Meriwether Lewis' family in search of truth

One can only imagine what would happen today if someone of the stature of Meriwether Lewis were to meet a violent end in a small-town inn.

Congress would demand an investigation. The media would camp out in the town for weeks. Forensics experts would be called in from across the country, well-equipped with the latest technology to answer the ultimate question: Was it murder, or was it suicide?

In 1809, just three years removed from his journey from the Mississippi to the Pacific to explore the Louisiana Purchase, Lewis was the 19th century equivalent of Neil Armstrong. Yet when he was found dead in his room at a roadside inn in Grinder’s Switch, Tenn., whatever authorities presided over the case quickly accepted a verdict of suicide — despite the fact that Lewis was shot twice — and gave him an unceremonious burial.

Now, Lewis’ family wants to reopen the investigation.

“This has been going on a long time,” said Lynchburg resident Anderson (Andy) Sale, a retired Presbyterian minister and “collateral descendant” of Lewis, “but it really picked up during the Bicentennial of the Lewis & Clark expedition.”

Moreover, Oct. 11 will be the 200th anniversary of Lewis’ demise.

The family (all collateral descendants, since Lewis never married or had children) wants to have Hugh Berryman, a forensic scientist at Middle Tennessee State University, examine Lewis’ remains. The problem is, his body is buried on the Natchez Trace Parkway, which is federal land. Approval from the National Park Service is required, and negotiations have dragged on through 10 years and three presidential administrations.

“Part of the reason for exhuming him is to revisit the cause of death,” Sale said, “but we also think it’s important to give him a formal funeral and burial.”

When and if that happens, Sale will preside over the service.

“It seems I’m the only member of the clergy among our lineage,” he said.

Sale is named for his uncle, Meriwether Lewis Anderson, who lived at Locust Hill in Charlottesville — Lewis’ birthplace and boyhood home. The original Meriwether Lewis was on his way to see Thomas Jefferson in Virginia when he died.

“In his book on Lewis, ‘Undaunted Courage,’ Stephen Ambrose made the case that he was suicidal at the time,” Sale said.

Perhaps this contributed to a certain degree of apathy on the part of the federal government.

“Because of this, the family has decided to change tactics,” Sale said, “and invite more publicity.”

Now, there is a Web site (www.solvethemystery.com) and a campaign to contact the media across the country. Last week, two family members joined Hugh Berryman and a lawyer for a panel discussion at the prestigious National Press Club in Washington.

“One of our main arguments,” Sale said, “is that a person of Meriwether Lewis’ stature deserves a proper burial, with benefit of clergy. That’s an argument that seems to be carrying some weight.”

Maybe he should start writing his sermon.