# Kentucky Gazette (Lexington, Ky.), 31 October 1809, p. 3, col. 1: full reprint of the Nashville Clarion's notice of 20 October 1809 — the earliest newspaper account of Lewis's death

CITATION: Kentucky Gazette (Lexington, Ky.; Thomas Smith, publisher), vol. XXII, no. 1253, Tuesday 31 October 1809, p. 3, col. 1, datelined "NASHVILLE, Oct. 20." and reprinting the notice of the [Democratic] Clarion (Nashville, Tenn.) of Friday 20 October 1809 ("this column of the Clarion is ushered to the world in black"). Library of Congress, Chronicling America, LCCN sn82014783, batch kyu_collie_ver01, page image 1809103101/0122.
NOTE ON THE SOURCE: This is the Kentucky Gazette's reprint, eleven days after the Clarion; the Clarion's own issue (Tennessee State Library and Archives, microfilm roll 113; the text Danisi & Jackson print at p. 329 and Danisi 2012 p. 236) was NOT obtained (see sources/1809-10-20_nashville_democratic_clarion_FRAGMENTS.md). Reprints of this period are usually verbatim, but the possibility of small changes by the Lexington compositor cannot be excluded. Clark read "a Frankfort paper called the Argus" on 28 Oct. 1809 reporting that Lewis had "killed himself by Cutting his throat with a Knife" — a different, earlier and garbled report, not this text.
URLs fetched:
  page (JSON/OCR):   https://www.loc.gov/resource/sn82014783/1809-10-31/ed-1/?sp=3&fo=json
  OCR (ALTO XML):    https://tile.loc.gov/text-services/word-coordinates-service?segment=/service/ndnp/kyu/batch_kyu_collie_ver01/data/sn82014783/print/1809103101/0122.xml&format=alto_xml&full_text=1
  page image (IIIF): https://tile.loc.gov/image-services/iiif/service:ndnp:kyu:batch_kyu_collie_ver01:data:sn82014783:print:1809103101:0122/info.json  (4144 x 6412 px); column crops read: .../0122/200,600,900,1600/full/0/default.jpg ; .../0122/200,2000,900,1600/full/0/default.jpg ; .../0122/200,3400,900,1600/full/0/default.jpg ; .../0122/200,4800,900,1600/full/0/default.jpg
DATE FETCHED: 2026-09-14
TRANSCRIPTION: FACSIMILE-READ. The whole column was read from the page images (four overlapping crops, all legible); the Library of Congress OCR was used only as a first draft. Original spelling, punctuation and line-breaking hyphens resolved; the paper's dashes are rendered as "—". Small caps in the original (MERIWETHER LEWIS) rendered in capitals. Doubtful letters are flagged [?]; an ink blot on the page partly covers two words, noted in brackets. Nothing in the item was unreadable.

----- VERBATIM TEXT (Kentucky Gazette, 31 Oct. 1809, p. 3, col. 1) -----

NASHVILLE, Oct. 20.

To record the untimely end of a brave and prudent officer, a learned sholar and a scientific gentleman, this column of the Clarion is ushered to the world in black. On the night of the 10th instant MERIWETHER LEWIS, Esq. governor-general of Upper Louisiana, on his way to Washington City, came to the house of Mr. Grinder near the Indian line in this state—called for hs supper and some spirits, of which he partook, and gave some to his servants. Mr. Grinder not being at home, Mrs. Grinder retired to the kitchen with her children, and the servants (after the governor went to bed, which he did in good order) went to a stable about three hundred yards distant to sleep—no one in the house with the governor—and some time before midnight Mrs. Grinder was alarmed by the firing of two pistols in the house, she called to the servants without effect—and at the appearance of day light the servants came to the house when the governor said he had now done for himself; they asked what, and he said he had shot himself and would die, and he requested them to bring him water, he then laying [ink blot over the word; reading "laying", confirmed by the National Intelligencer's 15 Nov. reprint] on the floor, where he expired about [ink blot; reading "about", likewise confirmed] 7 o'clock in the morning of the 11th; he had shot a ball that grazed the top of his head and another through his intestines, and cut his neck arm and ham with a razor. When in his best senses, he spoke about a trunk of papers that he said would be of great value to our government. He had been under the influence of a deranging malady for about six weeks; the cause of which is unknown, unless it was from a protest to a draft which he drew on the secretary at war, which he considered tantamount to a disgrace by government.

In the death of Governor Lewis the public behold the wreck of one of the noblest of men—he was a pupil of the immortal Jefferson—by him he was reared—by him he was instructed in the tour of the sciences—by him he was introduced to public life, when his enterprising soul, great botanical knowledge, acute penetration, and personal courage soon pointed him out as the most proper person to command a projected exploring party to the N. W. coast of the American continent—he accepted the ardous command on condition that he might take Mr. Clark with him—they started; the best wishes of the American people attended them. After an absence of two years, to us of anxious solicitude, we were cheered with the joyful return of our countrymen. A new world had been explored—additional knowledge in all the sciences obtained, at a trifling expense of blood and treasure. The voice of fame echoed the glad tidings through the civilized world—the name of Lewis was the the theme of universal praise.—The national legislature voted a complimentary donation to the brave little band.

Scarcely had the governor time to pay his respects to a widowed mother, before he was again called into public service. The Up. Louisiana had been torn to pieces by party fieuds [sic; "feuds"], no person could be more proper to calm them—he appeared and all was quiet.

The limits assigned this notice do not admit of a particular detail of his executive acts—suffice it to say that the parties created by local circumstances and Wilkinson were soon united—the Indians were treated with and large purchases of valuable land made of them—The laws were amended, and judicious ones adopted—to the securing the citizens of the territory from a renewal of the scenes of 1806.

During the few leisure moments he had from his official duties, he was employed in writing the particulars of his celebrated tour up the Missouri—to complete which appears to have been the wish nearest his heart—and it gives us much pleasure, if we can feel pleasure in the present melancholy instance, to state that we have it from a source which can be depended upon, that he had accomplished the work in three very large volumes, with an immense number of paintings—and all was ready for the press. We hope these volumes may be the means of transmitting to posterity the worth of a man whose last act cast a gloom over the fair pages of his early life.

"The boast of heraldry, the pomp of pow'r,
And all that beauty, all that wealth e'er gave
Await alike th' inevitable hour——
The paths of glory lead but to the grave."

[The item is followed by an unrelated death notice ("DIED—Suddenly on Sunday the 3d of September, GEORGE W. NICHOLAS ..."). No other mention of Lewis appears on pp. 1, 2 or 4 of this issue (OCR checked); p. 1 advertises "Gass's Journal of Lewis & Clarke's Voyage" in a bookseller's list.]

----- TRANSCRIPTION NOTES -----
- "sholar", "hs supper", "the the theme", "ardous", "fieuds" are as printed.
- "cut his neck arm and ham with a razor": the paper has no commas in this phrase. Turnbow (WPO 38:2) paraphrased this as wounds to "the throat and 'hams'"; the text says neck, arm and ham (singular).
- "he had shot a ball that grazed the top of his head and another through his intestines": compare Neelly to Jefferson, 18 Oct. 1809 ("one of the balls Just below the Breast" / "one in the head"), Brahan to Jefferson and to Stoddard, 18 Oct. 1809 ("in the head and just below his breast"), Russell's statement of 26 Nov. 1811 ("against his forehead... the other against his breast... came out low down near his back bone"), and Wilson (May 1811) — see notes/A_documents_report.md.
- "about 7 o'clock in the morning" and "some time before midnight": the Clarion is the only 1809 text that gives clock times; Neelly says the shots were "about three o'clock" and that Lewis survived "but a short time"; Brahan says "he died in about three hours"; the Missouri Gazette (2 Nov. 1809) "he lived about two hours".
- "the servants" (plural), i.e. Pernier and Neelly's servant; the Clarion has Mrs. Grinder retiring "to the kitchen with her children" and does not mention Neelly by name at all, nor Neelly's absence hunting the strayed horses (Neelly to Jefferson).
- "a deranging malady for about six weeks" would put the onset near the beginning of September 1809, i.e. before Lewis left St. Louis (4 Sept.); "a protest to a draft which he drew on the secretary at war" refers to the protested bills (Lewis to Eustis, 18 Aug. 1809; Lewis to Stoddard, 22 Sept. 1809; Clark to J. Clark, 26 Aug. 1809).
- The eulogy's claims ("three very large volumes, with an immense number of paintings—and all was ready for the press") are false as to the state of the journals; they are the Clarion's, not Neelly's.

----- OTHER REPRINTS SEEN (OCR only, 2026-09-14) -----
- Virginia Argus (Richmond), 21 Nov. 1809 (Chronicling America sn84024710, batch vi_otters_ver02, page file 1809112101/0364.xml), headed "DEATH OF M. LEWIS. From the Clarion, a Nashville (Tenn.) paper." — same text as above so far as the OCR can be compared ("a learned sholar", "cut his neck arm and ham with a razor", "tantamount to disgrace by government" [OCR drops "a"]).
- National Intelligencer (Washington), 15 Nov. 1809, p. 1 — reprints the Lexington (Ky.) item of 28 Oct. 1809, which carries the Russellville letter of 20 Oct. 1809 AND the Clarion text ("After the above was put in type, a gentleman politely handed us a Nashville paper of the 20th inst. from which we have made the following extract"); see sources/1809-11-15_national_intelligencer_lexington_28oct_russellville_letter.md.