In 1803, U.S. President Thomas Jefferson selected Lewis to lead the first American expedition across then unmapped continent. Upon Lewis' return, Jefferson appointed Lewis governor of the vast upper territory west of the Mississippi River where Governor Lewis found himself at the center of a national struggle for control of the new territories and surrounded by ruthless political enemies.
On Oct 11, 1809, while traveling to Washington to meet President James Madison and carrying expedition journals, Lewis died of gunshot wounds at Grinder's Stand (a tavern with lodgings) on the Natchez Trace. Varying historic accounts of the cause of the gunshot wounds range from suicide to shots from Mrs. Grinders husband to a robbery gone bad to murder by his political enemies.
Whatever the source of the gunshots, his sudden and tragic demise at an obscure place in a remote wilderness ended the career of one of the nation's most noted explorers under a shroud of mystery.
The monument over his grave.
When you stand at the monument and look outward, you see lines of grave markers radially outward; each radial line being a family group. This area is known as "Pioneer Cemetary."
A replica of the original Grinder House has been built on the site just to the left of the original location.
Behind the Grinder House is a restored section of split-rail zigzag fence that edged the original Natchez Trace. (The "Old Natchez Trace" a historic travel corridor used by American Indians, "Kaintucks," European settlers, slave traders, soldiers, and future presidents. The Trace connected Nashville, TN at its north end to Natchez, MS on the Gulf.)
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