Natchez Trace

The Natchez Trace was a 440-mile-long path extending from Natchez, Mississippi to Nashville, Tennessee, linking the Cumberland, the Tennessee and Mississippi rivers. It was used extensively by Native Americans and early Caucasian explorers as both a trade and transit route in the late 1700s and early 1800s. Today, the trail has been commemorated with the 444-mile-long Natchez Trace Parkway which follows the trail's approximate path. (See TNGenWeb's picture http://users.ev1.net/~gpmoran/natchez.jpg.) The trail itself has a long and rich history, filled with brave explorers, dastardly outlaws and daring settlers. Parts of the original trail are still accessible.

The Mystery of Meriwether Lewis

Meriwether Lewis, of the Lewis and Clark Expedition fame, met his mysterious end while traveling on the Trace. Lewis had stopped at Grinder's Stand near current-day Hohenwald, Tennessee for rest. Extremely depressed by the state of his financial affairs (he was deeply in debt), he became drunk as he had many times during the trip. He asked the owner of the stand for gunpowder, which she gave him, intimidated by his behavior. A few hours later, two shots rang out in the night—Lewis had apparently shot himself twice, once in the head and once in the chest. He lived until the next morning.

Related Topics:
Meriwether Lewis - Lewis and Clark Expedition - Grinder's Stand - Hohenwald, Tennessee

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His death went unquestioned as a suicide for many years. However, as time passed, more details emerged—had he also been stabbed? Had one of his rivals, particularly Robert Grinder, owner of the stand, killed and robbed him? Or was it a more politically motivated killing, an assassination against the governor of the Louisiana Territory?

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In 1996 James E. Starr, a professor at George Washington University, attempted to procure permission, supported by several researchers and 160 descendants of Lewis, to exhume Lewis' remains to put the mystery to rest. The National Park Service, which oversees the grave site in Hohenwald, denied permission. Though a court later ruled that the exhumation was justified, the NPS has so far successfully resisted the pressure to exhume Lewis.

Related Topics:
James E. Starr - George Washington University - National Park Service

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