Day-by-Day / April 23, 1803

April 23, 1803

Jefferson's update

In Washington City, President Thomas Jefferson hears news of Meriwether Lewis and writes to him asking for a first-hand account of his progress. He warns that any further delays may lose a year in the end.

Washington Apr. 23. 1803.

Dear Sir

Lieutt. Wilson told me you would leave Frederic [Frederick, Maryland] the 18th. inst. & that you had been detained till then at Harper’s ferry, where Capt Murray also told me he had seen you. I have no doubt you have used every possible exertion to get off, and therefore we have only to lament what cannot be helped, as the delay of a month now may lose a year in the end.—

. . . . .

let me hear from you on your reciept of this, and inform me of your prospect of getting off. I have letters here for you from your friends in Albemarle. Accept my affectionate salutations.

Th: Jefferson[1]Thomas Jefferson to Meriwether Lewis, 23 April 1803, Founders Online, National Archives, founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/01-40-02-0186. [Original source: The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, … Continue reading

 

Notes

Notes
1 Thomas Jefferson to Meriwether Lewis, 23 April 1803, Founders Online, National Archives, founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/01-40-02-0186. [Original source: The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, vol. 40, 4 March–10 July 1803, ed. Barbara B. Oberg (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2013), 263–264.]

Experience the Lewis and Clark Trail

The Lewis and Clark Trail Experience—our sister site at lewisandclark.travel—connects the world to people and places on the Lewis and Clark Trail.

Logo: Lewis and Clark.travel

Discover More

  • 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.
  • The Lewis and Clark Journals: An American Epic of Discovery (abridged) by Gary E. Moulton (University of Nebraska Press, 2003). Selected journal excerpts, 14 May 1804–23 September 1806.
  • The Lewis and Clark Journals. by Gary E. Moulton (University of Nebraska Press, 1983–2001). The complete story in 13 volumes.