University of Virginia Library

Early years

Congress having proved complaisant, in secretly giving the
necessary authority and passing the modest appropriation,
Jefferson at once appointed his private secretary,
Captain Meriwether Lewis, as head of the proposed
expedition. Lewis was born near Charlottesville, Virginia,
August 18th, 1774, his people being prominent in colonial
and Revolutionary affairs. His father, William, died when
Meriwether, named for his mother's family, was a child. The
boy came under the guardianship of his uncle Nicholas, who
had in 1776 commanded a regiment in the campaign against
the Cherokees; but his education remained under the direction
of his mother, a woman of capacity and judgment. When
but eight years of age, the lad had established a local reputation
as a hunter; and until his thirteenth year, when he was sent to
a Latin school, had ample opportunity to satisfy his adventurous
cravings in this direction. After five years of tuition,
he returned to his mother's farm, where the succeeding two
years were spent in careful attention to the details of husbandry,
in the course of which he acquired some skill in botany, that
was to stand him well in stead during the great expedition of a
few years later.