Meriwether Lewis

Painting of Lewis (www.mt.net/~rojomo/ jpegs/lewsfthr.jpg )

Have you ever heard of an explorer that had two fathers and was in the militia? All of those facts lead to one man. His name is Meriwether Lewis. This man encouraged many people to travel west. Lewis and his partner William Clark were two of the first persons to cross the Rocky Mountains and to get to the Pacific Ocean.

Lewis was born in Virginia in 1774. Lewis’ father died when he was five. Lewis joined the state militia and later he got a letter from President Thomas Jefferson (who was an old family friend) to be his private security. Jefferson wanted to explore the west. Jefferson asked Lewis to go on the journey. Lewis said yes and chose William Clark to go on this journey with him. On May 14, 1804, at 4:00 the Corps of Discovery (the team name) left St. Louis. There were thirty-three men in total.

Lewis had many accomplishments in his life. The most important of these accomplishments was crossing the Rocky Mountains and getting to the Pacific Ocean. Lewis didn’t have a lot of troubles with the Indians and survived the winter with the help of with the Native American woman Sacagawea. Lewis encouraged many people to go west. He is important to the United States because he discovered it.

Lewis made it back at St. Louis at September 23, 1806, and when he did, Jefferson made him governor of the Louisiana Territory. On October 11, 1809, Lewis died of a gunshot. People think he might have killed himself because he was very lonely and missed the wilderness. Jefferson believed it was murder. Even now it is still uncertain.

Meriwether Lewis is a hero to the United States because he help found it. If he didn't explore people would wonder and wonder about the west. He is a hero because he crossed the Rocky Mountains, which was a hard thing a long time ago.