Unlike York, Captain Meriwether Lewis was rewarded handsomely for his role in the Corps of Discovery expedition. Not only was he celebrated as an American hero and granted 1,600 acres of land, but President Thomas Jefferson personally appointed Lewis to be the governor of the new Upper Louisiana territory, according to PBS.
But honor did not bring Captain Lewis happiness. He'd been plagued by depression for much of his life — a mental illness that may have been exacerbated by neurosyphilis, according to some modern medical historians. His depression left him incapable of completing a journal of his expedition, which disappointed President Jefferson. To add insult to injury, Lewis' dealings with the War Department left him in steep debt, so he took a trip to Washington D.C. to sort out his financial situation. In 1809, in a remote inn on the route to Washington, Meriwether Lewis committed suicide. He was 35 years old.
But, as Smithsonian Magazine explains, the circumstances surrounding Lewis' death have led some to speculate that he was actually murdered. Lewis was found with gunshot wounds to both the head and chest, and the innkeeper's wife reportedly saw him crawling around before he died. It was also well-known that bandits roamed the area. Could Lewis have been the victim of a mugging gone awry? Possibly. But it's far more likely that his death was a tragic botched suicide: Lewis had composed his will before his trip to D.C. and had attempted suicide just a few weeks earlier.
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