Enroute to Pittsburgh, Meriwether Lewis crosses the Haystack Mountains near this date—a part of the Appalachian Mountains called by some the “Shades of Death”. In Washington City, Thomas Jefferson writes a letter telling Lewis that he left behind his pocketbook, dirk, and bridle.
Washington Reviewing the Western Army at Fort Cumberland, Maryland
Frederick Kemmelmeyer (1760–1821)
Gift of Edgar William and Bernice Chrysler Garbisch, 1963, Metropolitan Museum of Art, www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/11302. (cropped)
Lewis likely participated in the ceremonies surrounding President George Washington at Fort Cumberland in October 1794. According to Robert Wellford, “every regiment was drawn up in excellent order to receive him, & as he passed the line of Infantry he deliberately bowed to every officer individually. The Artillery at the same time announced his arrival.”[1]Robert Wellford, “A Diary Kept by Dr. Robert Wellford, of Fredericksburg, Virginia, during the March of the Virginia Troops to Fort Pitt (Pittsburgh) to Suppress the Whiskey Insurrection in … Continue reading
Crossing the Appalachians
As he travels between Harpers Ferry and Pittsburgh, Lewis likely reminisced of travel here as a young officer in the Whiskey Rebellion. Fellow officer Robert Wellford gives this description of the Appalachian Mountains between Fort Cumberland and Grantsville, Maryland.
24th.
From Strickers the Army proceeded this day to Tomlinson’s, at the little Meadows, 11 miles. the course of this day’s march led the Army over a thousand times ten thousand rocks, thro’ a dark, dreary part of the Mountains called the “Shades of Death,” & by an almost continued ascent to that rugged and elevated part of the Alleghany Mountains known by the epithet of the “back bone of America.” Towards evening it began to rain, and the Tents of the Cavalry were pitched in the right hand meadow directly opposite the former encampment of General Braddock, and the ground which Washington made a stand after Braddock’s defeat, the marks of which are now easily dicernable. The lnfantry & the Artillery fixed their temporary residence in the edge of the woods above the little meadows, which are in the State of Maryland. The rain increased during the evening, & the whole of the night.
—Robert Wellford[2]Ibid, p. 11.
Meriwether Lewis with Dirk
Statue by Robert M. “Bob” Scriver
© 2015 by Kristopher K. Townsend. Permission to use granted under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.
Forgotten Items
Washington July 11. 03
Th: Jefferson to Capt. Lewis
I inclose you your pocket book left here. if the dirk will appear passable by post, that shall also be sent, when recieved. your bridle, left by the inattention of Joseph in packing your saddle, is too bulky to go in that way. we have not recieved a word from Europe since you left us. be so good as to keep me always advised how to direct to you. accept my affectionate salutations & assurances of constant esteem.[4]Thomas Jefferson to Meriwether Lewis, Founders Online, National Archives, founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/01-41-02-0006 accessed 12 June 2022. [Original source: The Papers of Thomas … Continue reading
Figure:
At his right hip Lewis carries his shot pouch and powder horn. Around his neck is slung the knife he probably called a dirk, which was not only a practical tool but also a defensive weapon. As with all the rest of the Corps since leaving Fort Mandan, he is clad in buckskin. Historical research since the onset of the bicentennial observance has shown that the tricorn hat he wears here was officially replaced with new styles of headgear before the expedition began.
—Robert R. Hunt in Espontoons
Lewis likely carried a dirk made at the Harpers Ferry armory.
Notes
↑1 | Robert Wellford, “A Diary Kept by Dr. Robert Wellford, of Fredericksburg, Virginia, during the March of the Virginia Troops to Fort Pitt (Pittsburgh) to Suppress the Whiskey Insurrection in 1794.” The William and Mary Quarterly 11, no. 1 (1902): p. 7, accessed 24 November 2022 from doi.org/10.2307/1915481. |
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↑2 | Ibid, p. 11. |
↑3 | Fred Anderson, Crucible of War: The Seven Years’ War and the Fate of Empire in British North America, 1754–1766 (New York: Alfred E Knopf, 2000), 103–4. |
↑4 | Thomas Jefferson to Meriwether Lewis, Founders Online, National Archives, founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/01-41-02-0006 accessed 12 June 2022. [Original source: The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, vol. 41, 11 July–15 November 1803, ed. Barbara B. Oberg. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2014, p. 11.] |
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