In Jefferson’s Spy: The Secret Life of Meriwether Lewis, Tony L. Turnbow explores Lewis’s relationship with his mentor, Thomas Jefferson, and the secret work he performed on Jefferson’s behalf until his mysterious death on the Natchez Trace in Tennessee. Meriwether Lewis, co-leader of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, was one of the few men Jefferson chose to perform spy work or “secret services” as it was called at the time. Jefferson propelled Lewis’s rise from a Charlottesville, Virginia farm, to a residence in the East Room of the White House, and then to a 3,500-mile intelligence-gathering expedition into the unknown across the Rockies to the Pacific. Lewis and his co-captain, William Clark, returned to become two of the first American popular heroes. But Jefferson’s next mission for Lewis would prove a challenge he would not overcome. The work to take Spanish-controlled Texas and Santa Fe entangled Lewis in shadowy networks of spies, assassins, and assorted villains along the enemy border. Lewis died carrying sensitive information to Washington on a road so dangerous it was known as “The Devil’s Backbone.” Though it was claimed that Lewis shot himself two or three times, cut his own throat, and slit his wrists to the bone, Jefferson was informed—and apparently accepted—that Lewis killed himself. Three decades later, a state commission concluded that it was more likely Lewis died at the hands of an assassin. On America’s 250, this first volume of a two-volume series will offer new information to reexamine one of the nation’s most enduring and intriguing mysteries and provide a new perspective on two of its heroes.
Author
Tony L. Turnbow writes both nonfiction and young adult historical fiction. He has just released the third book, E. Z. in the Den of Thieves, in his young adult historical fiction trilogy Fighting Devil's Backbone. The series follows the adventures of an eastern city boy thrown into the mysterious and dangerous world of the historic Natchez Trace—- one of the bloodiest roads in American history. The first book, The Shadow of E. Z.'s Fear, and the second, E. Z. and the Chikasha Warrior, were released in 2021. Mr. Turnbow is currently writing a nonfiction book about the mysterious death of explorer Meriwether Lewis. Turnbow is author of the nonfiction Hardened to Hickory: The Missing Chapter in Andrew Jackson's Life. He has studied the history of the Natchez Trace for more than 35 years. He practices law in Franklin, Tennessee. With a Bachelor of Arts and a concentration in southern U.S. history from Vanderbilt University and a Juris Doctorate from the University of Tennessee College of Law, he has continued to use his training to explore unpublished primary sources about the Natchez Trace. He authored "The Natchez Trace in the War of 1812" in The Journal of Mississippi History, and he has published articles in the Tennessee Historical Quarterly and the Lewis and Clark Trail Heritage Foundation journal "We Proceeded On." He also wrote a full-length play "Inquest on the Natchez Trace" about the mysterious death of explorer Meriwether Lewis. Mr. Turnbow represented the Natchez Trace Parkway Association on the Tennessee War of 1812 Bicentennial Commission, and he was the recipient of the Tennessee Society U.S. Daughters of 1812 "Spirit of 1812" award. He has spoken frequently about his research to meetings of DAR, SAR, Colonial Dames, U.S. Daughters of 1812, General Society of 1812, and historical organizations. He enjoys telling the stories of the old Natchez Trace.
