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 As
he began writing Meriwether, the author drafted a summary
to guide his thinking:
Who is this man sent to cross a continent over ground
never before traveled in total, climb a rumored range of vast
proportions, find a river beyond and float to the Pacific
Ocean, ending the centuries-long search for the Northwest
Passage? What sort of man can plot such an expedition, master
the science behind it, assemble it, supply it, lead it into
the unknown, face its dangers, make decisions on which life
or death depend? His success rings in history and ensured
a continental nation -- but what of his dreams, pains, fears,
disappointments, failures?
The answers to those questions give us the explorer in all
his spectacular capabilities of courage and command, and all
the tragedy that lurked always in his mental makeup. It tracks
a young man's magnificent dream, his skill in bringing it
to fruition, the perils and challenges and adventures he faces,
the essential role of the young Indian woman, Sacagawea -
but, after triumph ranking him with Marco Polo, we see him
slipping inevitably toward tragedy, deserted by everyone but
the loyal Clark, hungering emptily for love, finally alone
with his pistols.
The expedition had been active in Thomas Jefferson's mind
for decades before he decided to mount it. Lewis lived a short
ride from Jefferson's beloved Monticello and delivered hams
from his mother's smokehouse to the great man's table. Jefferson
gave the boy the run of his famous library and they grew into
friendship. When Lewis was ten his family moved him to the
North Georgia frontier where he roamed the woods alone and
with help from friendly Indians turned himself into a skilled
self-taught naturalist. When he returned to Virginia Jefferson,
himself a naturalist of high talent, treated him as an equal.
So it made sense that when Lewis learned that Jefferson planned
an expedition to the Pacific, he saw himself as its natural
commander. He was nineteen. He applied for the position and
Jefferson, now Secretary of State, didn't bother to answer.
Crushed, Lewis joined the army and lived a decade with no
particular distinction, emerging as a captain of infantry.
Jefferson was elected president in 1800; immediately he asked
Lewis to be his private secretary. A raw frontier soldier
to be turned loose among the diplomatic fancy dans of Washington
- writing letters and serving tea. For a moment Lewis thought
to refuse. Then he realized the import - as president, Mr.
Jefferson had the power to order the expedition. What other
explanation could there be? The infantry captain was going
to the Pacific to knit the country into a whole! From the
frontier cantonment at Pittsburgh Lewis rode to Washington.
Jefferson welcomed him as private secretary but said not a
word about an expedition. Lewis waited three years and finally,
despairing, forced the issue. He had everything on the line,
had pushed as far as he could and now had to wait. Yes, the
president finally said, we will have an expedition and you
will command.
For another year Lewis studied the great challenge ahead
of him and laid plans to defeat the problems. He studied under
Jefferson and savants in Philadelphia, then the intellectual
circle of the United States. He planned and re-planned the
requirements, the supplies needed, the number of men required.
When all was ready he invited Clark, once his commander in
the Chosen Rifles Regiment, to serve as co-captain. This was
militarily unorthodox but he knew Clark would accept no less
and he wanted Clark. This decision came close to wrecking
the expedition at the start but both men proved themselves
of a stature to overcome perils.
Then, two hundred years ago in May, they cast off, on to
the great adventure. And two hundred years later, MERIWETHER
brings that adventure alive and puts you in its heart. It
is a worthy read, one that you will not soon forget.
Nor will you forget the powerful after story that carries
the explorer to his tragic and brutalized finish.
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