The Aaron Burr conspiracy : a history largely from original and hitherto unused sources

Contents

Chapter Page

^ I. A Brief Survey of the Period . . C i

11. Burros Tour of the We^t i6

Preface

FOR a century the conspiracy of Aaron Burr has been a puzzling theme. Apart from the distinguished figures that move across its stage, the nature of the enterprise from its very extravagance must always engage the attention of those who care to know something of the United States in its Heroic Age.

The conspiracy was of much wider and deeper origin than has been usually supposed, and the conditions which gave rise to it, as well as the events with which it was vitally connected, have received scant treatment from historians. Social and political upheavals are not growths of a night, but are the results of the workings of real and definite causes which are traceable in every case and susceptible of some degree of analysis. Burr's project is no exception to this general law. And happily we are now far enough removed from his time to see more clearly the perspective of events, and to measure with more certainty the motives and conduct of men.

In the discussion of the subject writers have in nearly every case failed to distinguish between the conspiracy and Aaron Burr — in other words, they have attempted vu

VUl

PREFACE to explain it through the character of Burr himself, a procedure which is fundamentally erroneous. Burr s character was apparently never more seriously involved, and never reflected more disastrously upon the conspiracy, than in the correspondence of Merry and Yrujo - — the ministers respectively of Great Britain and Spain — to whom he ostensibly disclosed his designs. If the revelations of the ministers could be accepted at their face value, treason was in Burr's mind, and the separa- 1 tion of the West from the Union was his plot, open^ and avowed. However, viewing the correspondence as a whole, in conjunction with other facts which cannot here be discussed, it appears certain that Burr's intrigue with Merry and Yrujo was but a consummate piece of imposture. In order to secure funds for the carrying out of his expedition against Mexico, Burr resorted to the expedient of playing on the hatred of the European powers for the American Republic. Could they be brought to contribute moneys to aid in the sundering of the States? Burr thought so, and to secure the sum he conceived to be necessary for his purposes he never scrupled at discoursing of treasons, although at the moment every step he was taking looked toward an invasion of the Spanish territories. No weight can be placed upon Merry's and Yrujo's letters as concerns the nature of the conspiracy, except indeed in a negative sense ; and I say this with all deference to Mr. Henry Adams and those who have laid so much stress on these manuscripts, maintaining that they|

PREFACE ix lay bare the heart of the conspiracy. The heart of the conspiracy, however, was far removed from any communication of Burr's. The conspiracy was an affection of society — Burr was but a member of that society, an agent. It follows that if the nature of the conspiracy is to be disclosed, it can only be through an examination into the state of that society whose social, political, and traditional affiliations gave rise to it. This is basic. That the ideas of Burr, whatever they may havi ; been, necessarily betray the secret of the movement, cannot be successfully maintained. But that the prevailing impression of Burr's character lent weight to the imputation of treason cannot be doubted; nor more can it be doubted that the isolation of the West, together with the ignorance of the East concerning the pioneers who built their log cabins in the wilderness beyond the Alleghany Mountains, tended to distort extraordinarily the affair in the. public mind. What were the ideas, then, prevailing in the Western country? Was there a contingent that plotted disunion ? Was there a party that clamored loudly for war against whatever power insulted the Republic? Of the first there is no trace worth considering; of the latter there is evidence in abundance. The spirit of the Westerners is proclaimed in no uncertain voice, and if its tone could have been mistaken in 1806, there was no doubting its meaning in 18 12, when, in spite of the opposition of New England, the Second War with Great Britain was forcedt And yet this was done by the very men upon whom

PREFACE

Burr had counted, and the greatest leaders in that struggle had been his associates. If we look more closely we shall see, what has been but too timidly suggested, that it was the West and^^th that took up the^ burden of the Republic when it had well nigh wearied''

of the load.

As for the conspiracy, patriotism was but one of its elements. For him who reads the secret of the Anglo- Saxon character, there is epitomized in the movement the whole course of the race that threw down the bulwarks of Rome, that terrorized Europe in a Viking's fleet, that conquered the Western World, and that looks confidently forward to the time when the struggle for universal supremacy shall test its powers. Expansion — conquest — was the keynote of the conspiracy ; — it is the keynote of the history of the race.

This narrative of the conspiracy of Aaron Burr has been in large part written from original and hitherto unused sources of information. It must not be thought, however, that the work of scholars in this field has been ignored ; on the contrary, I have made much use of it, but never intentionally without due credit either in text or notes. I have not found it expedient, however, to point out even the most glaring anachronisms in many of the secondary narratives which treat of the conspiracy ; much less have I attempted to indicate divergences of opinion — and there are divergences as wide as misdemeanor is from treason.

In the endeavor to make this study exhaustive much

PREFACE xi time has been expended in searching for new data*- Brief mention must therefore be made of the various sources which have been consulted, and of the materials exploited.

In 1896 documents relating to the .conspiracy werediscovered in the "R^^i* >^rrbiv^ff nt Sau AntnniQj thej Spanish capital of the Province of Texas. From early in the eighteenth century, niuch of the correspondence of the provincial Governors with the Captains- General and Viceroys of Mexico found lodgment in the musty files of the archives of the province. It is needless to say that they contain many manuscripts which are concerned with the westward' growth of the United States and with the uninterrupted conflict which was waged with the retreating civilization of Spain. The views of the officers of Carlos IV. in that quarter as to the nature of the conspiracy are illuminating. They rightly classed it as a manifestation of the restless, encroaching activity of the nation which fate had placed on their borders.

The archives of the State of Texas contain materials dating from the Spanish regime and are of value on more than one doubtful point. ^

The Viceroyalty of Mexico on account of the prominent position it held among the Spanish colonies became the great center for the accumulation of official correspondence; and the treasure of manuscripts now contained in the ^Archivo General de Mexico, Mexico City, IS of inestimable value to the history of the New xii PREFACE

World, and in an almost equal measure to that of Europe. Although we have ignored as far as possible the presence of the Spanish civilization in the affairs of America, and have remained blind to the tremendous formative and directive influence which it has exerted on the course of our national growth, it is from this collection that our own history is to be enriched and brought nearer to truth. The Departments of Marine, War, and the Provinces, together with the correspondence which passed between the Viceroys of New Spain and the home Government deserve special mention. In the latter collection are letters from Viceroy Jose de Iturrigaray to Don Pedro Cevallos, then Minister of State, which go a long way toward explaining the conduct of General James Wilkinson at the crisis on the Sabine in November, 1806. The cloudy transactions which resulted in the lamentable Neutral Ground Treaty and in the over-vaunted defeat of Burr are somewhat cleared of the mist which has enshrouded them.

The Mississippi Valley also proved a fruitful field for research. New Orleans was the focus for the various lines of forces which mingled in the conspiracy : y it was the home of the Creoles who are supposed to have been at the heart of the plot ; it was the place, if we follow generally accepted conclusions, Especially designed by the adventurers for plunder ; and it had the unenviable distinction to be subjected for two months to the tyranny of General Wilkinson. In its City Hall

PREFACE xiii are files of the Moniteur de la Louisiane and of the Orleans Gazette, both of which newspapers were pubhshed contemporaneously with the conspiracy. The former was the organ of the Creole population, the latter represented the Americans proper, while both contain, apart from valuable documentary evidence, a trustworthy reflection of the public mind of the time. It is needless to say that much new light is shed on that dark chapter in the history of the conspiracy which is concerned with the attitude of the native Louisianians toward Burr, and with Wilkinson's reign of terror in the capital of Orleans. The official mapuscript Journal of W. C. C. Claiborne, the first Governor of the Territory, preserved in the old Tulane Law Library, is of exceeding interest, containing a^s it does much of his correspondence with the National Government, Wilkinson, and others.

Colonel R. T. Durrett of Louisville has in his splendid library a file of the PalladiunL . an independent newspap er_jHiblished_at_jran kfort Kentucky, and. edited by William Hunter. In it are voiced the early controversies that rent Kentucky society, which has always been regarded as rife wij:h disaffection. Most of the sensational article's concerning Burr, Wilkinson, and the Spanish Association, which appeared in the Western World, an incendiary ^newspaper established at Frankfort in July, 1806, \vere reprinted in the Palladium, Likewise a full account is given of the two arraignments of Burr in Kentucky. Another im-

XIV PREFACE portant source is the Lexington Gazette — a file of which A is preserved in the Lexington PubHc Library — one of the most influential journals of the early West. Its columns, like those of the Palladium, were devoted to combating the inflammatory reports which appeared weekly in the Western World, and to asserting the patriotism of the frontiersmen.

•^ The letters cited from the Andrew Jackson MSS. are of moment, for the relations which subsisted between Jackson and Burr have been so distorted and amplified that any approximation to the truth is to be welcomed. I am obliged to Messrs. Woodbury and Gist Blair for transcripts of the original documents.

The Henry Clay MSS. and the Breckenridge Letters were opened to my inspection, and it is a pleasure to express my gratitude to Thomas Clay, Esq., and to Colonel W. C. P. Breckenridge for their respective services in this connection.

The Jefferson and Madison MSS. have been examined with profit. Moreover, the Department of State at Washington, contains a notable volume entitled "Letters in Relation to Burr's Conspiracy," the contents of which, so far as I can ascertain, have never been made public. The letters are from various sources, and many of them are extremely significant, serving to make clearer the whole view of the conspiracy, especially the latter phase of it centering in the trial at Richmond.

That Burr was himself a mapmaker is known, but /

PREFACE XV that maps exhibiting the geography of his Western enterprise were in existence had hardly been suspected. There are, however, three such maps in the possession of Mrs. Thomas C. Wordin. They were inherited from her grandfather, Dr. John Cummins, who lived on the Bayou Pierre in Mississippi Territory where Burr's expedition collapsed. Dr. Cummins indorsed for Burr to a considerable extent, which proved his attachment ; — and no doubt when the conspirator was under trial in the Territory these tell-tale documents were turned over to one who could be trusted to secrete them. The maps are of preeminent significance, illustrating, as they undoubtedly do, the outlines of Burr's project. To distinguish. Map No. i (measuring thirty-nine inches by thirty-two) shows the lower region of the Mississippi River with Natchez, New Orleans, and the Washita lands, also New Mexico and Mexico down to iYucatan. Map No. 2 is an admiralty chart ( twenty-three inches by nineteen) and gives with astonishing minuteness a survey of the Gulf coast from New Orleans to Campeche. Islands, bars, and inlets are recorded, and soundings are given. The chart is beautifully executed on paper bearing the watermark of 1801. Map No. 3, which is here reproduced, measures in the original forty-five inches by nineteen. It exhibits in some of its details with startling correctness that section of Mexico lying between Vera Cruz on the east and Mexico City on the west. The minutise into which these maps descend display a knowledge which could have been

XVI

PREFACE obtained only from Spanish sources ; and this opinion is reenforced by the fact that the longitude in one case is reckoned from Cadiz. On the whole, these documents, the authenticity of which is indubitable, form a strong link in the chain of evidence.

The correspondence of Anthony Merry, mentioned* above, with whom Burr, while yet Vice-President, I opened his intrigue, has been carefully examined. I had hoped also to find in the British Archives traces of Merry's correspondence with Burr in 1808, but my endeavors and the efforts of Mr. Hubert Hall of the Public Record Office were without result. Transcripts of Yrujo's correspondence with his home Government concerning Burr's disclosures to him have been de-- posited by Mr. Adams in the State Department Archives at Washington, and students ought to appreciate such a display of good will and scholarly spirit. '

The reports of Merry and Yrujo reveal an astonishing audacity of design on the part of the conspirators. While they failed in their main purpose of obtaining needed moneys from King George and Don Carlos, they succeeded in hoodwinking both Merry and Yrujo. Here, as indicated above, there arises between Mr. Adams and myself a diversity of opinion which only serves to illustrate what different conclusions may be drawn from the same materials, taken in conjunction with additional facts. In this connection it is a pleasure to say that, while I have often had cause to disagree with Mr. Adams, he has been of inestimable service to

PREFACE xvii me not only because of his masterly method and the inspiration derived from following his work, but because he has said practically the last word on the conspiracy in its classic form, which teaches that it was double-natured — treasonable and filibustering.

Among those to whom I am under obligations and to whom I wish in this place to express my gratitude are : Senor Mariscal, Vice-President of the Republic of Mexico, and General Clayton, Ambassador to Mexico, through whose cooperation I was granted the freest access to the Mexican Archives; Mr. William Beer, librarian of the Howard Memorial Library of New Orleans; Colonel Reuben T. Durrett, who opened to me his rare collection of Western Americana; Dr. David J. Hill, Assistant Secretary of State; the Honorable Joseph H. Choate, Ambassador to the Court of St. James, whose note to the British Foreign Office^ so much facilitated my researches ; Mr. Villiers of the Foreign Office, and Mr. Hubert Hall of the Public Record Office, whose uniform courtesy cannot be forgotten ; and Mr. and Mrs. Thomas C. Wordin through whose kindness the Burr maps are for the first time called to the notice of the public.

I have specially to acknowledge the services of Professor George P. Garrison, who first encouraged me in the prosecution of the work, and who kindly read the MS. Mr. John P. Weisenhagen, Dr. and Mrs. William B. Seeley, Professor Francis W. Shepardson, and Professor Frederick J. Turner have in more than xvili PREFACE one way left me indebted to them. My hearty thanks are due to Professor J. Franklin Jameson for his critical reading of the MS. and for his suggestions. To Dr. Louis H. Gray and Mr. C. C. Whinery I am grateful for corrections made in the proof. I wish also to thank my publishers for their readiness to comply with suggestions and for their constant courtesy.

Lastly, if the book has any merit, it is largely due to Idealie Marie McCaleb, whose interest in it sprang up under peculiar circumstances, whose labors on it

were many-natured, and whose faith in it has never wavered.

Walter Flavius McCaleb.

Washington Square, March 25, 1903.

ST

Chapter I

THE Conspiracy of Aaron Burr was preeminently a revolutionary product, receiving its inspiration from that unprecedented period of

upheaval which began with the Revolution of 1776, its impelling force from the character of the American pioneer, its license from the disturbed condition of affairs existing in the New World. It is therefore necessary, in order correctly to view the movement, to devote a few words to a general survey of contemporaneous history, with especial regard to the West and the Spanish- American colonies.

America was in the Eighteenth Century, as now, inseparably bound u^^with^urope, the thought and feeling of the one' instantly finding' response in the other; so the flame of war for larger liberty, kindled first on the shores of America, was destined to lose itself in the vastness of the general conflagration. The doctrines set forth in the Declaration of Independence struck at the root of existing European institutions — among which were privileged orders — and denied the divine right of kings. The phrase that all men are created equal lent overwhelming impetus to the oncoming French Revolution, and made possible the freedom of the wretched colonies of Spain in the Western World. The news of the rising in Europe thrilled the Thirteen Colonies which had been recently at war for their rights. The tricolor and the cockade became almost national emblems, while the mass of the people, whom the Constitution had sought in a measure to exclude from power, came to feel their weight in the affairsof the nation. In the Spanish- American provinces, because of the strenuous measures resorted to by the authorities, the force of the Revolution was much abated ; but in spite of the Holy Inquisition the seditious doctrines of the French enthusiasts were disseminated among the natives.^ Presently there were some who, brooding over the condition of their country, l^gan to direct stirring pamphlets against the iniquities of the Spanish Government, and to plot for its disruption.^ Summary and bloody were the proceedings of the authorities against the conspirators, but nothing could stay the spread of the maxims of liberty a^d equality set in motion by the great Revolution, although at the moment its crimes appalled the world.

If we examine into the internal conditions of the colonial establishments of Spain we shall see that everything was ripe for disunion and rebellion. A

^Alaman's Historia de Mexico, {., 127.

JRestrepo's Historia de la Revolucion de Nueva Granada writer in Bell's Messenger, an influential journal of the day, 5aid that the Spanish Colonies supported the parent as Anchises of old was supported by his children; but that they had become tired of the weighf and cared not how soon the burden was shuffled off. The condition of affairs in many parts was/ indeed deplorable, for the system of government which Spain bound upon her colonies was antiquated and ill adjusted to the progress and necessities of the time. Everywhere absolutism, in Church and State, pressed the superstitious natives from one stage of degradation to a lower. Almost three centuri^ of Spanish rule in the Americas passed before the gross injustices in the prevailing order of things appealed to men with a force not to be repressed. Once more the masses were arrayed against privileged classes, and the fury of the Mexicans with their pikes at Guanajuato was not unlike that of the "sans-culottes" which overturned the Bastille and inspired the Terror.

The United States, through social and commercial relations, knew of the insurrections in the Spanish Americas and watched the political situation with keen and lively interest. This was but natural, for sentimentalism and revolutionary intoxication completely possessed the American mind. It was a radical regime that bore Thomas Jefferson in triumph. Aristocracy was spurned ; the oligarchy of our early national period was rudely cast off, while in its place was installed virile, confident democracy. The sympathy of the young Republic for the French people in their struggle agaiiist the tyranny of Europe was unquestioned; ind^ed, tyranny in any quarter excited them to reprobate tqp existence of kings.

It was in the Wgsttthat this madness reached its height. The course of poHtical events had told mightily in molding the character of the Westerners. Their nearest neighbors were the Spaniards in Louisiana, and these, through repressive laws and encroachments, had lost no opportunity to make life in the Mississippi Valley unendurable. The States lying to the east of the Alleghanies, the original Union, contributed much in a negative way to estrange the Western settlements^ by neglecting and ignoring their interests. When Spain confiscated property on the Mississippi the Westerners blazed with indignation; and yet Congress seriously considered a treaty which would have closed the Mississippi to their commerce for twenty-five years. Thus outraged, the pioneers expressed their feelings through outspoken petitions to the Assembly of Virginia and to ^ Congress. Their rights, they declared, were considered but subsidies to be traded for commercial concessions to the East; they had no market for their corn and pork ; their goods were appropriated ; the Indians were sent against them: they would end the tyranny by expelling the enemy from Louisiana !

There followed from 1787 a decade full of confusion and intrigues. The most conspicuous movement was known as the Spanish Association, or Conspiracy, whose vital principle comprehended the incorporation of the West with the possessions of Spain. This, however, played an insignificant part in the course of events, for the people instinctively recoiled at the thought of becoming subject to a nation and a civiHza-' .tion they loathed. In reaUty it has never been shown that the movement embraced more than a few poHticians and pensioners of Spain, of whom James Wilkinson was the chief, not only in point of service, but in talents. /The Spanish movement can not have had, from the nature of things, roots that went deep in society — ^the Westerners were bound to the States by unseverable ties of blood and tradition.

When France rose against England and Spain, she had the sympathies of the Americans, who were even ready to take up arms in her behalf. Indeed, so tremendous was the force brought to bear on the Government that President Washington hardly withstood it ; even the devotion of the people to him seemed ^for a time irretrievably lost. At such" a moment (1793) Genet, the French Minister, landed in America. Taking advantage of the tide of feeling he equipped privateers, harassed the Government and launched a project for the invasion of the Spanish Possessions from our Western States. Louisiana and the Floridas were to be taken and, perhaps, Mexico.^ During the summer Geii?t pushed his Louisiana expedition, which was forming in the West under the leadership of George Rogers Clark. Upon receiving notice to the effect that two hundred and fifty men were actually collected in that quarter, Thomas Jefferson, then Secretary of State, appealed to Governor Shelby of Kentucky for information. The Governor admitted the

*See Frederick J. Turner, in American Historical Review, July, 1898.

presence of French revolutionists, and. that Clark had. received a commission to equip an army which had for its object the clearing of the Mississippi of the Spaniards; but he said that he was powerless to interfere, inasmuch as every citizen had a right to leave the State, if he pleased, and to take with him arms and ammunition.

This survey of events is necessary to us if we are rightly to interpret the Aaron Burr Conspiracy. It is only by studying the character of the people, the conditions under which they lived, and the nature of their environment that we can comprehend their feelings and their actions. But why should the West have been eager to wage a war against a neighboring power? Ostensibly it was a movement concerted with Francel against the enemies of humanity and liberty. There was still alive in the wilds of the New World something of the sentimentalism which had animated the best period of the great Revolution ; and some of it, indeed, was destined to remain in the American breast to find its fruition in a struggle for the freedom of Cuba, which had felt for four centuries the leaden weight of mediaevalism. But sympathy for the oppressed is too often associated with — indeed, too often conceals — an instinct which rises anew with every generation of Anglo-Saxons. In the mind of the Westerners, closelinked with their hatred of Spain for her insolence on the one hand and her oppression on the other, came the longing for her fabulous riches, which they meant sooner or later to take for themselves.

When the patience of the trans-AUeghany settlers had been well-nigh outworn, Jay's Treaty, coupled with the victories of "Mad Anthony" Wayne over the Indians, brought relief to the Northwest, while the treaty which Pinckney negotiated at Madrid (1795) pacified the South and West. Spain at last recognized the claim of the United States to the free navigation of the Mississippi and granted under certain conditions the right of depositing goods in New Orleans. This dropping of the bars to commercial expansion proved a great stimulus to emigration; and by the end of the century the Westerners, numbering 400,000 souls, were scattered along the Great Lakes, were gazing across the Mississippi, and were crowding the boundary lines of the Floridas. Indeed, no longer were boundaries sufficient to stay their progress — ^many pushed into Missouri and Louisiana ; but for the present the goal toward which all eyes were turned was the possession of New Orleans and the Mississippi.

''At the beginning of the nineteenth century," says Roosevelt,^ ''the settlers on the Western waters recognized in Spain their natural enemy, because she was the power which held the South and the west bank of the Mississippi. They would have transferred their hostility to any other power which fell heir to her possessions, for these possessions they were bound one day to make their own." ^

Such an opinion was shared in Europe. The French Ambassador, writing to his home Government from Madrid, said:^ —

^Roosevelt's Winning of the West, iv., 254. ^American State Papers, x., 185.

"The Cabinet of Madrid thinks it has the greatest interests not to open the Mississippi to the Americans, and to disgust them from making establishments on that river, as they would not delay to possess themselves of the commerce of New Orleans and Mexico, whatever impediments should be opposed to their progress, and that they would become neighbors the more dangerous to Spain — as, even in their present weakness, they conceive vast projects for the conquest of the western shore of the Mississippi."

/ With the opening of the Nineteenth Century the grievances against Spain took a new form. Although the Mississippi had been thrown open to the commerce of the Americans they were forbidden to enter the Spanish domaip on pain of arrest and imprisonment, or even deathJ The traders among the Indians were apprehended, their goods confiscated, and border troubles — for example the Kemper brothers episode in West Florida — assumed in several cases serious complications. But the mine was laid on October i6, 1802, when Juan Ventura Morales, the Spanish Intendant of Louisiana, proclaimed that the right of depositing goods in New Orleans had been forfeited by the Americans. The whole country was aroused ; war for the vindication of rights was everywhere proclaimed ; and it is not surprising that strong measures were contemplated against the arrogant foreigners. The Americans looked upon the right of deposit as one which could not be withdrawn ; but the protests of the Governor of Louisiana and the Secretary of War at Washington were ineffectual. In the end the action was disavowed by Spain, but nothing could stay the storm which had been raised. Henry Clay of Kentucky did not exaggerate wken he declared that: "The whole country was incommotion and, at the nod of the Government, would have fallen on Baton Rouge and New Orleans, and punished the treachery of the perfidious Government." ^ In many quarters it was openly advocated that the West should appeal to arms. ''Coriolanus" said in the Morning Chronicle j December 27, 1802 : "Kentucky ' has the advantage of invasion; and she no doubt will use it, if unsupported by the Union; she moves alone to the combat; she is situated on the waters rapidly descending to the point of attack ; she will overwhelm Orleans and West Florida with promptitude and ease."^

Amidst this general clamor came the startling report of the transfer of Louisiana to Napoleon. The South joined the West in declaring that France should not be allowed to establish herself in her old possession. Nor was Jefferson so deaf as to mistake the ring of earnestness in the voice of his constituency — his stronghold was in the South and West. He wrote in his message to Congress, October 17, 1803: "Previously, however, to this period we have not been unaware of the danger to which our peace would be perpetually exposed, whilst so important a key to the command of the western country remained under foreign power." At the crisis, he said that if France persisted in her course to reoccupy Louisiana the United States would, of necessity, be forced to marry the army and navy of England. He wished not for war ; yet he saw that it