http://www.lewisandclarktravel.com/index.php/site/index/ Lewis and Clark Travel en kira@lewisandclarktravel.com (c)2008, River Junction Press, LLC 2008-06-22T17:31:00-06:00 http://www.lewisandclarktravel.com/index.php/site/was_meriwether_lewis_assassinated_the_1850_grave_exhumation_report/ http://www.lewisandclarktravel.com/index.php/site/was_meriwether_lewis_assassinated_the_1850_grave_exhumation_report/#When:16:31:00Z In the late 1840’s a movement got underway to place a monument at the gravesite of Meriwether Lewis. Until then, his gravesite consisted of a simple marker enclosed by a wooden rail fence. Lewis was buried at Griner’s Stand, a wayside inn near Hohenwald, Tennessee on the Natchez Trace Federal Road, where he met his death on October 11, 1809. Though as Governor of Louisiana Territory he might be considered the third ranking member of the federal government, his death was never investigated, nor was there an effort to rebury him in his hometown of Charlottesville, Virginia. His death was labeled a suicide by second hand accounts and accepted as such by President Thomas Jefferson.  It was said in later newspaper accounts that a county coroner’s jury investigation was held at the time of his death; but this 1809 report has not been found. Reportedly the local jury members thought Robert Griner had participated in the killing of Meriwether Lewis, but were afraid to indict him. It has always been stated by the residents of Tennessee that Meriwether Lewis was murdered.  I have been doing extensive research on the death of Meriwether Lewis, tracking down primary documents referred to in two books, Suicide or Murder? The Strange Death of Governor Meriwether Lewis by Vardis Fisher, published in 1962; and By His Own Hand? The Mysterious Death of Meriwether Lewis, edited by John D. W. Guice, published in 2006. Richard Dillon’s biography, Meriwether Lewis, with a foreword by Stephen Ambrose, also states he was murdered. John Bakeless is another biographer of Lewis and Clark who believed he was murdered. You may purchase these books and others through my website’s Amazon’s Associates bookstore. I am planning to share some of my research on blogs at http://www.lewisandclarktravel.com in the months to come. This is one of the most important documents I have found.  The document reveals that the Tennessee monument committee actually opened the grave of Meriwether Lewis to confirm that they had the right gravesite, and examined his upper torso. One of the members of the committee, Samuel B. Moore, was a physician. (History and Genealogy-State Records-Acts of Tennessee, 1831-1850). It was not their purpose to investigate the cause of Lewis’s death. However, later in their 1850 Monument Committee Report to the General Assembly of Tennessee, they stated:  “The impression has long prevailed that under the influence of disease and body—of hopes based upon long and valuable services—not merely deferred but wholly disappointed—Governor Lewis perished by his own hands. It seems to be more probable that he died by the hands of an assassin.” Here follows the complete text of the Report, found in the Meriwether Lewis Memorial Association Papers, 1880-1931 at the Tennessee State Archives (Microfilm #13-74).  R E P O R T of the L E W I S M O N U M E N T C O M M I T T E E To the General Assembly of the State of Tennessee: By the 9th section of an act, passed at the last session of the General Assembly of this State, entitled an act to establish the County of Lewis the sum of $500 was appropriated, or so much thereof as might be necessary, to preserve the place of interment where the remains of GEN. MERIWETHER LEWIS were deposited; and the undersigned were appointed the agents of the General Assembly to carry into execution the provisions of the act, and report to the present General Assembly. Looking upon the object to be accomplished to be one highly honorable to the State, the undersigned entered upon the duties assigned them cheerfully and with as little delay as possible. They consulted with the most eminent artists and practical mechanics as to the kind of monument to be erected, and a plan being agreed upon, they employed Mr. Lemuel W. Kirby, of Columbia, to execute it for the sum of five hundred dollars. The entire monument is twenty and a half feet high. The design is simple but is intended to express the difficulties, successes, and violent termination of a life which was marked by bold enterprise, by manly courage and by devoted patriotism. The base of the monument is of rough, unhewn stone, eight feet high and nine feet square where it rises to the surface of the ground. On this rests a plinth of cut stone, four feet square and eighteen inches in thickness, on which are the inscriptions given below. On this plinth stands a broken column eleven feet high, two and a half feet in diameter for the base, and a few inches smaller at the top.  The top is broken to denote the violent and untimely end of a bright and glorious career.  The base is composed of a species of sandstone found in the neighborhood of the grave. The plinth and shaft, or column, are made of a fine limestone, commonly known as Tennessee marble.  Around the monument is erected a handsome wrought iron rail fence. Great care was taken to identify the grave. George Nixon, Esq., an old Surveyor, had become very early acquainted with its locality.  He pointed out the place; but to make assurance doubly sure the grave was re-opened and the upper portion of the skeleton examined, and such evidence found as to leave no doubt as to the place of internment.  Witnesses were called and their certificate, with that of the Surveyor, prove the fact beyond dispute.  The inscription upon the plinth was furnished by Professor Nathaniel Cross of the University of Nashville.  It is beautiful and appropriate.  It is placed on the different sides of the plinth, and is as follows:  M E R I W E T H E R L E W I S BORN NEAR CHARLOTTESVILLE, VIRGINIA, AUGUST 18, 1774 DIED OCTOBER 11, 1809; AGED 35 YEARS; An Officer of the Regular Army – Private Secretary to President Jefferson – Commander of the Expedition To The Oregon in 1803–1806 – Governor of the Territory of Louisiana – His Melancholy Death Occurred Where This Monument Now Stands, And Under Which Rests His Mortal Remains.  In the language of Mr. Jefferson: “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 Truth. Immaturus Obi; Sed Tu Felicior Annos Vive Meos, Bona Republica!  Vive Tuos.  ERECTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF TENNESSEE, A. D., 1848. In the Latin diatich, many of your honorable body will no doubt recognize as the affecting epitaph on the tomb of a young wife, in which by a prosopopocia, after alluding to an immature death, she prays that her happier husband may live out her years and his own. Immaturus pari: sed tu felicior annos. Vive meos, conjux optime!  Vive tuos. Under the same figure, the deceased is represented in the Latin diatich as altered, after alluding to his early death, as uttering as a patriot a similar prayer, that the republic may fulfill her high destiny, and that her years may equal those of time. As the diatich now stands, the figure may be made to apply either to the whole Union, or to Tennessee, that has honored his memory by the erection of a monument. The impression has long prevailed that under the influence of disease of body and mind – of hopes based upon long and valuable services – not merely deferred, but wholly disappointed – Governor Lewis perished by his own hands.  It seems to be more probable that he died by the hands of an assassin.  The place at which he was killed is even yet a lovely spot.  It was then wild and solitary, and on the borders of the Indian Nation. Maj. M. L. Clark, a son of Governor Clark of Missouri; in a letter to the Rev. Mr. Cressey of Maury County says: “Have you ever heard of the report that Gov. Lewis did not destroy his own life, but was murdered by his servant, a Frenchman, who stole his money and horses, returned to Natchez, and was never afterwards heard of?  This is an important matter in connection with the erection of a monument to his memory, as it clearly removes from my mind at least, the only stigma upon the fair name I have the honor to bear.” The undersigned would suggest to the General Assembly, the propriety of having an acre of ground, or some other reasonable quantity, around the grave secured against the entry of private persons. This can be done, either by reserving the title in the State, or by directing a grant to be issued in the name of the Governor and by his successors.  The first mode would perhaps be the best. All of which is respectfully submitted, EDMUND DILLAHUNTY, BARCLAY MARTIN, ROBERT A. SMITH, SAMUEL B. MOORE. 2008-06-22T16:31:00-06:00 http://www.lewisandclarktravel.com/index.php/site/aaron_burr_meriwether_lewis_and_the_burr_wilkinson_conspiracy_part_3/ http://www.lewisandclarktravel.com/index.php/site/aaron_burr_meriwether_lewis_and_the_burr_wilkinson_conspiracy_part_3/#When:15:24:00Z Lewis and Clark receive new appointments In March, 1807, President Jefferson appointed Meriwether Lewis to be Governor of Louisiana Territory and Superintendent of Indian Affairs; and William Clark to be Brigadier General of the Upper Louisiana Militia and principal Indian Agent for all tribes west of the Mississippi River (except for the Osage, who were handled by Pierre Chouteau). Clark went immediately to St. Louis, arriving there in April, 1807 to take up his duties. They were all concerned about having a dependable military officer in charge of the region, in light of the recent Burr conspiracy and threats of war. Lewis remained in the east, while Frederick Bates, the new Territorial Secretary, assumed Lewis’s duties as Acting Governor. 1807: Returning to the Upper Missouri That month, in April, an expedition of 50-60 men, under the leadership of Manuel Lisa and George Drouillard, left St. Louis to establish a fur trade fort at the mouth of the Yellowstone and Bighorn Rivers in Montana. The expedition included several former members of the Lewis and Clark Expedition: George Drouillard, John Colter, Peter Weiser, and John Potts. In June, a joint military-commercial expedition of 102-108 people started up river under the command of Sgt. Nathaniel Pryor and Auguste Pierre Chouteau to deliver the Mandan Chief Sheheke, his wife and child, and the family of interpreter Rene Jessaume back home to their villages on the Knife River in North Dakota. (Sheheke: Mandan Indian Diplomat by Tracy Potter, pp 138-150) They were attacked by about 650 Arikara warriors in South Dakota on September 9th. Four men were killed and nine wounded; George Shannon, a member of the Lewis and Clark expedition, ultimately lost his leg from this battle. The expedition turned back and another attempt wouldn’t be made until 1809. Clark at Big Bone Lick Clark left for Fincastle in August, 1807 but he stopped at Big Bone Lick in Kentucky on an urgent mission for President Jefferson--to provide him with fossil bones. He spent the month of September digging up mastodon and mammoth bones, sending ten crates of bones to the delighted president. Lewis seeks a wife: the drawbacks of St. Louis During the months he was back east, Lewis courted several young women. He was from one of the great families of Virginia, seeking a wife of his own background, who would become the wife of the Governor of Louisiana Territory, one of the highest governmental posts in the United States. But any sensible woman would have doubts about moving to St. Louis. St. Louis was a town of about one thousand residents, which for years it had been under the rule of French and Spanish governments. For the last two years it had been under the corrupt administrations of General Wilkinson and Aaron Burr’s brother-in-law, Joseph Brown, the Secretary of the Territory. It was not only a center of intrigue regarding conspiracies to invade Spanish territories, it was also a center of land speculation and quarreling factions.  It was almost the only American or French town in all of Louisiana Territory, a land which encompassed hundreds of miles of Indian Country, from the Mississippi to the Rocky Mountains and the Canadian border. In the event of war with Britain, France or Spain and their Indian allies--wars which were routinely predicted in the newspapers of that time--St Louis would be attacked. In short it was a dangerous place to live, on the edge of a great frontier. Lewis in Philadelphia (April-June) At the end of March, 1807 Lewis announced in the newspapers that he would be publishing a map and the first of three volumes of his narrative account of the expedition in January, 1808. This didn’t happen. Sgt. Patrick Gass was the first to get a book out: Gass’s Journal of the Voyages and Travels of a Corps of Discovery was published in 1807. Lewis was concerned about presenting the scientific information and discoveries accurately. He spent the months of April, May and June in Philadelphia working on his field notes, and attending the monthly meetings of the American Philosophical Society. He made arrangements with horticulturists, botanists, and artists regarding the seeds and dried plant specimens he had brought back. He discussed his numerous scientific findings with experts. He sat for his portraits by Charles Willson Peale and Charles St. Memin. He was still settling accounts with the War Department accountant, providing receipts and explanations of expenses, and running errands for Jefferson at local stores. He was also having fun attending parties, being with friends, and looking for a wife. Lewis writes a policy paper In preparation for his duties as Governor of Louisiana Territory and perhaps in clearing his mind for writing a narrative of the expedition, Lewis wrote a long document, a policy paper on Indian relations and the fur trade, which Donald Jackson, editor of the Letters of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, states was completed by August of 1807. (The report is included in the Letters, pp. 696-719.) It was called “Observations and reflections on the present and future state of Upper Louisiana, in relation to the government of the Indian nations inhabiting that country, and the trade and intercourse with the same. By Captain Lewis.” It was included in Biddle’s edition of the Lewis and Clark Journals, published in 1814. Lewis also later used parts of it in a letter to the Secretary of War and as an article in The Missouri Gazette. The Burr Treason Trial (July-October) From July-October, 1807 there are almost no records of Meriwether Lewis’s whereabouts. Several authors and biographers have said that Meriwether Lewis attended the Burr treason trial proceedings as a personal observer for Thomas Jefferson, but they do not cite sources. Thomas Danisi, the author of a forthcoming biography of Meriwether Lewis, (Of High Destiny: A Biography of Meriwether Lewis due out in January, 2009) reports that he has found a letter written by Wilkinson mentioning Lewis’s presence at the trial. Authors Stephen Ambrose (Undaunted Courage p. 439), Jonathan Daniels (Ordeal of Ambition, p. 366), and John Bakeless (Lewis and Clark: Partners in Discovery, pp. 389-90) state that Lewis attended the trial, which extended over a period of months, ending on October 20, 1807. Wilkinson himself narrowly escaped indictment for treason, by a 7 to 9 vote of the grand jury (The Burr Conspiracy by Thomas Abernathy, page 241). He was a witness in the trial, and was less than credible according to all accounts. Jefferson was passionately interested in convicting Aaron Burr for treason. In the end, the verdict delivered by the Chief Justice of the United States, John Marshall, concluded that Burr was not guilty of treason--that is, of levying of war against the United States--although he was probably guilty of planning to invade Spanish territory. The government lost heart in pursuing the lesser charge, and the matter was dropped.  En route to his new life in St Louis By late October Lewis was back in Albemarle at his mother’s home at Ivy Creek. He wrote to his friend Mahlon Dickerson in Philadelphia, on November 3rd, “What may be my next adventure, God knows, but on this I am determined, to get a wife.” By late November Meriwether and his brother Reuben were in Fincastle. Reuben was moving to St. Louis also. Another traveling companion was Meriwether Lewis’s personal valet, John Pernier, a free mulatto. Pernier had been a servant in Jefferson’s White House. Wages for him were noted in Jefferson’s financial records for parts of 1804 and 1805. ("On the Death of Meriwether Lewis’s Servant” by Donald Jackson published in the The William and Mary Quarterly in July, 1964, pp 445-448). Pernier was present at the scene of Lewis’s death on October 11, 1809, as they were traveling together back to Washington on the Natchez Trace. Lewis wrote his mother on February 15th, 1808 that he was in Louisville and that Reuben was already en route to St Louis “in a flat bottomed boat with my baggage and carriage.” He wrote “I have for near two months been traversing this state in various directions in order to seek for and secure by every necessary arrangement the lands belonging to myself and Mary & John Markes.” [his mother’s children by her second husband] Lewis Starts a Newspaper Lewis after his arrival in Louisville found a printer, and placed an advertisement which appeared in the Louisville newspaper on January 5, 1808: “Those who wish to subscribe to the MISSOURI GAZETTE, are respectively informed that a subscription book is open at this Office. A capable Editor is employed, and a number of Gentlemen have volunteered to devote their leasure hours in writing on such subjects as will enrich its columns. Essays on Indian antiquity, Mines, Minerals, and an account of the Fur-Trade, with Topographical Scetches will be diligently sought after. TERMS, THREE Dollars per annum, paid in advance, or FOUR on the expiration of the year. Advertisements not exceeding a square, will be inserted one week for One Dollar and Fifty Cents for every continuance; those of greatest length in proportion.” Lewis had hired a Louisville printer, Joseph Charless, to go to St. Louis and start the first newspaper to be published west of the Missouri River. To be continued… 2008-05-30T15:24:00-06:00 http://www.lewisandclarktravel.com/index.php/site/aaron_burr_meriwether_lewis_and_the_burr_wilkinson_conspiracy_part_2/ http://www.lewisandclarktravel.com/index.php/site/aaron_burr_meriwether_lewis_and_the_burr_wilkinson_conspiracy_part_2/#When:14:53:01Z The “missing months” of 1806-07 Some people believe Meriwether Lewis committed suicide because there are times in his life when Lewis is thought to have been “dysfunctional.” One example is the 18 month period following the expedition’s return to St. Louis in September, 1806 until Lewis returned to St. Louis to assume his duties as Governor of Louisiana Territory in March, 1808. President Jefferson appointed him to his post in March, 1807 and yet it took him a full year to return to St. Louis. What was he doing during this time? He was doing a lot, as Parts 2 and 3 of this blog series will show. After the expedition members arrived in St. Louis on September 23, 1806, looking like “Robinson Crusoes in buckskin” as one observer put it, there was a round of parties and celebrations as Lewis and Clark began making their way back east to Washington, D.C.. But soon their paths separated as Clark pursued personal matters, and Lewis continued to perform his duties as a government official. Meriwether Lewis now emerges from the historical record as the true commander of the expedition, because all of the post-expedition responsibilities fell upon him. It was up to him to make the official report to the President; to escort the Mandan Chief Big White and his entourage to Washington; to settle the expedition’s financial accounts with the government, and to arrange for the men to be paid in cash and land. It was also his responsibility to publish their journals, maps, and scientific observations. It is easy to forget that he was a young man, 32 years old, who had just returned from a three and a half year grand adventure and that he was anxious to get back to his home in Charlottesville,Virginia, to see if his mother was still alive, and to be reunited with his family and friends. The last part of the return journey The journey to Washington soon got underway. The group consisted of Lewis and Clark, Clark’s slave York, Sgt John Ordway, Private Francis Labiche, the Mandan Interpreter Rene Jessaume, his wife and their two children, the Mandan Chief Sheheke (White Coyote or Big White), his wife,Yellow Corn, and their baby, and undoubtedly, Seaman the dog. The St. Louis fur trader and Indian Agent Pierre Chouteau was also traveling with them, escorting a group of six Osage Chiefs of the Arkansas Band to meet President Jefferson. On October 30th they were in Vincennes, Indiana visiting William Henry Harrison, the Governor of Indiana Territory. When they reached Louisville, Kentucky, they celebrated their return at a dinner party on November 8th at Locust Grove, the home of William Clark’s sister Lucy and her husband William Croghan. Clark and York remained behind in Louisville visiting family and friends, while the rest of the group continued on to Washington by two different routes. Chouteau and the Osages traveled east to Lexington, Kentucky, and from there to Washington; while Lewis’s party headed south towards the Cumberland Gap.  (All of the places mentioned in this blog are featured in my book, Lewis and Clark Road Trips, which has195 destinations east of St Louis.) Lewis returns home Lewis, Ordway, Labiche, and the Mandan Chief with his entourage took the Old Wilderness Road south to the Gap, where they entered southwest corner of Virginia. Lewis arrived in his hometown of Charlottesville, Virginia, where he was relieved to find his mother alive and well. There was a letter from President Jefferson in Washington, inviting the group to tour Jefferson’s nearby home at Monticello. He wanted them to visit his Indian Hall, where Indian artifacts sent back by Lewis and Clark were on exhibit. A gift to Virginia Lewis was asked to do some surveying work, in order to settle a boundary line dispute along the Virginia-North Carolina border. In late November, his survey added ten miles to the state of Virginia--not a bad gift to his home state! Clark visits his girlfriend in Fincastle Clark and York also took the Wilderness Road through the Gap, traveling to the home of Clark’s girlfriend, Julia (Judith) Hancock in Fincastle,Virginia. Julia (born November 21, 1791) had just turned 15. Their engagement was announced in March, and they were married on January 8, 1808. Clark had met Julia, who came from a distinguished Virginia family, before leaving on the expedition. He named the Judith River in Montana for her. On January 8, 1807, the citizens of Fincastle held a banquet honoring William Clark and Meriwether Lewis (in absentia). Turmoil in Washington and New Orleans The fall and winter months of 1806-07 were a time of great scandal and uproar involving the Burr-Wilkinson Conspiracy. Jefferson had been receiving alarming reports for over a year about Aaron Burr’s planned filibustering (non-authorized) expedition to invade Texas and Mexico where he planned to set up a Mexican empire, in case of a war with Spain. On November 27, 1806 Jefferson finally issued an order for the arrest of his former Vice-President and his allies, after receiving a hysterical letter from Wilkinson warning of the filibuster. Wilkinson estimated Burr’s force at 1,000-1,500 men, while it was actually between 60-100 men. Wilkinson and Burr and many others had been plotting the invasion of the Spanish Southwest for months (if not decades), but Wilkinson turned on his colleagues and switched sides. The Neutral Ground Agreement General James Wilkinson was both the civilian and military commander in Louisiana Territory: he was the Commanding General of the United States Army (1800-1812), and was appointed by Jefferson to be the first Governor of Louisiana Territory in 1805. After complaints of Wilkinson’s involvement in fraudulent land dealings in St Louis mounted, Jefferson removed him from his post as Governor in June, 1806, and ordered him to the Sabine River, where Spanish troops had crossed over the disputed boundary line between Mexican and U. S. Territory (today’s Texas-Louisiana border). In October, 1806 Wilkinson avoided a war with Spain by making a private deal with General Simon Herrera, to withdraw his Mexican troops back across the Sabine River. Their “Neutral Ground Agreement,” signed on November 5, 1806, established a no-man’s land between the two countries. The 40 mile wide strip of land subsequently became a haven for outlaws, pirates and filibustering expeditions until the Adams-Onis Treaty of 1819 settled the boundary issues. Wilkinson thus managed to please both his Spanish paymasters and the President, while sacrificing his friend and fellow conspirator, Aaron Burr. Years later it was proven that Wilkinson had been receiving payments from the Spanish Government since 1787. Although charges of secret payments were widely alleged at the time, it was never conclusively proven until the Spanish archives were opened. After betraying Burr, Wilkinson sent a representative to the Spanish Viceroy of Mexico asking for payment of 121,000 pesos for stopping the invasion, but the request was refused. He did, however,--in typical Wilkinson fashion--manage to sell a report and maps of his messenger’s trip to the American government for $1,750. Wilkinson betrays Burr and his fellow conspirators In November, Wilkinson unlawfully seized control in New Orleans, despite the refusals of the Governor of New Orleans Territory William Claiborne and the New Orleans legislature to declare martial law and suspend habeus corpus. Wilkinson ordered the arrest of five of his friends and fellow conspirators and sent them by naval ship to Washington and Baltimore. He jailed a New Orleans judge and the New Orleans Gazette newspaper editor when they protested. The eventful year of 1807 In a Special Message to Congress on January 12, 1807, Jefferson revealed Burr’s plot, characterizing it both as a plot to separate the western states from the American Union and to invade Mexico. This is where matters stood in January, 1807 when Lewis and Clark were receiving a heroes’ welcome in Washington. A presidential banquet was held on January 14th, even though Clark was still absent. Lewis and the Mandan Chief had arrived on December 28th, but the celebration had been postponed in anticipation of Clark’s arrival. Clark finally arrived after the party, on January 18th, and wrote to his brother Jonathan on the 22nd that the “Expedition of Mr. B. has excted the greatest allarm” in Washington. Aaron Burr, meanwhile, had been arrested at Bayou Pierre near Natchez, Mississippi on January 10th. Several balls were given in his honor as he awaited trial in the Mississippi territorial court at Washington, Mississippi. No one believed that Burr planned to separate the western states, and many local citizens were in favor of invading Spanish territories. On February 4, 1807 the grand jury refused to indict him. The next day, fearing for his life, Burr fled from arrest by Wilkinson’s men. A $2,000 reward was offered for his capture. He was caught on February 13th and brought to Richmond, Virginia in March, where he stood trial for treason on August 7, 1807. To be continued… 2008-05-30T14:53:01-06:00 http://www.lewisandclarktravel.com/index.php/site/how_i_got_started_writing_lewis_and_clark_road_trips/ http://www.lewisandclarktravel.com/index.php/site/how_i_got_started_writing_lewis_and_clark_road_trips/#When:16:24:00Z Years ago, in 1991, I acquired my first computer, a little MacIntosh with a 160 megabytes of memory. Now my computer has 465 gigabytes of memory. I can’t even do the math to compare it. That little computer was wonderful because it had copy, paste and delete functions and it could do images. I was in heaven! I decided to do a book of local history.  It was going to be called Exploring History in Omaha-Council Bluffs: from Prehistoric Times to 1854. It featured 50 places to visit that were related to the history of that time period, the time before Nebraska Territory was established.  Even then I knew that Lewis and Clark were special and I gave them a chapter all of their own. My other chapters were prehistoric Indians, Indians, the fur trade, and the Mormon-Oregon-California historic trails. I identified 50 places to visit, and had lots of fun doing so, and even found a couple of lost trading posts (that is, lost to the present day historic record). I was inspired by serving as a tour guide for the national meeting of the Oregon-California Trails Association which was held in Omaha at that time. I think we all have a natural curiosity about learning “what happened here.” Dorothy Dustin and Charles Martin had created the tour guide scripts. I checked out their history, and they were right on target. I discovered that due to our location, Omaha and Council Bluffs had been a center of historic events of national importance, and that many famous people were associated with our history.  Lewis and Clark Study Group The years went by, and gradually my book was taking shape, but I could see that the Lewis and Clark bicentennial was going to happen. In 2001 decided to work on a national book project, and started the Lewis and Clark Study Group at the Western Historic Trails Center in Council Bluffs. My partner was Darrel Draper, who also needed to study the complete set of the modern journals of Lewis and Clark edited by Gary Moulton. Darrel went onto impersonate George Drouillard, and I went onto write Lewis and Clark Road Trips, with over 800 destinations around the country.  Study Group is now in its eighth year.We are part of the Mouth of the Platte Chapter of the Lewis and Clark Trail Heritage Foundation. I served as the first president of the chapter, and received the 2007 Meritorious Achievement Award of the national foundation last year. We meet weekly on Tuesdays from 9-11 during September through May, and during the summer we are touring the area.  This photo is taken during our visit to the Glenwood, Iowa public library where we are examining books written by Donald Jackson, a native a Glenwood, and editor of the Letters of Lewis and Clark, among many other major publications. Jackson called the old Carnegie Library his own "personal Library of Congress." The Glenwood earth lodge We spent the day in Glenwood and also visited the Mills County Historical Museum and the Glenwood earth lodge, and dined at the Oasis cafe. It brought back many memories for me. The first attraction in the local history book project was going to be the reconstructed earth lodge at Glenwood, Iowa. I used to go over and visit with its builder, D. D. Davis, who had spent a lifetime roaming the Pony Creek area of the Loess Hills, acquiring prehistoric artifacts that are on display at the Mills County Historical Museum. D. D. told me that boy scouts had figured out the technique for building an authentic earth lodge—throw the mud to make the walls of the earth lodge! The earth lodge, which has a life span of 15-20 years, has since been rebuilt by Glenwood volunteers, and they are still using this technique. To learn more, please visit the Study Group page of my website at http://www.lewisandclarkroadtrips.com.  We also took along our Lewis and Clark Buddy Bear, sometimes called Biddle. There are several bears out roaming the Lewis and Clark Trail and posing for photo ops. If you want to have your own bear, please contact me. 2008-05-16T16:24:00-06:00 http://www.lewisandclarktravel.com/index.php/site/the_new_madrid_earthquakes_of_1811_12/ http://www.lewisandclarktravel.com/index.php/site/the_new_madrid_earthquakes_of_1811_12/#When:02:01:00Z The New Madrid earthquakes were the biggest earthquakes in American history. They occurred in the central Mississippi Valley, but were felt as far away as New York City, Boston, Montreal, and Washington D. C. President James Madison and his wife Dolly felt them in the White House. Church bells rang in Boston. From December 16, 1811 through March of 1812 there were over 2,000 earthquakes in the central Midwest, and between 6,000-10,000 earthquakes in the Bootheel of Missouri where New Madrid is located near the junction of the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers. In the known history of the world, no other earthquakes have lasted so long or produced so much evidence of damage as the New Madrid earthquakes. Three of the earthquakes are on the list of America’s top earthquakes: the first one on December 16, 1811, a magnitude of 8.1 on the Richter scale; the second on January 23, 1812, at 7.8; and the third on February 7, 1812, at as much as 8.8 magnitude. The source of these magnitude estimates is the USGS. The other material comes from the book, The Earthquake America Forgot listed at the end of this blog. The Mississippi ran backwards After the February 7th earthquake, boatmen reported that the Mississippi actually ran backwards for several hours. The force of the land upheaval 15 miles south of New Madrid created Reelfoot lake, drowned the inhabitants of an Indian village; turned the river against itself to flow backwards; devastated thousands of acres of virgin forest; and created two temporary waterfalls in the Mississippi. Boatmen on flatboats actually survived this experience and lived to tell the tale. Getting over cracks As the general area experienced more than 2,000 earthquakes in five months, people discovered that most of crevices opening up during an earthquake ran from north to south, and when the earth began moving, they would chop down trees in an east- west direction and hold on using the tree as a bridge. There were “missing people” who were most likely swallowed up by the earth. Some earthquake fissures were as long as five miles. Strange Earthquake Phenonema Sand boils: The world’s largest sand boil was created by the New Madrid earthquake. It is 1.4 miles long and 136 acres in extent, located in the Bootheel of Missouri, about 8 miles west of Hayti, Missouri. Locals call it “The Beach.” Other, much smaller, sand boils are found throughout the area. Seismic tar balls: Small pellets up to golf ball sized tar balls are found in sand boils and fissures. They are petroleum that has been solidified, or “petroliferous nodules.” Earthquake lights: Lights flashed from the ground, caused by quartz crystals being squeezed. The phenomena is called “seismoluminescence.” Warm water: Water thrown up by an earthquake was lukewarm. The authors speculate that shaking caused the water to heat up and/or quartz light heated the water. Earthquake smog: The skies turned dark during an earthquake, so dark that lighted lamps didn’t help. The air smelled bad, and it was hard to breathe. The authors speculate it was a smog containing dust particles caused by the eruption of warm water into cold air. Loud thunder: Sounds of distant thunder and loud explosions accompanied earthquakes. Animal warnings: People reported strange behavior by animals before the earthquakes. They were nervous and excited. Domestic animals became wild, and wild animals became tame. Snakes came out of the ground from hibernation. Flocks of ducks and geese landed near people. Tecumseh’s Comet and the Battle of Tippecanoe The earthquakes were preceded by the appearance of a great comet, which was visible around the globe for seventeen months, and was at its brightest during the earthquakes. The comet, with an orbit of 3,065 years, was last seen during the time of Ramses II in Egypt. In 1811-1812, it was called “Tecumseh’s Comet” (or “Napoleon’s Comet” in Europe). Tecumseh was a Shawnee Indian leader whose name meant “Shooting Star” or “He who walks across the sky.” He was given this name at birth. A great orator and military leader, Tecumseh organized a confederation of Indian tribes to oppose the takeover of 3 million acres of Indian lands, which were obtained by the Treaty of Fort Wayne in 1809. His brother, a religious leader called “The Prophet,” had gained fame when he foretold the total eclipse of the sun on June 16, 1806. (They had learned about it in advance from a team of visiting astronomers.) During this time, the Governor of Indiana Territory William Henry Harrison--worried about The Prophet’s popularity--had challenged him to produce a miracle. After the day of the “Black Sun” the brothers had no trouble attracting followers. A Black Sun was said to predict a future war. On September 17, 1811 there was another solar eclipse—which, again, was predicted by The Prophet. The brothers’ center of operations was at Prophet’s Town, located near the junction of the Wabash and Tippecanoe Rivers in northern Indiana. Tecumseh was traveling and recruiting warriors among the southeastern tribes, when Governor Harrison attacked Prophet’s Town with over a 1,000 men on November 6, 1811, a pre-emptive strike by the U. S., which marked the beginning of “Tecumseh’s War.” On December 16th, when the earthquakes began, Tecumseh was at the Shawnee and Delaware Indian villages near Cape Girardeau, 50 miles north of the epicenter at New Madrid. The earthquakes continued as he traveled back to Prophet’s Town, arriving there in February, 1812. Tecumseh’s followers lost the Battle of Tippecanoe, but they continued to fight as allies of the British during the War of 1812 between the United States and Great Britain. Tecumseh was killed in battle in Canada in 1813. He is honored as one of the greatest of Indian leaders, both in the United States, and in Canada, where he is considered a national hero. The first steamboat on the western waters survived the earthquakes The first steamboat travel on the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers took place during the New Madrid earthquakes. The New Orleans set out from Pittsburgh on October 20, 1811 bound for New Orleans. Captain Nicholas Roosevelt had brought along his young wife, their 2 year old daughter, and a Labrador dog. Ten days after leaving Pittsburgh, his wife Lydia gave birth to a son in Louisville, Kentucky. They waited a while for her to recover, and for the water to rise prior to crossing the dangerous waters and coral reef at the Falls of the Ohio. On the night before the day of the earthquake, December 16th, the steamboat was anchored near Owensboro, Kentucky, about 200 miles east of New Madrid, Missouri. Their dog, Tiger, insisted on staying in the cabin with them instead of sleeping on the deck. Without realizing it, they were heading straight towards the epicenter of the greatest earthquake in American history. Their steamboat, intended to be an advertisement for steam travel, was thought instead to be the cause of the earthquake by many who saw it. At Henderson, Kentucky, where no chimneys were left standing, they stopped to visit their friends, the painter John James Audubon and his wife Lucy. Floating in the middle of the Ohio River they were protected from the earthquake tremors shaking the land, but not from the hazards of falling trees, disappearing islands, and collapsing river banks. After entering Indian Territory on December 18th, they were chased by Indians who figured the “fire canoe” had caused the earthquake, but they managed to escape capture by outrunning them. They even had a small cabin fire that night which they managed to put out. Thousands of trees were floating on the waters of the Mississippi as they approached New Madrid on December 19th, three days after the earthquake. They found that the town of New Madrid had been destroyed. They didn’t dare to stop and pick up a few survivors, for fear of being overrun, and they were without supplies. Most alarming was the fact that they had not seen a boat ascending the river in three days. They saw wrecked and abandoned boats. It was undoubtedly a miracle that they survived and kept on going. They tied up at one island, and the island sank during the night. Their dog, Tiger, alerted them to oncoming tremors. On December 22nd, they encountered the British naturalist John Bradbury on a boat at the mouth of the St. Francis River, who told them the town of Big Prairie was gone. They arrived at Natchez, Mississippi on December 30th and celebrated the first marriage aboard a steamboat on December 31st, when the steamboat engineer married Lydia’s maid! They arrived at New Orleans on January 10th, 1812, safe and sound, after traveling 1,900 miles from Pittsburgh on the first steamboat to travel the western waters. Highly Recommended Reading The source of most of this material is from The Earthquake America Forgot: 2,000 Temblors in Five Months…And It Will Happen Again! by Dr. David Stewart and Dr. Ray Knox. (1995, Gutenberg-Richter Publications, 375 pages). The authors are geoscientists, specializing in earthquakes. The book is one of the most fascinating I have ever read; it is factual and entertaining, and crammed with every imaginable bit of relevant information, great stories, photos, maps and illustrations. Call the publishers at 1-800-758-8629 to order this and The New Madrid Fault Finders Guide by the authors. 2008-04-29T02:01:00-06:00 http://www.lewisandclarktravel.com/index.php/site/sacagaweas_children_in_st_louis/ http://www.lewisandclarktravel.com/index.php/site/sacagaweas_children_in_st_louis/#When:19:42:00Z In my previous blog, “What happened to Sacagawea’s children?” I said I would tell more of the story concerning the lives of Pompey and Lisette after they were adopted by William Clark in 1813. In this blog I will tell about their lives in St. Louis. Little Pompey (born February 11, 1805 at Fort Mandan) had been living in St Louis since 1809, staying with his parents on a farm in Florissant, Missouri (today a suburb of St. Louis). He was baptized at the St Louis Cathedral on December 28, 1809; with Auguste Chouteau, the most prominent citizen of St. Louis, serving as his godfather. Sacagawea and Toussaint Charbonneau returned to the Dakotas in 1811, traveling with Manuel Lisa’s expedition to Fort Manuel, located near the South Dakota-North border in today’s Kenel, SD. They left 6 year old Pompey (Jean-Baptiste) in the custody of William Clark who had promised to raise and educate him when he was old enough to leave his mother’s care. In 1812, after the second war against Great Britain and its Indian allies began, Sacagawea gave birth to a baby girl, Lisette, at Fort Manuel. Tragically, the young mother died there, on December 20, 1812 of “putrid fever.” She was about 25 years old. A few weeks after her death, the fort was attacked by Indian allies of the British, and fifteen of the Missouri Fur Company men were killed. The remaining men retreated down river to St. Louis, stopping long enough to build Fort Lisa, north of today’s Omaha, Nebraska. On August 11, 1813 the Orphan Court records of St. Louis show that John Luttig was appointed the guardian of Jean Baptiste and Lisette Charbonneau. Luttig, the company clerk of the Missouri Fur Company, was substituting for an absent William Clark, whose name later replaced Luttig’s on the document. At the time it was thought that their father, Toussaint Charbonneau, was also deceased, but this proved not to be true. Two more records found Bob Moore, the historian of the Jefferson National Memorial Expansion Arch at St. Louis, has discovered two more important records at the St. Louis Old Cathedral. He reported the discovery in a letter to We Proceeded On, the magazine of the Trail Heritage Foundation, in the issue published in February, 2005, on the 200th anniversary of Jean-Baptiste’s birth. The first is a burial record from 1813: “The 30th of August 1813 by us assigned to hold burial in the cemetery of the parish of St Louis the body of a young female savage of the nation of serpents [Snakes/Shoshone] belonging to Mr. Charbonneau aged one year.” The second is a burial record from 1832 for “Lisette, Sauvagess.” It reads “The year of J. C. [Jesus Christ] 1832 and the 16th of June I gave ecclesiastic burial to Lisette, female savage of the nation of snakes, aged twenty one years, administered the sacraments decided yesterday.” The two records, taken together, make it seem very likely that the “other” Shoshone wife of Toussaint Charbonneau, Otter Woman, accompanied Sacagawea’s little baby, Lisette, down river to St Louis, and that she was also nursing a baby girl of her own. Otter Woman was a friend of Sacagawea’s. It was Otter Woman’s daughter, aged one year, who must have died in August, 1813. The early death of Lisette at age 21 explains why we know so little about her. I like to think that Otter Woman remained in St Louis and took care of Lisette and was a second mother to Jean-Baptiste. Again, it seems very likely. Jean-Baptiste grew up to be a very distinguished and unique individual who retained his Indian heritage despite his education and his years of living among the European aristocracy. If he had been raised almost solely by whites, it is doubtful, he would have had such a secure Indian identity. There was a third child from the Lewis and Clark Expedition who was living in St. Louis, Toussaint Jessaume. The Jessaume family was living in St. Louis with the Mandan Chief Sheheke and his family in 1807-09. They had all traveled together to the east coast and met President Jefferson in January, 1807 and were waiting for a safe passage back home. When the Jessaumes, Charbonneaus, and Sheheke and his family returned to the Mandan-Hidatsa villages in 1809, the 13 year old Toussaint chose to stay behind in St. Louis. On May 10, 1809 Meriwether Lewis signed apprentice papers for him, and took him into his own home, promising to raise and educate him at his own expense. It is not known what happened to Toussaint Jessaume after Lewis’s death on October 11, 1809. Perhaps his brother Reuben took him into his home. In 1818, Bishop DuBourg opened the St. Louis Academy, and Jean-Baptiste and the Clark boys attended school there. The academy evolved into St. Louis University, which is proud to claim Jean-Baptiste Charbonneau as an alumni. Mother Phillippine Duchesne established a school at St Charles for girls and boys, the first free school west of the Mississippi River. Did Lisette attend this school, or the one in Florissant, where Mother Duchesne opened another school for Indian children? A search is being made of the records, and I will let you know the outcome in my next blog. The Clarks had five young children, and Julia Clark who had been ill for some time with breast cancer, died on June 20, 1820. She and their children had often traveled to stay with Clark’s family in Louisville, Kentucky and her family in Fincastle, Virginia during her illness. It seems likely that Pompey and Lisette were living with Otter Woman. Pompey must have attended one of the small schools in the area, or been privately tutored when he was young. Pompey entered the fur trade, working for the Chouteaus, sometime between 1821-23. I will blog about that next, as his life was extremely interesting. The best book about Sacagawea and Pomp is by Susan M. Colby, a Charbonneau descendant and anthropologist. It is called Sacagawea’s Child: The Life and Times of Jean-Baptiste (Pomp) Chabonneau (Arthur H. Clark Co., 2005). It is a featured book on my bookstore website, and costs $28.50. Here is a link to Amazon. 2008-03-05T19:42:00-06:00 http://www.lewisandclarktravel.com/index.php/site/what_happened_to_sacagaweas_children/ http://www.lewisandclarktravel.com/index.php/site/what_happened_to_sacagaweas_children/#When:21:51:00Z “The court appoints William Clark Guardian to the infant children of Toussaint Charbonneau deceased, to wit, Toussaint Charbonneau a boy about the age of ten years old and Lisette Charbonneau a girl about one year old.” --Orphans Court record, St Louis, August 11, 1813 The earliest probate court records of St. Louis were discovered in an old safe at the courthouse last fall, containing guardianship proceedings regarding Sacagawea’s children.The story made the Fox News broadcast in St Louis on January 21, 2008. The record, shown here, is of an Orphans Court hearing held on August 11, 1813. William Clark’s name is added to the document, substituted for the name of the original guardian, John Luttig, who was the company clerk of the Missouri Fur Company. What’s the story behind this? Lewis and Clark fans know that Toussaint, also known by his nickname “Pompey,” or as Jean Baptiste Charbonneau, was born on February 11, 1805 at Fort Mandan near Bismarck, North Dakota. This would make him 8 ½ years old. However, William Clark was not in St Louis at the time the hearing was held. He would have known the precise age of his adopted son, who was already living in St Louis and attending a boarding school.The father, Toussaint Charbonneau, Sr. was also not “deceased” though he was believed to be so at the time. He lived until about 1840. Toussaint and Sacagawea and their son Pompey came to St. Louis in 1809 with Manuel Lisa and Pierre Chouteau, who had successfully delivered the Mandan Chief, Sheheke, or Big White, back to his village in North Dakota where the Charbonneau family was living. William Clark had requested they bring Pompey to St Louis where he would provide for his education when he was old enough to go to school. The Charbonneau family lived in Florissant, the town next to St Charles, for a year or more before returning home. They went back up river with Manuel Lisa in 1811, leaving their six year old son in William’s Clark’s care. Sacagawea’s Death at Fort Manuel in 1812 Sacagawea died on Fort Manuel in Kenel, South Dakota on December 20, 1812. The Orphan Court record confirms that it was Sacagawea, rather than Charbonneau’s other Shoshone wife, who died at Fort Manuel. John Luttig wrote in his journal on Sunday, December 20, 1812: "this evening the wife of Charbonneau a Snake Squar, died of a putrid fever, she was a good and the best Women in the fort, aged abt 25 years she left a fine infant girl." The little baby girl, Lisette, and an Indian woman to care for her, must have been brought down to St Louis by Lisa’s men as they retreated back to St Louis after Fort Manuel was attacked by Indians allies of the British during the War of 1812.The attack occurred sometime after March 5, 1813, the last date of entry in Luttig’s Journal. According to Richard Oglesby’s biography of Manuel Lisa, fifteen men of the Missouri Fur Company died in the attack. Was Lisette named for Manuel Lisa? It’s a possibility. Luttig’s Journal of a Fur Trading Expedition 1812-13 is very interesting to read. The 1920 version is available on the internet. Here’s the link: http://www.xmission.com/~drudy/mtman/html/Luttig/ The Missouri Fur Company expedition retreated down river to St Louis, stopping to build Fort Lisa near the site of Council Bluffs, where Fort Atkinson was later built, north of Omaha, Nebraska. Fort Lisa became the westernmost fort defending the American frontier during the War of 1812. Lisa returned and made his headquarters there in 1814, appointed as a special Indian Agent by William Clark. I published a booklet, Defending the Western Frontier: Manuel Lisa and the War of 1812 in the Omaha-Council Bluffs Area, based on a paper I gave at the Missouri Valley History Conference in 1999. I will blog at other times about the children, and also about the War of 1812 out west. 2008-01-28T21:51:00-06:00 http://www.lewisandclarktravel.com/index.php/site/aaron_burr_meriwether_lewis_and_the_burr_wilkinson_conspiracy_part_1/ http://www.lewisandclarktravel.com/index.php/site/aaron_burr_meriwether_lewis_and_the_burr_wilkinson_conspiracy_part_1/#When:23:53:00Z Aaron Burr and Meriwether Lewis crossed paths several times during Lewis’s all too short life. One of Lewis’s last assignments from Jefferson was to root out suspected “Burrites” from political office in St  Louis, while Lewis was serving as Governor of Upper Louisiana Territory in 1807-09. Lewis died in 1809 on the Natchez Trace, traveling to Washington, D. C. to protest some bills that weren’t being paid by government bureaucrats, and perhaps bringing some incriminating evidence regarding the Burr-Wilkinson Conspiracy to Washington. Some believe he was murdered. Burr and Lewis had worked together during the first administration of President Thomas Jefferson (1801-1804), when Burr was Vice President of the United States and Lewis was serving as Jefferson’s private secretary. Lewis lived at the White House almost from Jefferson’s first month in office until he left on July 5, 1803 to lead the elite special army unit known as the “Corps of Volunteers for Northwestern Discovery” whose mission was to explore the new Louisiana Purchase and to seek an all water route to the Pacific Ocean. On July 11, 1804, the young army captain was traveling up the Missouri River near today’s Kansas-Nebraska border when Aaron Burr killed Alexander Hamilton in the famous duel. It was over two years before Lewis and the other expedition members heard about it. They got their first news on September 3, 1806 when they were returning home and met trader James Aird near today’s Sioux City, Iowa. William Clark wrote they learned “that Mr. Burr and Genl. Hambleton fought a Duel, the latter was killed &c &c.” Alexander Hamilton had been the first Treasurer of the United States (1789-1795) under President George Washington. Other news was that Aird “informed us that Genl. Wilkinson was the governor of the Louisiana at St Louis 300 of the American Troops had been Contuned on the Missouri a fiew miles above it’s mouth. Some disturbance with the Spaniards in the Nackatosh Country is the Cause of their being Called down to that Country…” (pages 346-347, The Definitive Journals of Lewis and Clark: Over the Rockies to St Louis ) The Burr-Wilkinson Conspiracy Well, what was Burr “up to” while our guys were returning home? And what was the Burr-Wilkinson Conspiracy that was going to consume so much of Lewis’s time and attention in the years ahead? Who was Wilkinson? General James Wilkinson was a slick operator—widely accused at the time of being in the pay of Spain. (This was later proven when files from the Spanish archives were opened. He was on the payroll of Spain from 1787 onward.) He was also the Commanding General of the United States Army and the first Governor of Upper Louisiana Territory. He was a useful double agent for President Jefferson, who was rightfully concerned with control of New Orleans and the Mississippi River. But absolutely nobody trusted him, except—perhaps—Aaron Burr. After the duel with Hamilton, Burr’s political career was effectively ended. The Burr-Wilkinson Conspiracy was a plot hatched by the two men to invade Spanish territory with a “filibustering” expedition. They planned to lead a private, armed expedition of 1,000-1,500 men into Mexico and establish a new government there, with themselves at the head of it. The invasion would launch from New Orleans, and it would take place whenever the United States went to war with Spain. They plotted together in 1804-05, and received widespread support from Americans eager to end Spanish rule. It was the talk of the country and rumors were widely reported in the newspapers. Other versions of the story are that Burr planned to establish a colony of young men on land along the Washita River called the Bastrop Lands, near today’s Austin,Texas. In addition, a separation of the western states from the American Union, the conquest of New Orleans, and support from the British Navy were all part of the rumored plans. On September 23, 1806, when the Lewis and Clark Expedition returned to St Louis they received a heroes’ welcome. But over the next few months, the big national news story was the filibustering expedition led by Aaron Burr. Blennerhassett Island The expedition was to start from Blennerhassett Island on the Ohio River near Parkersburg, West Virginia,where boats, supplies and men were being assembled. The island was the private estate of a wealthy and eccentric Irish aristocrat, Harman Blennerhassett, who was bankrolling the adventure. On November 27, 1806 President Jefferson ordered the arrest of Burr and his followers on the charge of illegally planning an armed attack on Spanish territory. Two weeks later, on December 11th, Blennerhassett and about 30 members of the filibuster fled from local militia, who burned Blennerhassett’s mansion on the island to the ground. The group traveled down the Ohio, where, on December 27th, they met up with Aaron Burr at the mouth of the Cumberland River in Kentucky. Altogether, the expedition now numbered around 60-100 men. The original plan was that the group would be gradually be joined by more and more men as it proceeded down river, but this didn’t happen. Neutral Ground on the Sabine River  What about the war with Spain that was supposed to launch the filibuster? General Wilkinson had been removed from political office as the Governor of Upper Louisiana at St Louis in June of 1806 by Jefferson, and sent down with troops to the Sabine River area between Nacogdoches Texas and Natchitoches, Louisiana. (Look at a modern day map: the Sabine River forms the wavy line boundary directly below the straight line boundary of Texas and Louisiana.) During October and November, 1806, General Wilkinson managed a peaceful stand off with Mexican troops who had crossed the Sabine River invading U.S. territory. On his own authority, he signed an agreement on November 5, 1806 with the Mexican army commander which secured a 120 mile wide “neutral zone” between Nacogdoches and Natchitoches that extended all the way down to the Gulf waters. This area remained a lawless Neutral Ground from 1806 until 1821, and a border war with Spain was averted. Burr Arrested Where did this leave Aaron Burr? Wilkinson had already betrayed him on October 9th, writing a hysterical letter to President Jefferson revealing the conspiracy, and enclosed a letter in cipher code from Burr as evidence.When Burr and his followers arrived at Bayou Pierre, 30 miles north of New Orleans, they learned of Jefferson’s order for their arrest, and they turned themselves in on January 10, 1810. To be continued… 2008-01-25T23:53:00-06:00 http://www.lewisandclarktravel.com/index.php/site/book_tv_provides_insight_into_aaron_burrs_character1/ http://www.lewisandclarktravel.com/index.php/site/book_tv_provides_insight_into_aaron_burrs_character1/#When:19:59:00Z Last weekend I heard a conversation on Book TV between two of my favorite historians, Joseph Ellis and Richard Brookhiser, who were talking about Ellis’s latest book, American Creation: Triumphs and Tragedies at the Founding of the Republic. This is the first time I can ever remember hearing a conversation on C-SPAN, and I hope we have more opportunities like this one. I like all the formats on Book TV: the author talks followed by questions from the audience; the in-depth interviews; and the panel discussions, but I have always wanted to hear experts talk directly with one another, like the sports guys do on the sports channel that my husband listens to. The New York Historical Society hosted the original one hour program, which can be heard over the internet.  Here is a direct link to the page with the  video broadcast on booktv.org. I enjoyed hearing it for a second time. It was insightful and fun and gave me many things to think about. My favorite insight came from Richard Brookhiser; it was regarding the "charm" of Aaron Burr. Like all students of this time period, I am puzzled as to what to make of Aaron Burr--"What was he up to?" is the perpetual question, then and now, regarding his filibustering expedition to the southwest in 1806 (which is known as the "Burr-Wilkinson Conspiracy.")  Brookhiser said that an old book on Aaron Burr written around 1910 contained information from people who actually had known Burr, and revealed why he was such an enigmatic charmer. They reported that Aaron Burr was a "great listener." He listened with full attention to people. That’s why people didn’t know what he was "up to"--they were too busy talking about their own ideas to care!  So what was he up to? Most of the 60-100 members of the filibustering expedition thought they were going to invade Spanish territory in the winter months of 1806-07. The question remains, did Burr intend to create a new country, with himself as the head of a new empire? I think so. I will write more about Burr and Meriwether Lewis in my next blog. 2008-01-17T19:59:00-06:00 http://www.lewisandclarktravel.com/index.php/site/lewis_and_clark_for_libraries_boy_scout_girl_scout_and_4_h_leaders/ http://www.lewisandclarktravel.com/index.php/site/lewis_and_clark_for_libraries_boy_scout_girl_scout_and_4_h_leaders/#When:15:57:00Z "Reference books just do not get any better than this one. It should be on every library shelf in every nook and cranny of America, but especially in Nebraska. It should be in the personal library of every Boy Scout, Girl Scout, and 4-H leader. It should interest the many thousands of Lewis and Clark afficionados.  The only lament is that this excellent guide was not published until 2006--we could have used it five years earlier. Still, do not miss it."---John R. Wunder, professor of history at University of Nebraska. Dr. Wunder gave a rave review to Lewis and Clark Road Trips: Exploring the Trail Across America by author Kira Gale  in the fall 2007 issue of Nebraska History. Here are some more excerpts from the review: "Many high (and low) quality publications were produced during the Lewis and Clark Expedition commemoration of 2003-2006.  The event kept potential authors and publishers working overtime. In some ways the public is exhausted by this celebration, unlike any previous including the U. S. Bicentennial. Nevertheless, this book--a Lewis and Clark geographical almanac--is an outstanding reference work, truly welcome to the literature. This amazing travel-guide-plus includes 161 outstanding maps with clear driving directions, 573 Lewis and Clark historic campsites, and more than 800 destinations. Divided into ten regions, the guide begins with the homelands of Meriwether Lewis and William Clark east of the Alleghenies and the Ohio Country and concudes at the spot where Lewis breathed his last along the Natchez Trace.  In between, the book provides much information from St. Louis to Astoria." The author’s response--I also wished this book could have been published in 2003!  But that is why I spent six years writing it from 2001-2006. I saw a need for good maps and tourist itineraries. I also learned a lot of history and geography  by traveling, reading, and searching websites. I have always wanted to understand more about American history in terms of place, and I had the experience of a lifetime in traveling the trail. I am glad to share it with others and this story will continue to grow.  In 2008 we will have forums on the lewisandclarkroadtrips.com website, and others will be able to participate in shaping the story of the trail. (January, 2008) 2008-01-06T15:57:00-06:00