Meriwether Lewis was the leader of the famous expedition with the Corps of Discovery who courageously explored the new and uncharted Louisiana territory in order to gather information about living organisms that inhabited the land, a water route from the Missouri river to the Pacific Ocean that could be used for commerce, the natives who lived there, and the land in general. Lewis is known not only as a brave explorer but also as an excellent marksman, a governor, and a public figure. After a life filled with adventure and greatness, Meriwether Lewis died on October 11, 1809. Most historians believe his death was a suicide because of stress and depression from a serious illness such as malaria or overwhelming amounts of responsibilities that …show more content…
Neely worked for Wilkinson (a man who has the motive to kill him, as stated before) as the federal agent to the Chickasaw Indians. According to David Leon Chandler's piece, The Jefferson Conspiracy: A President's Role in the Assassination of Meriwether Lewis, Major Neely had caught a criminal important to the wealthy pioneers in the area, however got lost on his way back to the pioneers and accidentally bumped into Lewis where Neely offered to be Lewis' guide to Nashville then to D.C. On the way to the Inn, it was reported that two horses had gone missing so Neely decided to stay behind and look for them as Lewis and two servants continued to the Inn, and according to the same public statement by Captain Russell that spoke about Lewis' bullet wounds, Neely “could not be found.” This means that Neely was not at the Inn while Lewis was there, negating his letter that talked about how Lewis committed suicide and creates a major dent in the Suicide argument. This suggests that Neely may be the murder and strengthens the argument that Wilkinson had Neely kill Lewis in order to save his and his colleagues reputations, since he does not have a solid