Sunday, December 12, 2010

Motive for Russell Statement forgery

Ever since Donald Jackson published the so-called “Russell Statement” in his 1962 edition of the Letters of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, it has served as a leading document supporting the suicide theory. Jackson discovered this document, which was later proven to be a forgery, in the papers of Jonathan Williams at the University of Indiana Lilly Library. Jonathan Williams was the first superintendent of the West Point Academy and a close personal friend of General James Wilkinson.

The so called “Russell Statement” was created by General Wilkinson during his court martial at Frederick Town, Maryland, which took place during September-December, 1811. The court martial brought up a variety of charges against the General—that he was an agent of the Spanish government from 1789-1804; that he had conspired with Aaron Burr to commit treason in 1805-06; and his disobedience to orders, neglect of duties and waste of money and supplies at New Orleans during 1809. It was a complete list of accusations that had been hurled against the General for years. The military court-martial was meant to be a “white wash.” Wilkinson skillfully defended himself and was exonerated by his fellow officers. President James Madison, after reviewing the testimony, accepted its findings “with regret” and restored the General to active duty in February, 1812, just before the War of 1812 started.

The “Russell Statement” is written in the hand of an unknown person. Two other documents have surfaced written in the same hand, related to Wilkinson’s activities. One was written during the same month and is a 12 page legal brief prepared by Wilkinson for his defense. Author Thomas Danisi says he knows whose handwriting it is. Hopefully he will tell us. Just the fact that he doesn’t want to say who it is makes it doubly interesting! We have been searching the historic record with no luck so far. So what is the “Russell Statement”? Even though its contents are often referred to as coming from a letter, it is in the form of a legal deposition. It is dated November 26, 1811; signed “Gilbert Russell” and witnessed by Jonathan Williams. The entire document is in the same handwriting, including the two signatures. The trouble with Russell’s signature is that he invariably signed his name “Gilbert C. Russell.” The “C” stood for Christian. There is no indication on the document that it is a copy, as would have been needed with any legal document, so it is simply a forgery meant to fool the reader.

The “Russell Statement” was examined by two document examiners at the Coroner’s Inquest in 1996 who certified it was not in the handwriting of either Russell or Williams. Its authenticity had been questioned as far back as 1961, when author Vardis Fisher corresponded with Donald Jackson and told him that that the language and content was very unlike anything Russell had ever written. Its contents are in the familiar ranting hyperbole of General Wilkinson. It contains lies that are directly contradicted by the authentic letters that Major Russell wrote to President Jefferson giving an account of Lewis’s stay at Fort Pickering and what he had been told of Lewis’s last days of life after he left the fort. Major Russell was in command of Fort Pickering and a friend of Lewis’s.

So, why did General Wilkinson chose to write a false document in the name of Major Russell, claiming that Lewis had tried to commit suicide twice while en route to Fort Pickering and that he had “destroyed himself in the most cool, Desperate and Barbarian-like manner.” He also claimed that after shooting himself twice with a .69 caliber bullet, Lewis began cutting himself with razors. He finishes with the statement that Lewis “died with a Declaration to the Boy that he had killed himself to deprive his enemies of the pleasure and honor of doing it.”

I have long wondered about the General’s motivation to raise this subject two years after Lewis’s death. I obtained a transcript of the court martial and found that Gilbert Russell had testified about a trivial matter on November 26, the same date as the deposition statement. I wondered if somehow the General and Russell had “cut a deal” and Russell had agreed to this cover-up—even if it was in the handwriting of an unknown scribe. I knew that Russell was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel on January 12, 1812.Then, in preparing to be the “Wilkinson killed Lewis” expert on the Brad Meltzer’s Decoded show on The History Channel, I reread the court martial transcript again, and found the motive for the forgery—

Russell had testified three weeks earlier, on November 5, 1811, when he was asked if he knew about any hostility of Major Seth Hunt, the former Commander of Camp Bellefontaine at St. Louis, towards General Wilkinson. Russell replied that yes, he did know about this. He reported that he had met Major Hunt at Hager’s Town, MD on “his way from Louisiana to Washington City; we travelled together to the city; he expressed himself with violent resentment against the General, and said he had a list of charges against him, sufficient to have him removed from office in both his military and civil capacity.” He said that Hunt’s horse fell and injured him, and that Hunt said “there was one man in the world who would have rejoiced if he had been killed. I asked him who that was? He answered Gen Wilkinson.” Russell continued that “He uttered, in the general tenor of his conversation, the most abusive epithets against Gen Wilkinson; he alleged that Gen Wilkinson had tried to get him killed, and had set his officers upon him, who had maltreated him, etc.” Russell also commented that after his arrival in Washington, Seth Hunt had not pursued his charges against Wilkinson and left the city. No further questions were directed to Russell. Seth Hunt took the stand at a later date, and nothing was said about this.

However, to me this is the “smoking gun.” The only way the lies in the Russell Statement could have been used during Russell’s lifetime is that he would have backed them up. The document was useless, if Russell said it was a forgery. Russell had testified at the court-martial that General Wilkinson had tried to kill Seth Hunt. Wilkinson must have brooded over this, and decided that he would kill Major Russell if he got any indication that Russell was going to accuse him of assassinating Meriwether Lewis. Then the Russell Statement would not be disputed. Unfortunately, another conclusion to be drawn is that Wilkinson trusted his friend Jonathan Williams to confirm its contents. The next fascinating piece of information is that Major Russell went AWOL from December 3 to December 25, 1811, the day the court martial adjourned. And then, on January 12, 1812, he received a promotion to Lt. Colonel. Perhaps President Madison rewarded him.

Posted by Kira Gale on 12/12/2010 at 01:27 PM

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