Meriwether Lewis travels to Pittsburgh following the same route as his Virginia State Militia during the 1794 Whiskey Rebellion. He is likely spending the night in the vicinity of Fort Ashby in present West Virginia.
Route of Meriwether Lewis from Harpers Ferry to Pittsburgh
8–15 July 1803
By David T. Gilbert.[1]Originally at www.nps.gov/archive/hafe/lewis/travel-route-map.htm, U.S. National Park Service. Retrieved from web.archive.org/web/20101119031447/www.nps.gov/archive/hafe/lewis/travel-route-map.htm … Continue reading
Breakfast at Fort Ashby
Lewis likely became familiar with the taverns—what we would call today inns—as a 20-year-old lieutenant in the 1794 Whiskey Rebellion. At that time, fellow officer Robert Wellford left a favorable impression of a tavern in Fort Ashby, then known as Frankfort.
Thursday, 9th
Our reception at McAllisters was so disagreeable to the generality of his guests that the Squadron moved away very early, & rode thro’ the rain to Frankfort, 7 miles, where we had a most comfortable breakfast at McMeekins Tavern. In the vicinage of this town we found encamped the brigade of Militia commanded by Genl. Dark . . . .
—Robert Wellford[2]Robert Wellford, “A Diary Kept by Dr. Robert Wellford, of Fredericksburg, Virginia, during the March of the Virginia Troops to Fort Pitt (Pittsburg) to Suppress the Whiskey Insurrection in … Continue reading
Robert Wellford
Dr. Robert Wellford (1753–) came from England to serve as surgeon of the English First Battalion of Grenadiers. He replaced Dr. Gordon after the latter’s inhumane treatment of American prisoners was investigated by Sir William Howe. Dr. Wellford’s kind treatment of American prisoners gained him respect and friendship from many Americans and disdain from the British and their Hessian officers. He resigned his commission, and after the war, remained in Philadelphia. During the Whiskey Rebellion, he treated ill soldiers in the Virginia State Militia at the time Meriwether Lewis served in that campaign.[3]B.R.W., Jr. [Beverly R. Wellford, Jr., the grandson of Robert Wellford] in “A Diary Kept by Dr. Robert Wellford,” 1—2.
Notes
| ↑1 | Originally at www.nps.gov/archive/hafe/lewis/travel-route-map.htm, U.S. National Park Service. Retrieved from web.archive.org/web/20101119031447/www.nps.gov/archive/hafe/lewis/travel-route-map.htm for 19 November 2010. |
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| ↑2 | Robert Wellford, “A Diary Kept by Dr. Robert Wellford, of Fredericksburg, Virginia, during the March of the Virginia Troops to Fort Pitt (Pittsburg) to Suppress the Whiskey Insurrection in 1794.” The William and Mary Quarterly 11, no. 1 (1902): p. 6, accessed 24 November 2022 from doi.org/10.2307/1915481. |
| ↑3 | B.R.W., Jr. [Beverly R. Wellford, Jr., the grandson of Robert Wellford] in “A Diary Kept by Dr. Robert Wellford,” 1—2. |
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- The Lewis and Clark Expedition: Day by Day by Gary E. Moulton (University of Nebraska Press, 2018). The story in prose, 14 May 1804–23 September 1806.
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