Ohio History Journal

BLENNERHASSETT.1

 

I. BLENNERHASSETT.

TRUTH is not only stranger than fiction, but often sadder

than the grimmest fancy can portray. Few pages of Ameri-

can history present more of the picturesque, and none offer so

much of the pitiful, as do those that tell the story of Blen-

nerhassett. This man, whom Parton, the would-be white-

washer of Aaron Burr, calls "eccentric, romantic, idle, and

shiftless," descended from choice Irish stock. The source of

his blood is traced to the times of King John. Harman

Blennerhassett, with whom we have to do, was the youngest

of three sons of wealthy and noble parents, residing in Con-

way castle, Kerry County, Ireland. The year of his birth,

like that of Bonaparte, is in dispute. They were born near

the same time, Blennerhassett in Hampshire, England,

where his mother was temporarily visiting, any year from

1764 to 1767, according to the biographer you prefer to

believe. Being the youngest son, he was by the laws of

primogeniture destined to a profession; and as his boyish

mind showed a decidedly bright and bookish bent, his father

took particular pains with his education. He was early

placed in the celebrated school at Westminster, England,

where he evidenced a special talent for the classics. In due

time he entered Trinity College, Dublin, from which he

graduated, sharing distinguished honors with his classmate

and life-long friend, Thomas Addis Emmet, afterwards the

heroic Irish patriot and orator. These two continued their

law studies together at King's Inn Courts, Dublin, and on

the same day, in 1790, were admitted to practice at the Irish

bar. Having creditably completed his course of legal and

literary studies, as was the custom of the favored few, he

rounded out his education with a continental tour. He did

Europe, and in the summer of 1790 arrived in Paris, whence

 

1Read before the Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Society,

November 19th, 1886.

127

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128    Ohio Archaeological and Historical Quarterly.

the rumblings of the revolution were beginning to resound

around the world. He was present at the anniversary of the

taking of the Bastile, and was spectator of the stirring scenes

in the space of the Champ de Mars at the festival of the

Confederation, when, in the presence of the electors, the

Parisian guard, the deputies of the new departments, the

members of the National Assembly, and five hundred

thousand spectators, Louis XVI swore allegiance to the

newly framed Constitution. This stirring and significant

event wrought a great influence upon the sentiments and

convictions of young Blennerhassett. He had already read

and imbibed the writings of Voltaire and Rosseau, and, like

many another young Irishman, he returned to his miserable

country, with its tedious tale of oppression and injustice at

the hands of England, with his heart glowing with the

principles of revolt and republicanism. He cared not for

political preferment, professional honor, or social rank.

Being in comfortable circumstances, heir expectant to a large

inheritance, and disregarding the distinction or income to be

derived from the practice at the bar, he followed his inclina-

tions, and gave himself to the study of the sciences, music

and literature.

After the death of his father, in 1796, coming into posses

sion of an estate valued at $100,000, he moved to England,

and married a Miss Margaret Agnew, destined to figure-

among the most conspicuous and brilliant of the heroines of

American history.  She was the daughter of Captain

Agnew, a celebrated British naval officer, and Lieutenant

Governor of the Isle of Man. She was the grand-daughter

of General James Agnew, who commanded a British bri-

gade in the American Revolution; was with Wolfe on the

Plains of Abraham, and was killed while valiantly fighting at

the battle of Germantown. Two sisters of Blennerhassett

married, respectively, the English Lord Kingsdale, and

Admiral Coursey. Blennerhassett, though closely allied by

marriage, relationship and social rank to the nobility of Ire-

land and England, had become a republican, and looked

with longing eyes toward America, which had shaken off the



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Blennerhassett.              129

distasteful chaperonage of the mother country, and was lead-

ing the nations in the onward march of independence and

popular liberty. He sold his estate in Ireland, and pro-

ceeded to London, where he purchased a large library of

books and a very extensive set of chemical and philosophical

apparatus. With his wife and this outfit he sailed for New

York, in which city he arrived in the fall of 1797. His

wealth, rank and social attainments gave him easy entree to

circles of the first American families. But he had been

allured by the reports concerning the boundless West, roman-

tic in scenery, rich in soil, and prolific in the productions

that secure wealth and stimulate the progress of civilization.

Crossing the rugged Alleghenies to Pittsburgh, he loaded his

goods upon one of the crude and cumbersome flatboats which

in those days afforded the only means of transportation. He

floated with the current down the Ohio to the town of

Marietta, then the most important and promising settlement

between Pittsburgh and Cincinnati, and the commercial

and intellectual center of the colony known as the Ohio

Company, which had emigrated from New England but a

few years before, and comprised the sturdy stock of Massa-

chusetts and Connecticut Puritans. Blennerhassett, with his

wife, passed the winter of 1797-8 amid the enjoyments

which this little primitive city had to offer, and in prospect-

ing for a site upon which to locate his own western home.

He finally decided to purchase a plantation on an island in

the Ohio river, fourteen miles below Marietta and the mouth

of the Muskingum river, and two miles below that of the

Little Kanawha,--an island situate in the middle of the

stream between what is now Wood County, West Virginia,

and Washington County, Ohio, its upper or eastern end

lying almost opposite the pretty little village of Belpre.

This historic island had originally belonged to George

Washington, who in 1770 located it with a large tract of

land lying in Virginia, to which State it has always been

tributary. It was first surveyed in 1784 on a land warrant

issued some four years previous. In 1786, in accordance

with a patent made out by Patrick Henry when he was

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Governor of Virginia, the island was ceded to Alexander

Nelson, of Richmond, Virginia. By the latter it was sold

to James Herron, of Norfolk, Va., who in 1797 transferred

it to Elijah Backus, of Norwich, Conn., a member of the

Ohio Company. The price paid at this sale was £250 Vir-

ginia currency, or about $883 present money. The island is

about three and a half-miles long, and spectacle-shaped,

being one-half mile wide at either end, and narrowing in the

center to a width only sufficient to permit a wagon road. It

contains two hundred and ninety-seven acres. In March,

1798, Mr. Blennerhassett bought, for the sum of $4,500,

from Mr. Backus, 170 acres, comprising the eastern lobe.

Soon after, he moved with his wife and one child to his new

possession, living temporarily in a large old stockade fort

which had been erected by Captain James, and used as a

retreat during the Indian wars.

The location and form of this island is more pleasing and

attractive than it is possible to imagine. No pen picture can

overportray its picturesqueness. The isle lies in midstream

of the majestic Ohio, dividing its current equally on either

side. Just above Belpre the wide, serene river curves to the

north, revealing beyond its waters a distant landscape of vale

and hill that recedes in most pleasing perspective. To the

south of the island rise the Virginia hills, forest-clad and

rock-studded, in some points presenting almost a palisade.

On the north or Ohio shore lie along the river's edge the

level and extensive meadows of Belpre, backed by a range

of elevations that gently enclose the view. We confess that

the resplendent descriptions concerning this island had

aroused our incredulity respecting their accuracy until a

personal view dissolved all doubts. We stood on this island

at the hour of sunset, one brilliant October day, and we

willingly testify to the superb splendor of the landscape.

The distant view up the river, the bluffs crowned by the

town of Parkersburg, forming the gateway to the Little

Kanawha, the nearer Virginia hills, brilliant with the autumn

tinted foliage, the broad, beautiful river, and the shapely

island rising from the water with sloping shores, shaded by

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Blennerhassett.               131

tall white sycamores, elms and locusts, form a scene surely

suited to fan the fancy of the poet and stir the sentiment of

the artist.

Blennerhassett, with the potent touch of wealth and taste,

transformed this interesting island into a princely park of

beauty and luxury. Near the upper end in the center, upon

the summit, to which the ascent is gradual on either side,

and facing up the river, was built the magnificent mansion

that excited the amazement of every passing spectator, and

the envy of every fortunate visitor. Economy was not con-

sulted in its construction. It consisted of a main building,

fifty-two feet in length, thirty feet in width and two stories

high. Porticos forty feet long stretched out in the form of

wings from either side like semi-circular arms, thus giving an

entire frontage to the edifice of 110 feet. The building, in

order to withstand earthquakes, which, with thunderstorms,

were the special dread of Blennerhassett, who with marvelous

lack of foresight, disregarded fire and flood, the first of which

destroyed his home, while the second often submerged his

island, was built entirely of wood, in as artistic a style as the

architecture of the new country could suggest. It was

painted white and green, colors symbolizing the purity, and

also, perhaps, the verdancy of those times. The space in

front of the building, occupying several acres, and stretching

in an easy slope to the water's edge, was allotted to the

lawn - with its gravel walks, carriage ways, stately stone-

column gateway; its hawthorn hedges, its rustic arbors and

sylvan grottoes; its grass plats and flower fields, with their

strange shrubs and rare plants. Back of the house lay the

kitchen garden, in which were raised all the delicacies for

the table. Beyond were the peach, apple and fruit orchards,

adjoining which was the farm, whose fertile soil, enriched by

the alluvial deposit of the river, produced luxuriant growths

of all varieties. A large corps of help was required to care

for and carry on this vast establishment. The farmers,

gardeners and butlers were selected for their known pro-

ficiency, and were all experts in their vocations, some of

them having had experience in the lordly homes of England.

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Ten slaves were purchased to act as valets, hostlers and

boatmen. The interior finishing and furnishing of the house

was in keeping with its magnitude.    Foreign frescoers

colored the ceilings and placed the plaster cornices and

ornaments. The walls were hung with costly pictures, and

the furniture, imported from Paris and London, was rich,

costly, and tasteful. Splendid mirrors, gay-colored carpets,

and elegant curtains embellished the apartments; massive

silver plate stood upon the sideboard. The drawing-room

resembled the richest Parisian salon in the heyday of the

Louis. The spacious hall was specially contrived to give

excellent effect to musical sounds; the library was ample and

luxurious, and a large apartment was designed for the scien-

tific apparatus, in the use of which Mr. Blennerhassett was

such an enthusiast. Such was the far-famed Blennerhassett

home, costing more than forty thousand dollars, in those

times a stupendous outlay. If we could by some magic

wand recall it from oblivion back to vision, doubtless we

would smile in derision at the furore it excited in its time.

Imbedded in the rural retreat of the wild west, as if dropped

from fairy land, this sumptuous abode must have indeed

appeared little less than the eighth wonder of the world.

Every traveler testifies that it was the most royal residence

west of the Alleghenies. Here, from 1799 to 1807, lived

the family, with all the joy, contentment, tranquility, and

pleasure possible to them. Imagination can hardly conceive

a more ideal home or more Utopian existence.

In figure, we are told, Blennerhassett was about six feet tall,

of slender build, stooping shoulders, and awkward carriage.

As we learn from an inspection of his different portraits, he

had a full and well formed forehead, high cheek bones,

stately nose, large blue eyes, narrow, timid chin. I think a

phrenologist would accord him feeling, sympathy, benevo-

lence, and seriousness, but little of energy, force, ambition,

or sagacity. He was reputed to have been generous to a

fault, hospitable to those he liked, haughty to others. He

was amiable and retiring in disposition, and, as we have

already inferred, sedentary and studious in his habits.

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Blennerhassett.                    133

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Possessed of a high sense of honor, credulous to a ridiculous

degree, he was admirably fitted to be the victim of some

shrewd schemer. His mind had a certain intellectual cast,

was busy, but fickle and aimless. He took extreme enjoy-

ment in scientific investigation, in which his large library,

ample apparatus and leisure time gave him full opportunity

to indulge. Chemistry, electricity, astronomy, microscopy,

were alternately objects of his study. As a musician he had

the nicest taste, and not a little genius. He was an accom-

plished player on the bass viol and violoncello, and was the

author of many compositions, some of which, we have

been told, became popular in the social circles of the

early settlers upon the Ohio banks. He was a great reader,

blessed with a remarkable memory, and, as we know, skilled

in the classics, being able to repeat the whole of Homer's

Iliad in the original Greek. He was thoroughly versed in

English law, studied medicine, and for a pastime and the

benefit of his neighbors, often prescribed for the sick. With

a mind so rarely stored, and good conversational powers,

he was an entertaining companion and popular host. Such

was Blennerhassett, self-banished from the world of action, to

what he supposed was a sure and safe seclusion.

If his person and character deserve attention, how much

more so does that of his wife, one of the most remarkable

women of her time, and indeed of all American history

Safford says: "History affords but few instances where so

much feminine beauty, physical endurance, and many social

virtues, were combined in one female." She was a born

princess in form, features, accomplishment, manner, and

disposition.  Her figure was of a commanding height,

symmetrically proportioned, lithe and agile. Her features,

moulded in the Grecian type, were perfect and fair, embel-

ished by a complexion whose "carnation hue health and

the hand of nature alone had painted." Her dark blue eyes,

beaming " forth from beneath the long brown lashes, which

hung as a curtain to conceal their charms," gave a spirited

and sprightly tone to her countenance. Her dark brown

hair, profuse and glossy, was usually worn in some striking

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Blennerhassett.               135

style, or hidden in a head dress of rich-colored silk stuff,

folded and worn like a Turkish turban. She was always

attired in exquisite taste, and her appearance under every

circumstance was refined but radiant. But her charms were

not solely external. She was not only handsome in form

and beautiful in feature, but talented, and trained in mind.

Every attention had been bestowed on her education; she

spoke and wrote fluently the Italian and French languages.

She was widely read in history and English literature, was

an enthusiastic Shakespearean scholar, and her skill in rhetor-

ical recitation was so wonderful that it is claimed by those

that had met them both, that the distinguished Mrs. Sarah

Siddons could scarcely rehearse dramatic parts with more

power. She cultivated a taste for poetry, and some of her

printed productions are still extant, and fully substantiate the

praise placed upon her productions in this line. She, too

was a finished musician, and danced, says Hildreth in his

history, "with the grace and lightness of the queen of the

fairies." She delighted in outdoor exercise-hunting, boat-

ing and walking. Possessing a vigorous constitution, buoy-

ant spirits and personal activity, she often made a pedestrian

tour of ten or even twenty miles, "with as much ease as

other ladies would make a few village calls."  In these

excursions she would leap logs and bushes like an athlete,

and could vault with ease and grace a five-rail fence with the

mere aid of one hand placed upon the top rail. She was an

expert equestrienne, always riding a very spirited horse,

often making the ride from the island to Marietta, a distance

of fourteen miles, in two hours. But there is still more to

relate of this extraordinary woman, whom Wm. Wirt, in his

oration, says, "was lovely, even beyond her sex, and graced

with every accomplishment that can render it irresistible."

Her education was not solely ornamental. She was skilled

in all the arts of housewifery, and was so excellent a seam-

stress that she cut out and sewed with her own hands much

of the clothing for her husband, children and self. She was

an adept in the kitchen, generally preparing the more deli-

cate dishes for the table. She directed every detail in the

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management of her home. She was marvelously industrious

and systematic, wisely apportioning her time between house-

hold cares, social amusements, and outdoor exercises. Her

aims were lofty and ambitious, and in this she was in striking

contrast to her easy-going, self-contented husband. She was

the admiration of all who met her, and her reputation was

far and wide. Perhaps the only other woman to be com-

pared to her, in character and accomplishments, was

Theodosia Burr; and it is singular that fate was soon to bring

them together and ingulf them in one common pitfall.

The Blennerhassetts were extravagant entertainers; their

house was the favorite rendezvous of such society as this

undeveloped, almost undiscovered, country presented, and

there were dinners to distinguished guests traveling down

the river; there were evening parties to the young people of

Belpre and Marietta. It must have been a singular sight to

behold the house illumined some evening with its extra fine

wax candles; the assemblage of the jolly and gay couples in

their party clothes, to witness the games in the parlor, the

music in the halls, the dancing on the porch; all elegant and

refined, and sumptuous as some New York or London

reception, and all this on the lonely, isolated island in the

heart of a country which as yet had no towns, no taverns, no

ferries, no roads.

With the best information at our elbow that can be

obtained, we have thus endeavored, in what may appear high-

wrought colors, to picture to you what Blennerhassett Island

was in the days that made it memorable. This is the first

scene, and we now have to turn our attention to another

character in this drama-for drama it is, and a sad one.

 

II. AARON BURR.

So fascinating and seductive a personage is Aaron Burr,

and so dazzling is his career with what Emerson calls the

"glamor of romance," that the instant we come within the

spell of his presence we are sorely tempted to drop the thread

of our story and linger amid the memorable doings of this

brilliant, exalted, and notorious scoundrel. In ability, ambi-

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Blennerhassett.              137

tion, chivalric carriage, invincible courage, military genius,

readiness and resolution, perseverance, fortitude, and intre-

pidity; in personal magnetism, political diplomacy, social

entertainment, and in diabolical deception and duplicity, Burr

was the Napoleon of American history. In manner and

morals Chesterfield was his model. In purposes and methods

of accomplishment the little Corporal of Corsica was his ideal.

Burr was by his birth justly entitled not only to great mental

gifts, but also the highest-bred character and loftiest aspira-

tions. His father was a learned and distinguished clergyman

and the first president of Princeton College. His mother,

one of the noblest of her sex, was daughter of Jonathan

Edwards, who was a prolific writer, the second president of

Princeton, and who, perhaps, more than any other divine,

stamped the impress of his dogmatic and peculiar thought

upon the early theology of our country. Burr's parents and

grandparents died before he was three years of age, leaving

him heir to an ample fortune and to the care of wise guard-

ians. He was an impetuous and independent boy, original,

restless and versatile. The very best education of his day

was his. Before he was twenty he had graduated at college,

studied theology and law, and waded through a wide range

of general reading. When the news of Lexington electrified

the country, he threw aside his books and joined the Conti-

nental army. He possessed every quality that constitutes the

successful soldier, and, as if in accordance with the eternal

fitness of things and the natural gravitation of likes to each

other, Aaron Burr became aid-de-camp to Benedict Arnold,

and accompanied the subsequent traitor in his bold expedition

for the conquest of Canada. There was no braver or more

sagacious officer than Burr.  He became captain, major,

lieutenant-colonel, and colonel, and was assigned to the staff

of Washington. But in the presence and under the watch-

fulness of the sterling and spotless Washington, the crafty

and cunning Burr was ill at ease. He could not brook the

blunt, straightforward dictation of the commander-in-chief,

who, this stripling declared, was a bad, slow general, and an

honest but weak man. Washington, on the other hand, in

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his innate probity and instinctive insight, discovered Burr's

true character, and ever kept a wary eye upon his course.

He was transferred to the staff of General Putnam, and did

valiant service on the active field, often marshaling a brigade

and directing the battle against the British. For four years

he was a most prominent commander among those who led

the American forces. But he was ever found among the

mischief-makers. He was a conspicuous Cassius in the cabals

plotted by the jealous generals against Washington.  Parton

pertinently remarks that if Burr had been born in France he

would have become the greatest of Napoleon's marshals.

Burr's last act as an American soldier was to aid Benedict

Arnold's wife to escape through the American lines to join

her husband.

Leaving the army, he took up his home in New York

City, and entered upon the practice of law, in which pro-

fession his progress was phenomenal. It was his inflexible

rule never to undertake a case that he did not feel absolutely

sure of winning, and he always won. As a lawyer, he was

indefatigably industrious; The was alert, adroit, unscrupulous

in the employment of expedient or legal ruse, and once

entered upon a case, he was bound to triumph "by hook or

crook"-by any technicality that lay within his reach. In

serving his client he was morally obtuse, and regarded the

profession as a field in which subtlety and strategy would win

in spite of justice. He had an immense and lucrative prac-

tice, and shared with Alexander Hamilton the honor of

being the leader of the New York bar. He had neither the

honesty nor the patriotism to be a statesman, but he was a

most proficient politician. Possessing a keen knowledge of

men, their vanities and ambitions, he knew how, with

Machiavellian tact, to convince, coax or cajole, as occasion

required. He naturally belonged to the popular side, and

was fiercely opposed to the Federalists, of whom Alexander

Hamilton was in New York the zealous and undisputed

champion. Burr was the first efficient leader the Republi-

cans had within their ranks. He was powerful, not only in a

party sense, but because possessed of a large and faithful

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accompaniment of personal adherents. They were mostly

gay, aggressive young men, who were attracted to Burr by

his brilliancy and boldness, and who cared less for party

principles than for victory and glory. They could be de-

pended on to follow Burr at his merest beck, and, after the

rough and ready troops of Achilles, they were styled Burr's

"Myrmidons." Theodosia, his daughter, called them the

Tenth Legion.

In 1784 Burr entered the New York Legislature; in 1790

he became Attorney General of the State; in 1791 he

was chosen United States Senator from New York. At

the fourth presidential election Burr was the factor that

overthrew the Federal force which, until that date, had held

control of the Government. The electors at that time were

chosen, not by direct popular vote, but by the state legisla-

tures. The political complexion of the states was such that

New York held the balance of power; New York was con-

trolled by the city vote. Burr and his Myrmidons carried

the city for he Republicans; the state legislature was Repub-

lican, and for the first time New York selected Republican

electors. After the result of the New York election was

known, the Republican Congressmen caucused, and named

Jefferson as candidate for President, and, on account of his

services in securing their triumph, named Burr candidate for

Vice President. Up to 1804, however, the electors did not

vote for Pr sident and Vice President separately, but each

elector deposited two names in a box, and the name receiv-

ing the largest vote was declared President, and the next

largest Vice President. The electors chosen, Burr permitted

himself to be a candidate for the highest office, and maneu-

vered among the electors of the various states to obtain the

greatest vole. The result of the ballot gave Jefferson and

Burr each seventy-three votes. The election was thus

thrown into the House of Representatives, which votes in such

a case by states. After a contest of seven days, and more

intriguing by Burr, Jefferson was declared President and

Burr Vice President. Burr's treachery to his party and to

Jefferson divided the one and alienated the other. He was a

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140    Ohio Archaeological and Historical Quarterly.

doomed man, but persistently expended the influence of his

office to aid him in winning the higher position at the next

election. In 1804, before the Presidential election, he

named himself as an independent candidate for governor of

New York, against Morgan Lewis, the regular Republican

candidate. There was no Federal ticket, but Alexander

Hamilton, always the inveterate foe of Burr, whom he calls

the Cataline of American politics, threw the Federal influ-

ence for Lewis, who was easily elected. Burr then challenged

Hamilton to a duel; Hamilton was fool enough to accept,

and was killed at the first shot. Burr was obliged for some

time to flee from justice, and was only permitted to return

to Washington to preside over the last session of the Senate,

which tried Justice Chase for judicial irregularity.

Burr had lost, one after another, every support that held

him in public confidence. His patriotism was suspected.

He had sold and traded his party fealty for self advancement.

He was notoriously corrupt in private morals. He had

squandered his property in politics and extravagant living,

and was overwhelmed in debt. He was hated and dreaded

by his foes, the Federalists; he was mistrusted by his Repub-

lican friends; he had murdered one of the greatest statesmen

of his time, and he was wanted for trial both in New York

and New Jersey. In fact, he was morally, socially, politi-

cally, financially, a bankrupt, when, on March 2d, 1805, in

Washington, the eighth Congress closed its deliberations,

and in the senate chamber Aaron Burr, presiding officer of

the highest legislative body, in a speech characterized by the

elegance and eloquence of which he was capable, bade fare-

well to his fellow-senators, and descended from the second

highest office in the gift of the government, and also from

the very pinnacle of party power, totally and forever to

disappear from the field of politics, and to be buried beyond

the hope of resurrection beneath the universal odium,

obloquy, contempt and contumely of his fellow-countrymen.

Like Wolsey, he "had trod the ways of glory, and sounded

all the depths and shoals of honor," and, like the great

Cardinal Minister at his fall, Burr, at this moment, "had

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Blennerhassett.              141

touched the full meridian of his glory, and hastened now to

his setting." But he still "put forth the tender leaves of

hope, and thought to-morrow would bring the blossom, and

bear their blushing honors thick upon him," but just retribu-

tion brought to his ambition, which he could not fling away,

naught but the chilling frost.

 

III. THE CONSPIRACY.

Says one of Burr's biographers: "Burr had the quickest,

most active mind that ever animated five feet six inches of

mortality." What will this restless, Mephistophelian spirit

now find to do? His first shift was an attempt to get

an appointment as United States Minister to France or

Spain, and his friends, in urging him before the President,

hinted that it would be wise to get Burr out of the country,

where he could do no further mischief. But Jefferson would

trust him nowhere, at home or abroad, and Burr, having lost

his public occupation, and in reality an exile, his bosom

burning with ambition, disappointment and revenge, turned

his exhaustless energies toward the great West. That we

may comprehend the cause and probable success of his

designs in that direction, let us take a momentary glance at

Western history.

From the time of the American revolution, and especially

after the ratification of the federal constitution by the original

thirteen states, down even to the admission of Louisiana, in

1812, there brooded over the country west of the Alle-

ghenies a spirit of dissatisfaction, discontent, independence,

and intrigue. This arose from many plausible causes. The

governmental plant, so to speak, was that of New England,

New York, Pennsylvania, and Virginia, and the Federal

power and protection had mostly to deal with those states,

which furnished the office-holders and derived the benefits,

while the territory of the Ohio and Mississippi valleys, includ-

ing the subsequent states of Kentucky, Tennessee, Ohio,

Indiana, and others, was far from the seat of government,

was uncultivated, unorganized, and poorly defended from the

Indians on the south, and the foreign powers of England on

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142     Ohio Archaeological and Historical Quarterly.

the north and Spain on the west. For Mexico, be it remem-

bered, including what is now known as Texas, was, from the

time Hernando Cortes drove the Montezumas from their

throne, until 1808, governed by Spanish Viceroys sent

from  Madrid.  The Mexicans, therefore, their province

extending up and along the river from the gulf to St. Louis,

controlled the navigation of the Mississippi, and were thus

enabled to prohibit entirely or impose heavy duties on all

western commerce seeking an outlet at New Orleans. The

American settlers between the Alleghenies and the Missis-

sippi, it is thus seen, were hemmed in, and they sorely

chafed under the pressure. They demanded that the Federal

government seize Louisiana and expel the Mexicans from

the Mississippi. But the young government seemed unable

to do this, and perhaps never could, and thus arose a

feeling of independence and an inclination to separate from

the government altogether, and form a distinct national

power, which would either conquer Louisiana and Mexico,

or unite with the Spanish provinces and form one combined

republic, or empire, as seemed most advantageous. For

years there were plots and counterplots, in which the

western Americans, the French and Spanish of Louisiana,

and the foreign officers and native Mexicans, and even the

French, English and Spanish governments took a hand.

Volumes have been written recounting all these cabals and

conspiracies. Kentucky and Tennessee were brooding-beds

for these ideas of secession and separation, and moving slyly

and stealthily through nearly all of them, like some mischief-

making Iago, is the character of Gen. James Wilkinson, of

whom we shall learn more hereafter.

Burr's romantic mind, his love for adventure, as well as his

overweening ambition, had fed upon the knowledge of these

shifting stratagems as they appeared and vanished. More-

over, we cannot but believe he was watching, not only with

keenest interest, but with secret spirit of emulation, the

unparalleled career of that "sublime rogue," Napoleon,

who, from the ruins of a republic, was erecting an empire

vast as the European continent itself.  Burr's insatiable

• 16
 

Blennerhassett.                143

ambition, his military genius, his greed for power and fame,

were all aflame, and, intoxicated with the fumes of fancy, he

dreamed that he could and would be sovereign of a new and

mighty dominion. He would cross the Alleghenies, descend

the Ohio, and in its valley rally the malcontents, the chival-

rous, the adventurous; enlist the troops, organize a force,

proceed down the Mississippi, occupy New Orleans, arouse

an insurrectionary host in Louisiana, cross the river into

Mexico, and, aided by the rebellious natives, drive out the

Spanish rulers, enter the City of Mexico, declare himself

Imperator of the independent kingdom, and seat himself

upon the throne of the Montezumas. Then, swift as the

eagles of the Roman legions, his untamed fancy sped on; he

would annex the country of the Ohio and the Mississippi,

and then, like another Cromwell or Napoleon, march to the

capital of the United States, into the halls of Congress,

overthrow the American republic, which had so ungratefully

spurned him, and enstate himself as the central head of a

great and glorious empire, extending from the lakes to the

gulf, from the Atlantic to the Rocky mountains. The most

erratic romance could reach no farther. It recalled the reali-

zations of Alexander, of Caesar, of Charlemagne, of Burr's

own contemporary, Bonaparte.1

Thus Burr, misled by fancy's meteor ray, by passion

driven, his vaulting ambition "pricking the sides of his

intent," sets without delay about this tremendous, traitorous

scheme. His ulterior purposes must, of course, be deftly

concealed, and he veils them beneath the pretense of a pros-

pecting tour through the West, ostensibly to find some

locality where he can settle and practice law, and perhaps be

returned as a delegate to Congress; or engage in some busi-

ness enterprise, such as building a canal around the rapids

of the Ohio, at Louisville; or enter some land speculation.

Within sixty days after retiring from the Senate, Burr was

at Pittsburgh, in possession of a private flatboat, and on his

 

1Such, indeed, were the ulterior projects of Burr, as sworn to by Eaton in

Burr's trial.

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144    Ohio Archaeological and Historical Quarterly.

way floating down the Ohio at the usual current rate of eight

miles an hour. Like every voyager of note, he stopped at

the island of the Blennerhassetts, and was by them received

as became so distinguished a caller as the late Vice Presi-

dent of the United States, and a politician who had been

for the past ten years the most conspicuous figure in the

public view. To a dangerous degree he was master of those

powers of fascination attributed to Goethe, and which

screened, if they did not excuse, the immoralities of Mira-

beau, Rosseau, Byron and others. His love affairs were

more numerous than his political escapades. Mrs. Blenner-

hassett was captivated at first sight, and her good-natured,

credulous, generous, gullible husband unconditionally sur-

rendered himself to the plausible, flattering wiles of the

shrewd charlatan. As Wirt graphically describes, it was the

entry of Satan into Eden. What more fitting place to hatch

a conspiracy and set it afloat than on this secluded island,

embedded and hidden in the bosom of the wild West, yet on

the river, the easy and only avenue to the point of attack?

Who better fitted to furnish the sinews of the expedition,

and act the confederate, than Blennerhassett?  Burr had

found his prey, and the trap was cautiously set. Divulging

but little about his designs, but having thoroughly ingratiated

himself into the friendship and confidence of the unsuspect-

ing host and hostess, Burr proceeded down the Ohio. His

voyage was a continued series of ovations and triumphs.

Burr had ever been an ardent advocate of war with Mexico;

he had been the leader of the Republicans, who were in the

West and South more numerous than the Federalists; his

murder of Hamilton, while it ostracised him in the East,

only added to his renown in the South, where the sentiment

of chivalry was strong, and the duelling code in popular

vogue. At Cincinnati, Lexington, Louisville, Nashville and

other points, he was received like a conquering hero. Balls,

banquets and dinners were given him, and the chivalry and

beauty of the South flocked about him with every attention

possible.

At Fort Massac, at the mouth of the Cumberland, he met

• 18
 

Blennerhassett.               145

his old friend Wilkinson, with whom he had climbed the

Heights of Abraham. Wilkinson's own principle of action,

as he states in his memoirs, was this: "Some men are

avaricious, some are vain, some are ambitious; to detect the

predominant passion, to lay hold, and to make the most of

it, is the most profound secret of political science." This

policy Burr applied to its own promulgator. He knew

Wilkinson of old; his vulnerable patriotism; his treasonable

career; his ardent ambition; his wish to be regarded as the

"Washington of the West." Wilkinson was now the com-

mander-in-chief of the Western United States troops, and

had just been appointed governor of the territory of

Louisiana, then recently purchased by our government from

France. He is engaged in settling the dispute with Spain in

regard to the boundary line of Louisiana, and, having

control of the army, and, situated on the frontier with

military and civil powers, a veteran in Western intrigues,-

he is absolutely necessary to Burr, and must be and is won

with the flattering inducement that he shall be second in the

great empire to be erected. He yields to Burr body and

soul, furnishes him with a government transport and escort

down the Mississippi, and supplies him with letters to lead-

ing men in New Orleans who are likely to be useful to them.

At New Orleans Burr is welcomed with greater honors than

elsewhere, Daniel Clark, the wealthy merchant and princely

magnate of the city, is enlisted in the enterprise, and agrees

to open his purse to any extent. Everything pointed pro-

pitiously; the idea of a war with Mexico was then immensely

popular in the West and South, and the outbreak seemed

unavoidable, because of the annexation of Louisiana and the

boundary dispute. A war with Mexico was, of all things,

what Burr desired, for it would give him a safe pretext for

raising an expedition and making an incursion into Mexico.

But Burr was not only quickwitted-he was long-headed,

and, like an experienced general, proposed, as a dernier

resort, a bona fide land speculation and colonization organiza-

tion. Before the annexation of Louisiana, one Baron Bas-

trop had contracted with the Spanish government for a tract

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146    Ohio Archaeological and Historical Quarterly.

of land on the Wachita river, between the Red and Sabine

rivers, and consequently on the borders of Mexico (now

Texas). Burr proposed to buy forty thousand acres of this

for $40,000, and in 1806 did buy, paying $5,000 cash, and

notes for the balance, all secured by friends in the East,

Blennerhasset, Clarke and Alston aiding. Here the expedi-

tion, if it could go no farther, could settle, grow rich, and

abide its time.

This preliminary trip, so promising, lasts from April to

October, 1805, when Burr returns through the states to feel their

sentiment, to Blennerhassett Island, and now he unfolds his

plans. He rouses in Blennerhassett's bosom the expectations

of great gains in the Bastrop land purchase, poisons his

patriotism with the fable about the weakness of the Federal

government, and its probable speedy dissolution; derides his

self-imposed seclusion from the world of action, and the

obscurity of such abilities and attainments; flatters his

capabilities as a leader in great enterprises, and stirs his

sluggish pride and cupidity. It was Mephisto in the study

of Faust, and the denouement of the drama is the same.

Blennerhassett's spirited, aspiring wife urges him on, and he

fully commits himself to Burr. The island is to be the head-

quarters and rallying center for the expedition, and Burr,

like King Richard, all aglow with the thought, "now by St.

Paul the work goes bravely on," hurries on to Washington

and Philadelphia, where, through the winter of 1805 and

spring of 1806, he displays unparalleled industry and energy

in his intrigues. He carries on a famous cypher correspond-

ence with Wilkinson, who is supposed to be arranging

matters for the successful handling of the troops, and stima-

lating the sympathetic in Kentucky and Tennessee; with

Blennerhassett, whom he induces to write a series of

articles for the Marietta papers, advocating a separation of

the West from the government; with Clark, who makes two

extended tours through Mexico to get the lay of the land,

confer and connive with those officers, priests and others

who are desirous of a revolt against Spain and the establish-

ment of a new regime.  Mexico swarmed with malcontents,

• 20
 

Blennerhassett.               147

and they would flock to Burr the moment he crossed the

border. Burr throws out his bait wherever there are fish.

He inveigles Gen. Wm. Eaton, late consul to Tunis. He

approaches Mr. Merry, British minister to the United States.

Merry dispatches an envoy to Pitt with Burr's plan; the

British ministry sanction it, since it will, if successful,

weaken Spain in the new world, and, what is more,

strengthen monarchical power and check the growth of the

American republic in the Western continent.    Burr is

encouraged to go on, and is given to understand that an

English squadron will be placed at his disposal whenever he

so desires. Thus this arch flatterer weaves his web from

London to Mexico.

Burr was aided by his son-in-law, Governor Alston, of South

Carolina, a wealthy and influential Southerner; and, wrapped

up heart and soul in the nefarious business of her father, was

Burr's daughter, Theodosia, Governor Alston's wife. Who

does not know of Theodosia, of her great talent, rare beauty

and many accomplishments? How she was the only child

of her father, the only and steadfast object of his pure and

unselfish devotion; of his persistent patience in molding her

character and unfolding her mind? How his precepts

imbued her with fortitude, bravery and the many sterling

traits that made her the remarkable woman she became?

How he stored her mind with knowledge in polite literature?

Who has not heard of the ease and elegance with which she

presided over his house; of the worshipful fidelity and

affection with which she administered to her father's com-

forts, and unfalteringly and uncomplainingly clung to him

through every phase of prosperity and adversity? With

Theodosia, who was to be the resplendent queen of this new

empire to be, Burr set out, in the fall of 1806, for Blenner-

hassett's Island, every detail having been arranged for the

launching of the conspiracy. Mrs. Blennerhassett and Theo-

dosia-kindred souls in talents and culture, sympathetic

spirits in the enterprise- cheerily and confidently busied

themselves in building their "castles in Spain," and in

actually preparing for the journey that was to end in placing

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148    Ohio Archaeological and Historical Quarterly.

them on the pinnacle of power and splendor. According to

the schedule settled upon, Blennerhassett was to be the

delegated minister to England from Emperor Burr's great

government, it being Mrs. Blennerhassett's highest aspiration

to figure as a minister's wife at the Court of St. James.

Burr and Blennerhassett gave themselves, head and heart,

to the elaboration and execution of their plans. To Blen-

nerhassett, as may be supposed, Burr assigned the equipment

of the flotilla. He was to provide the boats, provisions and

accoutrements, while Burr stealthily scurried about the

country on reconnoitering and recruiting excursions. At

Marietta contracts were entered into for the construction of

fifteen large boats, capable of transporting five hundred men.

Ten of these flat-bottomed boats were forty feet long, ten

feet wide, and two and a half feet deep. Five of them were

fifty feet long. They were so constructed as to be rowed or

pushed up or down stream. One of these boats was much

larger than the rest, and was fitted up with considerable

elegance. It had a spacious cabin, tastefully decorated,

with a fire-place and glass windows. This was for Blenner-

hassett and his family, who were to accompany the fleet.

The boat for provisions and freight was sixty feet long. Six

boats were also ordered built at Nashville, Tenn., which

were to carry the volunteers from that section down the

Cumberland to the Ohio. Blennerhassett was utterly im-

mersed in these preparations. He was commissary and

purser; he exhausted his ready means, borrowed freely on

his own account, and endorsed in a reckless way that

betrayed poor business caution, but the blindest confidence

in Burr. The island was a scene of bustle and excitement,

in strange contrast with its former peace and quiet. Kilns

and sheds were erected for drying the corn and storing the

flour, pork, whisky and provisions for the fleet. Mrs. Blen-

nerhassett and Theodosia, with their gay and graceful

presence, were the animating and cheering spirits of all this

warlike work. Burr, quick and keen, was everywhere -in

Virginia, Ohio, Tennessee, Indiana -seeking support and

enrolling recruits.

• 22
 

Blennerhassett.                149

Some five hundred persons, it is supposed, became inter-

ested, directly or indirectly, in the undertaking. Burr's

ulterior objects were carefully concealed from the knowledge

of the public; the land speculation was his pretense, with

perhaps a skirmish in Mexico, if war was declared, as every-

body supposed it would be. His recruits enlisted with the

indefinite idea that they were going on a voyage of adventure

and fortune. Each man was required to supply his own outfit

and arms, and was, on reaching the Wachita country, to re-

ceive one hundred acres of land, further proceedings to trans-

pire as destiny should direct. It is safe to conjecture that those

who actually engaged in this harum-scarum scheme were

mostly young dare-devils, ready to accept any turn of the

wheel of fortune, from ignominious failure to

"A lucky chance that oft decides the fate

Of mighty monarchs."

In the number it is well known were scions of the best emi-

grants of New England, sons of the sturdy revolutionary

veterans who had, with the Ohio Company, taken up their

residence upon the banks of the Ohio.

To Burr and Blennerhassett the future had never seemed

surer or fairer than at this moment; the expedition was

about to start, and, once under way, it was expected that

hundreds, even thousands, would rally to its ranks. As

Burr at that time wrote Wilkinson, "The gods invite to

glory and fortune; it remains to be seen whether we deserve

the boon."   From   the depths of his own storm-tossed

experience, the Scottish bard says:

"The best laid schemes o' mice and men

Gang aft a-gley;

And leave us naught but grief and pain

For promised joy."

Never was so stupendous an air castle so suddenly dissolved.

One by one the promising prospects vanished. Pitt, the

English prime minister, had died in January, 1806, and Fox,

his successor, timid and temporizing, had reversed the policy

of his predecessor, and begun to parley for peace with

Napoleon, now in the zenith of his power. It was absurd

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150    Ohio Archaeological and Historical Quarterly.

to think of England abetting an attack on Mexico, and

Burr's English squadron went glimmering.  The United

States, too, began to hesitate about inaugurating a war

with Mexico, which Napoleon declared would be regarded

as a war on him. The Spanish war furore began to subside

from prudential reasons. Clarke, the New Orleans million-

aire, who was to play the Crassus in the new empire, and

lavish his wealth where it would do the most good, suddenly

became embarrassed, and gave notice that he could not lend

financial assistance. Vague rumors were started and spread

along the Ohio and Mississippi, that Burr was brewing

secession and treason, and no one knew just what, so envel-

oped were his movements with the air of secrecy and

mystery. A general feeling of alarm was awakened, while

Blennerhassett was busy on the island and at Marietta, all

unsuspicious of the storm that was gathering. Burr, on one

of his visits to Frankfort, Ky., was suddenly and unexpect-

edly arrested, November 6th, 1806, by United States Dis-

trict Attorney Daviess, for treasonable practices, and for

being engaged in actions endangering the peace of the

United States. He engaged Henry Clay as his counsel,

solemnly assuring the great lawyer that he entertained "no

design to intermeddle with or disturb the tranquility of the

United States, nor its territories, nor any part of them, and

that his aims were well understood and approved by the Gov-

ernment."1  As a powerful and plausible liar, Burr displayed

abilities second only to his great prototype, Napoleon Bona-

parte. When his hearing took place, no evidence appeared

against him, and he was discharged, and given a great ball

by the citizens, who mainly regarded him as a hero and

martyr. But this arrest and release was but the warning of

what should come. "Thus bad begins, but worse remains

behind." Burr, more emboldened than ever, hastened on to

Nashville, to look after the boats preparing there, when the

explosion took place.

On his way to the island, in September, Burr stopped at

 

1Victor, "History of American Conspiracies," 295.

• 24
 

Blennerhassett.               151

Cannonsburg, Ohio, and talked freely of his plans to one

Col. Morgan, an old patriotic revolutionary soldier, who

promptly forwarded his important informtion to President

Jefferson, at Washington. The latter at once employed a

secret government agent, one Graham, to visit Ohio and

shadow Burr and Blennerhassett.  Means of travel were

slow in those days, and Graham did not arrive in Marietta

until November 15th. Pretending to be in Burr's confidence,

he easily learned from Blennerhassett a full understanding of

their intentions, and promptly repaired to Chillicothe, the

capital of Ohio, and communicated his knowledge to Gov-

ernor Edward Tiffin, who instantly sent a message to the

legislature, then in session, asking for an enactment em-

powering him to call out the militia, arrest the Burrites, and

seize their property wherever found. While the patriotic

Buckeye state was preparing to pounce on Burr, his doom

was sealed in other quarters. Burr's trusted messenger,

Swartwout, reached Gen. Wilkinson at Natchez, October

8th, bearing that famous cipher letter, in which Burr tells

Wilkinson that all is well, and to be prepared to join the

army to the expedition, and that they, in concert, will move

on to New Orleans. Burr had placed himself completely in

the hands of a man capable of double duplicity and deceit,

and Wilkinson, for causes which this is neither the time nor

place to consider, suddenly assumed the role of deliverer of

his country. He published Burr's plans, warned Gen. Har-

rison, governor of Indiana territory, to watch on the Ohio

for Burr's expedition. He patched up a truce with the

Spaniards, whose soldiers were on the frontier ready for an

offensive advance, and, withdrawing the United States

troops, pushed on to New Orleans, sending meanwhile a

message to President Jefferson, giving full details of Burr's

designs.  This message reached Jefferson November 25th,

and two days later he issued a proclamation, announcing that

unlawful enterprises were on foot in the Western states,

warning all persons to desist from the same without delay,

and commanding all officers, civil and military, to use their

immediate and utmost exertions to bring the offending

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152     Ohio Archaeological and Historical Quarterly.

persons to condign punishment. This act of Jefferson set

the country, from the Atlantic to the Mississippi, ablaze with

excitement. The governors of Virginia, Kentucky, Tennes-

see, Mississippi, and Louisiana, issued proclamations and

called out the militia; the United States Senate passed an

act suspending the writ of habeas corpus, which suspension

the House would not sanction; the military companies of

New York, Boston, Philadelphia and Baltimore offered their

services to the President.

The people were possessed of the most exaggerated

anxiety and alarm. It was currently believed that the con-

spiracy permeated the entire union; that the East, West and

South swarmed with spies, traitors and conspirators, and that

thousands were about to spring up and flock to the banner

of Burr, "who, for the moment," says Victor, "became a

monster of huge proportions; his past history was reviewed

and painted in colors dismal enough for Mohammedan; his

victims in the social circle were counted by the dozen, and

his natural children by the scores; his duplicity, subtlety,

and power of persuasion were freely canvassed, even by his

old political coadjutors; he became for the day the sum of all

villainies." Claiborne, governor of New Orleans, declared

martial law, called a mass meeting of the people, and

exhorted them to stand firm by their country in this impend-

ing crisis. Stockade forts were erected to defend the city;

the ships in the harbor were manned, and moved up the

river to meet the arrival of the invincible invader, Burr.

Wilkinson, whose villainous perfidy exceeds all precedent,

even exposed Burr to the Spanish authorities of Mexico,

and they, becoming fearful, hurried their troops to the

frontier to prevent the invasion of the expected successor to

the Montezumas. By authority of the legislature of Ohio,1

Governor Tiffin assembled the militia of Washington county

at Marietta, under Major General Buell. This force-so far

as we can learn, more like a ragamuffin procession than a

 

1"An Act to prevent certain acts hostile to the peace and tranquility of

the United States within the jurisdiction of the State of Ohio." Chase's

Statutes, Vol. I, p. 553.

• 26
 

Blennerhassett.                 153

warlike army--proceeded to plant their cannon on the river

bank to sweep the enemy's approach, while a detachment

marched to the mouth of the Muskingum and seized the

boats that had been built under Blennerhassett's direction.

With Blennerhassett matters were becoming serious. He

was startled by the commotion throughout the country. His

fleet was confiscated; his crews were captured or frightened

off, and he began to realize that he was engaged in a sorry

errand. His forebodings foretold the whirlpool that was

about to engulf him and sweep him from his happy island

home, whither, "shut up in measureless content," he had

escaped the agitations of his own native land. His purpose

began to shake, and, like the hesitating Thane of Glamis, he

declared to his wife, "We will proceed no further in this

business." But again it was the ambitious, dauntless, reso-

lute woman who replied:

" Was the hope drunk

Wherein you 'dressed yourself? Hath it slept since?

And wakes it now, to look so green and pale

At what it did so freely? From this time

Such I account thy love. Art thou afeard

To be the same in thine own act and valour

As thou art in desire? Wouldst thou lack that

Which thou esteem'st the ornament of life

And live a coward in thine own esteem,

Letting I dare not wait upon I would?"

 

Learning that the militia of Ward county, Virginia, under

Colonel Phelps, had been directed to take possession of the

island and arrest himself and family, and urged on by his

determined wife, Blennerhassett resolved to escape with what

following he could command, and endeavor to join Burr, who

was to await him at the mouth of the Cumberland. On the

tenth of December the Ohio militia took possession of the

boats at Marietta, and on the same day Comfort Tyler, one

of Burr's satellites, arrived at the island from Beaver, Penn.,

with four boats and a crew of fourteen men. With this

escort, augmented by some neighboring recruits and a few of

the island hands, altogether some thirty-five persons, and

with such articles of provisions as could be gathered on

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154    Ohio Archaeological and Historical Quarterly.

board, Blennerhassett, at midnight, December 13th, bade fare-

well to his wife and home, and amid a winter's wind and a

blinding storm, slipped from his moorings and dropped

quietly down the river. A detachment of the Virginia

militia had hurried on to the mouth of the Great Kanawha

to intercept this escape, but the darkness of the night and

the stupefying drink of the sentries, enabled Blennerhassett's

boats to float safely by.

At day-break the next morning Mrs. Blennerhassett fled to

Marietta to plead for the boat intended for the use of the

family. She was refused, and returned to the island to find

it occupied by the lawless, ruthless Virginia militia under

Colonel Phelps. On the same day there arrived at the island

a boat from Pittsburgh, bringing a band of ten young New

Yorkers, volunteers for Burr's expedition. They were imme-

diately arrested by Colonel Phelps, and under the jurisdiction

of three Virginia justices, there was held in the parlors of the

mansion a trial as ridiculous and farcical as that presided over

by Dogberry in " Much Ado About Nothing." The accused

were on a spree, and the soldiers ran riot over the island; the

shrubbery was trampled down; the grounds torn up; the

fences burned for the sentinel fires; they ransacked the house

like a pack of vandals; the elegant apartments became bar-

racks; the cellars were sacked; the wines and liquors drunk;

the French furniture was broken and damaged; walls and

ceilings were riddled with balls, and the spacious and splen-

did home ruined by the drunken, rioting militia, whom Colonel

Phelps seemed powerless to restrain. To all this Mrs. Blen-

nerhassett was a compulsory but defiant witness, and amidst

all this trying ordeal and the demolition of her beautiful abode

her heroism shone the brighter and steadier. There being

no evidence sufficient to detain the New York party, they

offered Mrs. Blennerhassett the cabin of their boat. It was

stored with such choice pieces of furniture, books and house-

hold treasures as could be borne away-the remnants of a

blighted residence-and on a bleak December day the deso-

late but devoted wife, with her two little boys, Harman and

Dominick, aged six and eight, bade adieu to home and hap-

• 28
 

Blennerhassett.               155

piness, and set sail in the little cabin flat-boat that could

scarcely make headway down the ice-blocked river. She

overtook her husband on January 15th at Bayou Pierre.

Burr, on arriving at Nashville after his flight from Frank-

fort, heard of the President's proclamation, and hastily started,

on December 24th, with four boats and some thirty followers,

down the Cumberland river, at the mouth of which, at Fort

Massac, he met Blennerhasset. And now the entire force is

assembled, and a review reveals ten boats and some sixty men,

armed as efficiently and as uniformly as Falstaff's famous

troops. Colonel Burr, like a mimic Napoleon, drew up his

army on the banks and addressed them, saying that he had

at this point intended to inform them fully of his plans, but

he would defer to another time, and then, "with this array,

the monarch of undefined realms floated down stream, en

route to New Orleans and Richmond." Not a man in the

crew knew just where they were going, or just what they

were after; a mere handful of hardy frontiersmen, who jested

at scars, as they had never felt a wound; a spreeing set of

jolly fellows that were better versed in the quality of whisky

than the tactics of war. Burr, all unconscious of his betrayal

by Wilkinson, who was to make this ridiculous expedition

dignified and dangerous by the addition of the army, pushed

on, stopping at various points for recruits and provisions. At

Chicksaw Bluffs, afterwards Memphis (January 5), Burr took

on board thirty pounds of lead, some powder, three dozen

tomahawks, and other articles of Western warfare. At Bayou

Pierre (January 10), thirty miles above Natchez, the intrepid

leader of the invading host learned how he had been undone

by the treachery of his confederate, Wilkinson. He felt the

prodigious agitation the effort of his expedition had created.

He saw his empire ending in smoke.

Says Safford: "On a dark and dreary night in the month

of January, as the flotilla pushed slowly from the landing at

Petit Gulf, might have been observed the master spirit of the

expedition, seated on a rough stool in the inclement cabin of

a flat-boat, lighted only by the cheerless rays of a solitary

candle and the decaying embers of a rudely-constructed fire-

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156    Ohio Archaeological and Historical Quarterly.

place, with his face buried in his hands, while his elbows

rested on a table of unplaned boards. He who had hitherto

braved the disappointments which had attended his under-

takings with a fortitude which astonished, while it gave con-

fidence to his followers, now sat gloomy and dejected. Upon

what he mused is beyond human ken; but, starting suddenly

from his revery, he caught up an ax and directed his attend-

ant to make an opening in the side of the boat, and through

this, in the silence of the night, when he supposed no one

witnessed, the chests of arms for the expedition were silently

sunk beneath the waters of the Mississippi." "Not a drum

was heard, not a funeral note," but it was the burial of Burr's

phantom principality.

At Cole's Creek, near Natchez, further progress of the

flotilla was prevented by Mississippi militia (January 29), and

Burr and Blennerhassett were placed under arrest and taken to

the little town of Washington, where a grand jury was imme-

diately impaneled and the leaders produced at court. Parton

correctly remarks that "a court of justice was to Aaron Burr

what his native heath was to MacGregor." Burr defended

himself with old-time sophistry and skill, and so swayed the

jury that they not only discharged him, but actually repri-

manded the authorities of Mississippi for arresting him. To

escape being detained by Governor Williams, as he knew he

would be, Burr decided to desert his followers and fly. That

was Napoleonic. So Burr visited his men, now numbering

about one hundred and thirty, and made a formal address,

stating in substance that circumstances over which he had no

control compelled him to retire. He dvised them to follow

suit, and not stand on the order of their going, but go at once

-anywhere they could get. He then put spurs to his horse

and started east, intending to cut across the country to the

Atlantic coast and set sail at some port for Europe. He got

as far as Wakefield, Alabama (February 18), when he was

recognized and captured. Then followed that long, weari-

some journey of six weeks in the custody of Colonel Perkins

and nine guards, over a thousand miles, through the wilds of

Alabama, Georgia and the Carolinas, to Richmond and jail.

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Blennerhassett.                 157

Burr's so-called soldiers, stranded on the banks of the Missis-

sippi, were left to shift for themselves as best they could.

Some worked their way home, others remained to settle as

farmers or school teachers, while many became fugitives,

following various fortunes in the Southern states. Blenner-

hassett, leaving his family with friends at Natchez, set out to

return to the island to see what could be done to retrieve his

ruined home. Never was a man so wrongfully robbed of

prosperity, peace, and plenty, so knavishly deprived of home,

happiness, and even hope. He reached Frankfort July 14th,

when he was again arrested and taken to Richmond, to be a

fellow prisoner with Burr. He bore his fate with martyr-like

heroism. His bearing under every circumstance was that of

a man of sincerity, truth, and honor. The messages from

his cell to his distracted wife echoed the sentiments of the

poet:

"Stone walls do not a prison make,

Nor iron bars a cage:

Minds innocent and quiet take

That for an hermitage."

 

Then follows that brilliant tableau that closes this drama,

the great trial at Richmond. It holds our attention and

deserves our study, but we have time only for a momentary

glance at this event, as memorable in American annals as the

famous trial of Warren Hastings in the halls of Westminster.

Of this episode pen pictures have been drawn time and again.

In the midst sat Burr, the prisoner, scrupulously attired in

his black suit and powdered hair and queue, composed, indif-

ferent, disdainful, "proudly pre-eminent in point of intelli-

gence to his brethren of the bar," lately the most conspicuous

character in the country, now a criminal at the highest court.

Cool, courageous, quick to see, swift to act, he detects with

a lynx eye every vulnerable point of his antagonists, and he

directs every move of his advocates. This arch-conspirator

plays the imperious role of the persecuted, and with a pride

equal to that of Lucifer, alludes to the prosecution as some

sublime joke of Jefferson.  He requests Theodosia, who

remains at his side, to search the histories of Greece and

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158     Ohio Archaeological and Historical Quarterly.

Rope for instances where men of virtue, independence, and

talents like himself were made the object of vindictive and

relentless persecution.  His prison life is regaled with the

flowers of enchanted women and the favors of admiring men.

In the court room, a sad and silent spectator, rather than a

participator, sits Blennerhassett, his mind upon the desolation

of his home.  With a Roman resignation like Marius, the

exiled consul and conqueror, seated amid the ruins of Car-

thage, so awaits he day after day the decision that shall

determine his doom. For a period of eight months this legal

contest drags its length along. There is a legion of witnesses,

among whom Wilkinson is the great lion. At last the agony

is over; Burr and Blennerhassett are finally acquitted of the

charge of treason, but are bound over in the sum of $3,000

to appear at Chillicothe (in January, 1808) to answer charge

of misdemeanor committed in Ohio.¹ This later trial never

takes place. So the curtain falls, the lights are out, and the

actors and audience disperse.

Blennerhassett, with an inexplicable but irresistible infatu-

ation, like some captive chained to the chariot of Burr, accom-

panies him to Baltimore. A mob threatens to lynch them,

and Blennerhassett decides to part company with his leader,

and at this point, for the first time in all the proceedings,

Blennerhassett, who has never uttered a single syllable of

complaint or murmured against his betrayer and destroyer,

approaches him with a demand for some sort of satisfaction for

the fortune he has lost in Burr's behalf. In his journal that

day Blennerhassett wrote, "I resolved to burst the cobweb

duplicity of all his evasion with me upon money matters;

long and insidiously he has trifled with my claims upon him,

and this day he has treated me not as a faithful associate,

ruined by my past connection with him, but rather as an

importunate creditor invading his leisure or his purse with a

questionable account."  Burr listened to his appeal for aid

for his impoverished family with a mocking sneer of a

Mephistopheles, as Blennerhassett writes, "with such an

 

1 There was plenty of evidence as to the treasonable intentions of Burr,

but no evidence of overt acts.

• 32
 

Blennerhassett.              159

absence of that suavity of address with which he has too

often diverted me from my purpose as now exhibited him a

heartless swindler in the last swoon of his disorder, and

determined me to hasten my departure." And so Burr's

mysterious mask was torn at last, but Blennerhassett was

made to drink his cup to the bitter dregs.

It is now the proper thing, and nearly every writer indulges

in it, to daub all the damnable infamy conceivable upon

Burr, and shower every sentiment of sympathy upon Blen-

nerhassett. We would not detract one iota from the defama-

tion due to Burr; but as for Blennerhassett, we believe that

the best that can be said in his behalf is that he was, as the

party remarked who piloted us to the island, "an old fool

whom history would have utterly ignored had he not willingly

walked into Burr's project." Just how far he was acquainted

with Burr's farthest designs is a matter of conjecture, but he

was undoubtedly deceived by his suavity and sophistry.

Blennerhassett, strolling on his lawn, or shut up in his study

on the secluded island, knew little or nothing about the

country of his adoption, the strength, or form, or motive of

its government; the temperament or sentiment of its people.

He was a splendid specimen of a simpleton, and was ripe for

Burr's scheme, the criminal character of which he certainly

did not comprehend. But he staked his comfortable condi-

tion upon the scheme with Burr, who had everything to gain

and nothing to lose, and, like any gambler, Blennerhassett

should be made to abide the issue. He deserves pity for

having little judgment and no experience, but he has received

far more than his share of sympathy for losing in a game in

which he deliberately ran all risk.

On his return to his family he stopped at his island home.

He had left it just a year before in all its superb splendor.

Now what a sight met his gaze! A flood had inundated the

island, sweeping away the last vestige of the adornment of

the lawn, destroying the garden, and loading the farm with

floodwood and debris. The mansion was but a ghost of its

former glory; walls were cracked and stripped, windows

smashed in, and doors carried away. Every article of furni-

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160    Ohio Archaeological and Historical Quarterly.

ture and movable property had been seized by his creditors

and sold by the sheriff. The slaves had been confiscated, or

had escaped to the Ohio shore and taken passage by the

underground railway to freedom. The island was in posses-

sion of a Mr. Miller, who had attached it on a note for several

thousand dollars, given by Burr and endorsed by Blenner-

hassett. The house was never occupied again, and was

burned in 1811.

Blennerhassett, in the honest hope of being able to retrieve

his fortune, and of satisfying every obligation, settled with

his family on a large cotton plantation near Gibsonport, Mis-

sissippi. Mrs. Blennerhassett managed the business, while

her husband gave himself mostly to his books. Here they

remained for ten years, making an unequal struggle for suc-

cess; for misfortune had marked this family for its own, the

war of 1812 had injured the cotton market, and Blennerhassett

was constantly pressed by his indorsements for Burr, amount-

ing to thirty thousand dollars. In 1819 he sold his plantation

for $27,000, to satisfy his creditors, and moving to New

York, attempted to practice law; but business shunned him,

and he moved again to Montreal, in the expectation of being

appointed to some office by his old friend, the Duke of

Richmond, who was Governor General of Canada. Scarcely

had he arrived, however, when Richmond was removed, and

he was again left destitute, and without the means of a live-

lihood. Leaving his wife and now three sons, he sailed for

Ireland to look after an estate, left by a distant relative, to

which he was entitled ; but again justice shut its doors in his

face. The estate had been seized by Lord Rosse, a cousin,

and Blennenhassett was not able to enter a legal fight. He

drifted back to London, and for three years eked out a mere

existence trying to teach, write and clerk.

Meanwhile his wife in Montreal was compelled to take

care, not only of herself, but her three boys. Dominick, the

oldest, was a shiftless, dissipated roue; Harman, weak-mind-

ed and useless; Joseph, the third, too young to be of any

assistance.  Mrs. Blennerhassett, who had become a mere

shadow of her former elegance and beauty, in every way, by

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Blennerhassett.                161

physical and mental exertion, bravely, desperately, strove to

support her boys.  She kept both hands and head busy

sewing and writing for the press, even publishing a little

volume of poems bearing the significant title, "The Widow

of the Rock and Other Poems;" but the world did not want

her wares. We find in her journal at this time: "Oh, I

ask myself a thousand times what I can have done to deserve

my present forlorn condition;" and to her husband she

writes: "After the dreadful despondency I have endured

for a period longer than I could ever have conceived myself

capable, so extreme has been my wretchedness that I have

often conceived myself sinking into a state that promised a

speedy termination of my sorrows."

In 1821, at the age of sixty-three, Blennerhassett died, in

complete indigence, at the house of a charitable sister on the

isle of Guernsey. His wife, for whom he had ever displayed

the most knightly devotion and love, was at his side.  For

eleven weary sorrowful years his broken-hearted wife lived

on, returning to America to present a claim against the

government for damage done their island property by the

militia mob of Virginia.  The claim was for $10,000, and

Henry Clay was its champion in Congress. It was about to

be voted, when, in 1842, in a dreary tenement house, with

no one by her side but her imbecile son Harman and a negro

servant who had never deserted her, wasted in body and

weary in heart, Mrs. Blennerhassett left the world which had

so cruelly treated her, and to which she had so often wished

to bid farewell. She was buried by the Emmets, friends of

her husband, and the only attendants at her obscure funeral.

Dominick, her oldest son, drifted about the states, a

wretched, worthless, ragged tramp, and finally disappeared

in a drunken debauch in St. Louis, probably either acci-

dentally or intentionally drowning himself in the waters of the

Mississippi, that river whose current had brought such a full

measure of misery to this fated family. Harman lived on, a

a gloomy, despondent, well-meaning, but half witted man,

unnoticed and unknown, moving from attic to attic in New

York city, and found at last (1854) by the Bowery Mission

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162      Ohio Archaeological and Historical Quarterly.

in a barren garret, without carpet, bed covers or even pillows.

In a state of starvation, he was permitted to die in the alms-

house on Blackwell's Island. Joseph, the youngest son, was

killed in the rebel army while fighting to disrupt the Union

which his father, sixty years before, had been accused

of attempting to destroy.

If the sensitive reader of history has tears to shed, he can-

not do better than spare a few for the sad story of the Blen-

nerhassetts. How can we more fitly leave them to memory

than in the poetic words of Mrs. Blennerhassett, the echo of

her own overflowing woe, in her poem penned for the little

volume for which, like all else that she attempted, the cold

world had no welcome:

 

 

"THE DESERTED ISLE.

Like mournful echo from the silent tomb,

That pines away upon the midnight air,

Whilst the pale moon breaks out with fitful gloom,

Fond memory, turn with sad but welcome care,

To scenes of desolation and despair,

Once bright with all that beauty could bestow,

That peace could shed, or youthful fancy know.

To the fair isle reverts the pleasing dream;

Again thou risest, in thy green attire;

Fresh, as at first, thy blooming graces seem;

Thy groves, thy fields, their wonted sweets respire;

Again thou 'rt all my heart could e'er desire,

Oh, why dear isle, art thou not still my own?

Thy charms could then for all my grief atone.

The stranger that descends Ohio's stream,

Charmed with the beauteous prospects that arise,

Marks the soft isles that, 'neath the glittering beam,

Dance with the wave and mingle with the skies,

Sees, also, one that now in ruin lies,

Which erst, like fairy queen, towered o'er the rest,

In every native charm, by culture dress'd.

There rose the seat, where once, in pride of life,

My eye could mark the queenly river's flow,

In summer's calmness, or in winter's strife,

Swollen with rains, or battling with the snow.

Never again, my heart such joy shall know,

• 36
 

Blennerhassett.                      163

 

Havoc and ruin, rampant war have pass'd

Over that isle, with their destroying blast.

The black'ning fires have swept throughout her halls,

The winds fly whistling o'er them, and the wave

No more in spring-floods o'er the sand beach crawls,

But furious drowns in one o'erwhelming grave

Thy hallow'd haunts it watered as a slave.

Drive on, destructive flood, and ne'er again

On that devoted isle let man remain.

Too many blissful moments there I've known,

Too many hopes have there met their decay,

Too many feelings now forever gone,

To wish that thou couldst e'er again display,

The joyful coloring of thy prime array.

Buried with thee, let them remain a blot,

With thee their sweets, their bitterness forgot.

And, 0, that I could wholly wipe away

The memory of the ills that work'd thy fall;

The memory of that all eventful day,

When I return'd and found my own fair hall

Held by the infuriate populace in thrall-

My own fireside blockaded by a band

That once found food and shelter of my hand.

My children (Oh, a mother's pangs forbear;

Nor strike again that arrow to my soul;)

Clasping the ruffians in suppliant prayer,

To free their mother from unjust control,

While with false crimes and imprecations foul,

The wretched, vilest refuse of the earth

Mock jurisdiction held around my hearth.

Sweet isle, methinks I see thy bosom torn;

Again behold the ruthless rabble throng,

That wrought destruction taste must ever mourn.

Alas! I see thee now--shall see thee long;

But ne'er shall bitter feelings urge the wrong,

That to a mob would give the censure, due

To those that arm'd the plunder-greedy crew.

Thy shores are warm'd by beauteous suns in vain,

Columbia, if spite and envy spring

To blot the beauty of mild nature's reign.

The European stranger, who would fling

O'er tangled woods refinement's polishing,

May find expended every plan of taste,

His work by ruffians rendered doubly waste."

E. O. RANDALL.

• 37