After making contact with a British foreign minister named Anthony Merry, Burr floated the idea that Louisiana and other territories west of the Appalachians might be persuaded to secede from the United States. In early , he journeyed west and spent several months traveling the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers while scouting territory and recruiting supporters. During one stopover, he met with Harman Blennerhassett, a wealthy Irish immigrant who owned an island in the Ohio River.
Upon reaching New Orleans, he made contact with a society of businessmen who favored the annexation of Mexico. Wilkinson had a reputation for duplicity—it would later come to light that he was a paid agent for the Spanish—but he also had vast resources at his disposal. With his frontier troops, he could serve as official cover for any military operations in Mexico or the West.
He had attracted attention wherever he traveled on the frontier, and by the time he returned to the East Coast in late , the media was abuzz with rumors. Despite the controversy beginning to swirl around him, Burr forged ahead with his mysterious plan. Around that same time, he allegedly sent a coded letter to General Wilkinson.
Wilkinson received the letter that October, but unfortunately for Burr, the general had lost his nerve.
Convinced the scheme would fail, Wilkinson betrayed the plot and sent warning to President Thomas Jefferson that a vast conspiracy was brewing in the West. In and , Aaron Burr, former vice president of the newly formed American republic, traveled through the Trans-Appalachian West gathering support for a mysterious enterprise, for which he was arrested and tried for treason in Burr was said to have enticed some people with plans to liberate Spanish Mexico, others with promises of land in the Orleans Territory, still others with talk of building a new empire beyond the Appalachian Mountains.
Rather than trying to discover the real intentions of Burr or his accusers—Thomas Jefferson foremost among them—James E. He also traces the enduring legacy of the stories that were told and accepted during this moment of uncertainty. The Burr Conspiracy offers a panoramic and multifaceted portrait of the United States at a time when it was far from clear to its people how long it would last.
Army forces, met secretly with Burr. What they discussed is not known, though Wilkinson had a long history of interest in military interventions in the Mississippi Valley. He was short on details but long on promises of benefits to England. In the spring of , Burr embarked on a fact-finding tour of western territories. He wanted to learn the attitudes of locals and recruit people to his cause.
He would promise prosperity and independence for citizens in the western territories to potential recruits. He made it all sound legitimate and patriotic.
It was equipped with a dining room, kitchen with fireplace, and two bedrooms. He was impressed with the Marietta earthworks , a topic somewhat removed from his intelligence gathering mission. Just below Marietta, Burr stopped to see Harman Blennerhassett at his idyllic island estate. He was away at the time. Blennerhassett was a wealthy immigrant from England who settled with his wife Margaret in on Belpre later Blennerhassett Island in the Ohio River.
Burr continued on to New Orleans where he was feted by local dignitaries. He met with the Mexican Association, a group who sought emancipation of Mexico from Spain, and planted seeds that separation from eastern states was part of the Mexican campaign. Some are listed below. On his return trip from New Orleans, he again stopped in Marietta in late October, He met with local dignitaries including Return Jonathan Meigs, Jr.
After Burr left, Tupper wrote him requesting a command in the army if war with Spain occurred. Burr wrote back in January of assuring Tupper that he would be invited and asked him to recruit others.
Harman Blennerhassett from Ohio History Central viewed at ohiohistorycentral. Efforts to obtain help from England then Spain by trying to play one against the other were unsuccessful. The latter two were disgruntled military officers. He offered them commands in his expeditionary force.
Burr boasted to Eaton that he would effectively take over the U. Burr sent an encrypted message in July to Wilkinson using a code in which numerals are substituted for letters.
He also said that troops would be at Natchez in early December to meet Wilkinson. In August Burr began another trip down the Ohio River to set his plans in motion. Colonel Morgan was shocked when Burr suggested that the western states would soon be separated from eastern states.
Burr next stopped at Marietta. Again he met with local dignitaries and even led the militia a few drill exercises. This allowed him show off to locals and attract a few recruits in the process. Dudley Woodbridge, Jr. He hired Joseph Barker, a master builder who built the Blennerhassett mansion , to build the boats near his home about 7 miles up the Muskingum River.
Ten of the boats were to be 40 ft long and 10 ft wide; 5 would be 50 ft long. They were to be ready for delivery by December 9th. In April, , shortly after his term as vice president ended, Burr journeyed West on a reconnaissance mission. In town after town, he dropped hints of the expedition to come. And in town after town, he met men that he believed would support him in his enterprise.
One of these men, Harman Blennerhassett, would prove a loyal follower. Blennerhassett, an eccentric Irish gentleman, had come to the United States with a fortune in hand. On a small island in the Ohio River near Marietta, he had built himself a mansion.
There, with his wife and children, he lived a life of luxury. But thanks to Aaron Burr's scheme, Blennerhassett's paradise would soon crumble. Burr continued his Western odyssey, visiting with Wilkinson at a western fort and dropping south to New Orleans. By the time Burr returned to Washington in November, he had enlisted a number of supporters, including former U. Still, problems remained. Support from the British had not yet arrived.
In fact, it never would -- nor would assistance from Spain. Perhaps worse, rumors about Burr's plans had begun to circulate and had even been published in Eastern newspapers. Unshaken, Burr continued his quest for support. Meanwhile, the border conflict with Spain had begun to heat up. This fit perfectly into Burr's plan. Jefferson would order Wilkinson to Louisiana with U. In the name of U. Burr could then declare himself ruler of the conquered lands. At last ready to move forward, Burr sent a coded letter to Wilkinson outlining his plans.
The document would become known as the Cipher Letter, and would figure prominently at Burr's treason trial. Burr set out from Pittsburgh in August, His first stop was Blennerhassett's, where he ordered the Irishman to outfit his island as a military encampment.
As Burr hobnobbed around Ohio, Kentucky, and Tennessee, the trickle of rumors about him became a torrent.
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