Meriwether Lewis National Monument and death/murder site

Meriwether Lewis (8/18/1774 – 10/11/1809) was best known as the leader of the Lewis and Clark Expedition which explored the Louisiana Purchase. Lewis later became Governor of Upper Louisiana in 1806.

In 1809 Lewis intended to travel to Washington DC to resolve denied payments from the War Department that threatened to leave him in ruinous debt. On October 11, 1809 Lewis stopped on the Natchez Trace at an inn called Grinder's Stand 70 miles southwest of Nashville. That night gun shots were heard and Lewis was found with gun shots to the head and gut. The death is shrouded in mystery with conflicting reports from the inn keeper's wife. Was it murder or suicide?