Lewis and Clark in Kentucky- 1806 Return of Expedition & Death of Meriwaether Lewis. Meriwether Lewis & William Clark, leaders of the 1803-06 journety to the Pacific, visited Shelbyville several times. In Nov. 1806, on the Expedition's return, Lewis arrived with Expedition veterans, Mandan & Osage Indian delegations bound for Washington, DC. Over. (Reverse) In Shelbyville on Oct. 28, 1809, Clark learned of the death of his Expedition partner, Meriwether Lewis. Clark stopped in town when traveling eastward and read a newspaper report that Lewis had killed himself in Tennessee.