Natchez Trace - Death of Meriwether Lewis

Death of Meriwether Lewis

Meriwether Lewis, of the Lewis and Clark Expedition fame, met his death while traveling on the Trace. Then governor of the Louisiana Territory, he was on his way to Washington, DC from his base in St. Louis, Missouri. Lewis stopped at Grinder's Stand near current-day Hohenwald, Tennessee for overnight shelter in October 1809. He was distraught over many issues, possibly affected by using opium, and was believed to have committed suicide by gun. He was buried near the inn. His mother believed he had been murdered, and rumors circulated about possible killers. Thomas Jefferson and his former partner William Clark accepted the report of suicide.

In 1858, a Tennessee state commission erected a monument at the site. On the bicentennial of Lewis' death in 2009, the first national public memorial service honoring his life was held, as the last event of the Lewis and Clark Expedition Bicentennial. A bronze bust was installed at his gravesite. Today, Grinder's Stand and the nearby city of Hohenwald are within the boundaries of Lewis County, named in honor of Meriwether Lewis.