A history of Mississippi : from the discovery of the great river, Part 18

Author: Lowry, Robert, 1830-1910; McCardle, William H
Publication date: 1891
Publisher: Jackson, Miss. : R.H. Henry & Co.
Number of Pages: 674


USA > Mississippi > A history of Mississippi : from the discovery of the great river > Part 18


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"A detachment of two hundred and fifteen dragoons and mounted infantry, under the command of Major Ferdinand


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L. Claiborne, crossed the Mississippi at this city on Sun- day last, on their march to Natchitoches, Louisiana, to assist General Wilkinson in repulsing the Spanish troops from within our limits. The officers commanding the sev- eral companies are Captains Benjamin Farrar, George Poindexter, Alexander Bisland, Basil Abrams, William T. Voss and Ralph Regan.


A company of dragoons from Jefferson county under the command of Captain Thomas Hinds, will march in a few days to join the battalion at Natchitoches, likewise a com- pany of mounted infantry from Wilkinson county."


The following is given in the Herald as the field and staff of the battalion : Ferdinard L. Claiborne, Major; Thomas H. Williams, Captain, Adjutant and Quarter Master; Frederic Seip, Surgeon; Heritage Howerton, Quarter Master's Sergeant; Joshua Knowlton, Sergeant Major.


This expedition gained no laurels, for the reason that they saw no enemy, and there was no fighting and no occa- sion for the display of martial courage.


These returned soldiers were soon to witness a great ex- citement, and to be participants in a mighty "tempest in a tea pot."


Cowles Mead had been appointed Secretary of the Mis- sissippi Territory soon after Robert Williams was made Governor. He was a Virginian by birth, had removed to Georgia at an early age, studied law, was admitted to the bar, and when he was barely eligible, was a candidate for Congress. He was given a certificate of election, but on a contest was unseated by a vote of sixty-two to fifty-two. Cowles Mead was a handsome and educated gentleman, a fluent conversationalist, and a most exuberant speaker before the public and on all occasions. Whenever he found it necessary to make a speech, no matter what the subject was, his imagination and fancy were sure to wan- der through a maze of brilliant and fanciful tropes and metaphors. It goes without saying, that he was more brilliant than profound, and if he did not convince his audi- tors by the compactness of his arguments, or the power of his logic, he assuredly bewildered them with the most as.


-


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tonishing lingual pyrotechnic displays ever witnessed in the Territory of Mississippi before or since his advent into it.


The air was thick with rumors in reference to a myste- rious expedition under the control of Col. Aaron Burr, a former Vice-President of the United States. He was assumed to be at the head of a large party with hostile designs against the Union, or against Mexico, with which country the government of the United States was then at peace. President Jefferson had already issued a proclama- tion, bearing date November 17, 1806, calling public notice to an unlawful expedition "reported to be in preparation."


Governor Williams had left the Territory in April on a visit to North Carolina, leaving Secretary Mead in charge as Governor ad interim. This was the opportunity of his life, and he proceeded to make the most of it. Proclama- tions, orders and dispatches, fell from the acting Governor as thick and fast as "leaves in Valambrosa." His first proclamation bore date December 23, 1806, and was well calculated to "fright the isle from its propriety." "Gen- eral orders" for the assembling of the military of the Ter- ritory were issued December 25th (Christmas day). Under these orders the military of Adams county were to assem- ble at Washington on the 20th day of January, 1807. The troops of Jefferson county on January 10, at Greenville ; those of Claiborne, at Port Gibson (then known as "Gib- son's Port"), on January 12th, and "the Fifth Regiment at Piercy's plantation," on January 17th. These orders were issued from general headquarters at the seat of the Terri- torial Government, and each bore the talismanic words, "by order of the Commander in-Chief."


Acting Governor Mead, on the evening of the 13th of January, 1807, wrote and sent the following startling dis- patch to Col. F. L. Claiborne, in command at Natchez, six miles distant :


EXECUTIVE OFFICE, 8 P.M.


"COL .: Business of the first importance requires your presence at headquarters. Repair here at midnight ! Let not suspicion even conjecture where you are bound. The fate of the country may depend on my movements."


The next day, January 14th, the Governor again ad- dressed Col. Claiborne at Natchez :


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"More rumors tell us that Burr is reinforcing at Bayou Pierre. My solicitude will induce me to repair there forth- with. You will, therefore, send to Greenville, by carts or pack-horses, one thousand pounds of powder, and as much lead as you can spare. To-morrow, at day-break, I shall leave here with Farrar's dragoons. I have issued or- ders to the militia of Jefferson and Claiborne counties to rendezvous at their respective places of parade, at which I shall be present, on my way to Bayou Pierre. The militia of this (Adams) county you will order to rendez- vous at some point selected by yourself, to await further orders."


The same day, at 3 P.M., the Governor again wrote to Col. Claiborne at Natchez :


"In reply to your request to march at once, I think it imprudent until I am better informed of the views and strength of Burr. I have dispatched an express to Col. Fitzpatrick, (commanding Jefferson county regiment), yes- terday evening, which should reach that officer last night. Major Bowman left headquarters this morning for Bayou Pierre, with all the orders and powers he may deem proper to employ. I wish you to collect and organize the first regiment and attend strictly to their discipline. Should Burr establish himself at Bayou Pierre in force, we shall require the Wilkinson county militia. You will post- pone your march until I am informed from above; but, at the same time, continue to call out and equip every man of your regiment who can shoulder a fire-lock. I shall de- tain Captain Abrams an hour or two. Am anxious to hear from above before I move."


The cause of all this eruption of proclamations, orders and dispatches, on the part of Governor Mead, was the arrival at a point opposite-on the Louisiana shore-to the mouth of Bayou Pierre, of Col. Aaron Burr, early in the month of January, 1807, with nine flat-boats. Col. Burr crossed the river to the residence of Judge Bruin, whom he had known as an officer of the Continental army, and learned that the Territorial authorities would oppose his descent. He at once wrote to Governor Mead, as Clai- borne tells us, "disavowing any hostile intentions towards


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the Territory or the country ; that he was en route to the Ouachita to colonize his lands, and that any attempt to obstruct him would be illegal, and might provoke civil war. On the 15th, after having issued multitudinous or- ders and dispatches, Governor Mead and staff arrived at Greenville, (then the county seat of Jefferson county), and thence repaired to the mouth of Cole's Creek, where Col. Fitzpatrick and Col. Fleharty were stationed, it having been determined to guard the river and intercept Burr's flotilla at that point. Here Governor Mead addressed the troops, and dispatched his aids, Hon. George Poindexter and Hon. Wm. B. Shields, to interview Col. Burr. They were accompanied by Col. Fitzpatrick. On the 16th they reached the bank opposite the boats, and in response to their signal, a skiff was sent over for them. They were re- ceived by Col. Burr, to whom Major Shields presented a letter from Governor Mead. Col. Burr, in a sneering tone, ridiculed the suspicion of his entertaining views hostile to the country ; declared that he should have proceeded di- rectly to Natchez to call on the Governor, but for the in- mation received at Bayou Pierre, and the fear of assassi- nation."


"Col. Burr pointed to his boats and asked if there was anything military in their appearance. He was then dis- tinctly notified that the Mississippi troops had been assem- bled to oppose his further progress. He replied that he was willing to submit to the civil authorities and proposed an interview with Governor Mead the next day, at some convenient point ; that the commissioners should guaran- tee his personal safety and return him to his boats, if the Governor should not accept his terms ; that his boats and men should hold the position they then occupied until the proposed conference was over, and that in the meantime, they should not be molested, nor should any breach of the peace, on either side, be committed. This proposition was accepted, and the house of Thomas Calvit, near the mouth of Cole's Creek, where Col. Claiborne, in command of the military, was stationed, was designated for the interview. The commissioners then took their leave, much impressed


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by the nonchalance, grace, suavity and talent of this ex- traordinary man.


"In pursuance of this agreement, next morning Col. Burr, attended by Col. Fitzpatrick, descended to the mouth of Cole's Creek, whence he was escorted by Captain David- son's Jefferson dragoons to Mr. Calvit's. Governor Mead had arrived the previous evening, where he had received the following note from Col. Claiborne, commanding at the mouth of Cole's Creek :


"Our last advices from the mouth of Bayou Pierre induce us to believe that Col. Burr's object is delay. The officers of the corps now here, unanimously join me in declaring our ability to carry out all orders, and in praying you to accept no terms but unconditional surrender."


On the arrival of Col. Burr, Governor Mead immediately proposed :


1st. That the agreement entered into should be annulled.


2d. That Burr should surrender unconditionally to the civil authority, and be conducted forthwith to the town of Washington, the seat of Government of the Territory.


3d. That his boats should be searched, and all arms and munitions of war found therein, be seized and submitted to the disposition of the government."


To these terms Governor Mead required an unequivocal answer in fifteen minutes, with the understanding that if Burr declined, he should be forthwith returned to his boats, and the military would then be ordered to capture him and his party. The terms were accepted. Col. Burr, however, protested against being suffered, in any way, to fall into the hands of General Wilkinson. He received satisfactory assurances on this point, and immediately set out for the town of Washington, escorted by Majors Shields and Poindexter.


Col. Burr presented himself before Judge Rodney, and gave his recognizance in the sum of $5,000, with Col. Beni- jah Osman and Lyman Harding, Esq., as sureties for his appearance at a called session of the Superior Court, to be held on the 2d day of February, and from day to day until discharged by the court.


On the first day of the term Col. Burr was present with


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his attorneys, Major Wm. B. Shields and Lyman Harding, Esq., ready to answer to any indictment that might be pre- sented against him. "Agreeably to a venire facias issued by the Hon. Thomas Rodney and the Hon. Peter B. Bruin, a jury of seventy-two freeholders appeared in court, and on the day following twenty-three of their number were selected by the court as a grand inquest. The Hon. Thomas Rodney then delivered to them a comprehensive and impres- sive charge, and the court was then adjourned until ten o'clock the succeeding day, at which time the Hon. George Poindexter, the Attorney-General for the Territory, moved the court for the discharge of the grand jury. Mr. Poindex- ter made this motion on the ground that in the depositions submitted to him by the court, he found no testimony which brought the offences charged against Col. Burr within the jurisdiction of the courts of the Mississippi Territory. He further stated that in order to secure the public safety, the Territorial judges ought immediately to convey the accused to a tribunal competent to try and punish him, if guilty of the charges alleged against him. He hoped. therefore, that inasmuch as the attorney prosecuting for the United States had no bills for the consideration of the grand jury, that they would be discharged. Judge Bruin declared against the discharge of the grand jury, unless Col. Burr was also discharged from his recognizance. The Attorney-General then withdrew, and the grand jury were directed to retire to their room, and in the course of the day returned sundry presentments. Among those there were none against Col. Burr, but there was one inveighing against Governor Mead and the military authorities. On Wednesday evening the grand jury was discharged, and Col. Burr demanded a release from his recognizance, which the court refused. He did not appear in court Thursday morning, as was expected, and in a day or two it was ascertained that the bird had flown."


Governor Williams, who returned about this time from North Carolina, resumed the discharge of his official duties, and on the 6th day of February, 1807, issued his proclama- tion offering a reward of two thousand dollars for the apprehension of Aaron Burr, and his delivery to the Gov-


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ernor of the Mississippi Territory, at the Capital thereof, or to the President of the United States.


Col. Burr was arrested near Fort Stoddard, in what is now the State of Alabama, and was sent under a guard to the National Capital, at Washington, D. C. He was sub- sequently tried at Richmond, Virginia, and the world knows the result of that trial.


There was then, and still is, great diversity of opinion as to the ultimate purposes of Col. Burr. That he proposed a dismemberment of the Union is now generally regarded as erroneous. He probably intended to wrest the great province of Texas from the Spanish government, thus doing what was accomplished by the Austins, the Whar- tons, Houstons and their companions, some thirty years later. He probably had ulterior objects in view. He may have dreamed of making himself the emperor of Mexico, and ruling over an immense territory, in the halls where the ancient Aztecs reigned and revelled. Able, ambitious, eloquent and fascinating, with a courage which had been many times tested, it is not surprising that he should have had such dreams. Having reached almost the highest honor in his own country, with the great ability and the courage that he unquestionably possessed, there were no bounds to what he might succeed in attaining.


The story of Aaron Burr,-the grandson of Jonathan Edwards, the first president of Princeton College,-him- self a distinguished soldier in the great struggle for inde- pendence ; then the Vice-President of the United States, under Thomas Jefferson; his duel with Alexander Hamil- ton, in which he was fated to kill his ambitious and intel- lectual rival ; his subsequent arrest and trial for treason ; his wanderings in Europe in poverty and want, constantly under the surveillance of the officials of the American government, forms one of the saddest and most pathetic episodes in the history of America. Col. Burr was no saint, nor was his great rival Alexander Hamilton ; neither was his persistent and powerful enemy, Thomas Jefferson, the immortal author of the declaration of independence. Each of these great men were not exempt from the weak- ness inherent in all men of woman born.


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In every position in which Aaron Burr was placed, whether as a soldier in the American army, a leading fac- tor in the political affairs of the country, as Vice-President of the United States, and almost reaching the first place in the government ; or as an exile and fugitive, poor and friendless in Europe, pursued by the satellites of a power hostile to him, he never ceased to bear himself with a dignity that became one of his lineage, his courage and his intellect.


Claiborne, in his volume, weaves a romantic story of Col. Burr, when under recognizance to appear before the Supreme Court of the Territory. It appears that he made his home at the residence of Col. Benijah Osmun, one of his bondsmen, and very near the residence of Major Isaac Guion, each of whom had served in the army with, and knew him well. Claiborne tells the story thus :


"Col. Osmun lived at the place now owned by Dr. Stan- ton, and Major Guion resided at the foot of the Half-way Hill, and there was a rural path between the two places trellised with vines and shaded by evergreens. This was Burr's daily resort. But its refreshing shade and charm- ing prospect were not the only attractions. There lived at the time, near the summit of the hill in a little vine- covered cottage, a widow lady from Virginia whose small farm and two or three slaves were the only remains of a large fortune. Her husband had converted his property into money, and on his way to this Territory had been robbed and murdered. The family were Catholics. She had but one child, Madeline. who must still be remembered by a few of our older citizens as a miracle of beauty. In form and feature, in grace and modesty, she was all that the old masters have pictured the divine Madonna, or that artists ever dreamed of maiden loveliness. Those who saw her loved her, yet she was never conscious of the sentiment until she listened to Aaron Burr.


"After canvassing his situation with Col. Osmun and six other confidential friends. Col. Burr determined to for- feit his bond. One stormy night in February, 1807, he set forth mounted on the favorite horse of his host. Urgent as was the necessity for expedition, Col. Burr halt-


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ed until daylight at the widow's cottage, imploring the beautiful Madeline to be the companion of his flight. He promised marriage, fortune, high position, and even hinted at imperial honors, not realizing, even then, a a fugitive and branded traitor, the crushing downfall that impended over him. The maiden had given him her heart ; she had listened to his witchery night after night, and loved him with all the fervor of a Southern nature. She would have followed him to the end of the earth, and to the scaffold, and her aged mother would freely have given her to this most captivating man, for they looked on him as a demi-god, but as with most of our Southern women, the principles of religion, virtue and propriety were stronger than prepossession and passion, and the entreaties of the accomplished libertine were firmly rejected. Baf- fled and disappointed he was compelled to proceed, but promised to return, and carried with him the covenant and pledge of the beautiful Madeline. She was wooed by many a lover. The young and gallant masters of the large plantations on Second Creek and St. Catherine's strove in vain for her hand. Fortunes and the homage of devoted hearts were laid at her feet; but the maid of the Half-way Hill remained true to her absent lover ; the more so because of the rumors that reached her of his misfor- tunes and his guilt. She lived on the recollections of his manły beauty, and the shades he had most affected were her constant haunts. At length, when he fled from the United States, pursued by Mr. Jefferson and the remorse- less agents that swarm around power and authority, when he had been driven from England, and was an outcast in Paris, shivering with cold and starving for bread, he seems to have felt for the first time, the utter hopelessness of his fortunes. And then he wrote to Madeline, and, in a few formal words, released her from her promise. Stating that he would never return to the United States, he advised her to enter a convent, should she survive her mother. A year or two after this, she went to Havana with Mrs. W., a highly respectable lady who then owned the property where the Christian Brothers now reside, near Natchez. Her extreme beauty, her grace and elegance, produced the


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greatest enthusiasm. The hotel where they put up was beseiged. If she appeared on the balcony a dozen cava- liers were waiting to salute her. When her volante was seen on the Pasco or the Plaza de Armas, it was escorted by the grandees of the Island. She was feted by the Gover- nor General ; serenades and balls followed in rapid succes- sion, and the daily homage to her beauty never ceased until the evening bells sounded the Angelus.


"Without surrendering her heart, or being carried away by this universal admiration, she returned to the cottage on the Half-way Hill. She was followed there by Mr. K., an English gentleman, the head of the largest commercial house in Havana, and to him, on his second visit, she gave her hand.


"The vine-covered cottage, its trellises and borders have crumbled into dust. The courtly lover and the innocent maiden are long since dead. But the old hill still lifts its aged brow wrinkled all over with traditions. A favorite lookout of the Natchez Indians in time of war. The scene of a daring conspiracy against the Spanish authority, the rendezvous of lovers, the hiding place for brigands, and a depot for their blood-stained treasure, mute, but faithful witness of the past."


Those who have read the eloquent speech of William Wirt, in the trial of Aaron Burr at Richmond, Virginia, and who have admired the fanciful and beautiful descrip- tion of Mrs. Blannerhassett, in her romantic home on an island in the Ohio river, will doubtless remember that he pictured Herman Blannerhassett as the deluded dupe and victim of the wiles of Col. Burr. He tells us how that arch conspirator entered the beautiful home of the Blan- nerhassetts, and led the head of that home to his ruin. Mr. Wirt was a most eloquent orator, and his imagination was never at fault in the supply of facts suited to the occasion. Some fifty years ago, the question of "who was Blanner- hassett ?" was much mooted in the public journals of the day, and in response to this general inquiry, a writer, who appears to be posted with authentic facts, sent to the Louisville. Kentucky, Register, and had published the fol- lowing account of the man and the woman whom Wil-


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liam Wirt described in such glowing language, making them as famous as himself. Those who have read his elo- quent delineation of Blannerhassett and his "lovely wife" may read with interest an account of them from the pen of a colder and more impartial witness. The writer says :


"Having lately seen in the New York and Philadelphia papers several fictitious notices of this celebrated person- age, is the apology which the writer of this article offers for giving what he believes to be the true history of this man's career, and final exit from the troubles of this world, which will be much easier to do than to write a highly colored picture of things which never existed, ex- cept in the fancy cf some novel writer. The authority for the facts herein disclosed by the writer, is believed to be authentic, and of the highest character.


"In the first place, who was Blannerhassett ? Inanswer to this question, our information is that it was a name assumed by an individual whose true name was Lewis Carr, who was born in Ireland, as has always been stated. His family was highly respectable, and an older brother filled the station of Secretary to the Governor of Calcutta, in the East Indies, to which place young Lewis went as an ensign, in the engineer department, where he remained about two years, in which time he was engaged in several scrapes and intrigues, which finally compelled him to re- sign his commission and seek a place of refuge in the city of Kingston, in the Island of Jamaica, where, he read law and commenced the practice, and also engaged in mer- chandizing, by which means, and a secret connection with the buccaneers and pirates who hovered around the West India Islands, and on the coast of Mexico, he amassed a splendid fortune, which he spent with equal profusion. While employed in this business, he frequently visited Mexico, and became acquainted with many of the leading men who were preparing the way for a revolution, which Carr foresaw must break out in a short time, and being a bold, unprincipled intriguer, he was perpetually engaged in difficulties of one kind or another. An intrigue with the wife of one of the wealthiest citizens of Kingston hav- ing made the place too hot for him, he sold out his prop-


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erty and came to the United States, landed at New Orleans, and from thence went to Louisville, Kentucky, where, or in that section, he purchased some property, and finally located himself or the celebrated island in the Ohio river, near Marietta. This move took place about the year 1803 or 1804. When he reached New Orleans, he assumed the name of Blannerhassett. The beautiful and accomplished woman who accompanied and lived with him, was not his lawful wife; she had been the mistress of a high-born personage, and had many fascinating accomplishments, which made her more worthy of Blannerhassett than he was of her. Col. Burr first saw Blannerhassett early in the year 1805, and instead of Burr's seducing him, there can be no doubt Col. Burr received from him such an account of Mexico, its wealth and disposition for revolution as se- duced him into the project of invading it; and the question as to who should be the great man, was one reserved by Lewis Carr, (Blannerhassett,) until future events should de- velop themselves. Carr always declared to his friends that he intended Col. Burr as the military commander who was to advance him to the supreme command in Mexico. The movements of Col. Burr and Blannerhassett in the United States during the years 1805 and 1806 are already known, and, of course, need not be detailed in this statement.




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