When Meriwether Lewis arrived at Fort Pickering September 15,1809, the crewmen who had accompanied him from St. Louis climbed Chickasaw Bluff with him. They told Captain Gilbert Russell, the commanding officer, that Lewis had twice tried to kill himself. Russell ordered Lewis detained until his health improved. John Neelly, the Federal Agent to the Chickasaw Nation, who arrived three days after Lewis, found Lewis to be in Very bad health. During this time, Lewis abandoned his plan to travel to Washington by boat. He wrote that it was his fear of the original papers relative to my voyage to the Pacific ocean falling into the hands of the British... By September 29, both Russell and Neelly thought that Lewis could proceed overland if accompanied by Neelly and his servant, as well as John Pernier, Lewis personal servant and a former employee of Thomas Jefferson. During the three day, one hundred mile journey to the Chickasaw Agency, Neellys office on the Natchez Trace,Neelly observed that Lewis appeared at times deranged in mind. Pernier reported subsequently to William Clark that Lewis Conceipt [conceive] that he herd me [Clark] coming on, and Said that he was certain [I would] over take him. that I had herd of his Situation and would Come to his releaf (as reported by Clark to his brother). Fort Pickering grounds were changed over the years to suit other Federal needs. The Chickasaw Agency exact site is not marked and at that area Tennessee Highway 15 appears to have obliterated the Natchez Trace.
Posted on: Fri, 08 Aug 2014 22:31:09 +0000
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