(1774-1809) U.S. Army officer, explorer of the Missouri and Columbia rivers

Meriwether Lewis was born in Albemarle County, Virginia, on August 18, 1774. He grew up on a 1,000-acre plantation about ten miles from Monticello (the home of Thomas Jefferson).

In January of 1793, the American Philosophical Society accepted the proposal of Thomas Jefferson to send an overland expedition in search of the fabled Northwest Passage. Lewis eagerly volunteered to lead such an expedition, but his offer was rejected on account of his youth and inexperience. The expedition never actually took place anyway.

In 1794, Lewis volunteered to help President George Washington put down the Whiskey Rebellion. He went to serve six years in the Frontier Army, rising to the rank of Captain in 1800, then serving as Paymaster of the First Infantry Regiment. In 1801, Lewis was appointed by President Jefferson to be his personal secretary and aide.

The Lewis and Clark Expedition

In January of 1803, Congress appropriated $2,500 to mount an official military expedition into the newly-acquired Louisiana Territory, and President Jefferson chose Lewis as its commander.

Lewis was chosen as the leader of the expedition due to his many intellectual and physical qualities. His army conditioning made him very physically fit, as well as very disciplined. He had a keen sense of observation and a knack for writing detailed naturalistic and ethographic accounts. And he had an especially sharp eye for the details of flora and fauna. To prepare himself further for the expedition, Lewis learned the theories and practices of navigation first from Jefferson, then