Meriwether Lewis, commander of the famed Lewis and Clark
Expedition that explored the newly purchased Louisiana Territory from 1804-06,
returned home from this perilous journey with every hope as well as his
country's expectations of a bright and productive future. Yet within three
years, the 35-year-old Lewis was dead in a lonely inn along the Natchez Trace
in rural Tennessee, the victim of two gunshots. Various medical and
psychological theories have been proposed by historians and others to account
for his mysterious death, which was originally reported as a suicide. The
authors of "So Hard to Die" provide an in-depth
analysis of the various theories that still swirl around his death and draw on
their professional backgrounds as a physician and a clinical psychologist to
vividly and convincingly explain the mystery of Lewis's death.
Dr. David J. Peck is a retired physician and
nationally known speaker on the Lewis and Clark Expedition. His previous book
OR PERISH IN THE ATTEMPT (Bison Books, University of Nebraska Press 2011) is
recognized as the standard for the medical aspects of the Lewis and Clark
Expedition.
Dr. Marti Peck is a clinical psychologist and certified Adult
Psychoanalyst in private practice in San Diego.