HAD Burr succeeded in carrying out his original plan of passing the
Falls of the Ohio as early as November 15, he might have reached New
Orleans with all his force; but he made too many delays, and tried
too far the patience of Ohio. October 1 he returned from Nashville to
Lexington, where he was joined by Blennerhassett and Allston. From that
moment he was beset by difficulties and growing opposition.
As yet the Government at Washington had not moved, and Burr freely
said that his military preparations were made with its knowledge and
for the probable event of war with Spain; but he had not foreseen that
these tactics might rouse against him the class of men from whom he
had least reason to expect opposition. In Kentucky a respectable body
of old Federalists still existed, with Humphrey Marshall at their
head. The United States District Attorney, Joseph H. Daveiss, was
also a Federalist, left in office by Jefferson. Burr’s admirers were
Republicans, so numerous that the President shrank from alienating them
by denouncing Burr, while they in their turn would not desert Burr
until the President denounced him. The Federalists saw here a chance
to injure their opponents, and used it.
As early as the year 1787 Governor Mirò, the Spanish ruler of
Louisiana, tried to organize a party in Kentucky for establishing an
independent empire west of the Alleghanies under the protection of
Spain. His chief agent for that purpose was James Wilkinson.[182] The
movement received no popular support, and failed; but during the next
ten years the Spanish governors who succeeded Mirò maintained relations
with Wilkinson and his friends, always hoping that some change in
American politics would bring their project into favor. Godoy’s policy
of conciliation with America crossed these intrigues. His treaty
of 1795 did much to neutralize them, but his delivery of Natchez
in 1798 did more. The settlement of boundary came at a moment when
Kentucky, under the lead of Jefferson and Breckenridge, seemed about
to defy the United States government, and when the celebrated Kentucky
Resolutions promised to draw the Western people into the arms of Spain.
Talleyrand’s indignation at Godoy’s conduct[183] was not more acute
than the disgust felt by the Spanish officials at New Orleans.
The Spanish intrigues among the Republicans of Kentucky were not wholly
unknown to the Federalists in that State; and as time went on, Humphrey
Marshall and Daveiss obtained evidence warranting an assault on the
Republicans most deeply implicated.[184] The attempt was a matter of
life and death to the Spanish pensioners; and in a society so clannish
as that of Kentucky, violence was not only to be feared, but to be
counted upon. Daveiss took the risks of personal revenge, and laid his
plans accordingly.
Burr’s appearance on the Ohio and at St. Louis in Wilkinson’s company
during the summer of 1805 called attention to the old Spanish
conspiracy, and gave Daveiss the opportunity he wanted. As early as
Jan. 10, 1806, while Burr was still struggling at Washington to save
his plot from collapse for want of foreign aid, and while John Randolph
was beginning his invectives in Congress, the district-attorney wrote
to the President a private letter denouncing the old Spanish plot, and
declaring that it was still alive.[185] “A separation of the Union in
favor of Spain is the object _finally_. I know not what are the
means.” Assuming that Jefferson was ignorant of the facts, because
he had “appointed General Wilkinson as Governor of St. Louis, who, I
am convinced, has been for years, and now is, a pensioner of Spain,”
Daveiss asserted his own knowledge, and contented himself with a
general warning;--
“This plot is laid wider than you imagine. Mention the subject
to no man from the Western country, however high in office he
may be. Some of them are deeply tainted with this treason. I
hate duplicity of expression; but on this subject I am not
authorized to be explicit, nor is it necessary. You will
despatch some fit person into the Orleans country to inquire.”
February 10 Daveiss wrote again calling attention to Burr’s movements
during the previous summer, and charging both him and Wilkinson with
conspiracy.[186] At about the time when these letters arrived, the
President received another warning from Eaton. The air was full of
denunciations, waiting only for the President’s leave to annihilate
the conspirators under popular contempt. A word quietly written by
Jefferson to one or two persons in the Western country would have
stopped Burr short in his path, and would have brought Wilkinson
abjectly on his knees. A slight change in the military and naval
arrangements at New Orleans would have terrified the creoles into good
behavior, and would have made Daniel Clark denounce the conspiracy.
The President showed Daveiss’s letter to Gallatin, Madison, and
Dearborn; but he did not take its advice, and did not, in his Cabinet
memoranda of October 22,[187] mention it among his many sources of
information. February 15 he wrote to Daveiss[188] a request to
communicate all he knew on the subject. No other acts followed, nor was
either Wilkinson or Burr put under surveillance.
Perhaps this was what Daveiss wished; for if Jefferson pursued his
course much further, he was certain to compromise himself in appearing
to protect Burr and Wilkinson. Daveiss not only continued to write
letter after letter denouncing Wilkinson to the President, without
receiving answer or acknowledgment; he not only made a journey to St.
Louis in order to collect evidence, and on his return to Kentucky wrote
in July to the President that Burr’s object was “to cause a revolt of
the Spanish provinces, and a severance of all the Western States and
Territories from the Union, to coalesce and form one government,”--but
he also took a new step, of which he did not think himself obliged to
inform the President in advance. He established at Frankfort a weekly
newspaper, edited by a man so poor in character and means that for some
slight gain in notoriety he could afford to risk a worthless life. John
Wood was a newspaper hack, not quite so successful as Cheetham and
Duane, or so vile as Callender. Having in 1801 written a “History of
the last Administration,” after getting from Colonel Burr, by working
upon his vanity, an offer to buy and suppress the book, it was probably
Wood who furnished Cheetham with the details of the transaction, and
connived at Cheetham’s “Narrative of the Suppression,” in order
to give notoriety to himself. Cheetham’s “Narrative” called for a
reply, and Wood in 1802 printed a “Correct Statement.” Both pamphlets
were contemptible; but Cheetham was supported by the Clintons, while
Wood could find no one to pay for his literary wares. He drifted
to Richmond, and thence across the mountains; until, in the winter
of 1805–1806, he dropped quietly, unnoticed, into the village of
Frankfort, in Kentucky. Humphrey Marshall and District Attorney Daveiss
needed such a man.
July 4, 1806, appeared at Frankfort the first number of the “Western
World,”--a weekly newspaper edited by John Wood. The society of
Kentucky was alarmed and irritated to find that the “Western World”
seemed to have no other object for its existence than to drag the old
Spanish conspiracy to light. Passions were soon deeply stirred by
the persistency and vehemence with which this pretended Republican
newspaper clung to the subject and cried for an investigation.
Wood had no fancy for being made the object of assassination, but
he was given a fighting colleague named Street; and while Wood hid
himself, Street defended the office. In spite of several attempts
to drive Street away or to kill him, the “Western World” persevered
in its work, until October 15 it published an appeal to the people,
founded on Blennerhassett’s “Querist” and on the existence of a
Spanish Association. Meanwhile two men in high position dreaded
exposure,--Judge Sebastian, of the Court of Appeals of Kentucky, and
Judge Innis, of the United States District Court.
Daveiss was right in thinking the Spanish conspiracy of 1787–1798
closely allied with Burr’s conspiracy of 1805. In striking at Sebastian
and Innis, he threw consternation into the ranks of Burr’s friends, all
of whom were more or less familiar with the Spanish intrigue. Senator
Adair, bolder than the rest, stood by Wilkinson and defied exposure;
but the greater number of Wilkinson’s accomplices were paralyzed.
Daveiss gave them no respite. In October Burr’s appearance in Kentucky
offered a chance to press his advantage. Jefferson’s persistent silence
and inaction left the energetic district-attorney free to do what he
liked; and nothing short of compromising the Administration satisfied
his ambition.
Burr passed the month of October in Kentucky; but his preparations were
far from complete. The delay was probably due to the time consumed
in getting Blennerhassett’s money. At last Burr paid to Lynch the
purchase-money of four or five thousand dollars for Bastrop’s grant.
He had already ordered the construction of boats and enlistment of
men at various points on the Ohio, and especially at Marietta, near
Blennerhassett’s island; but he waited too long before beginning
operations on the Cumberland, for not till November 3 did Andrew
Jackson at Nashville receive a letter from Burr, inclosing three
thousand dollars in Kentucky bank-notes, with orders for the building
of five large boats, the purchase of supplies, and the enlistment
of recruits,--all of which was promptly undertaken by Jackson, but
required more time than could be spared by Burr.
Meanwhile Burr’s affairs were going ill in the State of Ohio.
Blennerhassett’s foolish “Querist,” and the more foolish conversation
of both Blennerhassett and Burr, combined with the assaults of the
“Western World,” drew so much attention to the armaments at the island
that Mrs. Blennerhassett, left alone while her husband was with Allston
and Burr in Kentucky, became alarmed, and thought it necessary to
send them a warning. October 20 she wrote to Burr that he could not
return with safety. Thinking the note too important to be trusted
to the post, and ignorant of Burr’s address, she sent her gardener,
Peter Taylor, on horseback, through Chillicothe, to Cincinnati, with
orders to ask Senator Smith for the address. Taylor reached Cincinnati
October 23, after three days of travel, and went, according to his
mistress’s orders, directly to Senator Smith’s house, which was in the
same building with his store,--for Smith was a storekeeper and army
contractor. The senator was already too deeply compromised with Burr,
and his courage had begun to fail. At first he denied knowledge of
Burr or Blennerhassett. In Taylor’s words, “He allowed he knew nothing
of either of them; that I must be mistaken; this was not the place.
I said, ‘No; this was the right place,--Mr. John Smith, storekeeper,
Cincinnati.’” In the end, Smith took him upstairs, and gave him, with
every injunction of secrecy, a letter to be delivered to Burr at
Lexington. Taylor reached Lexington October 25, found Burr, delivered
his letters, and candidly added: “If you come up our way the people
will shoot you.” The following Monday, October 27, the gardener started
on his return, taking Blennerhassett with him, and leaving Burr at
Lexington to face the storms that threatened from many quarters at once.
The impossibility of returning to the island was but one warning;
another came from Senator Smith, who dreaded exposure. The letter he
sent by Peter Taylor, dated October 23, affected ignorance of Burr’s
schemes, and demanded an explanation of them. October 26 Burr sent the
required disavowal:--
“I was greatly surprised and really hurt,” said Burr,[189] “by
the unusual tenor of your letter of the 23d, and I hasten to
reply to it, as well for your satisfaction as my own. If there
exists any design to separate the Western from the Eastern
States, I am totally ignorant of it. I never harbored or
expressed any such intention to any one, nor did any person ever
intimate such design to me.”
From that moment to the last day of his life Burr persisted in
this assertion, coupling it always in his own mind with a peculiar
reservation. What he so solemnly denied was the intention to separate
the Western States “by force” from the Eastern; what he never denied
was the plan of establishing a Western empire by consent.
Of disunion Burr never again dared to speak. On that subject he was
conscious of having already said so much as to make his stay in
Kentucky a matter of some risk. The leading Republicans would have
rejoiced at his departure; but to desert him was more than their
tempers would allow. Daveiss saw another opportunity to compromise his
enemies, and used it. A week after Blennerhassett and Peter Taylor left
Lexington, carrying with them Burr’s letter in reply to Senator Smith,
on the same day when Andrew Jackson at Nashville received Burr’s order,
with Kentucky bank-notes for the sum of three thousand dollars, the
United States District Court opened its session at Frankfort. Within
eight and forty hours, November 5, District-Attorney Daveiss rose in
court and made complaint against Burr for violating the laws of the
United States by setting on foot a military expedition against Mexico.
Besides an affidavit to this effect, the district-attorney asserted in
court that Burr’s scheme extended to a revolution of all the Western
States and Territories.
In the nervous condition of Kentucky society, this attack on Burr
roused great attention and hot criticism. The judge who presided
over the court was the same Harry Innis who had been privy to the
Spanish conspiracy, and was harassed by the charges of the “Western
World.” Daveiss could count with certainty upon the course which a
man so placed would follow. The judge took three days to reflect, and
then denied the motion; but Burr could not afford to rest silent.
November 8, when Judge Innis overruled the motion and denied the
process, Burr appeared in court and challenged inquiry. The following
Wednesday, November 12, was fixed for the investigation. A grand-jury
was summoned. Burr appeared, surrounded by friends, with Henry Clay
for counsel, and with strong popular sympathy in his favor. Daveiss
too appeared, with a list of witnesses summoned; but the chief witness
was absent in Indiana, and Daveiss asked a postponement. The jury was
discharged; and after a dignified and grave harangue from the accused,
Burr left the court in triumph.[190] On the strength of this acquittal
he ventured again to appear in Cincinnati, November 23, in confidential
relations with Senator Smith; but the term of his long impunity was
soon to end.
October 22, while Burr was at Lexington, President Jefferson held a
Cabinet council at Washington. The Spaniards were then threatening
an attack upon Louisiana, while Wilkinson’s force in the Mississippi
and Orleans Territories amounted only to ten hundred and eighty-one
men, with two gunboats. Memoranda, written at the time by Jefferson,
detailed the situation as it was understood by the Government:[191]--
“During the last session of Congress, Colonel Burr who was
here, finding no hope of being employed in any department of
the government, opened himself confidentially to some persons
on whom he thought he could rely, on a scheme of separating
the Western from the Atlantic States, and erecting the former
into an independent confederacy. He had before made a tour of
those States, which had excited suspicions, as every motion
does of such a Catilinarian character. Of his having made this
proposition here we have information from General Eaton through
Mr. Ely and Mr. Granger. He went off this spring to the Western
country. Of his movements on his way, information has come to
the Secretary of State and myself from John Nicholson and Mr.
Williams of the State of New York, respecting a Mr. Tyler;
Colonel Morgan, Nevill, and Roberts, near Pittsburg; and to
other citizens through other channels and the newspapers. We are
of opinion unanimously that confidential letters be written to
the Governors of Ohio, Indiana, Mississippi, and New Orleans; to
the district-attorney of Kentucky, of Tennessee, of Louisiana,
to have him strictly watched, and on his committing any overt
act, to have him arrested and tried for treason, misdemeanor, or
whatever other offence the act may amount to; and in like manner
to arrest and try any of his followers committing acts against
the laws. We think it proper also to order some of the gunboats
up to Fort Adams to stop by force any passage of suspicious
persons going down in force. General Wilkinson being expressly
declared by Burr to Eaton to be engaged with him in this
design as his lieutenant, or first in command, and suspicions
of infidelity in Wilkinson being now become very general, a
question is proposed what is proper to be done as to him on this
account, as well as for his disobedience of orders received by
him June 11 at St. Louis to descend with all practical despatch
to New Orleans to mark out the site of certain defensive works
there, and then repair to take command at Natchitoches, on
which business he did not leave St. Louis till September.
Consideration adjourned.
“October 24. It is agreed unanimously to call for Captain
Preble and Decatur to repair to New Orleans, by land or by
sea as they please, there to take command of the force on the
water, and that the ‘Argus’ and two gunboats from New York,
three from Norfolk, and two from Charleston shall be ordered
there, if on a consultation between Mr. Gallatin and Mr.
Smith the appropriations shall be found to enable us; that
Preble shall, on consultation with Governor Claiborne, have
great discretionary powers; that Graham shall be sent through
Kentucky on Burr’s trail, with discretionary powers to consult
confidentially with the Governors to arrest Burr if he has
made himself liable. He is to have a commission of Governor of
[Upper] Louisiana, and Dr. Browne is to be removed. Letters are
to be written by post to Governor Claiborne, the Governor of
Mississippi, and Colonel Freeman to be on their guard against
any surprise of our posts or vessels by him. The question as to
General Wilkinson postponed till Preble’s departure, for future
information.”
Although these measures provided no protection against the chance of
Wilkinson’s misconduct, they could not fail to put an instant stop to
Burr’s activity. All that remained was to carry them out. Unfortunately
Gallatin found that his hands and those of Robert Smith were tied by
Acts of Congress. The next day the Cabinet met again.
“October 25. A mail arrived yesterday from the westward, and not
one word is heard from that quarter of any movements by Colonel
Burr. This total silence of the officers of the government,
of the members of Congress, of the newspapers, proves he is
committing no overt act against law. We therefore rescind the
determination to send Preble, Decatur, the ‘Argus,’ or the
gunboats, and instead of them to send off the marines which
are here to reinforce, or take place of, the garrison at New
Orleans, with a view to Spanish operations; and instead of
writing to the Governors, etc., we send Graham on that route,
with confidential authority to inquire into Burr’s movements,
put the Governors, etc., on their guard, to provide for his
arrest if necessary, and to take on himself the government of
[Upper] Louisiana. Letters are still to be written to Claiborne,
Freeman, and the Governor of Mississippi to be on their guard.”
The result of this Cabinet discussion, extending from October 22 to
October 25, was merely an order to John Graham, Secretary of the
Orleans Territory, to stop in Ohio and Kentucky on his way westward and
inquire into Burr’s movements.
Graham, following orders received from Madison, reached Marietta
about the middle of November, when Burr should have already begun his
movement, according to the original plan. Blennerhassett, who had
been told by Burr that Graham was concerned in the plot, welcomed him
with great cordiality, and talked much more freely than wisely. The
information which crowded on Graham at Marietta led him to go at the
end of November to Chillicothe, where the Legislature was in session,
and where he caused a law to be passed, December 2, empowering the
governor to use the militia against the conspirators. Had this measure,
or one equally energetic, been taken by the President three months
earlier, it would have put an end to Burr’s projects before they were
under way, would have saved many deluded men from ruin, and would have
prevented much trouble at New Orleans; but Graham’s progress was not
quite so rapid, even though late, as it should have been.
Burr had ample warning. November 25 District-Attorney Daveiss renewed
his motion in court at Frankfort, and the court appointed December 2
as the day for hearing evidence. Henry Clay became uneasy, and exacted
from Burr a written denial of the projects imputed to him. Fortified
with this evidence to his own credulity, Clay again went into court
with Burr, “for whose honor and innocence,” he said, “he could pledge
his own,” and assailed the district-attorney. A second time the scene
of outraged virtue was acted. Once more the witnesses vanished.
Senator Smith saddled his horse and fled; Adair would not appear; and
the judge lent his weight to the criminal. To crown all, December 5
the grand-jury of twenty-two persons signed a paper declaring that
they could discover nothing improper or injurious to the interests of
the United States government in the conduct of Burr and Adair. Burr
was discharged, with enthusiastic applause, without a stain on his
character; and to prove its devotion, the society of Frankfort gave a
ball in his honor.[192]
Nov. 25, 1806, was a date to be remembered in the story of Burr’s
adventures. On that day Daveiss made his second motion in court at
Frankfort, while at Washington the Government at length woke to action.
An officer, bringing despatches from General Wilkinson at Natchitoches,
presented himself at the White House with news so startling that
Jefferson immediately called his Cabinet together. Another memorandum
in the President’s handwriting recorded the action taken:--
“November 25. Present at first the four heads of department; but
after a while General Dearborn withdrew, unwell. Despatches from
General Wilkinson to myself of October 21, by a confidential
officer (Lieutenant Smith), show that overtures have been made
to him which decide that the present object of the combination
is an expedition by sea against Vera Cruz; and by comparing
the contents of a letter from Cowles Meade to the Secretary of
State, with the information from Lieutenant Smith that a Mr.
Swartwout from New York, brother of the late marshal, had been
at General Wilkinson’s camp, we are satisfied that Swartwout
has been the agent through whom overtures have been made to
Wilkinson. We came to the following determinations,--that a
proclamation be issued (see it), and that orders go as follows:
To Pittsburg, if we have a military officer there; ... Marietta,
Mr. Gallatin is to write to the collector; ... General Dearborn
to write to Governor Tiffin, ... and to write to General
Jackson, supposed to be the general of the brigade on the
Virginia side of the river; ... Louisville, General Dearborn to
write to the Governor of Kentucky; ... Massac, General Dearborn
to give orders to Captain Bissell of the same tenor, and
particularly to stop armed vessels suspected on good grounds to
be proceeding on this enterprise, and for this purpose to have
in readiness any boats he can procure fitted for enabling him to
arrest their passage; Chickasaw Bluffs, give same orders as to
Bissell; New Orleans, General Wilkinson to direct the station of
the armed vessels; and if the arrangements with the Spaniards
will permit him to withdraw, let him dispose of his force as he
thinks best to prevent any such expedition or any attempt on New
Orleans, or any of the posts or military stores of the United
States. (He is also to arrest persons coming to his camp and
proposing a concurrence in any such enterprise, and suspected of
being in camp with a view to propagate such propositions. This
addition is made by General Dearborn with my approbation.)”
The orders to Wilkinson were instantly sent. “You will use every
exertion in your power,” Dearborn said,[193] “to frustrate and
effectually prevent any enterprise which has for its object, directly
or indirectly, any hostile act on any part of the territories of the
United States, or on any of the territories of the King of Spain.”
Persons found in or about the military camps or posts, with evident
intention of sounding officers or soldiers, were to be arrested, and
if not amenable to martial law, were to be delivered over to the civil
authorities.
The orders were remarkable chiefly for the power they trusted in the
hands of Wilkinson, and the confidence they showed in his good faith.
Yet nothing could on its face be more suspicious than his report. The
idea that Burr’s expedition could be directed against Vera Cruz was
unreasonable, and contrary to the tenor of the President’s information
from all other sources.[194] A moment’s thought should have satisfied
the President that Wilkinson was deceiving him, and that the city of
New Orleans must be the real point of danger. In truth, Wilkinson’s
letters suppressed more than they told, and were more alarming than the
warnings of Eaton or of Daveiss; for they proved that Wilkinson was
playing a double part. No measure that promised safety could be taken
which would not require an instant removal of Wilkinson and a vigorous
support of Claiborne at New Orleans.
Nov. 27, 1806, the same day with Dearborn’s letter, the proclamation
was issued.[195] Without mentioning Burr’s name, it announced that
sundry persons were conspiring against Spain, contrary to the laws; it
warned all persons whatsoever to withdraw from such conspiracy; and it
directed all officers, civil and military, of the United States to
seize and detain all persons and property concerned in the enterprise.
The last chance of stopping the conspirators before they could enter
the Mississippi was at Fort Massac. Beyond that point they could not
easily be molested until they should reach a country more friendly
than Ohio or Kentucky to their purposes; but the President had reason
to suppose that his proclamation came in ample time to stop the
conspirators while they were still on the Ohio River.
The Governor of Ohio, without waiting for the proclamation, acted
promptly. On Graham’s request, the necessary law was passed, and
measures were taken to seize Burr’s boats at Marietta. The boats and
supplies were brought by Burr’s men to Blennerhassett’s island; but
finding that militia were about to take possession of the island
itself, the conspirators, with Blennerhassett in their company,
at midnight of December 10–11, fled down the river,--a half-dozen
ill-fitted boats, with thirty or forty men,--and passed the Falls of
the Ohio at about the time when Burr and Adair entered Nashville.
Graham, leaving Ohio, reached Kentucky December 22, and induced the
Governor and Legislature, December 24, to follow the example of Ohio;
but he lost much time between Chillicothe and Frankfort, so that
even after driving Burr from Ohio to Kentucky, and from Kentucky to
Tennessee, the quickest pursuit could not prevent the conspirators
from taking their path down the Cumberland. Graham in Ohio heard
nothing of Burr’s doings in Tennessee, although since November 3
Jackson’s close friend Patton Anderson was scouring the country round
Nashville for recruits, and had raised a company of seventy-five men.
As Burr went farther South, the secrecy of his intimates became more
closely guarded, and their movements more obscure.
Burr and Adair reached Nashville December 14, and went directly to the
river, where their boats were building. By that time Burr was well
trained in the comedy he had within the last month so often played.
Senator Smith of Ohio began it October 23, by writing the request that
Burr’s design should be “candidly disclosed,” because Smith had fears
that it might interrupt the tranquillity of the country. A month later
Henry Clay made the same request. No sooner did Burr reach Clover
Bottom, where his boats were building under Andrew Jackson’s charge,
than he found himself required to repeat the familiar formula. Jackson,
in company with General Overton as his witness, soon appeared at Clover
Bottom, and intimated as plainly as had been done by John Smith and
Henry Clay that his own credit required a disavowal of designs against
the Union. Burr, with his usual dignified courtesy, instantly complied;
and his denials were accepted as satisfactory by Jackson.
On Jackson’s part this conduct was peculiarly surprising, because
more than a month before he had written to Governor Claiborne[196]
at New Orleans a secret denunciation of Burr and Wilkinson, couched
in language which showed such intimate knowledge of Burr’s plans
as could have come only from Burr himself or Adair. In accepting
Burr’s disavowals, December 14, Jackson did not mention to Burr his
denunciatory letter written to Claiborne, November 12, in which he
had said, “I fear treachery has become the order of the day.” Like
Senator Smith, he was satisfied to secure his own safety; and upon
Burr’s denial of treasonable schemes, Jackson, although he did not
write to Claiborne to withdraw the secret charges, went on building
boats, providing supplies, and enlisting men for Colonel Burr’s
expedition. His motives for this conduct remained his own secret. Many
of the best-informed persons in Tennessee and Kentucky, including
Burr’s avowed partisans, held but a low opinion of Jackson’s character
or veracity. Eight years afterward Jackson and John Adair once more
appeared on the stage of New Orleans history, and quarrelled, with
charges and counter-charges of falsehood and insinuations of treason.
“Whatever were the intentions of Colonel Burr,” wrote Adair in
a published letter,[197] “I neither organized troops at that
time, nor did I superintend the building of boats for him; nor
did I write confidential letters recommending him to my friends;
nor did I think it necessary, after his failure was universally
known, to save myself by turning informer or State witness.”
By that time the people of Nashville had heard what was doing in Ohio
and Kentucky. The public impeachment of the conspirators checked
enlistments and retarded purchases; but Burr seemed to fear no such
personal danger as had prevented his return to Blennerhassett’s island.
The Governor and Legislature of Ohio had taken public measures to seize
boats and supplies as early as December 2; Burr had been driven from
Kentucky, and Blennerhassett had fled from his island, by December 11;
but ten days later Burr was still fitting out his boats at Nashville,
undisturbed by the people of Tennessee. December 19 the President’s
proclamation reached Nashville,[198] but still nothing was done.
At last some unmentioned friend brought to Burr a secret warning that
the State authorities must soon take notice of his armaments. The
authorities at Nashville could no longer delay interference, and Burr
was made to understand that his boats would be seized, and that he was
himself in danger unless he should immediately escape; but between
December 19 and 22 he was undisturbed. The announcement that Graham was
expected to arrive December 23 probably decided his movements; for on
the 22d he hastily abandoned all except two of his boats, receiving
back from Jackson seventeen hundred and twenty-five dollars and taking
the two boats and other articles for his voyage.[199] Jackson afterward
declared that he suffered in the end a loss of five hundred dollars by
a note which Burr had induced him to indorse, and which was returned
from New York protested. Without further hindrance Burr then floated
down the Cumberland River, taking with him a nephew of Mrs. Jackson,
furnished by his uncle with a letter of introduction to Governor
Claiborne,--a confidence the more singular because Governor Claiborne
could hardly fail, under the warnings of General Jackson’s previous
secret letter, to seize and imprison Burr and every one who should be
found in his company.
Thus, by connivance, Burr escaped from Nashville three days after
news of the President’s proclamation had arrived. The Government had
two more chances to stop him before reaching Natchez. He must join
Blennerhassett and Comfort Tyler at the mouth of the Cumberland, and
then move down the Ohio River past Fort Massac, garrisoned by a company
of the First Infantry, commanded by a Captain Bissell. Having passed
Massac, he must still run the gauntlet at Chickasaw Bluff, afterward
called Memphis, where another military post was stationed. The War
Department sent orders, November 27, to the officers commanding at
Massac and Chickasaw Bluff to be on their guard.
December 22 Burr left Nashville, while Adair at about the same time
started for New Orleans on horseback through the Indian country. At
the mouth of the Cumberland, Burr joined Blennerhassett, who had with
him the boats which had succeeded in escaping the Ohio militia. The
combined flotilla contained thirteen boats, which carried some sixty
men and as many stand of arms, the arms being stowed in cases as cargo.
December 25 Burr sent a note to Captain Bissell announcing that he
should soon reach Fort Massac on his way South, and should stop to pay
his respects. Bissell had received neither the President’s proclamation
nor the orders from the Secretary of War. As an old friend of Burr, he
sent a cordial welcome to the party. In the night of December 29 the
boats passed the fort, and landed about a mile below. The next morning
Captain Bissell went in his own boat to pay his respects to Colonel
Burr, who declined invitations to breakfast and dinner, but asked a
furlough of twenty days for a Sergeant Dunbaugh, who had been persuaded
to join the expedition. Bissell gave the furlough December 31, and
Burr’s party at once started for the Mississippi. Five days afterward,
January 5, Bissell received a letter, dated January 2, from Andrew
Jackson, as Major-General of Tennessee militia, warning him to stop any
body of men who might attempt to pass, if they should appear to have
illegal enterprises in view. The President’s proclamation had not yet
reached Fort Massac, nor had Captain Bissell received any instructions
from Washington.[200]
The proclamation, dated November 27, and sent immediately to the West,
reached Pittsburg December 2,[201] and should, with ordinary haste,
have reached Fort Massac--the most important point between Pittsburg
and Natchez--before December 15. The orders which accompanied it ought
to have prevented any failure of understanding on the part of Captain
Bissell. Bissell’s reply to Jackson, dated January 5, reached Nashville
January 8, and was forwarded by Jackson to Jefferson, who sent it
to Congress with a message dated January 28. Twenty-three days were
sufficient for the unimportant reply; forty days or more had been taken
for the orders to reach Massac, although they had only to float down
the river. That some gross negligence or connivance could alone explain
this shortcoming was evident; but the subject was never thought to need
investigation by President or Congress. The responsibility for Burr’s
escape was so equally distributed between the President himself, the
War Department, and the many accomplices or dupes of Burr in Kentucky
and Tennessee, that any investigation must have led to unpleasant
results.
Burr for the moment escaped, and everything depended on the action
of Wilkinson. Dayton and the other conspirators who remained in the
Eastern States thought it a matter of small consequence whether Burr
carried with him a party of sixty men or of six hundred. Doubtless
the unexpected energy shown by the people and the legislatures of
Ohio and Kentucky proved the futility of attempting to revolutionize
those States; but if Wilkinson were true to Burr, and if the city of
New Orleans should welcome him, it remained to be seen whether the
Government at Washington could crush the rebellion. A blockade of the
Mississippi was no easy affair, and slow in its results; England,
France, and Spain might have much to say.
Meanwhile Humphrey Marshall and his friend Daveiss enjoyed the triumph
they had won. In spite of silent opposition from the Republican
leaders, Marshall drove the Kentucky Legislature into an inquiry
as to the truth of the charge that Judge Sebastian was a Spanish
pensioner. Sebastian instantly resigned. The committee took no notice
of this admission of guilt, but summoned Judge Innis to testify. Very
reluctantly Innis appeared before the committee and began his evidence,
but broke down in the attempt, and admitted the truth of what had been
alleged.[202] Before the close of the year Daveiss and Marshall drove
Burr and Adair out of the State, forced Sebastian from the bench,
humiliated Innis, and threw ridicule upon young Henry Clay and the
other aggressive partisans of Jefferson, besides placing Jefferson
himself and his Secretary of State in an attitude neither dignified
nor creditable. Of all the persons connected with the story of Burr’s
expedition, Daveiss and Marshall alone showed the capacity to conceive
a plan of action and the courage to execute the plan they conceived;
but Jefferson could not be expected to feel satisfaction with services
of such a nature. A few months later he appointed another person to
succeed Daveiss in the office of district-attorney.