide at the 35 years age was that Lewis felt unhappy in love after William Clark married a woman of the name of Julia. Lewis was already deeply depressed after forwarding and really did not rehabilitate itself on its return in the civilized life. A few days before its suicide on the way of Natchez Traces, Lewis was convinced that William Clark tried to catch up with it, coming to its " aide".

" What is attractive about Lewis was her state of loneliness and of intense insulation and the indexed indices very intrigants which testifies the deep one and intense friendship that Lewis tested for Clark more than this last did not test for its compagnon" , explains Hall.

The letters and extracts of the newspapers of Lewis and Clark are capable to wake up the gaydar open readers of spirit.

When President Thomas Jefferson asked him to carry out forwarding, Lewis wrote in Clark: “I Believes, it does not have no man there on ground with which I should share this pleasure but with yourself”. And to add, " In your company I would be extremely happy (...). " It is a touching letter which reveals the existing close link between the two men. Another letter of Lewis describes a comfortable small house that Clark and itself would divide together. Clark called its first Lewis child.

Clark also deferred its observations on the Indians with which some got dressed in the opposite kind (= “two-spirited” people) and had relationship in love and sexual with the people of male kind. Its writings are without judgment for the time.

It also appears that Lewis did not have sexual relations during the two years of forwarding, in spite of the many documents which report that the men engaged in forwarding had many sexual relations with the Indians. Its comments in connection with the women go from a openly expressed dislike for their bodies to a pure poetic appreciation for the pretty young ladies.

After the Forwarding Lewis and Clark, the marriage of Lewis was dedicated to the failure. An attentive reading of its writings will not reveal the least proof of love for some woman than it is compared with the emotion which crossed it in its letter in Clark proposing to him to join it to leave to the adventure towards the conquest the West.

External bonds

falls it from Meriwether Lewis

Lewis loved Clark? Intriguing hints abound butt America' S historic trailblazers Advocate, The, Oct. 26,2004 by Bob Smith

Random links: