THE NEW AGE--Article--February 1990--artbeles.feb


               MERIWETHER LEWIS--EXPLORER AND MASON

                       JAMES W. BELESS, 33
          1750 Hubbard Avenue, Salt Lake City, Utah 84108


     Thomas Jefferson had dreamed of sending an expedition to 
explore the Great West to the Pacific Ocean for over 20 years 
before becoming President in 1801.  Five times he had tried as a 
private citizen to get the project started, and each time he had 
failed, principally for lack of a leader who combined the 
characteristics of an explorer, scientist and diplomat.
     Mr. Jefferson's motives for the western exploration were 
mixed, but entirely disinterested.  He was a man of great 
scientific curiosity.  He had always wondered what was out there, 
especially regarding the Indians, their arts, life, languages, 
character, religion and traditions.  What about the animals and 
plants, the fossils, the rocks and minerals, the rivers and 
mountains, volcanic appearances, the climate?  He recognized that 
the vast area of the West must someday be of enormous economic 
importance to the infant, but inevitably expanding, United 
States.  The fur trade, then controlled by the British and French 
Canadians, was profitable and must inevitably be shared, as other 
natural resources, with the Americans who were moving west 
through the Alleghenies to new lands in Kentucky and the Ohio 
Territory.
     As a statesman Jefferson saw American expansion in the West, 
with a window on the Western Ocean, as imperative to prevent 
ultimate strangulation by the French and Spanish on the south and 
British in Canada.  Exploration would satisfy Jefferson's 
long-standing curiosity.  It would also secure America as a 
powerful and economically sound Nation.  He needed the ideal 
leader, who blended the finest character and reputation in a 
scientist and an able reporter of observed facts, a courageous, 
strong and self-sufficient woodsman and leader, and a tactful and 
exemplary representative of his Country.
     Captain Meriwether Lewis, 1st Infantry Regiment paymaster, 
United States Army, returned on March 5, 1801 to Pittsburgh from 
a wilderness trip from Detroit to find awaiting him a letter from 
his former neighbor at Albemarle County, Virginia, and now 
President-elect, Thomas Jefferson.  He was offered the job as the 
new President's private secretary.  Lewis accepted and responded 
with dispatch.  He correctly read between the lines that Mr. 
Jefferson was really talking about the long-discussed exploration 
of the Great West and his choice of Lewis as leader of the 
proposed Corp of Discovery.  Lewis was not fitted psychologically 
to be a secretary for anyone, but he was, as the President later 
said, the best man to lead an expedition across North America.
     Meriwether Lewis was born August 18, 1774, near 
Charlottesville, Virginia, in sight of Monticello.  His father, 
William Lewis, served as an officer without pay in the 
Continental Army and died when Meriwether was five.  His uncle, 
Fielding Lewis, married George Washington's sister.  The boy grew 
up in the setting of the Revolutionary War.  He attended a Latin 
school until 18, when he volunteered for a proposed, but aborted, 
expedition of Mr. Jefferson's planning to the Northwest.  He 
farmed for two years, and in 1794 he enlisted in the militia 
called out by General Washington to suppress the Whiskey 
Rebellion in western Pennsylvania.  Military life appealed to 
him, and Lewis continued in the Regular Army as an ensign, then 
lieutenant, serving in the Ohio Indian campaign in 1795 under 
General Anthony Wayne.  He was promoted to captain in 1797 and 
was involved in wilderness treks in Michigan and Ohio and duty at 
forts along the Mississippi River near present-day Memphis.  
There he acquired his knowledge of and expertise in dealing with 
the Indians.  Together with high character, courage and ability 
to lead men, this was Jefferson's first prerequisite for the man 
who was to command an expedition to the West.{1}
     Jefferson valued another facet of his proposed leader's 
personality and background, going to his feelings for brotherhood 
and charity and his ability to work with and respect others.  
This was the fact that Meriwether Lewis was a Freemason.
     On January 28, 1797, Meriwether Lewis was Initiated an 
Entered Apprentice in Door to Virtue Lodge No. 44, Albemarle 
County, Virginia.  The following evening he was passed to the 
Degree of Fellowcraft, and on the same date, apparently because 
of the time demands of his Army service, he was Raised a Master 
Mason.  On April 3rd or 4th he received the Degree of Past Master 
Mason.  Because of his military duties in the West, Brother Lewis 
was unable to attend Lodge meetings until June, 1798, when he was 
assigned to recruiting service at Charlottesville.  The Lodge 
records indicate that for the next year he was regular in 
attendance, held Lodge office and took active part in the work.  
His motion directed that a certain portion of Lodge funds be set 
aside for charity to be used only according to the by-laws.  
Contemporary Masons belonging to Door to Virtue Lodge were Peter 
and Samuel Carr, nephews of Thomas Jefferson, Governor Thomas 
Mann Randolph, who married the President's daughter, and William 
Bache, a grandson of Benjamin Franklin.  The Library of Congress 
at Washington, D.C., is the depository for the Royal Arch diploma 
issued by Staunton Lodge No. 31, which certified on October 31, 
1799, that Brother Meriwether Lewis was "exalted to the sublime 
degree of a Royal Arch, Superexcellent Mason."{2}
     Lewis was in fact the aide-de-camp and confidant of 
President Jefferson.  In December, 1801 Lewis personally 
delivered to Congress the President's State of the Union Message.  
He also accompanied Jefferson on his semiannual visits to 
Monticello.  While Congress and vocal Federalists aired 
opposition and ridicule, Jefferson consummated acquisition of the 
Louisiana Territory by purchase from France.  Then, beginning in 
1802, Lewis and Jefferson worked together in the President's 
White House map-lined study to plan the expedition to the Western 
Ocean.
     Meriwether Lewis's weakness as leader of a scientific 
expedition was in science.  To improve his knowledge and 
reporting skill, Jefferson arranged for Lewis to have crash 
courses with Dr. Benjamin Rush, the famous Philadelphia 
physician, and three University of Pennsylvania professors, all 
associates of Benjamin Franklin's American Philosophical Society.  
He was instructed in astronomy, cartography, anatomy, botany, 
zoology, mineralogy and Indian history.  He received detailed 
memoranda for study in each area.  Dr. Rush gave him a 
questionnaire to complete regarding findings concerning Indian 
diseases and medicines, food preservation, suicide and homicide 
rates and disposal of the dead.{3}
     Until the Louisiana Purchase was accomplished, the President 
was in fact planning a survey outside of the territory of the 
United States.  Publicly, the expedition was purported to seek 
the headwaters of the Mississippi, rather than the Missouri.  
Privately, British and French passports were obtained for Captain 
Lewis for use in the event of farther western travel. The Western 
Ocean was the real and ultimate goal.  A reluctant Congress was 
asked for and persuaded to grant a logistics budget of $2,500.  
Supplies, including boats, tools and instruments, arms and 
ammunition, provisions, clothing, Indian presents and trading 
goods and medicines, were all requisitioned on the order of the 
President from the arsenals at Harper's Ferry and Philadelphia 
and were assembled by Lewis at Pittsburgh.  Items of special 
interest were the airgun, which would be available if powder 
became wet; Scammon, the Newfoundland dog, who made the 8,000 
mile trip as Lewis's sure companion; the 40-foot-long iron-framed 
canoe of Lewis's invention; and 150 pounds of dehydrated, instant 
soup, the only major food item carried, as the intent was to live 
off the land.
     On July 4, 1803, President Jefferson with his own hand drew 
one of the most remarkable and trusting documents in American 
history.  This was general letter of credit, guaranteed 
personally by the President, which authorized Captain Lewis to 
draw without limit on the Secretaries of the Treasury, War and 
Navy.  The purpose was to secure passage for the Corp of 
Discovery home by sea should overland travel be too dangerous.
     As commander of the expedition, Captain Lewis had full 
discretion in picking his lieutenant, sergeants, enlisted men and 
civilian boatmen, interpreters, guides and hunters.  As second in 
command, he chose his old friend and former company commander in 
the Indian campaign, William Clark, the younger brother of 
Revolutionary War hero George Rogers Clark.  Will Clark has been 
coupled in history as co-captain with Lewis, but Clark's 
commission from Congress was that of second lieutenant.  Lewis 
and Clark proved the exception to the rule of disaster for a 
divided command.  In fact their success during the next two and 
one-half years was in large part the result of joint and equal 
command.
     Captain Lewis was the special representative of President 
Jefferson at St. Louis on March 9, 1804, for the transfer to the 
United States from France of the Territory of Upper Louisiana.  
On the following May 14, the 37 men of the Corp of Discovery, 
aboard a 55-foot keelboat and two pirogues, proceeded up the 
Missouri to winter with the Mandan Indians near Now Bismarck, 
North Dakota.  By late August 1805, the Corp had proceeded to the 
headwaters of the Missouri, made friends with the Shoshones, from 
whom pack horses were bartered, the Continental Divide was 
crossed, and the descent by log canoes to the mouth of the 
Columbia River was begun.  The following winter was spent there 
at Fort Clatsop, the eight huts built of Oregon conifers.  No 
ship came to provide passage for the expedition, and on March 23, 
1806, the return overland trip began, again by Indian canoe up 
the Columbia and again across the mountains by horses purchased 
from the Walla Walla Indians.  The Corp arrived at St. Louis on 
September 23, 1806, for a jubilant reception.
     President Jefferson reported to Congress that Lewis and 
Clark had accomplished their mission with complete success due to 
the brilliant leadership and superb discipline of the two 
captains.  The exploring, mapping, collecting and reporting had 
been completed as had been ordered.  The Great West was open, and 
the American flag had been raised in Oregon.  The detailed 
journals of Lewis and Clark and several of their men would take 
years to edit, digest and publish.  A generous Congress awarded 
Lewis and Clark each $1,228 in cash and 1,600 acres of Missouri 
land.  Other members of the expedition received 320 acre parcels 
and double pay, or about $250.{4}
     Meriwether Lewis, accompanied by a Mandan chief and his 
family, was welcomed in Washington by President Jefferson and 
feted at the White House and the theatre with the Indians. 
Lewis's plans to edit his journals were delayed, as shortly after 
his return in 1807 the President announced Lewis's appointment as 
Governor of Upper Louisiana, with William Clark as Territorial 
Agent for Indian Affairs.  Lewis attended the Aaron Burr treason 
trial at Richmond as Jefferson's personal representative, and he 
did not go west to assume his new post until March, 1808.{5}
     On August 2, 1808, a group of Masonic Brethren met a St. 
Louis to petition the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania for a warrant 
of dispensation to form a new Lodge to be known as St. Louis 
Lodge No. 111.  The nominated and recommended officers included 
"his Excellency Meriwether Lewis, a Past Master, to be the first 
Master." The application was recommended by Louisiana Lodge No. 
109, St. Genevieve, and in an emergent communication the 
Pennsylvania Grand Lodge officers on September 16 rushed through 
the Warrant of Dispensation.  Brother Lewis was installed as 
Master on November 8.  The records indicate that on June 24, 
1809, Worshipful Master Lewis led his assembled Brethren from the 
Lodge hall to church for a St. John's Day service.{6}
     Governor Lewis needed all Masonic and other brotherly 
assistance that he could get in the complex and vexatious 
situation which he inherited.  He was a good soldier and field 
officer, but he was not a practical politician or bargaining 
administrator.  In the new territory former French and Spanish 
and now American settlers did not get along together.  White 
squatters and hunters intruded on Indian lands with indifference.  
Land titles and mining claims were a shambles.  An undeclared war 
with Great Britain already existed, and British traders from 
Canada sabotaged Indian relations.  Political rivals threatened 
the governor by refusing to honor his drafts for official 
expenditures.
     Lewis needed to work out his problems with the new Madison 
administration, and he began the trip east, first by riverboat 
down the Mississippi, then by horse across the Natchez Trace.  
His tragic and mysterious death on October 11, 1809, has never 
been resolved.
     A symbolic Masonic monument is at Brother Lewis's grave 72 
miles southwest of Nashville, now the Meriwether Lewis National 
Monument.  It is a stone broken column erected in 1848 by the 
Tennessee Legislature signifying his untimely death at age 35.  
The 1814 eulogy of Thomas Jefferson on the east face of the 
column reads:  "His courage was undaunted, his firmness and 
perseverance yielded to nothing but impossibilities; a rigid 
disciplinarian, yet tender as a father to those committed to his 
charge; honest, disinterested, liberal, with a sound 
understanding, and a scrupulous fidelity to the truth."{7}
_________________________________________________________________
__
     Jefferson valued another facet of his proposed leader's 
personality and background, going to his feelings for brotherhood 
and charity and his ability to work with and respect others.  
This was the fact that Meriwether Lewis was a Freemason.
_________________________________________________________________
Items of special interest were the airgun, which would be 
available if powder became wet; Scammon, the Newfoundland dog, 
who made the 8,000 mile trip as Lewis's sure companion; the 
40-foot-long iron-framed canoe of Lewis's invention; and 150 
pounds of dehydrated, instant soup, the only major food item 
carried, as the intent was to live off the land.
_________________________________________________________________
On July 4, 1803, President Jefferson with his own hand drew one 
of the most remarkable and trusting documents in American 
history.  This was general letter of credit, guaranteed 
personally by the President, which authorized Captain Lewis to 
draw without limit on the Secretaries of the Treasury, War and 
Navy.
_________________________________________________________________
A symbolic Masonic monument, a stone broken column, is at Brother 
Lewis' grave 72 miles southwest of Nashville, now at the 
Meriwether Lewis National Monument.

On October 13, 1989 the public ceremony was held at the 
Meriwether Lewis National Park, with laying of a wreath in form 
of Square and Compasses by the members of Hohenwald Lodge #607, 
Hohenwald, Tennessee.




1.   Richard Dillon, Meriwether Lewis (New York: 
     Coward-McCann,Inc., 1965), p.27.
2.    Dillon, p.22 and Ray V. Denslow, Masonic Portraits: 
     Transactions of the Missouri Lodge of Research, Vol. 29 
     (Fulton, Mo.: Ovid Bell Press, Inc., 1972), p. 221.
3.   Dillon, p. 36.
4.   John Bakeless, Lewis and Clark (New York: William Morrow & 
     Company, 1947), p.381.
5.   Denslow, p. 235.
6.   Denslow, p. 224.
7.   Denslow, p. 235.
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