By His Own Hand? The Mysterious Death of Meriwether Lewis

For two centuries the question has persisted: Was Lewis’s death a suicide, an accident, or a homicide? “By His Own Hand?” is the first book to analyze the evidence and consider the murder-verses-suidide debate within its full historical context. The historian contributors to this volume follow the format of a postmortem court trial. Clay S. Jenkinson outlines the facts and describes the evidentiary problems. James J. Holmberg makes the case for suicide. John D.W. Guice dissects the suicide argument, showing how the same scant evidence, when examined from a different perspective, suggests that Lewis was murdered. Jay H. Buckley assesses the strengths and weaknesses of the pro-suicide and pro-murder arguments. A documents section permits readers to examine the key evidence for themselves and reach their own conclusion. Paperback, 178 pages