By Topic: Mexico

Friday, May 30, 2008

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