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
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
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
130 Ohio
Archaeological and Historical Quarterly.
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
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.
132 Ohio Archaeological and Historical Quarterly.
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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Ohio Archaeological and
Historical Quarterly.
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
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
136
Ohio Archaeological and Historical Quarterly.
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-
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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Ohio Archaeological and Historical Quarterly.
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
Blennerhassett. 139
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
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
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
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
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.
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
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
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,
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
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.
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
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.
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
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.
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
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-
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-
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.
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
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.
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-
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
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
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,
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.