Ohio History Journal

THE AARON BURR CONSPIRACY IN THE OHIO

VALLEY.

 

 

MISS LESLIE HENSHAW, CINCINNATI.

 

What the movement known as the Burr Conspiracy really

was, will probably never be accurately known. It might have

been one of three things; first, a filibustering expedition directed

against Spain; second, a plan to revolutionize the West and

join this section with Louisiana to form a new republic; third, a

scheme to join the Western States and Louisiana with Spanish

America to form an empire. To Burr's contemporaries whose

attitude was influenced and intensified by the press of the day,

it was a "Napoleonic" scheme to separate the Western States

from the East, join them with Louisiana and Spanish America

to form an empire with Burr as the Emperor and Wilkinson as

second in command. Before this time, individuals and groups

of individuals had turned with longing eyes towards Mexico

but this affair marks the close of the period of wavering and by

bringing patriotism to a head, solidified the attitude of the

West in favor of centralization, so that from then on, we have

the United States of America with no danger of any defection

on the part of the West, a gradual decline of the old sectionalism

with the new sectionalism from the standpoint of the North

and South taking its place. The Ohio Valley was the leading

section in the West at this time, therefore the "Burr Conspiracy"

may be treated from that standpoint alone.

After the Hamilton-Burr duel and during the completion of

Burr's term as Vice-President in Washington, a great intimacy

had developed between Burr and General James Wilkinson

and variety was added to their boarding house existence by dis-

cussing routes in the far Southwest and examining and drawing

maps of that district. Before Burr's departure for the West,

he had been concerned with Wilkinson, John Smith of Ohio,

John Brown and General John Adair of Kentucky in an effort

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to procure a charter for cutting a canal at the Falls on the

Indiana side of the Ohio river, on which charter a bank was

engrafted. He had also discussed with Matthew Lyon, a rep-

resentative from Kentucky, the possibility of regaining his

political fortunes by being returned to Congress from a Western

state in the ensuing election. These facts had an important

bearing on the situation that later developed in the West,

although the canal project and the election idea dropped out

almost immediately, the discussion concerning the Southwest

materializing into what is known as the "Burr Conspiracy."

In the course of the planning and developing of the "Con-

spiracy," Aaron Burr made two trips through the western coun-

try, the first in the spring of 180₅, the second in the fall of

1806. Before he left for the West, he wrote to his daughter to

address him until further orders, Cincinnati, Ohio, care of John

Smith, indicating an intimacy with him which might have been

either real or assumed. April twenty-ninth, 1805, he arrived

at Pittsburgh; from there, he wrote to his daughter to address

him Frankfort, Kentucky, care of John Brown who had been

concerned in the Spanish Conspiracy earlier. He continued

down the river stopping at Marietta and Blennerhassett Island

where he conversed with Mrs. Blennerhassett. Afterwards he

wrote Mr. Blennerhassett regretting his absence and alluding

to his talents as deserving a higher sphere than that in which

they were employed. In this he courted disaster for he paved

the way for putting his plans or the hint of them, in the hands

of an egotistical "bungler." He arrived at Cincinnati, May

eleventh, staying with Senator John Smith, whose occupation in

this city was that of a merchant and army contractor. Here

he met Jonathan Dayton of New Jersey, either to discuss the

canal plan or as a fellow conspirator in the Spanish project.

The Western Spy of May fifteenth, gives the following notice

of his arrival: "On Friday last, Aaron Burr, esquire, late

Vice-President of the United States, arrived in this town where

he remained two or three days and then descended the Ohio on

his way to New Orleans. 'It is reported,' says the Washington

Federalist, 'that Colonel Burr is to be appointed Governor of

Louisiana in the room of W. C. C. Claiborne.'" This last sen-

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The Aaron Burr Conspiracy in the Ohio Valley.   123

tence adds a fourth possible reason for Burr's western journey

aside from the canal project, the probabilities of a Congressional

election from a western state and the "Conspiracy" itself. The

following week, the same paper comments: "We have for some

time understood that a company has been formed in the Eastern

States for the purpose of opening a Canal around the Falls of the

Ohio and erecting a Waterworks at that place. Colonel Burr it

has been said, was concerned in that Company and we presume

his visit to this country is principally confined to that object."

Evidently the western public knew little of Burr's real purpose

but was interested enough in his presence in their midst to offer

conjectures as to the cause of his being there.

Burr then descended the Ohio as far as Louisville and

from there went overland to Frankfort, staying at the home of

John Brown; from there he went to Lexington, arriving May 22,1

and to Nashville spending the time from May twenty-ninth to

June third with Andrew Jackson. It was announced from

Kentucky that he was not to be governor of Louisiana and was

not interested in a canal at the Falls but was traveling for

amusement and information.² Thus a new reason for his pres-

ence in the West is added to the galaxy already offered.

It was apparently planned that he was to meet Wilkinson,

for the general followed Burr down the Ohio, stopping at

Cincinnati May twenty-second, leaving the twenty-third.³ He

continued on to Louisville and from there wrote John Adair,

May twenty-eighth, 1805: "I was to have introduced my friend

Burr to you but in this I failed by accident. He understands

your merits and reckons on you. Prepare to meet me and I

will tell you all. We must have a peek into the unknown world

beyond us."⁴ This letter of introduction was written to a man

who had already been concerned with Wilkinson and Burr in the

canal charter, before Burr had journeyed to the West.

Burr descended the Cumberland River to the Ohio and met

Wilkinson at Fort Massac leaving there the tenth of June,

bearing a letter of introduction from Wilkinson to Daniel Clark

of New Orleans as follows: "This will be delivered to you by

Colonel Burr whose worth you know well how to estimate

* * *. To him, I refer you for many things improper to

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letter and which he will not say to any other."⁵ Thus at this

early date, something existed between the two men which was

"improper to letter." Further significance is added to this sit-

uation by the fact that Burr carried with this another letter

of introduction to Casa Calvo, commissioner for Spain in the

Louisiana boundary question. It is dated Washington the

eighteenth of March, 1805, and introduces "my eminent friend,

Colonel Burr, a man of a million qualities" and is signed J. W.

He also wrote a letter marked confidential at Fort Massac,

June 9, 1805, asking Casa Calvo to "serve this gentleman"

(Burr); "He is my friend   * * *. Your great family in-

fluence will promote the views of Colonel Burr and the great

interest of your country will be served in following his advice

* * *. Do as I advise you and you will soon send to the devil

that boastful idiot W. C. C. Claiborne." A postscript is added to

the following effect: "Burn this and tell my son and Armesto⁶

that I am always the same, your unalterable friend."7  Wilkinson

then went on to St. Louis, arriving July first,⁸ where Burr

met him later after his return from the South. Burr, continuing

southward, stopped at Natchez, June seventeenth, where he

was entertained by Governor Williams of Mississippi territory.

He arrived in New Orleans the twenty-first of June, remaining

there until July tenth. Here he was entertained by Governor

Claiborne and Daniel Clark. He then went back to Natchez

and on to Nashville, spending the week from August sixth to

August thirteenth with Andrew Jackson. He spent August

twentieth to thirty-first at Frankfort with John Brown and at

Lexington; he arrived at Louisville September second, then

went to St. Louis meeting Wilkinson there September twelfth.

On his way east, he stopped at Vincennes, September twenty-

third, then at Cincinnati arriving October first, then to Chillicothe

and Marietta from the seventh to the tenth, arriving at Pittsburgh

the twentieth.

December thirty-first, 1805, Blennerhassett wrote to Burr:

"I shall be honored in being associated with you in any contem-

plated enterprise you would permit me to participate in;"⁹ to

which Burr answered from Washington, April fifteenth, 1806:

"Independent of considerations personal to myself, I learn with

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The Aaron Burr Conspiracy in the Ohio Valley.  125

 

utmost pleasure that you are to be restored to the social and

active world."¹⁰ Thus by flattery were Blennerhassett's services

gained, allowing him to feel that the Burr plan had the sanction

of the government and needed only a declaration of war with

Spain to put it in motion.

In preparation for Burr's second journey to the West, a

number of letters were written to General Wilkinson. General

Dayton in the cipher, used by Burr and Wilkinson in the past,

wrote July twenty-fourth, 1806: "It is now ascertained that you

are to be displaced in the next session. Jefferson will affect to

yield reluctantly but yield he will; prepare yourself therefore

for it, you know the rest. You are not a man to despair or

even despond, especially when such projects offer in another

quarter. Are you ready? Are your numerous associates ready?

Wealth and Glory! Louisiana and Mexico! I shall have time

to receive a letter from you before I set out for Ohio. Address

to me here and another to me in Cincinnati. Receive and treat

my nephew affectionately as you would receive your friend.-

Dayton."11  This was carried by his nephew, Peter Ogden of

New Jersey to Wilkinson. July twenty-ninth, 1806, Burr wrote

a letter of introduction to Wilkinson for Samuel Swartwout of

New York who was to carry it and also the famous cipher letter

which, according to Wilkinson's testimony later, contained his

plans for the expedition down the Ohio and Mississippi, a

duplicate of which was sent in Dr. Erick Bollman's care by the

sea route to New Orleans.

On his second journey to the West, Burr arrived at Pitts-

burgh, August twenty-second, 1806. The Pittsburgh Common-

wealth of August twenty-seventh says that he was traveling

incognito and was perfectly taciturn and that during his stay

many conjectures were afloat.l² He stopped at the home of

Colonel George Morgan near Cannonsburg, Pennsylvania. Mor-

gan was a former Revolutionary soldier and had drawn up a

contract October third 1788, with Gardoqui, the Spanish rep-

resentative in the United States, for a grant of land at New

Madrid on the Mississippi river opposite the mouth of the

Ohio with privileges of free trade down the river. This had

not pleased Wilkinson who had just obtained a renewal of his

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126       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

license for navigation of the Mississippi from Miro, the Spanish

commander at New Orleans and Morgan's charter had been

revoked.¹³

Burr evidently expected Morgan on account of his earlier

career, to listen to his plans with eagerness but Morgan had

developed in the meantime an ardent and unexpected patriotism.

According to his testimony, Burr, while alone with the Colonel,

asked him if he knew of a Spaniard at Vincennes by the name of

Vigo, by way of introducing a hint of his scheme and sounding

his listener. Morgan replied that he had reason to believe that

this Vigo was deeply involved in the Conspiracy of 1788 and

called it a nefarious scheme aiming at a division of the States.

He considered Burr's mention of the Spaniard of such impor-

tance to the welfare of the country that he wrote a letter to

Jefferson informing him of the conversation.¹⁴

Burr descended the river as far as Blennerhassett Island.

Immediately following this, there appeared in the Ohio Gazette

of Marietta a series of articles signed "The Querist," discussing

the probability of a separation of the Western States from the

East and the desirability of such a separation. These articles

were attributed to Blennerhassett, following out the suggestion

of Burr. Blennerhassett, according to testimony presented in

the Burr trial, showed the first and second numbers of "The

Querist" before their publication to Alexander Henderson of

Wood County, of which county Blennerhassett Island was a

part, and told him in confidence that Burr planned a separation

of the Union, that New Orleans was to be seized and the

Western country revolutionized.¹⁵

Burr proceeded onward to Cincinnati, arriving September

fourth, 1806, and again staying at the home of John Smith.

As early as September eighteenth of the previous year The West-

ern Spy had published a series of queries from The New York

Herald, insinuating that it would not be long before the West

would be revolutionized, the government separated and Mexico

reduced with the aid of Great Britain, under the leadership of

Burr. On October twenty-first 1806, The Spy begins a series

of articles by "Regulus" in answer to "The Querist." John

Smith was very active in discussing the "Querist" articles and

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The Aaron Burr Conspiracy in the Ohio Valley.  127

 

boasted that he knew more of Burr's plans than any man in

Ohio save one.l⁶ That one thus referred to, might have been

Dudley Woodbridge of Marietta, business partner of Blenner-

hassett with whom Burr had various commercial dealings.

From Cincinnati, Burr went to Lexington, arriving Sep-

tember eleventh¹⁷ and then to Nashville arriving September

twenty-seventh. On the fourth of October, Jackson issued a

proclamation to the militia of Tennessee, calling for volunteers

for an expedition against the Spaniards. From there, Burr

returned to Lexington, staying at the home of Mr. John Jordan,

concluding with Colonel Charles Lynch the purchase of the

Bastrop lands in the Red River country. Here he was met by

his daughter Theodosia whom Blennerhassett had brought down

from his island home. From Lexington, Burr wrote to William

Henry Harrison, October twenty-fourth, 1806, sending a news-

paper containing the Jackson proclamation, suggesting similar

action on his part: "All reflecting men consider a war with

Spain inevitable; in such an event I think you would not be at

ease as an idle spectator. If it should be my lot to be employed

where there is reason to expect, it would be my highest grati-

fication to be associated with you."18

During October and November, "fellow conspirators" were

making preparations for the expedition down the river; Colonel

Barker was building boats in the Muskingum under contract

with Dudley Woodbridge; Comfort Tyler in Pittsburgh was col-

lecting recruits and provisions; Davis Floyd at Jeffersonville was

gathering recruits to settle the Washita lands on the banks of

the Red River. At this point, the tide begins to turn against

Burr and from now on, he is a man marked for failure. A

movement in Kentucky to defeat the project was rapidly gaining

ground. The Western World, a "yellow journal" of Frankfort,

printed by Joseph Street, had been publishing a series of muck

raking articles on "Conspiracy," written by Humphrey Marshall,

which had been copied by other Western newspapers and had

agitated that part of the country against Burr. Joseph Hamil-

ton Daviess, an attorney at Frankfort, rose in the Federal

Court of Kentucky, November fifth and made affidavit that he

had information that Aaron Burr had set on foot and was

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128      Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

preparing for a military enterprise to descend the Ohio and

Mississippi to make war on the subjects of the King of Spain and

that his agents had purchased large stores of provisions. He

asked the court to compel the personal appearance of Burr.

He stated that he recognized the fact that Burr might import

arms and engage men but these would be no offense against the

law but it was the design, the intent which constituted his mis-

demeanor. Judge Harry Innis who had been involved with

John Brown in the Spanish conspiracy of 178819 and had aroused

the everlasting enmity of Humphrey Marshall, writer of the

articles on "Conspiracy" in The Western World, declined to

give an opinion without time for consideration. November

eighth, he stated that he had found no legal evidence to authorize

the arrest of Burr. He said that he did not doubt the truth

of the affidavit and thought the facts might even be true but it

was not legal evidence. Daviess then moved for a warrant to

summon the grand jury before whom he would prefer an

indictment against Colonel Burr which was granted. At this

point, Burr entered, accompanied by his counsel, Henry Clay,

and stated that he had made it his business to present himself

for investigation. November twelfth after the jury had been

discharged, Burr again addressed the court, requesting to know

the cause of the discharge of the grand jury and Daviess was

compelled to state that it was because of the absence of his

chief witness, Davis Floyd, who was in attendance as a member

of the Legislature of Indiana territory. Burr rose again and

made it understood that he had used every exertion in his

power to compel the attendance of witnesses.²⁰ Burr was the

"man of the hour" on account of his open and frank conduct

in this trial but although acquitted for lack of evidence, his

project suffered nevertheless from the mere fact that too much

attention was drawn to it. At this time, Burr wrote to Blen-

nerhassett, "It is probable that villains enough may be found

to encounter all perjuries which may gratify malice * * *

You perceive that this will embarrass me in my project of the

Washita settlement."²1

The fact that Henry Clay was attorney for the defense of

Burr is certainly of some interest at this point. The agitation

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The Aaron Burr Conspiracy in the Ohio Valley.   129

 

worked up by The Western World had cast suspicion on some

of the most prominent men of Kentucky as concerned in the

conspiracy to annex Kentucky to Spain. Many of the men

on whom the shadow fell were Clay's personal friends and when

an indictment for the same offense was made against Colonel

Burr, Clay, considering Burr a "persecuted patriot" and realizing

the benefit of his reputation as a young lawyer in having so dis-

tinguished a client as the former Vice-President of the United

States, was ready to defend him in court. He was assured by

Burr that his plans meant no harm to the United States. That

his opinion changed later is shown by the fact that in a court

room in New York City in 1815, he publicly refused to shake

hands with his former client.22

Opposition to Burr was developing from another quarter.

John Graham, Secretary of Orleans Territory, was requested

by Madison to pass through the western country on his way to

New Orleans to follow Burr on account of information that a

project was on foot to sever the Union and invade the terri-

tories of Spain. This move was the direct result of dark hints

from Wilkinson to Jefferson, after Swartwout's arrival at Wil-

kinson's military camp at Nachitoches on the Texas frontier

October eighth and the delivery of the letter of introduction

written by Burr at Philadelphia and the sealed packet containing

the cipher letter of July twenty-ninth. Graham, in pursuit of

Burr, stopped at Marietta where Blennerhassett called on him

and told him of the Bastrop lands purchase; he contended that

the object of the Burr enterprise was legal and that the gov-

ernment had no right to interfere. Graham considering Blen-

nerhassett a deluded man, told him that he was the agent of the

government to look into the enterprise and take steps to repress

it if necessary and that he believed that Burr intended to

attack the territory of the United States and that of Spain.²³

While Blennerhassett was in Lexington, Alexander Hender-

son, a Federal leader in Wood County where Blennerhassett was

prominent as a large property holder and a Democrat, organized

opposition and called a mass meeting of citizens where reso-

lutions were passed October sixth condemning the "hostile"

movements. Mrs. Blennerhassett alarmed by this situation, sent

Vol. XXIV-9.

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130       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

 

Peter Taylor her gardener, in search of her husband. Taylor

went to Smith's store in Cincinnati and not finding Blenner-

hassett there, was sent to Lexington with a letter from Smith

to Burr. This was dated October twenty-third 1806, and states

that "we have in this quarter various reports prejudicial to your

character. It is believed by many that your design is to dis-

member the Union; although I do not believe you have any such

design, yet I must confess from the mystery and rapidity of

your movements that I have fears, let your object be what it may,

that the tranquillity of the country will be interrupted unless it be

candidly disclosed, which I solicit, and to which I presume you

will have no objection."²⁴  To this Burr replied: "If there

exists any design to separate the Western from the Eastern

States, I am totally ignorant of it. I never harbored nor ex-

pressed any such intention to any one, nor did any person ever

intimate such design to me. Indeed, I have no conception of

any mode in which such a measure could be promoted, except

by operating on the minds of the people and demonstrating it to

be to their interest. I have never written or published a line on

this subject nor ever expressed any other sentiments than those

you have heard from me in public companies at Washington and

elsewhere and in which I think you concurred. I have no

political views whatever,- those which I entertained some

months ago have been abandoned. Having bought of Colonel

Lynch 400,000 acres of land on the Washita, I propose to send

thither this fall a number of settlers * *  *. Mr. J. Breck-

enridge, Adair and Fowler have separately told me that it was the

strong desire of the administration that American settlers should

go to that quarter and that I could not do a thing more grateful to

the government. I have some other views which are personal

merely and which I shall have no objection to state to your per-

sonally but which I do not deem it necessary to publish. If these

projects could any way affect the interests of the United States,

it would be beneficially. Yet I acknowledge that no public con-

siderations have led me to this speculation but merely the interest

and comfort of myself and friends. P. S. It may be unneces-

sary to caution but I never write for publication."²⁵ This letter

so indefinite in expression would arouse suspicion from that

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The Aaron Burr Conspiracy in the Ohio Valley.   131

 

fact alone and contains in it the essence of Burr's method

"operating on the minds of the people and demonstrating it to

be to their interest."

In November, Smith went on a supposed business trip to

Cynthiana, Lexington and Frankfort where he met Burr while

he was on trial but left the next morning after being told he

might be summoned as a witness. November twenty-first, Burr

was in Cincinnati again26 but this time he did not stay with

Smith but stopped at a tavern. November twenty-seventh, he

wrote Harrison from Louisville: "I have no wish or design to

attempt a separation of the Union, I have no connection with

any foreign power or government; I never mediated the intro-

duction of any foreign power or influence into the United States,

or any part of its territories²⁷ but on the contrary, I should repel

with indignation any proposition or measure having that tend-

ency; in fine, I have no project or views hostile to the interests or

tranquillity or union of the United States or prejudicial to its

government. * * * It is true that I am engaged in ex-

tensive speculations and that with me are associated some of

your intimate and dearest friends. The objects are such as

every man of honor and every good citizen must approve.

They have been communicated to several of the principal officers

of the government, particularly to one high in the confidence of

the administration. Indeed, from the nature of them, it cannot

be otherwise, and I have no doubt of having received your active

support, if a personal communication with you could be had.

Accident and indispensable occupation have prevented me from

writing you for that purpose."²⁸

Early in December, the expedition itself was started. Com-

fort Tyler's party left Beaver, Pennsylvania, December first,

passing Marietta December ninth and continued down the river

to Blennerhassett Island. November twenty-sixth, Henry Dear-

born, Secretary of War, had written to Edward Tiffin, the

Governor of Ohio, informing him of the hostile plan and asking

him to send a detachment of Ohio militia to Marietta to seize

the boats that the Burr party expected to use.²⁹ Tiffin acting on

this advice and with the support of the Ohio Legislature, issued

an order to arrest the flotilla on the Muskingum, and accordingly

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General Buell seized the boats December ninth. Blennerhassett,

alarmed by this situation, joined the Tyler party and left the

island in the middle of the night of December tenth. The same

day Tiffin wrote to Major General Gano of Cincinnati, enclosing

the President's proclamation of November twenty-seventh on the

Burr "treason" and appointed Judge Matthew Nimmo, General

James Findlay and Gano as a commission to organize the militia

of that district, guard the river and examine all boats passing

down.³⁰ This reached Cincinnati December thirteenth, 31 and as

a result the militia were ordered out. Gano wrote to Tiffin

December fifteenth, informing him of a lack of provisions and

ammunitions but that despite this, a detachment had been sent

up the river to Columbia to stop and examine all boats.³² This

detachment was ordered by Gano to pursue any boats which

might slip by and not to shed blood unless fired upon.³³  Similar

activity was evinced by the Kentucky militia but despite all pre-

cautions of the Cincinnati and Newport guards, the expedition

passed in the night of December fourteenth without being no-

ticed. Only one thousand dollars had been appropriated by

the state for the equipment of the militia with provisions and

arms, so Gano went to John Smith, showed him the President's

Proclamation and told him of the lack of funds. Smith prom-

ised to pay one half of the expenses, if Gano, Findlay and

Nimmo would pay the other half. Later, when arms could not

be secured, Smith offered ten thousand dollars to insure their

delivery.34 This attitude developed immediately upon being

shown the Jefferson Proclamation. At Louisville, the militia

there detained Blennerhassett and party but were forced to

let them go because nothing of suspicious character was found

aboard the boats. December sixteenth the Blennerhassett-Tyler

party was joined by the Floyd party at Jeffersonville and pro-

ceeded onward. Burr coming down the Cumberland from Nash-

ville met them at the mouth of that river late in December.

Word was sent ahead to Fort Massac announcing their coming.

Daniel Bissell, commanding the fort, sent Sergeant Jacob Dun-

baugh up to call on Burr and render assistance if necessary.

Bissell reported January fifth 1807, to General Jackson who had

received orders from the Secretary of War too late to stop

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The Aaron Burr Conspiracy in the Ohio Valley.  133

 

the expedition at Fort Massac, that there were about ten boats

and sixty men and nothing on board that would even suffer a

conjecture that they were more than men bound to market.³⁵

Dunbaugh obtained leave of absence with Bissell's permission and

one mile below Fort Massac joined the Burr party. January

first, they stopped at New Madrid and there men were sent for-

ward to recruit more men at twelve dollars and a half a month

and one hundred acres of land to go to the Washita country.36

Whatever had been the original plan for the expedition, too

much public notice had forced it to resolve itself into a small

party of land settlers bound for new Territory. January fourth,

Burr arrived at Chickasaw Bluffs (now Memphis).

As has been said before, Swartwout arrived at Nachitoches

October eighth with the letter of Burr's to Wilkinson and the

sealed packet, the contents of which he claims to have been

ignorant of. Acording to Swartwout, when he left Philadelphia

he carried a letter which he himself had put into cipher and

copied at Burr's request and at Pittsburgh had received a sealed

paper from Peter Ogden with a message from the Colonel to

destroy the cipher letter and deliver the sealed paper in lieu of

it.37 The interpretation of the cipher letter of July twenty-

ninth which Wilkinson claims was in the sealed packet delivered

by Swartwout, was not sent to Jefferson by the general until

December sixth. This interpretation forms a part of an affidavit

charging Swartwout and Ogden with treason and was not re-

ceived by Jefferson until January twenty-third.³⁸ Following is

the interpretation in part: "I, Aaron Burr, have obtained funds

and have actually commenced the enterprise. Detachments from

different points, and under different pretences, will rendezvous on

the Ohio 1st November; everything internal and external favors

views; protection from England is secured; T. is going to

Jamaica to arrange with the admiral on that station; it will meet

in Mississippi-England-navy of United States are ready to

join, and final orders are given to my friends and followers;

will be a host of choice spirits; Wilkinson shall be second to Burr

only; Wilkinson shall dictate rank and promotion of his officers;

Burr will proceed westward 1st August, never to return; with

him go his daughter; the husband will follow in October with a

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134       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

corps of worthies * * *. Burr's plan of operation is to move

down rapidly from the falls on 15th November with first five

hundred or one thousand men in light boats now constructing for

that purpose, to be at Natchez between the 5th and 15th of

December, there to meet Wilkinson; there to determine whether

it will be expedient, in the first instance, to seize on or pass

by Baton Rouge."³⁹

To return to the Burr party, January fourth and fifth,

the flotilla was at Chickasaw Bluffs. Jacob Jackson in command

there was engaged to enter the expedition with the under-

standing that it was a secret preparation of the government

in the event of war with Spain and he was given one hundred

and fifty dollars in bank notes and a draft for five hundred

dollars on John Smith, to raise a company of men to join them.⁴⁰

In the meantime, the militia of Mississippi Territory had been

sent by Cowles Meade, the Acting Governor, to the mouth

of Cole's Creek to intercept the expedition. Burr, reaching the

Territory January tenth went ahead to Bayou Pierre, where it

is claimed he received news of the President's Proclamation

and arranged with Poindexter and Shields of the Governor's

staff to meet the Governor. He agreed to go to Washington,

the capital of Mississippi Territory, for trial where he was

acquitted because the acts of which he was accused were com-

mitted outside the Territory. The boats were searched for arms

and although none were found, the Blennerhassett Journal states

that a party was sent out the night before to obviate effectually

the success of the design. Cowles Meade wrote to Dearborn,

at this time, informing him of a letter from Burr, avowing the

innocence of his views and the fallacy of certain rumors against

his patriotism; his object was agriculture, his boats the vehicles

of emigration.⁴¹ After the trial Burr fled but was captured

as a fugitive from justice by Lieutenant Gaines of Fort Stoddert

and carried to Richmond, Virginia for trial. All the chief men

concerned with Burr, Adair, Floyd, Tyler, Blennerhassett, Day-

ton and Smith were arrested in New Orleans and sent to

Richmond also.

Not only did Graham follow the Burr party in behalf of

the United States government but also a Spaniard, Jose Vidal,

followed on the heels of the expedition for Spain. He left

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The Aaron Burr Conspiracy in the Ohio Valley.    135

Cadiz August first, 1806 and arrived in Philadelphia in October,

"just at the time Colonel Burr and his associates were con-

juring up the plan on the Kingdom of Mexico."⁴² He was sent

by Casa Yrujo, Spanish minister to the United States, to

follow Burr and left Pittsburgh the first day of December;

thirty-six days later he arrived at Natchez, where he received

orders to go to the frontier and into the "interior provinces,"

and report on conditions there and warn them of Burr's inten-

tions and plans. According to this Vidal, a friend of Wilkinson,

a commander of the Spanish garrison on the United States

frontier before this time and later the vice-consul at New

Orleans, he followed Burr day and night and never was out

of sight of the expedition.⁴³ He traveled in his own boat and

took his children with him to avoid suspicion. In his report to

Yrujo, he expresses the opinion that "the expedition referred to,

resolves itself into nothing.⁴⁴

Burr's first journey through the West shows several inter-

esting phases. He had planned to visit Smith at Cincinnati and

Brown at Frankfort before he left the East and expected to

meet Wilkinson with whom he had already had dealings "im-

proper to letter". He satisfied the curiosity of the people by

saying that he was traveling for information and amusement,

when he found that there was interest enough in his very pres-

ence in the country to arouse conjectures as to the cause of his

being there. He allowed himself to be publicly entertained by

such prominent men as the governors of Orleans and Mississippi

Territory and General Andrew Jackson, so as to add to his

prestige in the Western Country. Suspicion was already afloat

before he arrived in the West on his second journey and after

feeling the pulse of the people by "The Querist" articles and

finding that there was not so much enthusiasm as there might

be for a separation of the West from the East, he purchased

the Bastrop lands so as to be able to use the settlement of them

as his purpose and await an opportunity there to carry out his

original intention. His chances were spoiled by a combination

of the "Western World" agitation and the activity of Graham

in behalf of the administration and the less important move on

the part of Henderson of Wood County to set the people against

him. But the country was worked up to a fever pitch by it, the

• 15
 

136      Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

militia was called out and Burr's "army" was to be set upon

and defeated. That Burr was a great student of human nature

is shown by the fact that he succeeded in interesting so many

prominent men in the scheme; he always "knew his man"; he

gained Harrison's, Jackson's and even the less important Jacob

Jackson's approval by appealing to their patriotism, for to them

his scheme was a military one sanctioned by the government

for an expedition against the Spaniards.     Blennerhassett he

gained by flattery, for he was to increase his social prestige by

association with so many prominent men in an enterprise that

would bring him back into the active world. He probably ap-

pealed to Smith's pocketbook for this man was a large land-

holder in Spanish territory. He made a psychological mistake

by trying to feel his way with Colonel Morgan but realized it

before he disclosed anything. He made no direct statements but

allowed the other men to jump at conclusions, and invariably

insinuated that he was backed by prominent men. When brought

to trial, he always appeared willing and anxious for investigation

but it is certainly a subject for comment that all the men con-

cerned with him were either traveling with him on the actual

expedition down the Mississippi or were moving toward New

Orleans as separate individuals.

 

NOTES.

1. Kentucky Gazette (Lexington), May 28, 1805.

2. Kentucky Gazette, May 28, 1805.

3. Western Spy, May 29, 1805.

4. Clark "Proofs of the Corruption of General James Wilkinson,"

Note 78, Page 158.

5. Clark's "Proofs", Page 119, dated Massac., June 9, 1805.

6. Secretary to Caso Calva.

7. Translation from the Archives of the Indies, Seville, The Audencia

of Santo Domingo, Louisiana and Florida, 1800-1837, Section 1,

Shelf 10, Legajo 87. (Information supplied by I. J. Cox.)

8. Western Spy, September 4, 1805.

9. Safford. "Blennerhassett Papers", Pages 118 and 119.

10. Safford "Blennerhassett Papers", Page 119.

11. American State Papers, Miscellaneous, volume I, Page 559; Clark's

"Proofs," note 80, Page 159.

12. American State Papers, miscellaneous I 502.

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The Aaron Burr Conspiracy in the Ohio Valley.            137

 

13. Winsor "The Colonies and the Republic West of the Alleghanies,

1763-1798," Page 366.

14. American State Papers, miscellaneous I 503.

15. American State Papers, miscell. I 525.

16. Harper's Speech defending Smith in Congress, April 6, 1808 from

Benton's Abridgment of Debates, volume III, Senate Proceedings.

17. Kentucky Gazette, September 11, 1806.

18. Clark's "Proofs," Note 1, Pages 16 and 17.

19. Green, "Spanish Conspiracy."

20. Western Spy, November 25, and December 2, 1806, copied from The

Western World.

21. Blennerhassett Papers, 15, 154.

22. Prentice, "Life of Henry Clay," Pages 31.

23. Testimony of John Graham      in the Burr trial-American State

Papers-miscell. I 528, 529.

24. Adam's Speech in Debate on Smith case in the Senate April 8, 1808,

Benton vol. III.

25. From Adam's Speech in the Senate.

26. Western Spy, November 25, 1806.

27. He had been in correspondence with the Spanish and English repre-

sentatives in the United States the previous year.

28. Clark's Proofs, note I, Page 17.

29. Gano Papers (a manuscript collection in the possession of the His-

torical and Philosophical Society of Ohio), volume III, Page 5.

30. Gano Papers, III 5.

31. Western Spy, January 6, 1807; Gano III 27.

32. Gano III 7.

33. Gano III 11.

34. Gano III 27. Deposition of John Gano for Smith Trial in the

Senate.

35. American State Papers, miscell. I 474.

36. American State Papers, miscell. I 508, Testimony of Thomas

Hartley.

37. Gano III 45, Deposition of Samuel Swartwout.

38. American State Papers, miscell. I 472.

39. American State Papers, miscell. I 472; also in Clark's Proofs, Note

81, Pages 160 and 161.

40. American State Papers, miscell. I 611.

41. Third Annual Report of the Director of the Department of

Archives and History of State of Mississippi 1903-04, Page 52.

42. Archives of Indies, 87, I, 10, Vidal to Godoy, Prime Minister of

Spain, Philadelphia, August 8, 1807.

43. Archives of Indies, 87, I, 10 Vidal to Antonio Samper, Phila-

delphia, August 8, 1807.

44. Archives of Indies, 87, I, 10, Vidal to Yrujo, Philadelphia, July

1, 1807.

• 17