# Report of the Lewis Monument Committee (Edmund Dillahunty, Barclay Martin, Robert A. Smith, Samuel B. Moore) to the Tennessee General Assembly, 1849-50, as reprinted in Coues (1893)

CITATION: Elliott Coues, ed., History of the Expedition under the Command of Lewis and Clark (New York: Francis P. Harper, 1893), vol. 1, "Supplement to Jefferson's Memoir", pp. lvii-lxii, quoting the "Report of the Lewis Monumental Committee, made to the legislature of 1849-50, as appears from the Appendix to the Journal of the House of Representatives, pp. 238-240", which Coues took "at second hand, from Mr. Park's printed article" (James D. Park, Nashville American, 1891), "carefully verified, June 10th, 1893" by Park against the official report in the State Library at Nashville. Coues also quotes the enabling Act of 4 Feb. 1848 (Acts of Tennessee 1847-48, ch. cxxxv, sect. 9, p. 217).
URL fetched: https://archive.org/download/cihm_56210/cihm_56210_djvu.txt and https://archive.org/download/cihm_08496/cihm_08496_djvu.txt (Internet Archive, Canadiana microfiche scans of Coues 1893 vol. 1)
DATE FETCHED: 2026-09-14
TRANSCRIPTION: Secondary transcription (Coues 1893) of the official 1849-50 printed report; not checked against the Tennessee House Journal appendix itself (HathiTrust/Google Books blocked). Two OCR copies given because page lix is garbled in one.

---- VERBATIM TEXT (OCR of the scan; line breaks and page headers as in the scan; runs of spaces collapsed; OCR errors NOT corrected) ----

=== Copy A: Internet Archive item cihm_56210 (Coues vol. 1), pp. lvii-lxii (OCR of p. lix badly broken in this copy) ===

On the 4th of February, 1848,’ the same legislature appro- 
priated $500 for the erection of a suitable monument, and 
appointed four distinguished citizens of Tennessee as a com- 
mittee to carry out this design and report to the next legis- 
lature. The gentlemen accepted the commission as a labor 
of love and duty. The “Report of the Lewis Monumental 
Committee,” made to the legislature of 1849-50, as appears 
from the Appendix to the Journal of the House of Repre- 
sentatives, pp. 238-240, is as follows :’ 

“To the General Assembly of the State of Tennessee: 

“ By the ninth section of an act passed at the last session 
of the General Assembly of this State, entitled an act to 

6 Acts of the State of Tennessee passed at the First Session of the Twenty- 
seventh General Assembly for the years 1847-48, pub. 1848, 1 vol., 8v0, p. 217, 
Chap. cxxxv. An Act to amend an act, passed. the 21st of Dec, 1843, entitled 
an ‘‘ act to establish the County of Lewis.” Sect. 9 is: ‘‘ Be it further enacted, 
That the sum of five hundred dollars be, and the same is hereby appropriated 
out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, or so much 
thereof as may be necessary to preserve the place of interment, where the remains 
of the Gen. Meriwether Lewis were deposited, and that Robert A. Smith, of 
the county of Lewis, Hon. Edmund Dillahunty and Barclay Martin, of Maury 
county, and Dr. Samuel B. Moore, of Hickman county, be, and are hereby made 
the agents of the General Assembly to carry into execution the provisions of 
this act, and report to the next General Assembly.” Passed Feb. qth, 1848. 
F. Buchanan, Speaker of the House of Representatives ; J. M, Anderson, Speaker 
of the Senate. 

1 I have cited the foregoing Acts of the Tennessee Legislature from the origi- 
nals ; but the Journal of the House of Representatives I have not been able to lay 
hands on. The set of volumes in the Congressional Library happens to lack 

1849-50, and this volume is not to be found in the library of the Supreme Court 
or in that of the State Department. My citation of the report of the committee 
is therefore at second hand, from Mr. Park’s printed article ; but this gentleman 
informs me that he has taken great pains to correct what is cited above, by 
comparing a press-proof which I sent him with a copy of the original official 
report in the State Library at Nashville—‘‘ carefully verified, June roth, 1893," 
he says. 

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MEMOIR MERIWETHER LEWIS, lix 

[amend an act to] establish the Co 
$500 was appropriated, or so much thereof as might be neces. 

re deposited; and the 

€ provisions of the act, 
and report to the present General Assembly. 

ccomplished to be one 
dersigned entered upon 
rfully, and with as little 

; plan being agreed upon they employed 
Mr. Lemuel W. Kirby, of Columbia, to execute it for the 
sum of five hundred dollars, 

“The entire monume 

The design is simple, but is Intended to express the diff. 

» and violent termination of a life which 
by manly courage and 
© monument is of rough 
nine feet square where 

inscriptions which are 
nds a_ broken column 
lf feet in diameter at 

, are made of a fine 
as Tennessee marble. Around 
the monument is erected a handsome wrought-iron rail fence. 

“Great care was taken to identify the grave. George 
Nixon, Esq., an old Surveyor, had become very early ac- 
quainted with its locality. He pointed out the place; but to 
make assurance doubly sure the Stave was reopened and the 

hence narnia 

wiih naamstnen esononen 

ix SUPPLEMENT TO JEFFERSON’S 

upper part of the skeleton examined, and such evidences 
found as to leave no doubt of the place of interment. Wit- 
nesses were called and their certificate, with that of the Sur- 
veyor, prove the fact beyond dispute. 4 

“The inscription upon the plinth was furnished by Prof. = 
Nathaniel Cross, of the University of Nashville. It is 
beautiful and appropriate. It is placed on the different 
sides of the plinth, and is as follows: * , + 

[WEST FACE. ] 

MERRIWETHER LEWIS, 
Born near Charlottesville, Virginia, August 18, 1774, 
Died October 11, 1809, aged 35 years. 

[SOUTH FACE. ] 

An officcr of the Regular Army—Commander of the Expedition to 
the Oregon in 1803-1806—Governor of the Territory of 
Louisiana—His melancholy death occurred 
where this monument now stands, 
and under which rest his 
mortal remains. 

[EAST FACE. ] 
In the language of Mr. Jefferson; ‘ His courage was undaunted; His firm- 
ness and perseverance yielded to nothing but impossibilities ; A 
rigid disciplinarian, yet tender asa father of those com- 
mitted to his charge ; honest, disinterested, 
liberal, with a sound understanding 
and a scrupulous fidelity 
to truth,’ 

[NORTH FACE. ] 

Immaturus obi: sed tu felicior annos 
Vive meos, Bona Respublica ! Vive tuos, 

Erected by the Legislature of Tennessee. 
A. D. 1848. 

* In attempting to reproduce these inscriptions as copied by Mr. Park from 
the stone, certain errors which appear in the printed report are ignored, The 
worst of these is the wrong date of Oct. ‘‘ 17” instead of 11, Lewis’ Christian 
name is misspelled both on stone and on paper. The Latin word Respublica 
is also misspelled ‘‘ Republica” in the report. The alignment here presented 
is not exactly true to the stone, but gives the same general effect to the eye. 

“Tn 
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popeeia 
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MEMOIR OF MERIWETHER LEWIS. Ixi 

“Tn the Latin distich, many of your honorable body will 
no doubt recognize as the affecting epitaph on the tomb of 
a young wife, in which, by a Prosopopocia [sic—read proso- 
popeeia], after alluding to her immature death, she prays that 
her happier husband may live out er year and his own: 

“‘Immatura peri: sed tu Selicior annos 
Vive meos, conjux optime ! Vive tuos, 

“Under the same figure the 

deceased is represented, in the 
Latin distich as altered, after 

alluding to his early death, as 
uttering as a patriot a similar Prayer, that the republic may 

fulfill her high destiny, and that her years may equal those 
of time. As the distich now stands, the figure may be 
made to apply, either to the whole Union, or to Tennessee 
that has honored his memory by the erection of a monu. 
ment. 
“The impression has long prevailed that under the influ- 
ence of disease of body and mind—of hopes based upon 
long and valuable services—not merely deferred but wholly 
disappointed—Governor Lewis perished by his own hands, 
It seems to be more Probable that he died by the hands of 
an assassin. The place at which he was killed is even yet 
a lonely spot. It was then wild and solitary, and on the 
borders of the Indian nation. Maj. C. L. Clark,’ a son of 
Governor Clark, of Missouri, in a letter to the Rev. Mr. 
Cressey, of Maury Co,, Says: “Have you ever heard of the 
report, that Governor Lewis did not destroy his own life, but 
was murdered by his servant, a Frenchman, who stole his 
money and horses, returned to Natchez, and was never after- 
wards heard of ? This is an important matter in connec- 
tion with the erection of a monument to his memory, as it 
clearly removes from my mind, at least, the only stigma upon 
the fair name I have the honor to bear,’ 
“The undersigned would suggest to the 

General Assembly 
the propriety of having an acre of grou 

nd, or some other 

* Misprint or other mistake for M. L. Clark, te., 

eldest son of Wj 

Meriwether Lewis Clark, 
illiam Clark by his first wife. 

Ixii SUPPLEMENT TO JEFFERSON’S MEMOIR. 

reasonable quantity, around the grave, secured against the 
entry of private persons. This can be done either by 
reserving the title in the State, or by directing a grant to 
issue in the name of the governor and his successors in 
office. The first mode would probably be the best. 
«“ All of which is respectfully submitted. 
‘“ EDMUND DILLAHUNTY, 
“BARCLAY MARTIN, 
“ROBERT A. SMITH, 
“SAMUEL B, MOORE.” 

At the time of Mr. Park’s visit to the grave, November 
21st, 1889, the base of the monument was somewhat moss- 
grown, the inscriptions on the plinth were scarcely legible,

=== Copy B: Internet Archive item cihm_08496 (same edition, second scan), p. lix (clean OCR of the page that is broken in Copy A) ===

MEMOIR MERIWETHER LEWIS, lix 

[amend an act to] establish the County of Lewis, the sum of 
$500 was appropriated, or so much thereof as might be neces- 
sary, to preserve the place of interment where the remains 
of General MERRIWETHER LEWIS were deposited; and the 
undersigned were appointed the agents of the General 
Assembly to carry into execution the provisions of the act, 
and report to the present General Assembly. 

“Looking upon the object to be accomplished to be one 
highly honorable to the State, the undersigned entered upon 
the duties assigned them most cheerfully, and with as little 
delay as possible. They consulted with the most eminent 
artists and practical mechanics as to the kind of monument 
to be erected, and a plan being agreed upon they employed 
Mr. Lemuel W. Kirby, of Columbia, to execute it for the 
sum of five hundred dollars. 

“The entire monument is twenty and a half feet high. 
The design is simple, but is intended to express the diffi- 
culties, successes, and violent termination of a life which 
was marked by bold enterprise, by manly courage and 
devoted patriotism. The base of the monument is of rough 
unhewn stone, eight feet high, and nine feet square where 
it rises to the surface of the ground. On this, rests a plinth 
of cut stone four feet square, and eighteen inches in thick- 
ness [height], on which are the inscriptions which are 
given below. On this plinth stands a broken column 
eleven feet high, two and a half feet in diameter at 
the base, and a few inches smaller at the top. The top 
is broken to denote the violent and untimely end of a 
bright and glorious career. The base is composed of a 
species of sandstone found in the neighborhood of the 
grave. The plinth and shaft, or column, are made of a fine 
limestone, commoiuly known as Tennessee marble. Around 
the monument is erected a handsome wrought-iron rail fence. 

“Great care was taken to identify the grave. George 
Nixon, Esq., an old Surveyor, had become very early ac- 
quainted with its locality. He pointed out the place; but to 
make assurance doubly sure the grave was reopened and the 

Ix SUPPLEMENT TO JEFFERSON’S 

upper part of the skeleton examined, and such evidences 
found as to leave no doubt of the place of interment. Wit- 
nesses were called and their certificate, with that of the Sur- 
veyor, prove the fact beyond dispute. 

“The inscription upon the plinth was furnished by Prof. 
Nathaniel Cross, of the University of Nashville. It is 

beautiful and appropriate. It is placed on the different 
sides of the plinth, and is as follows:* 

[WEST FACE. ] 
MERRIWETHER LEWIS, 
Born near Charlottesville, Virginia, August 18, 1774, 
Died October 11, 1809, aged 35 years.