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"My Thirty-First Year..." Captain Meriwether Lewis | Speeches from the Old West
Season 6 · Episode 7

"My Thirty-First Year..." Captain Meriwether Lewis | Speeches from the Old West

The Speech Guys

June 17, 20251h 27m

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Show Notes

Mid life comes a little later now since Meriwether Lewis' day. The whole Speech Guys crew chat about Lewis' August 18th, 1805 journal entry from the Corps of Discovery expedition when he turned 31. Securing horses from the Shoshones and getting a few dozen guys across two-thirds of the country couldn't shake his gloomy thoughts.

Fact check: Mike incorrectly states that the cost of the expedition was $2,500. This was the amount President Jefferson requested to Congress. An 1806 War Department report states the cost as closer to $38,722.25. (https://lewis-clark.org/the-trail/eastern-beginnings/estimate-of-expenses/#:~:text=Actual%20Costs,pay%20for%20personnel%20($11%2C000).)

Episode thumbnail comes from https://montanakids.com/history_and_prehistory/lewis_and_clark/lewis.htm.

Post credits audio comes from Ken Burns' Lewis & Clark: The Journey of the Corps of Discovery documentary.