Explorer Meriwether Lewis dies under mysterious circumstances…
October 1809 CE
Lewis had set out on September 3 for Washington, D.C., where he had hoped to resolve issues regarding the denied payment of drafts he had drawn against the War Department while serving as governor of the Upper Louisiana Territory, leaving him in potentially ruinous debt.
Lewis carried his journals with him for delivery to his publisher.
He had intended to travel to Washington by ship from New Orleans, but changed his plans while floating down the Mississippi River from St. Louis.
He disembarked and decided instead to make an overland journey via the Natchez Trace, then east to Washington. (The Natchez Trace is the old pioneer road between Natchez, Mississippi, and Nashville, Tennessee).
Robbers prey on travelers on this road and sometimes kill their victims.
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