educator; born in
Fairfield, Conn., Jan. 4, 1716; was of German descent; graduated at Yale College in 1735; and ordained by the presbytery of
east Jersey in 1737.
He became pastor at
Newark.
N. J., where he was chiefly instrumental in founding the College of New Jersey (now Princeton University), and was elected its president in 1748.
In 1752 he married a daughter of
Jonathan Edwards, the metaphysician.
In 1754 he accompanied
Whitefield to
Boston.
He died Sept. 24, 1757.
Vice-President of the
United States; born at
Newark.
N. .J., Feb. 6, 1756; a son of
Rev. Aaron Burr,
President of the College of New Jersey, and of a daughter of the eminent theologian,
Jonathan Edwards.
When nineteen years of age, he entered the
Continental army, at
Cambridge, as a private soldier, and as such accompanied
Arnold in his expedition to
Quebec.
From the line of that expedition, in the wilderness.
Arnold sent him with despatches to
General Montgomery, at
Montreal, where he entered the military family of that officer as his aide-de-camp, with the rank of captain.
Offended because checked by
Montgomery in his officiousness, he left his staff, and joined
Arnold's on the night of the assault on
Quebec (Dec. 30 and 31. 1775). He was with
Arnold when the latter was wounded in that assault, and was his acting brigade major for a while.
He left the
army in
Canada.
and joined the military family of
Washington, at New York, in May. 1776.
with the rank of major.
Dissatisfied with that position, he left it in the course of a few weeks and took a similar position on
General Putnam's staff.
He was active in the events connected with the defence and abandonment of the
city of New York in 1776: and in 177 he became lieutenant-colonel of
Malcolm's regiment.
Burr distinguished himself in the battle of
Monmouth in 1778, where he commanded a brigade in
Stirling's division.
During the winter of 1778-79 he was stationed in
Westchester county, N. Y. For a short time he was in command of the post at
West Point, but, on account of ill-health, he left the army in March, 1779.
Burr was a born intriguer, and was naturally drawn towards
Lee and
Gates, and became a partisan in their schemes for injuring the reputation of
Washington.
He had been detected by the
commander-in-chief
[
488]
in immoralities, and ever afterwards he affected to despise the military character of
Washington.
He began to practise law at
Albany in 1782, but removed to New York the next year.
Entering the arena of politics, he was chosen a member of the New York legislature in 1784, and again in 1798.
In 1789 he was appointed adjutant-general of the
State, and commissioner of revolutionary claims in 1791.
A member of the United States Senate from 1791 till 1797,
Burr was a conspicuous Democratic leader in that body; and in the Presidential election in 1800 he and
Thomas Jefferson had an equal number of votes in the electoral college.
The House of Representatives decided the choice in favor of
Jefferson on the thirty-sixth ballot, and
Burr became
Vice-President.
In July, 1804, he killed
Alexander Hamilton in a duel; and the next year he undertook his mad and mysterious enterprise in the
West, which resulted in his trial for treason.
In March, 1805,
Burr's term of office as
Vice-President ended, and he descended to private life an utterly ruined man. But his ambition and his love of intrigue were as strong as ever, and he conceived schemes for personal aggrandizement and pecuniary gain.
It was the general belief, at that time, in the
United States, that the
Spanish inhabitants of
Louisiana would not quietly submit to our government.
Taking advantage of this belief, and the restlessness of many of the inhabitants of the
valley of the Mississippi, he conceived some daring schemes (none fully developed) of military operations in that region, which he attempted to carry out immediately after he left office.
With several nominal objects in view.
Burr started for the
Mississippi Valley in company with
General Wilkinson, who went to take possession of his office of governor of the
Louisiana Territory, to which he had been appointed.
At
Pittsburg Burr started in a vessel called an “ark,” in which were fitted up conveniences for a long voyage.
Wilkinson was not ready, and the impatient
Burr proceeded without him. He stopped at
Blennerhassett's Island, nearly opposite
Marietta, then inhabited by a wealthy and accomplished Irish gentleman of that name, who had created there a paradise for himself (see
Blennerhassett, Harman). He had a pleasant mansion, enriched by books, adorned with paintings, enlivened by music, and presided over by a lovely and accomplished wife.
Burr laid before
Blennerhassett a brilliant vision of wealth and power, in a scheme of conquest or revolution, which captivated him and fired the ambition that lay in the bosom of his wife.
They engaged in
Burr's scheme, whatever it may have been, with ardor.
After remaining there some time,
Burr pressed forward, and at
Louisville overtook
Matthew Lyon (q. v.), with whom he had voyaged in company in the earlier part of the journey.
He accompanied
Lyon to his home on the
Cumberland River, whence he journeyed to
Nashville on horseback; had a public reception (May 28, 1805), in which
Andrew Jackson participated; and, furnished with a boat by that gentleman, returned to
Lyon's. Then he resumed his voyage in his own “ark,” and met
Wilkinson at Fort Massac, nearly opposite the mouth of the
Cumberland.
Some soldiers were about to depart thence for New Orleans, and
Wilkinson procured a barge from one of the officers for
Burr's accommodation in a voyage to that city.
There he found the inhabitants in a state of great excitement.
The introduction of English forms of law proceedings, and the slight participation of the people in public affairs, had produced much discontent, especially among the Creoles and old settlers.
Even the new American immigrants were divided by bitter political and private feuds.
Burr remained only a short time, when he reascended the
Mississippi to
Natchez, whence he travelled through the wilderness, along an Indian trail or bridle-path, 450 miles, to
Nashville, where he was entertained for a week by
Jackson early in August.
After spending a few weeks there,
Burr made his way through the
Indian Territory to
St. Louis, where he again met
Wilkinson, that being the seat of government of the
Louisiana Territory.
Then, for the first time, he threw out hints to
Wilkinson of his splendid scheme of conquest in the
Southwest, which he spoke of as being favored by the United States government.
At the same time he complained of the government as imbecile, and the people of the
West as ready for revolt.
He made no explanation
[
489]
to
Wilkinson of the nature of his scheme, and that officer, suspicious of
Burr's designs, wrote to his friend
Robert Smith,
Secretary of the Navy, advising the government to keep a watch upon his movements.
Burr went from
St. Louis to
Vincennes with a letter from
Wilkinson to
Governor Harrison, in which he urged the latter to use his influence to get
Burr elected to Congress from that district.
Thence
Burr went eastward, stopping at
Cincinnati,
Chillicothe, and
Marietta, everywhere conversing with leading men, to whom he gave only attractive hints of a brilliant scheme in hand.
He spent that winter and the following
spring and
summer in
Philadelphia and
Washington, engaged in his mysterious projects.
There he more clearly developed his scheme, which seemed to have a twofold character — the conquest of
Mexico from the Spaniards and the establishment of an independent monarchy, and the revolutionizing the
Mississippi Valley, separating that region from the rest of the
Union, and forming an independent republic, with its seat of government at New Orleans.
If the first-mentioned scheme should be carried out,
Burr aspired to be
king; if the latter, he was to be
president of his new republic.
Towards the end of summer (August, 1806)
Burr departed on a second Western tour.
For a year a vague suspicion prevailed throughout the country that
Burr was engaged in a scheme for revolutionizing
Mexico — an idea agreeable to the
Western people because of the existing difficulties with
Spain.
It was believed, too (for so
Burr had continually hinted), that such a scheme was secretly favored by the government.
Under this impression
Burr's project received the countenance of several leading men in the
Western country.
One of the first things which
Burr did after his arrival in
Kentucky was to purchase an interest in a claim to a large tract of land on the
Washita River, under a Spanish grant to the
Baron de Bastrop.
The negotiation was carried on through
Edward Livingston at New Orleans.
The avowal of an intention to settle on these lands might cover up a far different design.
Blennerhassett now joined
Burr actively in his enterprise.
Together they built, with the money of the former, fifteen boats on the
Muskingum River; and negotiations were set on foot with an Ohio senator to furnish supplies for an army in the
West and the purchase of two gunboats he was building for the government.
A mercantile house at
Marietta, in which
Blennerhassett had been a partner, was authorized to purchase provisions, and a kiln was erected on
Blennerhassett Island for drying corn to fit it for shipment.
Young men enlisted in considerable numbers for an expedition down the
Mississippi, about which only mysterious hints were given.
Meanwhile
Wilkinson had arrived at
Natchitoches to repel, with 500 or 600 troops, a Spanish invasion of the
Territory of Orleans from
Texas.
There a young man appeared in camp with a letter of introduction from
Jonathan Dayton, of
New Jersey, to
Colonel Cushing, the
senior officer next to
Wilkinson.
He also slipped, unobserved, a letter into
Wilkinson's hand, from
Burr, which was a formal letter of introduction.
It contained a letter from
Burr, principally written in cipher.
Circumstances seem to show that
Wilkinson was at this time privy to, if not actually engaged in,
Burr's scheme.
The cipher letter informed
Wilkinson that he (
Burr) had arranged for troops under different pretexts at different points, who would rendezvous on the
Ohio by Nov. 1; that the protection of
England had been secured; that
Truxton had gone to
Jamaica to arrange with the
English admiral; that an English fleet would meet on the
Mississippi; that the navy of the
United States was ready to join: that final orders had been given to his friends and followers; that
Wilkinson should be second to
Burr only; that the people of the country to which they were going were ready to receive them: and that their agents with
Burr had stated that, if protected in their religion, and not subjected to a foreign government, all would be settled in three weeks. The plan was to move detachments of volunteers rapidly from
Louisville in November, meet
Wilkinson at
Natchez in December, and then to determine whether to seize
Baton Rouge (then in possession of the Spaniards as a part of
west Florida) or pass on. Enclosed in the same packet was a letter, also in cipher, from
Jonathan Dayton,
[
490]
telling
Wilkinson he would surely be displaced at the next meeting of Congress, and added, “You are not a man to despair, or even to despond, especially when such prospects offer in another quarter.
Are you ready?
Are your numerous associates ready?
Wealth and glory!
Louisiana and
Mexico!--
Dayton.”
The correspondence, in cipher and otherwise, between
Wilkinson and
Burr for several months previously leads to the conclusion that the former was, at that time, engaged in
Burr's scheme, and that the latter relied upon him. Intimations in the letters of a design to seize newly acquired
Louisiana startled
Wilkinson, and he resolved to make the best terms he could with the
Spanish commander on the
Sabine and hasten back to New Orleans to defend it against any scheme of conquest there which
Burr might contemplate or attempt.
This design he communicated to
Cushing, and obtained from the bearer of the letters such information as excited his alarm to a high pitch.
The young man (named
Swartwout) stated that he and another (named
Ogden) had been sent by
Burr from
Philadelphia; that they had carried despatches from
Burr to
General Adair, of
Kentucky, who was a party to the scheme; that they hastened towards
St. Louis in search of
Wilkinson, but learned at
Kaskaskia that he had descended the river; that they followed to the mouth of the
Red River, when
Ogden went on to New Orleans with despatches to
Burr's friends there, and he (
Swartwout) had hastened to
Wilkinson's headquarters.
He said
Burr was supported by a numerous and powerful association, extending from New York to New Orleans; that several thousand men were prepared for an expedition against the
Mexican provinces; that the
Territory of Orleans would be revolutionized — for which the inhabitants were quite ready; that he supposed some “seizing” would be necessary at New Orleans, and a forced “transfer” of the bank; that an expedition was to land at
Vera Cruz and march thence to the
Mexican capital; that naval protection would be furnished by
Great Britain; and that
Truxton and other officers of the navy, disgusted with the conduct of the government, would join in the enterprise.
After gathering all the information possible,
Wilkinson sent, by express, two letters to
President Jefferson--one official, the other confidential, in which, without mentioning any names, he gave a general outline of the proposed expedition; and then pushed forward to the
Sabine.
He sent orders to the
commanding officer at New Orleans to put that place in the best possible condition for defence, and to secure, if possible, by contract, a train of artillery there belonging to the
French.
Having made a satisfactory arrangement with the
Spanish commander,
Wilkinson hastened back to
Natchitoches, where he received a letter from
St. Louis informing him that a plan to revolutionize the
Western country was about to explode; and that
Ohio, Indiana,
Kentucky,
Tennessee, and
Orleans Territory had combined to declare themselves independent on Nov. 15.
Wilkinson, alarmed, ordered
Cushing to hasten down with the troops, while he sped to
Natchez; whence he sent a second special messenger to the
President with duplicates of his former letters, and another declaring that a. conspiracy really existed; and authorized the messenger to mention the names of
Burr,
Dayton,
Truxton, and others as apparently engaged in the enterprise.
He informed
Governor Claiborne, of the
Orleans Territory, that his government was menaced by a secret plot, and took other measures for its defence.
At
New Orleans Wilkinson procured a meeting of the merchants, to whom he and
Governor Claiborne made an exposition of
Burr's suspected projects.
Bollman, an agent of
Burr there, with
Swartwout and
Ogden, were arrested, and the militia of the
Territory were placed at
Wilkinson's disposal.
Great excitement now prevailed on the
lower Mississippi and on the
Ohio and its tributaries.
A series of articles, inspired, no doubt, if not written, by
Burr, had appeared in an Ohio newspaper, signed “Querist,” arguing strongly in favor of the separation of the
Western States from the
Union.
Similar articles had appeared in a Democratic paper at
Pittsburg.
In
Kentucky were many uneasy aspirants for political power, and an old story of Spanish influence there — through pensioners upon the bounty of
Spain — was revived.
Burr's enterprise became associated in the
[
491]
public mind with the old Spanish plot; and
Burr and his confederates, offended by what they deemed
Wilkinson's treachery to their cause, associated him with the
Spanish intriguers.
These hints, reaching the
lower Mississippi, embarrassed
Wilkinson; for it was intimated that he was also connected with the schemes of
Burr.
General Jackson--who had favored
Burr's schemes so long as they looked only towards a seizure of Spanish provinces — alarmed by evidences that he had wicked designs against the
Union, wrote to
Governor Claiborne (with the impression that
Wilkinson was associated with
Burr), warning him to beware of the designs of that officer and the
ex-Vice-President. “I hate the Dons,”
Jackson wrote (Nov. 12, 1806) ; “I would delight to see
Mexico reduced; but I would die in the last ditch before I would see the
Union disunited.”
Daviess, United States district attorney for
Kentucky, watched
Burr, and finally applied to the court for process for his arrest.
Burr was summoned before a grand jury (Nov. 25), but, the attorney failing to get such witnesses as he desired.
the jury not only failed to find a bill, but declared their belief that
Burr intended nothing against the integrity of the
Union.
This triumph for
Burr was celebrated by a ball at
Frankfort.
Meanwhile the
President of the
United States had commissioned
Graham, secretary of the
Orleans Territory, to investigate the reports about
Burr, and, if well founded, to take steps to cut short his career.
On Nov. 27 the
President issued a proclamation that he had been informed of an unlawful scheme set on foot for invading the
Spanish dominions; warning citizens of the
United States not to engage in it; and directing all in authority to endeavor to suppress it. Before this
Graham had drawn from
Blennerhassett facts of great importance (for the latter took the secretary to be one of
Burr's confidants), and applied to the governor of
Ohio for the seizure of the boats on the
Muskingum.
The legislature, then in session, granted the request.
A few days afterwards several boats, in charge of
Colonel Tyler, filled with men, descended the
Ohio to
Blennerhassett's Island.
Blennerhassett, informed of the seizure of his boats on the
Muskingum, and that a body of militia was coming to seize those at the island, hastily embarked (Dec. 13) with a few of his followers, and descended the river in
Tyler's flotilla.
The next day a mob of militia took possession of the island, desolated it, and even insulted
Mrs. Blennerhassett, who succeeded in obtaining an open boat and following her husband down the river.
The legislature of Kentucky speedily passed a similar act for seizures to that of
Ohio.
Tyler, however, had already passed
Louisville.
They were joined by
Burr, and the flotilla passed out into the
Mississippi and stopped at
Chickasaw Bluffs (now
Memphis), where
Burr attempted to seduce the garrison into his service.
Burr now first heard of the action of the legislature of the
Orleans Territory, before which
Wilkinson had laid his exposure of the schemes.
Perceiving what he might expect at New Orleans, and fearful that the authorities of
Mississippi might arrest him at once,
Burr passed to the west side of the river, out of their jurisdiction, where he formed a camp.
30 miles above
Natchez.
Under the proclamation of the
President, a militia force was raised to arrest
Burr.
He made an unconditional surrender to the civil authority, and agreed that his boats should be searched and all arms taken.
Before this was accomplished his cases of arms were cast into the river; and as no evidence of any hostile intention was found.
a belief prevailed that he was innocent of any of the designs alleged against him.
Burr was brought before the Supreme Court of the
Territory, and was not only not indicted by the grand jury, but they presented charges against the governor for calling out the militia to arrest him.
Burr spoke bitterly of
Wilkinson as a traitor.
and, fearing to fall into his hands, he resolved to disband his men and fly. He told them to sell what provisions they had, and, if they chose, to settle on his
Washita lands.
They dispersed through the
Mississippi Territory, and furnished an abundant supply of school-masters.
singing-masters, dancing-masters, and doctors.
A reward was offered for the capture of
Burr, and he was arrested (Feb. 19. 1807) by the Register of the Land-office, assisted by
Lieut. (afterwards
[
492]
Maj.-Gen.)
Edmund P. Gaines, near Fort Stoddart, on the
Tombigbee River, in eastern
Mississippi.
An indictment for high treason was found Against
Burr by a grand jury for the District of Virginia.
He was charged with levying war, by the collection of armed men at
Blennerhassett's Island, within the dominion of
Virginia.
He was also charged with concocting a scheme for the overthrow of the national authority in the
Western States and
Territories.
On these charges he was tried and acquitted.
After his acquittal
Burr went to
England and sought to engage that or some other
European government in his project for revolutionizing
Mexico.
Pressed by his creditors, he lived a miserable life, in poverty, in
London and
Paris.
Becoming subject to suspicion in
London as a French spy, he was driven from the country, and took refuge in
Paris.
Finally, after long solicitations, he obtained leave to return, and appeared in New York in 1812, where he resumed the practice of law; but he lived in comparative poverty and obscurity until 1834, when, at the age of seventy-eight, he married
Madame Jumel, a wealthy woman in New York, with whom he lived only a short time, when they were separated.
Burr's first wife was the
widow of
Gen. Augustine Prevost, by whom he had a daughter, Theodosia.
She became an accomplished woman, and the wife of
Governor Allston, of
South Carolina. She left
Charleston (1812) in a vessel to visit her father in New York, and was never heard of afterwards.
Burr was small in stature, of great ability, and fascinating in manners.
He died on
Staten Island, Sept. 14, 1836.
