By Topic: James Wilkinson

Monday, June 22, 2009

Was Meriwether Lewis at the Aaron Burr treason trial?

A reader of my blog, Earl Weidner, has raised a couple of interesting questions. The blog in question is “Aaron Burr, Meriwether Lewis and the Burr-Wilkinson Conspiracy, Part 2.” Weidner asks if there is any definitive evidence that Lewis attended the Burr trial?—a question that has plagued historians for years. It was sometimes stated that he did (Stephen Ambrose and Richard Dillon both said this), but no source for the information was provided. Thomas Danisi, the co-author of a new biography Meriwether Lewis has found confirmation and cited his source. It is a letter from General James Wilkinson to President Thomas Jefferson, dated September 15, 1807.
It begins: ” Sir: I did intend to transmit you a copy of Capt Pikes report by Governor Lewis, but have been too occupied to fulfill my purpose—I shall have the honor to hand it to you in person at the seat of government.” Danisi is to be congratulated for doing the obvious and researching Wilkinson’s letters to Jefferson, which may be seen online at the Library of Congress Thomas Jefferson papers website.
Another question Weidner raises is whether Lewis’s relationship with Jefferson cooled because of attending the trial and discovering that Jefferson “wasn’t exactly the man Lewis thought he was.” I don’t think so. Lewis understood more than anyone the dynamics of Jefferson, Wilkinson, Burr and the possible establishment of a second country west of the Mississippi. His first assignment from Jefferson was to root out suspected Burrites from positions of power and influence in Louisiana Territory. I think the lack of letters from Lewis to Jefferson in 1808-09 may actually reflect sabotage and interference from his enemies—that he wrote some letters, but Jefferson didn’t receive them. He wrote in one of his last letters (to Secretary of War William Eustis, dated August 18, 1809) that “I have reason to believe that sundry of my letters have been lost, as there remain several important Subjects on which I have not yet received an Answer.” Another reason for Lewis to go to Washington and deal with matters face to face.

Posted by Kira Gale on 06/22/2009 at 03:15 PM

PEOPLE • James Wilkinson • Meriwether Lewis • Thomas Jefferson • (1) Comments • Permalink • Digg It • Add to del.icio.us

Friday, May 30, 2008

Aaron Burr, Meriwether Lewis and the Burr-Wilkinson Conspiracy, Part 3

Lewis and Clark receive new appointments
In March, 1807, President Jefferson appointed Meriwether Lewis to be Governor of Louisiana Territory and Superintendent of Indian Affairs; and William Clark to be Brigadier General of the Upper Louisiana Militia and principal Indian Agent for all tribes west of the Mississippi River (except for the Osage, who were handled by Pierre Chouteau).

Clark went immediately to St. Louis, arriving there in April, 1807 to take up his duties. They were all concerned about having a dependable military officer in charge of the region, in light of the recent Burr conspiracy and threats of war. Lewis remained in the east, while Frederick Bates, the new Territorial Secretary, assumed Lewis’s duties as Acting Governor.

1807: Returning to the Upper Missouri
That month, in April, an expedition of 50-60 men, under the leadership of Manuel Lisa and George Drouillard, left St. Louis to establish a fur trade fort at the mouth of the Yellowstone and Bighorn Rivers in Montana. The expedition included several former members of the Lewis and Clark Expedition: George Drouillard, John Colter, Peter Weiser, and John Potts.

In June, a joint military-commercial expedition of 102-108 people started up river under the command of Sgt. Nathaniel Pryor and Auguste Pierre Chouteau to deliver the Mandan Chief Sheheke, his wife and child, and the family of interpreter Rene Jessaume back home to their villages on the Knife River in North Dakota. (Sheheke: Mandan Indian Diplomat by Tracy Potter, pp 138-150)

They were attacked by about 650 Arikara warriors in South Dakota on September 9th. Four men were killed and nine wounded; George Shannon, a member of the Lewis and Clark expedition, ultimately lost his leg from this battle. The expedition turned back and another attempt wouldn’t be made until 1809.

Clark at Big Bone Lick
Clark left for Fincastle in August, 1807 but he stopped at Big Bone Lick in Kentucky on an urgent mission for President Jefferson—to provide him with fossil bones. He spent the month of September digging up mastodon and mammoth bones, sending ten crates of bones to the delighted president.

Lewis seeks a wife: the drawbacks of St. Louis
During the months he was back east, Lewis courted several young women. He was from one of the great families of Virginia, seeking a wife of his own background, who would become the wife of the Governor of Louisiana Territory, one of the highest governmental posts in the United States. But any sensible woman would have doubts about moving to St. Louis.

St. Louis was a town of about one thousand residents, which for years it had been under the rule of French and Spanish governments. For the last two years it had been under the corrupt administrations of General Wilkinson and Aaron Burr’s brother-in-law, Joseph Brown, the Secretary of the Territory. It was not only a center of intrigue regarding conspiracies to invade Spanish territories, it was also a center of land speculation and quarreling factions.  It was almost the only American or French town in all of Louisiana Territory, a land which encompassed hundreds of miles of Indian Country, from the Mississippi to the Rocky Mountains and the Canadian border. In the event of war with Britain, France or Spain and their Indian allies—wars which were routinely predicted in the newspapers of that time—St Louis would be attacked. In short it was a dangerous place to live, on the edge of a great frontier.

Lewis in Philadelphia (April-June)
At the end of March, 1807 Lewis announced in the newspapers that he would be publishing a map and the first of three volumes of his narrative account of the expedition in January, 1808. This didn’t happen. Sgt. Patrick Gass was the first to get a book out: Gass’s Journal of the Voyages and Travels of a Corps of Discovery was published in 1807.

Lewis was concerned about presenting the scientific information and discoveries accurately. He spent the months of April, May and June in Philadelphia working on his field notes, and attending the monthly meetings of the American Philosophical Society. He made arrangements with horticulturists, botanists, and artists regarding the seeds and dried plant specimens he had brought back. He discussed his numerous scientific findings with experts.

He sat for his portraits by Charles Willson Peale and Charles St. Memin.

He was still settling accounts with the War Department accountant, providing receipts and explanations of expenses, and running errands for Jefferson at local stores.

He was also having fun attending parties, being with friends, and looking for a wife.

Lewis writes a policy paper
In preparation for his duties as Governor of Louisiana Territory and perhaps in clearing his mind for writing a narrative of the expedition, Lewis wrote a long document, a policy paper on Indian relations and the fur trade, which Donald Jackson, editor of the Letters of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, states was completed by August of 1807. (The report is included in the Letters, pp. 696-719.)

It was called “Observations and reflections on the present and future state of Upper Louisiana, in relation to the government of the Indian nations inhabiting that country, and the trade and intercourse with the same. By Captain Lewis.” It was included in Biddle’s edition of the Lewis and Clark Journals, published in 1814. Lewis also later used parts of it in a letter to the Secretary of War and as an article in The Missouri Gazette.

The Burr Treason Trial (July-October)
From July-October, 1807 there are almost no records of Meriwether Lewis’s whereabouts. Several authors and biographers have said that Meriwether Lewis attended the Burr treason trial proceedings as a personal observer for Thomas Jefferson, but they do not cite sources. Thomas Danisi, the author of a forthcoming biography of Meriwether Lewis, (Of High Destiny: A Biography of Meriwether Lewis due out in January, 2009) reports that he has found a letter written by Wilkinson mentioning Lewis’s presence at the trial. Authors Stephen Ambrose (Undaunted Courage p. 439), Jonathan Daniels (Ordeal of Ambition, p. 366), and John Bakeless (Lewis and Clark: Partners in Discovery, pp. 389-90) state that Lewis attended the trial, which extended over a period of months, ending on October 20, 1807.

Wilkinson himself narrowly escaped indictment for treason, by a 7 to 9 vote of the grand jury (The Burr Conspiracy by Thomas Abernathy, page 241). He was a witness in the trial, and was less than credible according to all accounts.

Jefferson was passionately interested in convicting Aaron Burr for treason. In the end, the verdict delivered by the Chief Justice of the United States, John Marshall, concluded that Burr was not guilty of treason—that is, of levying of war against the United States—although he was probably guilty of planning to invade Spanish territory. The government lost heart in pursuing the lesser charge, and the matter was dropped. 

En route to his new life in St Louis
By late October Lewis was back in Albemarle at his mother’s home at Ivy Creek. He wrote to his friend Mahlon Dickerson in Philadelphia, on November 3rd, “What may be my next adventure, God knows, but on this I am determined, to get a wife.”

By late November Meriwether and his brother Reuben were in Fincastle. Reuben was moving to St. Louis also. Another traveling companion was Meriwether Lewis’s personal valet, John Pernier, a free mulatto. Pernier had been a servant in Jefferson’s White House. Wages for him were noted in Jefferson’s financial records for parts of 1804 and 1805. (“On the Death of Meriwether Lewis’s Servant” by Donald Jackson published in the The William and Mary Quarterly in July, 1964, pp 445-448). Pernier was present at the scene of Lewis’s death on October 11, 1809, as they were traveling together back to Washington on the Natchez Trace.

Lewis wrote his mother on February 15th, 1808 that he was in Louisville and that Reuben was already en route to St Louis “in a flat bottomed boat with my baggage and carriage.” He wrote “I have for near two months been traversing this state in various directions in order to seek for and secure by every necessary arrangement the lands belonging to myself and Mary & John Markes.” [his mother’s children by her second husband]

Lewis Starts a Newspaper
Lewis after his arrival in Louisville found a printer, and placed an advertisement which appeared in the Louisville newspaper on January 5, 1808:

“Those who wish to subscribe to the MISSOURI GAZETTE, are respectively informed that a subscription book is open at this Office. A capable Editor is employed, and a number of Gentlemen have volunteered to devote their leasure hours in writing on such subjects as will enrich its columns. Essays on Indian antiquity, Mines, Minerals, and an account of the Fur-Trade, with Topographical Scetches will be diligently sought after.
TERMS, THREE Dollars per annum, paid in advance, or FOUR on the expiration of the year. Advertisements not exceeding a square, will be inserted one week for One Dollar and Fifty Cents for every continuance; those of greatest length in proportion.”

Lewis had hired a Louisville printer, Joseph Charless, to go to St. Louis and start the first newspaper to be published west of the Missouri River.

To be continued…

Posted by Kira Gale on 05/30/2008 at 10:24 AM

GEOGRAPHY/PLACES • Missouri • PEOPLE • Aaron Burr • James Wilkinson • Meriwether Lewis • William Clark • NATIVE AMERICAN • (1) Comments • Permalink • Digg It • Add to del.icio.us

Aaron Burr, Meriwether Lewis and the Burr-Wilkinson Conspiracy, Part 2

The “missing months” of 1806-07
Some people believe Meriwether Lewis committed suicide because there are times in his life when Lewis is thought to have been “dysfunctional.” One example is the 18 month period following the expedition’s return to St. Louis in September, 1806 until Lewis returned to St. Louis to assume his duties as Governor of Louisiana Territory in March, 1808. President Jefferson appointed him to his post in March, 1807 and yet it took him a full year to return to St. Louis. What was he doing during this time? He was doing a lot, as Parts 2 and 3 of this blog series will show.

After the expedition members arrived in St. Louis on September 23, 1806, looking like “Robinson Crusoes in buckskin” as one observer put it, there was a round of parties and celebrations as Lewis and Clark began making their way back east to Washington, D.C.. But soon their paths separated as Clark pursued personal matters, and Lewis continued to perform his duties as a government official.

Meriwether Lewis now emerges from the historical record as the true commander of the expedition, because all of the post-expedition responsibilities fell upon him. It was up to him to make the official report to the President; to escort the Mandan Chief Big White and his entourage to Washington; to settle the expedition’s financial accounts with the government, and to arrange for the men to be paid in cash and land. It was also his responsibility to publish their journals, maps, and scientific observations.

It is easy to forget that he was a young man, 32 years old, who had just returned from a three and a half year grand adventure and that he was anxious to get back to his home in Charlottesville,Virginia, to see if his mother was still alive, and to be reunited with his family and friends.

The last part of the return journey
The journey to Washington soon got underway. The group consisted of Lewis and Clark, Clark’s slave York, Sgt John Ordway, Private Francis Labiche, the Mandan Interpreter Rene Jessaume, his wife and their two children, the Mandan Chief Sheheke (White Coyote or Big White), his wife,Yellow Corn, and their baby, and undoubtedly, Seaman the dog. The St. Louis fur trader and Indian Agent Pierre Chouteau was also traveling with them, escorting a group of six Osage Chiefs of the Arkansas Band to meet President Jefferson.

On October 30th they were in Vincennes, Indiana visiting William Henry Harrison, the Governor of Indiana Territory. When they reached Louisville, Kentucky, they celebrated their return at a dinner party on November 8th at Locust Grove, the home of William Clark’s sister Lucy and her husband William Croghan. Clark and York remained behind in Louisville visiting family and friends, while the rest of the group continued on to Washington by two different routes. Chouteau and the Osages traveled east to Lexington, Kentucky, and from there to Washington; while Lewis’s party headed south towards the Cumberland Gap.  (All of the places mentioned in this blog are featured in my book, Lewis and Clark Road Trips, which has195 destinations east of St Louis.)
Lewis returns home
Lewis, Ordway, Labiche, and the Mandan Chief with his entourage took the Old Wilderness Road south to the Gap, where they entered southwest corner of Virginia. Lewis arrived in his hometown of Charlottesville, Virginia, where he was relieved to find his mother alive and well. There was a letter from President Jefferson in Washington, inviting the group to tour Jefferson’s nearby home at Monticello. He wanted them to visit his Indian Hall, where Indian artifacts sent back by Lewis and Clark were on exhibit.

A gift to Virginia
Lewis was asked to do some surveying work, in order to settle a boundary line dispute along the Virginia-North Carolina border. In late November, his survey added ten miles to the state of Virginia—not a bad gift to his home state!

Clark visits his girlfriend in Fincastle
Clark and York also took the Wilderness Road through the Gap, traveling to the home of Clark’s girlfriend, Julia (Judith) Hancock in Fincastle,Virginia. Julia (born November 21, 1791) had just turned 15. Their engagement was announced in March, and they were married on January 8, 1808. Clark had met Julia, who came from a distinguished Virginia family, before leaving on the expedition. He named the Judith River in Montana for her. On January 8, 1807, the citizens of Fincastle held a banquet honoring William Clark and Meriwether Lewis (in absentia).

Turmoil in Washington and New Orleans
The fall and winter months of 1806-07 were a time of great scandal and uproar involving the Burr-Wilkinson Conspiracy. Jefferson had been receiving alarming reports for over a year about Aaron Burr’s planned filibustering (non-authorized) expedition to invade Texas and Mexico where he planned to set up a Mexican empire, in case of a war with Spain.

On November 27, 1806 Jefferson finally issued an order for the arrest of his former Vice-President and his allies, after receiving a hysterical letter from Wilkinson warning of the filibuster. Wilkinson estimated Burr’s force at 1,000-1,500 men, while it was actually between 60-100 men. Wilkinson and Burr and many others had been plotting the invasion of the Spanish Southwest for months (if not decades), but Wilkinson turned on his colleagues and switched sides.

The Neutral Ground Agreement
General James Wilkinson was both the civilian and military commander in Louisiana Territory: he was the Commanding General of the United States Army (1800-1812), and was appointed by Jefferson to be the first Governor of Louisiana Territory in 1805. After complaints of Wilkinson’s involvement in fraudulent land dealings in St Louis mounted, Jefferson removed him from his post as Governor in June, 1806, and ordered him to the Sabine River, where Spanish troops had crossed over the disputed boundary line between Mexican and U. S. Territory (today’s Texas-Louisiana border).

In October, 1806 Wilkinson avoided a war with Spain by making a private deal with General Simon Herrera, to withdraw his Mexican troops back across the Sabine River. Their “Neutral Ground Agreement,” signed on November 5, 1806, established a no-man’s land between the two countries. The 40 mile wide strip of land subsequently became a haven for outlaws, pirates and filibustering expeditions until the Adams-Onis Treaty of 1819 settled the boundary issues. Wilkinson thus managed to please both his Spanish paymasters and the President, while sacrificing his friend and fellow conspirator, Aaron Burr.

Years later it was proven that Wilkinson had been receiving payments from the Spanish Government since 1787. Although charges of secret payments were widely alleged at the time, it was never conclusively proven until the Spanish archives were opened. After betraying Burr, Wilkinson sent a representative to the Spanish Viceroy of Mexico asking for payment of 121,000 pesos for stopping the invasion, but the request was refused. He did, however,—in typical Wilkinson fashion—manage to sell a report and maps of his messenger’s trip to the American government for $1,750.

Wilkinson betrays Burr and his fellow conspirators
In November, Wilkinson unlawfully seized control in New Orleans, despite the refusals of the Governor of New Orleans Territory William Claiborne and the New Orleans legislature to declare martial law and suspend habeus corpus. Wilkinson ordered the arrest of five of his friends and fellow conspirators and sent them by naval ship to Washington and Baltimore. He jailed a New Orleans judge and the New Orleans Gazette newspaper editor when they protested.

The eventful year of 1807
In a Special Message to Congress on January 12, 1807, Jefferson revealed Burr’s plot, characterizing it both as a plot to separate the western states from the American Union and to invade Mexico. This is where matters stood in January, 1807 when Lewis and Clark were receiving a heroes’ welcome in Washington. A presidential banquet was held on January 14th, even though Clark was still absent. Lewis and the Mandan Chief had arrived on December 28th, but the celebration had been postponed in anticipation of Clark’s arrival. Clark finally arrived after the party, on January 18th, and wrote to his brother Jonathan on the 22nd that the “Expedition of Mr. B. has excted the greatest allarm” in Washington.

Aaron Burr, meanwhile, had been arrested at Bayou Pierre near Natchez, Mississippi on January 10th. Several balls were given in his honor as he awaited trial in the Mississippi territorial court at Washington, Mississippi. No one believed that Burr planned to separate the western states, and many local citizens were in favor of invading Spanish territories. On February 4, 1807 the grand jury refused to indict him.

The next day, fearing for his life, Burr fled from arrest by Wilkinson’s men. A $2,000 reward was offered for his capture. He was caught on February 13th and brought to Richmond, Virginia in March, where he stood trial for treason on August 7, 1807.

To be continued…

Posted by Kira Gale on 05/30/2008 at 09:53 AM

GEOGRAPHY/PLACES • Mexico • Missouri • New Orleans • Virginia • PEOPLE • Aaron Burr • James Wilkinson • Meriwether Lewis • William Clark • NATIVE AMERICAN • (2) Comments • Permalink • Digg It • Add to del.icio.us

Friday, January 25, 2008

Aaron Burr, Meriwether Lewis and the Burr-Wilkinson Conspiracy, Part 1

Aaron Burr and Meriwether Lewis crossed paths several times during Lewis’s all too short life. One of Lewis’s last assignments from Jefferson was to root out suspected “Burrites” from political office in St  Louis, while Lewis was serving as Governor of Upper Louisiana Territory in 1807-09. Lewis died in 1809 on the Natchez Trace, traveling to Washington, D. C. to protest some bills that weren’t being paid by government bureaucrats, and perhaps bringing some incriminating evidence regarding the Burr-Wilkinson Conspiracy to Washington. Some believe he was murdered.

Burr and Lewis had worked together during the first administration of President Thomas Jefferson (1801-1804), when Burr was Vice President of the United States and Lewis was serving as Jefferson’s private secretary. Lewis lived at the White House almost from Jefferson’s first month in office until he left on July 5, 1803 to lead the elite special army unit known as the “Corps of Volunteers for Northwestern Discovery” whose mission was to explore the new Louisiana Purchase and to seek an all water route to the Pacific Ocean.

On July 11, 1804, the young army captain was traveling up the Missouri River near today’s Kansas-Nebraska border when Aaron Burr killed Alexander Hamilton in the famous duel. It was over two years before Lewis and the other expedition members heard about it. They got their first news on September 3, 1806 when they were returning home and met trader James Aird near today’s Sioux City, Iowa.

William Clark wrote they learned “that Mr. Burr and Genl. Hambleton fought a Duel, the latter was killed &c &c.” Alexander Hamilton had been the first Treasurer of the United States (1789-1795) under President George Washington.

Other news was that Aird “informed us that Genl. Wilkinson was the governor of the Louisiana at St Louis 300 of the American Troops had been Contuned on the Missouri a fiew miles above it’s mouth. Some disturbance with the Spaniards in the Nackatosh Country is the Cause of their being Called down to that Country…” (pages 346-347, The Definitive Journals of Lewis and Clark: Over the Rockies to St Louis )

The Burr-Wilkinson Conspiracy

Well, what was Burr “up to” while our guys were returning home? And what was the Burr-Wilkinson Conspiracy that was going to consume so much of Lewis’s time and attention in the years ahead? Who was Wilkinson?

General James Wilkinson was a slick operator—widely accused at the time of being in the pay of Spain. (This was later proven when files from the Spanish archives were opened. He was on the payroll of Spain from 1787 onward.) He was also the Commanding General of the United States Army and the first Governor of Upper Louisiana Territory. He was a useful double agent for President Jefferson, who was rightfully concerned with control of New Orleans and the Mississippi River. But absolutely nobody trusted him, except—perhaps—Aaron Burr.

After the duel with Hamilton, Burr’s political career was effectively ended. The Burr-Wilkinson Conspiracy was a plot hatched by the two men to invade Spanish territory with a “filibustering” expedition. They planned to lead a private, armed expedition of 1,000-1,500 men into Mexico and establish a new government there, with themselves at the head of it. The invasion would launch from New Orleans, and it would take place whenever the United States went to war with Spain. They plotted together in 1804-05, and received widespread support from Americans eager to end Spanish rule. It was the talk of the country and rumors were widely reported in the newspapers.

Other versions of the story are that Burr planned to establish a colony of young men on land along the Washita River called the Bastrop Lands, near today’s Austin,Texas. In addition, a separation of the western states from the American Union, the conquest of New Orleans, and support from the British Navy were all part of the rumored plans.

On September 23, 1806, when the Lewis and Clark Expedition returned to St Louis they received a heroes’ welcome. But over the next few months, the big national news story was the filibustering expedition led by Aaron Burr.

Blennerhassett Island

The expedition was to start from Blennerhassett Island on the Ohio River near Parkersburg, West Virginia,where boats, supplies and men were being assembled. The island was the private estate of a wealthy and eccentric Irish aristocrat, Harman Blennerhassett, who was bankrolling the adventure. On November 27, 1806 President Jefferson ordered the arrest of Burr and his followers on the charge of illegally planning an armed attack on Spanish territory. Two weeks later, on December 11^th, Blennerhassett and about 30 members of the filibuster fled from local militia, who burned Blennerhassett’s mansion on the island to the ground. The group traveled down the Ohio, where, on December 27^th, they met up with Aaron Burr at the mouth of the Cumberland River in Kentucky. Altogether, the expedition now numbered around 60-100 men. The original plan was that the group would be gradually be joined by more and more men as it proceeded down river, but this didn’t happen.

Neutral Ground on the Sabine River

 What about the war with Spain that was supposed to launch the filibuster? General Wilkinson had been removed from political office as the Governor of Upper Louisiana at St Louis in June of 1806 by Jefferson, and sent down with troops to the Sabine River area between Nacogdoches Texas and Natchitoches, Louisiana. (Look at a modern day map: the Sabine River forms the wavy line boundary directly below the straight line boundary of Texas and Louisiana.)

During October and November, 1806, General Wilkinson managed a peaceful stand off with Mexican troops who had crossed the Sabine River invading U.S. territory. On his own authority, he signed an agreement on November 5, 1806 with the Mexican army commander which secured a 120 mile wide “neutral zone” between Nacogdoches and Natchitoches that extended all the way down to the Gulf waters. This area remained a lawless Neutral Ground from 1806 until 1821, and a border war with Spain was averted.

Burr Arrested

Where did this leave Aaron Burr? Wilkinson had already betrayed him on October 9^th, writing a hysterical letter to President Jefferson revealing the conspiracy, and enclosed a letter in cipher code from Burr as evidence.When Burr and his followers arrived at Bayou Pierre, 30 miles north of New Orleans, they learned of Jefferson’s order for their arrest, and they turned themselves in on January 10, 1810.

To be continued…

Posted by Kira Gale on 01/25/2008 at 06:53 PM

GEOGRAPHY/PLACES • Mexico • PEOPLE • Aaron Burr • James Wilkinson • (0) Comments • Permalink • Digg It • Add to del.icio.us