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terrified slaves stood against the wall, Lilburne struck George in the neck with an ax, and the two brothers compelled one of the slaves to dismember the body. The remains of George's body were burned in the fireplace piecemeal until about 2:00 a.m. when an earthquake hit western
Kentucky, causing the chimney to collapse and smother the fire. The next day, during the aftershocks, the Lewis brothers forced their slaves to clean the remains of the body out of the fireplace and begin rebuilding it. They concealed the unburned portions of George's body among the rocks of the reconstructed chimney.
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was struggling to support his first five children after a series of financial setbacks. George was a 17-year-old slave held by
Lilburne Lewis. Isham had come to Lilburne on an extended visit, and that night after George accidentally broke a water pitcher that belonged to their mother; angered, they killed him in front of seven other
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In early March 1812, a neighborhood dog retrieved the young man's skull and deposited it in open view in a roadway. Neighbors saw the skull and began to inquire about it. They determined it was that of slave George, who was missing, and learned that he had been murdered. In slaveholding areas of the
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George was born into slavery in 1794 in
Virginia and held by the Lewis family. He grew up as a house slave and learned what was needed in the kitchen and other areas. When Randolph and Lilburne Lewis decided to move to Kentucky in 1806 with their families, they took their slaves with them, including
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and the ensuing disgrace of the prominent Lewis family, accounts of it quickly became part of the regional and national lore. Soon after being released on bail, Lilburne Lewis accidentally shot himself. Jailed after his brother's death, Isham escaped and disappeared from the area, and is believed to
230:, Merrill states that Isham "escaped from jail in Salem, Kentucky and six weeks later enlisted for five years in a U.S. Army Infantry company. The day after Isham enlisted, war was declared against England." and "Isham was one of seven men killed on the American side" at the Battle of New Orleans.
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with him. However, as
Lilburne attempted to demonstrate to his brother how to use a rifle, he accidentally shot himself prematurely. Isham then lost his nerve and did not follow through. Held on investigation as accessory to the suicide and George's murder, Isham escaped from jail and disappeared.
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locale of the murder). Lilburne intended to destroy the evidence by having the slaves burn George's dismembered body, but the New Madrid earthquake caused the chimney to collapse around the fire. (They were likely in the kitchen cabin.) In the days afterward, the brothers made other slaves rebuild
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In a drunken rage, they seized George, tied him to the floor of the kitchen cabin. The brothers assembled their seven slaves and ordered them to build a large fire in the fireplace. Lilburne locked the door and informed his slaves that he intended to end their insolence once and for all. While the
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In early 1811, Lilburne and Isham Lewis were still in mourning for their mother and older brother
Randolph, who had died the year before. Lilburne had also lost his first wife in 1811. He had remarried a local woman named Letitia. She was pregnant with their first child by early 1812, and Lilburne
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Jefferson was related to the Lewis family by marriage, and from the time he first heard about
Meriwether's death, he believed that Lewis had committed suicide as a result of an inherited tendency toward depression and mental disturbance. Subsequent events could only have reinforced Jefferson's
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Many books and articles since 1812 have examined the case of slave George and
Jefferson's nephews. Historian Boynton Merrill Jr. considered the case as arising out of the power abuses inherent in the institution of slavery, frontier stresses, mounting personal and financial losses in the Lewis
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Lilburne and Isham Lewis were quickly investigated, arrested and charged. After they had been released on bail, on April 9, 1812, Lilburne encouraged his brother to carry out a joint
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feelings, for at the time he wrote this sketch of
Meriwether, the former president was reeling from the news of a scandalous murder committed by his nephews, Lilburn and Isham Lewis.
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jolted the region on
January 23, 1812, and February 7, 1812. The second caused a partial collapse of the chimney that had concealed George's remains.
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boy held as a slave; he was murdered in western
Kentucky on the night of December 15–16, 1811 by Lilburne and Isham Lewis, grown sons of Dr.
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corpse was interrupted by the most powerful U.S. earthquake ever recorded east of the Rocky mountains, the Great
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family, Lilburne's mental instability, and abuse of alcohol by both brothers.
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Early depiction of the effects of the December 1811 New Madrid earthquake
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A History of Blacks in Kentucky: from Slavery to Segregation, 1760-1891
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A History of Blacks in Kentucky: From slavery to segregation, 1760-1891
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118:, which struck at 3:15 a.m. Eastern time (2:15 a.m. in the
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358:(2nd ed.). Frankfort, Kentucky: Kentucky Historical Society.
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U.S. Geological Survey: Largest earthquakes in the United States
320:. Frankfort, Kentucky: Kentucky Historical Society. p. 47.
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Because the killing coincided with the time and location of the
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the chimney and hide the remains within it. Two additional
314:Lucas, Marion Brunson; Wright, George C. (1992).
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179:Brother to Dragons, A Tale in Verse and Voices
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176:explored the scandal in his book-length poem
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253:"Murder and Madness in the Lewis Family"
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286:Jefferson's Nephews: A Frontier Tragedy
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30:) (c. 1794 – December 15, 1811) was an
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151:under an assumed name to fight in the
426:Stabbing attacks in the United States
46:. The brothers were also related to
251:Hunter, Frances (October 8, 2009).
147:Several weeks later, he joined the
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431:Incidents of violence against boys
16:American murder victim (1794–1811)
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222:On Pages xxvi & xxvii of his
411:Murdered African-American people
352:Brunson Lucas, Marion (2003).
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283:Merrill, Boynton Jr. (2004) .
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110:The dismemberment of George's
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167:Representation in other media
135:United States, the torturous
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386:19th-century American slaves
291:University of Nebraska Press
194:Slavery in the United States
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391:People murdered in Kentucky
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28:Lilburn Lewis' slave George
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139:of a slave was illegal.
122:observed in the western
70:Early life and education
226:to the 1987 edition of
172:The poet and novelist
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289:. Lincoln, Nebraska:
157:Battle of New Orleans
120:Central Standard Time
116:New Madrid earthquake
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98:New Madrid earthquake
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64:Battle of New Orleans
62:have perished in the
59:New Madrid earthquake
36:Charles Lilburn Lewis
421:People from Virginia
181:(1953, revised 1979)
159:on January 8, 1815.
40:Lucy Jefferson Lewis
396:History of Kentucky
228:Jefferson's Nephews
174:Robert Penn Warren
149:United States Army
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365:978-0-916968-32-8
327:978-0-916968-20-5
300:978-0-8032-8297-1
66:in January 1815.
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32:African American
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406:1811 deaths
204:War of 1812
153:War of 1812
112:decapitated
416:Axe murder
380:Categories
238:References
129:megaquakes
79:Background
188:See also
124:Kentucky
75:George.
224:Preface
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137:murder
86:slaves
54:fame.
210:Notes
360:ISBN
322:ISBN
295:ISBN
38:and
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Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Additional terms may apply.
