An Artist in Treason: The Extraordinary Double Life of General James Wilkinson

257 “Burr may come”: Mead to Claiborne, December 24, 1806, ibid., 169.

258 JW and Claiborne’s exchanges: Ibid., ch. 3.

259 “This was acknowledging the fact”: Ibid., 173.

261 “dispose of the troops in such manner”: Dearborn to JW, November 27, 1806, American State Papers.

261 “After a most arduous journey”: Briggs testimony, Memoirs, vol. 2, appendix 53. 262 “in a nation tender as to anything infringing liberty”: Jefferson to JW, February 3, 1807, ibid., appendix 30.

262 “A strict observance of the written laws”: Jefferson to John Colvin, September 20, 1810, PTJ.

263 “I have never attempted to justify”: JW to Clark, May 24, 1807, Clark, Proofs, 153.

CHAPTER 26: TWO TRAITORS ON TRIAL

Among the Burr Conspiracy sources cited earlier, Daniel Clark’s Proofs and Carpenter’s shorthand version of Burr’s trial in September were particularly useful for this chapter.

264 JW’s approach to Folch, and the latter’s testimony in his support, are detailed in Folch, “An Interview of Governor Folch with General Wilkinson.”

265 “to forget any personal animosity towards the Governor”: Clark, Proofs, note 65.

265 The exchange of veiled menaces between JW and Clark are the subject of notes 70 to 76 in Clark, Proofs.

266 “As to any projects or plans”: Testimony of George Poindexter, Carpenter, Trial of Colonel Aaron Burr, 273.

266 “Our ground of defence is”: Ibid., 390.

266 “Why, something would have been done”: Adair quoted in Burr’s Conspiracy exposed, 25.

267 “he would lash General Wilkinson into tortures”: Quoted in Carpenter, Trial of Colonel Aaron Burr, 356.

268 “The president has undertaken to prejudge”: Martin to Marshall at the grand jury hearing, quoted in Adams, History of the United States.

268 “treason against the United States”: Chief Justice John Marshall, Ex Parte Bollman and Ex Parte Swartwout, 8 U.S. 4 Cranch 75 (1807).

268 “Wilkinson strutted into court”: Washington Irving, quoted in Hay, Admirable Trumpeter, 274.

269 “I was introduced to a position within the bar”: JW to Jefferson, ibid., 276.

269 “He is a very slight man but of the common stature”: William Plumer, letter to his son, February 22, 1803, quoted in Albert Beveridge, The Life of John Marshall (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1965), 83.

270 “Your enemies have filled the public ear”: Jefferson to JW, Memoirs, vol. 2, appendix 30.

270 Proceedings of the September trial are taken from Carpenter, Trial of Colonel Aaron Burr.

272 “he must hang Mr. Burr”: Ibid., 390.

272 “He exhibited the manner of a sergeant”: Blennerhassett, quoted in Hay, Admirable Trumpeter, 275.

CHAPTER 27: THE WAR WITH RANDOLPH

Randolph’s hostility enmeshed JW in a series of inquiries. Because JW’s biographical works, A Plain Tale, Memoirs, and Burr’s Conspiracy exposed, are composed of the arguments that he deployed in rebuttal, they are central to this and the following chapters.

276 “I can distinctly trace the source of my persecutions”: Memoirs, vols. 2, 3.

276 “I recognize no right to hold me accountable”: Jacobs, Tarnished Warrior, 218.

276 “I denounce John Randolph”: Quoted in Crackel, Mr. Jefferson’s Army.

277 The story of the Annapolis party: Memoirs 2:7.

277 “I [was] a secret agent of the Spanish government”: January 7, 1808, Annals of Congress, 10th Cong., 1st sess.

279 Jefferson’s assertion that Clark’s evidence “is the first direct testimony ever made known to me” was contradicted not just by Ellicott, but by the contents of Gallatin’s note in 1806.

279 “the present administration has been minutely informed”: Ellicott to Clark, January 10, 1808, Clark, Proofs.

280 “If I could believe that there was the least danger to the liberties”: Taylor, February 1808, quoted in Crackel, Mr. Jefferson’s Army.

281 “The armed resistance to the embargo laws on the Canada line”: Jefferson to JW, August 13, 1808, PTJ.

282 “it multiplies our wants, depresses our tastes”: JW to Jefferson, October 6, 1808, PTJ. For Jefferson’s decision to send JW to Cuba, see Cox, “The Pan- American Policy of Jefferson and Wilkinson.”

282 “Many of the appointments were positively bad”: Winfield Scott, Memoirs of Lieutenant- General Scott, quoted in Crackel, Mr. Jefferson’s Army.

283 “as large a proportion of our regular troops at New Orleans”: Dearborn to JW, December 2, 1808.

283 “His Majesty had some relations [with] No. 13”: quoted in Szaszdi, “Governor Folch and the Burr Conspiracy.”

284 “Sweet was the song sung on Monday evening”: Pensioner’s Mirror (New Orleans), April 20, 1809, quoted in Jacobs, Tarnished Warrior.

285 The melancholy narrative of Terre aux Boeufs is based largely on the “Report of the Committee appointed to inquire into the great Mortality in the Troops at New Orleans,” Annals of Congress, April 1810, and JW’s defense in Memoirs, vol. 2.

CHAPTER 28: MADISON’S ACCUSATIONS

The remorseless accumulation of documents by JW in his defense to an avalanche of accusations makes Memoirs, vol. 2, a prime source. Theodore Crackel’s Mr. Jefferson’s Army and William Skelton’s An American Profession of Arms provide essential ballast. For the diplomatic and political lead-up to the war of 1812, see Stagg, Mr. Madison’s War.

289 “I confess, the strength of my mind was shaken”: Memoirs 2:22.

290 “Mr. Eustis received me with great cordiality”: Ibid., 2:25.

292 “the untarnished companion of my thigh for forty years”: Hay, Admirable Trumpeter, 306.

292 The story of the court- martial proceeding is primarily drawn from Memoirs, 2:3–577. The faked Nolan account that explained his Spanish payments appeared on page 119, as follows:

General Wilkinson in Account with Don E. M[iro].

Dr[awn].

1790 June 2,

To Cash paid Philip Nolan—

$1800

1792 Aug. 4, To do. remitted by Lacassang—

4000

1794 July 29, To do. remitted by Owen—

6000

To do. paid insurance 121/2 percent