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Ed Haley and his BMW join Lewis and Clark Road Trips--32,000 miles riding the trail on a motorcycle
Ed Haley of Atlanta, George has ridden over 32,000 miles on the trail since he got hooked in 2001. Ed has put together a DVD with 1,200 photos of the trail together with a narrative, showing some of the most remote and interesting sites on the trail.He has located the expeditions's campsites and places where historic events took place. Check out Ed's entry on our Video Forum.
You may buy his DVD directly from him by sending him an email at lewisnclarktrail@gmail.com. The cost is $24.95 plus $3.90 s&h for a total of $28.85. Ed will invoice you by email through PayPal.
Ed will be riding the trail again this summer and sharing his adventures with us.
Death of Meriwether Lewis: A Historic Crime Scene Investigation by James E. Starrs and Kira Gale published in April
Check out our new sister website www.deathofmeriwetherlewis.com
The book is selling well. It has three parts: the Coroner's Inquest expert testimony as to what exhuming the remains of Meriwether Lewis could reveal regarding the cause of his death; the twenty documents that make up almost the entire historic record concerning reports of his death, together with my commentary; and my 85 page narrative, "The Case for Murder." In the narrative I name suspects and motives and develop my theories fully. In the months to come, I will be blogging about this extensively.
 The book features the testimony of 13 expert witnesses who testified at a Coroner's Inquest into the death of Meriwether Lewis, held in 1996 in Hohenwald, Lewis County, Tennessee. James E. Starrs, professor of forensic science at George Washington University, is my co-author. Jim organized the inquest, which was an official inquest held in the county where the Meriwether Lewis National Monument gravesite is located. The coroner's jury called for an exhumation of Lewis's remains, to see if a cause of death could be determined. 170 members of the Lewis family have signed a petition calling for the exhumation. The family submitted an application for exhumation to the National Park Service in January, 2009 which is currently undergoing a review.
The thirteen witnesses included some of the top crime scene investigators in the nation, and leading historians. The witnesses were:
James E. Starrs: Exhumation of the gravesite
Arlen Large: Suicide theory
John Guice: Murder theory
Ruth Frick: Lewis's finances
George Stephens: Geology of the gravesite
Thomas Streed: Suicide psychology
Jerry Francisco: Gunshot wound analysis
Lucien Haag: Firearm demonstration
Gerald Richards: Document examination
Martin Fackler: Wound ballistics analysis
Duayne Dillon: Handwriting analysis
Reimert Ravenholt: Syphilis theory
William Bass: Forensic anthropology
National Monument Ceremony honoring Lewis
The Lewis and Clark Trail Heritage Foundation will be meeting in Memphis, Tennessee from October 3-7, 2009. To learn more see the annual meeting announcement on the foundation website. The emphasis at the meeting will be on celebrating the memory of Meriwether Lewis. A public ceremony honoring Lewis will be held at the National Monument and Gravesite on Wednesday, October 7th.
Sincerely,
Kira Gale
kira@lewisandclarktravel.com
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A reader of my blog, Earl Weidner, has raised a couple of interesting questions. The blog in question is “Aaron Burr, Meriwether Lewis and the Burr-Wilkinson Conspiracy, Part 2.” Weidner asks if there is any definitive evidence that Lewis attended the Burr trial?--a question that has plagued historians for years. It was sometimes stated that he did (Stephen Ambrose and Richard Dillon both said this), but no source for the information was provided. Thomas Danisi, the co-author of a new biography Meriwether Lewis has found confirmation and cited his source. It is a letter from General James Wilkinson to President Thomas Jefferson, dated September 15, 1807.
It begins: “ Sir: I did intend to transmit you a copy of Capt Pikes report by Governor Lewis, but have been too occupied to fulfill my purpose--I shall have the honor to hand it to you in person at the seat of government.” Danisi is to be congratulated for doing the obvious and researching Wilkinson’s letters to Jefferson, which may be seen online at the Library of Congress Thomas Jefferson papers website.
Another question Weidner raises is whether Lewis’s relationship with Jefferson cooled because of attending the trial and discovering that Jefferson “wasn’t exactly the man Lewis thought he was.” I don’t think so. Lewis understood more than anyone the dynamics of Jefferson, Wilkinson, Burr and the possible establishment of a second country west of the Mississippi. His first assignment from Jefferson was to root out suspected Burrites from positions of power and influence in Louisiana Territory. I think the lack of letters from Lewis to Jefferson in 1808-09 may actually reflect sabotage and interference from his enemies--that he wrote some letters, but Jefferson didn’t receive them. He wrote in one of his last letters (to Secretary of War William Eustis, dated August 18, 1809) that “I have reason to believe that sundry of my letters have been lost, as there remain several important Subjects on which I have not yet received an Answer.” Another reason for Lewis to go to Washington and deal with matters face to face.
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James E. Starrs and Kira Gale, the co-authors of The Death of Meriwether Lewis: A Historic Crime Scene Investigation were interviewed on a Book Expo of America podcast. To listen to the five minute podcast, click here.
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The first of a series of blogs based on the book The Death of Meriwether Lewis: A Historic Crime Scene Investigation by James E. Starrs and Kira Gale. http://www.deathofmeriwetherlewis.com
William Clark seems to have been fooled by James Wilkinson at three different times in his life--first, when he didn’t realize that Wilkinson had sabotaged the career of his older brother George Rogers Clark in 1786--then, when he served under General Wilkinson in 1790-94 during the Indian Wars and took Wilkinson’s side in his feud with General “Mad Anthony” Wayne--and, finally, when he believed the story of his friend Meriwether Lewis’s suicide.
Like many young officers, Clark admired the charismatic Wilkinson. The great historian Frederick Jackson Turner described Wilkinson as “the most consummate artist in treason the nation ever possessed.”
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