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Editor says, what if Meriwether Lewis had defeated the muggers? mused Jeff Provine on This Day in Alternate History Please note that the opinions expressed in this post do not necessarily reflect the views of the author(s). This story was published in the December 2012 edition of Changing the Times Magazine.
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In 2001, on this day outgoing US President Albert Gore, Jr.issued a formal apology to the descendants of Captain Meriwether Lewis.
Meriwether Lewis Defeats Muggers, Redux By Ed, Scott Palter and Jeff ProvineOn the night of 11th October, 1809 he rested at the "Grinder's Stand", an inn on the Natchez Trace, seventy miles south-west of Nashville, Tennessee. But after leaving dinner, he retired only to be savagely attacked in his bedroom. He managed to drive off the unidentified muggers, but immediately discovered that they had made off with the journals that he was carrying to Washington, D.C. for publication.
Of course not long after his death in 1846, the "secret journals of Capt. Lewis" appeared. This narrative of the Lewis and Clark Expedition described the Corps of Discovery finding giants, the fountain of youth, and a tribe of "nearly white, blue-eyed" Indians descended from Prince Madoc of Wales.
Clearly at odds with the known facts, this account was of course a naked challenge to westward expansion. Conspiracy theorists suggested that the muggers were agents sent by the Federal Government to cover-up the truth of advanced indigenous civilization predating Columbus, but mainstream historians [1] suggested that too many people had traveled westward with Lewis and Clark for such revelations to be concealed.
Entry posted by Todayinah Editor
© Alternate History, 2004-.Story Tags
Permalinks: Post, Day. Browse Thread: Conspiracy Theories Source: Wikipedia Labels: Meriwether Lewis, Muggers, Naturalism, Thomas Jefferson, Premature Death. Editor says, in reality 2001 - U.S. President Bill Clinton posthumously promotes Meriwether Lewis from Lieutenant to Captain. We assume Al Gore's son wasnt injured in 1992 and he wins.
Meriwether Lewis died of heavy bleeding from multiple gunshot wounds believed to be suicide. Clark and Jefferson, who both had known Lewis, found the possibility of suicide somberly realistic. Historians debate the issue, but it is sound that Lewis stands as one of the greatest contributors to North American naturalistic study.
October 11
Editor says, what if Meriwether Lewis had defeated the muggers? mused Jeff Provine on This Day in Alternate History Please note that the opinions expressed in this post do not necessarily reflect the views of the author(s). This story was published in the December 2012 edition of Changing the Times Magazine.
| Share this Article on: | Facebook | Twitter |
In 1809, Captain Meriwether Lewis rested at the "Grinder's Stand", an inn on the Natchez Trace, seventy miles south-west of Nashville, Tennessee.
Meriwether Lewis Defeats Muggers, Redux By Ed, Scott Palter and Jeff ProvineAfter leaving dinner, he retired only to be savagely attacked in his bedroom. He managed to drive off the unidentified muggers, but immediately discovered that they had made off with the journals that he was carrying to Washington, D.C. for publication.
Of course not long after his death in 1846, the "secret journals of Capt. Lewis" appeared. This narrative of the Lewis and Clark Expedition described the Corps of Discovery finding giants, the fountain of youth, and a tribe of "nearly white, blue-eyed" Indians descended from Prince Madoc of Wales.
Clearly at odds with the known facts, this account was of course a naked challenge to westward expansion. Conspiracy theorists suggested that the muggers were agents sent by the Federal Government to cover-up the truth of advanced indigenous civilization predating Columbus, but mainstream historians [1] suggested that too many people had traveled westward with Lewis and Clark for such revelations to be concealed.
Entry posted by Todayinah Editor
© Alternate History, 2004-.Story Tags
Permalinks: Post, Day. Browse Thread: Conspiracy Theories Source: Wikipedia Labels: Meriwether Lewis, Muggers, Naturalism, Thomas Jefferson, Premature Death. Editor says, in reality Meriwether Lewis died of heavy bleeding from multiple gunshot wounds believed to be suicide. Clark and Jefferson, who both had known Lewis, found the possibility of suicide somberly realistic. Historians debate the issue, but it is sound that Lewis stands as one of the greatest contributors to North American naturalistic study.
~ Extremely unlikely; with or without Lewis and Clark, the things they found would have come to light in a few short decades at most.
~ Lewis and Clark did have a large party with them, and there were many encounters with native Americans, so absolute secrecy was probably impossible. However, one has to ask if some personal embellishments were not deliberately stolen to prevent any fast rise in office, which might have been possible there in those times.
There were many tales around the journey because it was largely into an unknown area. What of the descendents of the Lost Colony of Roanoke, Virginia who might have intermixed into what became the Mandan Sioux? Who knows what ideas were in their heads then?
~ Jefferson and Clark notwithstanding, I find it hard to believe that someone with ONE single-shot flintlock pistol who show himself in the head would be able to reload and fire a second round into himself, again in the head. I have read that traveling the Natchez Trace was similar to walking through Central Park on a nice summer's night - you took your life in your hands. Something like fifty people died or disappeared there each year in those days. I believe that he was murdered by the tavern owner, who was known in some circles to be a highwayman.
~ Rumor has it he later became a mixed martial arts fighter. :D
~ Giants and the Fountain of Youth? It sounds like sci-fi fantasy to me.
~ "Secret Journals of Captain Lewis" would make a pretty cool steampunk TV show...
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© Today in Alternate History, 2013-. All characters appearing in this work are fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
