The United States census of 1800 showed a population of 5,308,483 persons, of whom one fifth were slaves. The bulk of it was in the states along the eastern seaboard; west of the Allegheny Mountains were fewer than 500,000 settlers, chiefly in Ohio, Kentucky, and Tennessee. The mountains served as a rugged barrier cutting off the westerners almost completely from the East and giving them a sense of political as well as physical detachment.

The only means of communication overland were three crude highways largely limited to travel by horseback or by the great Conestoga wagons drawn by six horses which carried such commerce as there was between the two areas. One road led from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh, another followed the line of the Potomac River through Maryland to the Monongahela, and a third ran through Virginia and crossed the mountains into Kentucky and Tennessee.

Once the tributaries of the Mississippi River were reached river craft provided a more luxurious mode of travel and also transported freight. The staple products of the western country were floated downstream on flatboats to New Orleans to be sold there and shipped by sea. Sometimes their owners went along to market their goods in the thriving young cities of the East and returned home across country on horseback.

That was why Spanish control of the mouth of the Mississippi at New Orleans, involving refusal of the right to deposit goods there, had been so irritating to the people of the West. The westerners with considerable justification considered the easterners indifferent to their problem and felt they were getting precious little in return for the taxes they paid to the central government. During the period of the Confederation when the prospect of a solid, united nation was anything but sure, a separatist movement sprang up in Kentucky and Tennessee. Its object was an independent nation west of the Alleghenies under the protection of Spain, whose colonial officers encouraged the idea. Though the so-called “Spanish Plot” had the support of influential men, it was not accepted by the rank and file. The purchase of the Louisiana Territory in 1803, with the control of New Orleans, and the granting of statehood to Kentucky and Tennessee, served further to weaken the separatist urge.

Magnificent as the Purchase eventually proved to be, it had serious flaws. The original mission of Livingston and Monroe to France called for the acquisition of the Floridas. Yet the final settlement did not include East Florida and left the claim to West Florida in doubt. Equally vague, and therefore a cause for controversy, was the Texas boundary. These questions, of great moment to the South and West, were little understood or bothered about by the rest of the country. They did, however, give grave concern to President Jefferson. Acquisition of the Floridas became an obsession with him and, until the issue was settled, war with Spain was always an imminent possibility. The Spanish did not help ease the tension when they massed troops on the frontier. Meanwhile in Europe the Napoleonic wars were resumed and Spain, as an ally of France, returned to her irritating practice of seizing American merchant ships that were alleged to be carrying cargoes to Britain.

Thus it came about that in his message to the Ninth Congress in December, 1805, President Jefferson’s charges against Spain were so violent and his warning of retaliation so strong that many interpreted it as being virtually the introduction to a declaration of war. It was so played up by the Republican press throughout the country. This widespread belief in the imminence of armed conflict was to have an important bearing on the activities of Aaron Burr in the West. The general public did not know that the threats in the message were primarily for Spanish consumption and that in a secret communication Jefferson was proposing simultaneously an amicable settlement of the Floridas dispute through purchase.

In the spring of 1805, immediately after terminating his duties in Washington, Burr set out on horseback along the highway for Pittsburgh, even then a flourishing center of trade. There he purchased a commodious houseboat and began a journey down the Ohio River. The boat contained a dining room, kitchen with fireplace, and two bedrooms; the roof, running the length of the craft, served as a porch and a place for exercise. Burr’s ultimate destination was New Orleans but he made a leisurely progress, stopping frequently at settlements along the river. In that remote country any visitor from the East was welcome and none more so than the distinguished and charming ex-Vice-President. In the West no stigma was attached to dueling, but rather admiration was bestowed on a man who had practiced it. And, since most westerners were Jeffersonian Republicans, the fact that Burr’s victim had been a Federalist leader was more reason for applause than for condemnation.

One of Burr’s stops was at an island a few miles below Marietta, Ohio. It was owned by an Irish gentleman named Harman Blennerhassett who had erected a handsome mansion on it. The master was away but Burr was graciously entertained by Mrs. Blennerhassett. The island and its owners were to figure prominently later in the alleged conspiracy.

At Cincinnati Burr was entertained by Senator John Smith of Ohio, a versatile fellow who, in addition to representing his state in the Senate, acted in such diverse capacities as Baptist preacher, storekeeper, speculator, and army commissary. There too Burr ran into his old friend Jonathan Dayton, former U.S. Senator from New Jersey, a kindred spirit whom he had known since college days at Princeton. Dayton, like Burr, was now out of a job; and, like Burr, on the lookout for an improvement in his fortunes. Burr left the river and proceeded by land to Frankfort, Kentucky, and from Frankfort to Nashville, Tennessee, where he was received with public honor and invited by General Andrew Jackson to be his guest at the Hermitage. Of his relations with Jackson more will appear later.

From Nashville Burr journeyed to Fort Massac, an army post on the Ohio River not many miles above its confluence with the Mississippi, where he had another significant meeting with an old friend of Revolutionary War days, Maj. Gen. James Wilkinson. They had served together on the expedition to Quebec. Wilkinson now held the important offices of Commander-in-Chief of the United States Army and of Governor of Louisiana Territory. In the previous winter Burr and Wilkinson had met in Washington and it was reported they spent much time studying maps of the Spanish territories that adjoined those of the United States in the South and Southwest. They had become sufficiently intimate to devise a cipher to be used in their personal correspondence and so protect it from prying eyes.

Wilkinson supplied Burr with a new houseboat equipped with sails and assigned to it a detachment of soldiers which enabled Burr to make an impressive entry into New Orleans in keeping with his station as a statesman temporarily out of a job. Wilkinson provided him as well with several letters of introduction. Wilkinson was to play a major role in the alleged conspiracy.

On his arrival in New Orleans Colonel Burr was cordially welcomed by Governor W.C.C. Claiborne as well as by the governor’s numerous and vociferous enemies. He saw much of the leaders of the Mexican Association, an organization sympathetic with Mexico’s aspirations for liberation from Spain. He was well received also by the Roman Catholic Bishop of New Orleans who favored this cause since at the time the Spanish rulers were threatening to confiscate church property in Mexico.

After three weeks in New Orleans Burr retraced his steps northward as far as St. Louis. Again he gave an impressive demonstration of his physical fitness by traveling on horseback from New Orleans to Nashville through the roughest sort of country. By the end of the year he was back in Washington dining with President Jefferson at the White House.

Late in the summer of 1806 he again set out for the western country. Summer gave way to autumn and as the days grew shorter alarming rumors about his doings spread through the East. Some of them reached the White House. What was Burr up to?

Foremost among the informants was Joseph Hamilton Daveiss, U.S. District Attorney for Kentucky, who owed his appointment to President John Adams. As early as January he was writing letters to the President warning him of a plot and implicating Burr. But the President was not happy about this source of information. Daveiss was aided and abetted by former U.S. Senator Humphrey Marshall of Kentucky. Both were Federalists; both were brothers-in-law of the Chief Justice for whom Mr. Jefferson had no fondness. Humphrey Marshall, a first cousin of John Marshall, and Daveiss had married John’s sisters. Furthermore all the people they mentioned as being involved in the conspiracy were Republicans. Naturally the President wondered why his political enemies should be taking so much trouble to keep him informed, and suspected their motives.

Receiving no encouragement from the President, Daveiss and Marshall pursued their campaign alone. In July there appeared in Frankfort a publication under the name of the Western World with which Daveiss and Marshall were closely identified. In its September issue it openly charged that there was a conspiracy afoot to combine Kentucky, Tennessee, Ohio, Indiana, Louisiana, and the Floridas into an independent government. The newspaper added that while the majority of the conspirators wanted to call a convention and obtain the consent of Congress, a considerable number favored effecting their purpose by force of arms. The statement turned out to be pure speculation; nevertheless it was picked up and widely republished in the East. Burr by this time was in Lexington, Kentucky. Daveiss now took another step. In his capacity as district attorney he appeared in the Federal Court at Frankfort and accused Burr of having violated the laws of the Union by setting on foot an unauthorized expedition against Mexico, a country with which the United States was at peace. A similar charge was preferred against Senator John Adair of Kentucky. Adair, a veteran of the Revolution, had accompanied Wayne and Wilkinson on a campaign against the Indians in the Northwest in 1791. He enjoyed Wilkinson’s confidence, met Burr through him, and seems to have taken the attitude that Burr was an advance agent of the Federal Government to arouse the West for a war with Spain and conquest of the Southwest.

Learning of the charge, Burr presented himself at Frankfort and demanded an examination. A grand jury was empaneled but Daveiss could not round up his witnesses and asked for its discharge. Thanks to his failure Daveiss was held up to public ridicule. Two weeks later the same performance was repeated. Another grand jury was empaneled, Daveiss again failed to assemble his witnesses, and again Burr was discharged. So too was Adair. To add to his accuser’s mortification Burr’s second victory was celebrated by a public ball.

The silence in Washington in the face of what was going on led to two possible conclusions. One was that the administration was too weak to put up a fight even against its own destruction. The other was that if Burr actually was leading an expedition against Mexico he was doing so with the co-operation and blessing of the Jefferson administration.

Burr’s dinner at the White House of the winter before lent credence to that conjecture. The public could not know that Burr had requested the meeting and had gone to the White House to beg some important office in the administration, and to warn Jefferson that if he did not get it he was in a position to do him much harm. Mr. Jefferson had enough informants on Burr’s trail to comprehend what the threat implied. But he was not to be bullied or frightened. He replied calmly that he had always realized Burr had talent and hoped he would put it to the public good. However, Burr must be aware that the public had lost confidence in him. Mr. Jefferson did not know why Burr should wish to do him harm but he feared no injury.

This was not the first time Burr had enjoyed the hospitality of the White House at his own solicitation. Two years before, when he was about to retire from the Vice-Presidency, he had dined with Mr. Jefferson, had proposed an alliance between them, and on that occasion too had asked for an office. The President had declined the request. He thought the meeting sufficiently important to note it in his diary, remarking that Burr’s conduct had always inspired him with distrust. Evidently Jefferson was not to allow this distrust to forbid Burr the White House. No doubt he hoped to derive information from such contacts and was so confident Burr could do him no harm that he was indifferent to the use which Burr might put the show of intimacy. Unfortunately, at this critical moment the policy left the country uncertain as to how far the administration was implicated in Burr’s operations.

At last the Government at Washington acted. Following discussions by the Cabinet on October 22 and 25, John Graham, secretary of the Orleans territory, who was in the East and about to return to his post, was ordered to stop in Ohio and Kentucky on his way westward and inquire into Burr’s movements. He arrived in Marietta during the middle of November where he was warmly welcomed by Harman Blennerhassett who talked freely with him. It seems that in his effort to impress Blennerhassett, Burr had told him that Graham was concerned in the plot.

Graham proceeded to Chillicothe where the Ohio Legislature was sitting and persuaded that body to authorize the governor to use the militia to seize Burr’s boats that were building at Marietta. He then went to Kentucky and induced its legislature to take action to halt the conspiracy. He was too late, however, to prevent a flotilla under the command of Blennerhassett from passing down the Ohio River to join Burr’s contingent at the mouth of the Cumberland. On November 27 the President issued a proclamation that was broadcast throughout the western country warning all good citizens to withdraw from unlawful enterprises. Thus he made it emphatic that whatever might be taking place was without the Government’s sanction.

Simultaneously orders were dispatched to the civil authorities, from Pittsburgh to New Orleans, putting them on the alert and directing them to use regular troops and militia to thwart any illegal enterprise that might be brewing. The proclamation was disappointing to the public since it left the nature of the enterprise a mystery and did not so much as mention Burr’s name.

On December 1 the President sent his regular message to Congress. He made casual reference to the conspiracy, but again supplied no names. Meanwhile the House of Representatives was growing restive. John Randolph of Roanoke, the brilliant but eccentric Virginia member, who had broken with the Jeffersonians and was now constantly looking for ways to embarrass the administration, introduced a resolution requesting from the President detailed information on the conspiracy.

Thus spurred to action, President Jefferson, on January 22, addressed a special message to the Senate and House of Representatives. He stated that in answer to their request he was transmitting to them information received by him touching on “an illegal combination of private individuals against the peace and safety of the Union, and a military expedition planned by them against the territories of a power in amity with the United States, with the measures pursued for suppressing the same.”

At last the President was specific. The prime mover, he said, was Aaron Burr, “heretofore distinguished by the favor of his country.”

As early as September, the message continued, the Government had received reports of agitation in the western country. Then in the latter part of October the objects of the conspiracy began to be perceived. But they were still so involved in mystery that nothing distinct could be singled out for pursuit. However, the Government had sent a trusted agent to investigate the plot.

Then, said the President, on November 25 the Government had received from General Wilkinson, Commander-in-Chief, a letter in which the General reported having been visited by a confidential agent of Burr, with communications partly written in cipher, and partly oral, setting forth his designs and offering Wilkinson such emolument and command as to engage him and his army in the unlawful enterprise.

But, declared the President, “The General, with the honor of a soldier and the fidelity of a good citizen, immediately dispatched a trusty officer to me with the information of what had passed. Thanks to the General’s letter and other information received a few days earlier, it was possible to develop Burr’s general design.”

It appeared, said Jefferson, that Burr contemplated two distinct objects, which might be carried on either jointly or separately, and either the one or the other first, as circumstances should direct.

One of these was the severance from the Union of the states west of the Allegheny Mountains.

The other was an attack on Mexico.

The President mentioned also as a third object a settlement on what he called “a pretended purchase” of a tract of country on the Washita River in northern Louisiana. As the President interpreted it, this third object, however, was merely to serve as a pretext for Burr’s preparations in collecting men, boats, and supplies, and as an allurement for such followers as really wished to acquire settlements in that country. It also was to serve as a cover under which to retreat in the event of the final discomfiture of both branches of his main design.

But, said the President, Burr had found that the attachment of the western country to the Union was not to be shaken. Its dissociation, therefore, could not be obtained through the consent of the inhabitants, and Burr’s resources were inadequate to effect his purpose by force. So, instead, Burr had determined to seize New Orleans, plunder the bank there, take possession of the military and the naval stores, and proceed on his expedition to Mexico.

Burr, the message further charged, had seduced good and well-meaning citizens—some of them by pretending he enjoyed the confidence of the Government and was acting under its secret patronage, others by offers of lands on the Washita.

In response to his proclamation of November 27, reported the President, Governor Tiffin of Ohio and the Ohio Legislature had, “with a promptitude, energy and patriotic zeal, which entitled them to a distinguished place in the affection of their sister states, effected the seizure of all the boats, provisions and other preparations within their reach, and thus gave a first blow, materially disabling the enterprise at its outset.”

The President went on to say that when the authorities of Kentucky and Tennessee received the proclamation and learned the true circumstances, they followed the admirable example set them by their sister state of Ohio. The governors of New Orleans and Mississippi also had been alerted. Great alarm had been caused in New Orleans by the exaggerated accounts of Mr. Burr disseminated there.

But, according to the message, the faithful General Wilkinson had arrived on the scene on November 24 and “immediately put into activity the resources of the place for the purpose of its defense.” Great zeal had been shown by the inhabitants generally.

In the present state of the evidence, said the President, some of it delivered under the restriction of private confidence, neither safety nor justice would permit the exposing of names, except that of the principal actor.

Of Burr, he declared, his “guilt is placed beyond question.”

Such was the Government’s version of the conspiracy as conveyed by President Jefferson to the Congress. The report was supplemented with various letters and other confirmatory documents. It left no doubt that the conspiracy had been crushed, even though at the time of its writing the “principal actor” was still at large. Meanwhile the “principal actor,” commanding a small body of men on flatboats, was on his way down the Mississippi River. He had arrived at a place called Cole’s Creek in Mississippi territory when he first learned of the hue and cry raised against him by the President and General Wilkinson. A few days prior to this he had voluntarily surrendered himself to the territorial authorities and, after an inquest like the two earlier ones in Kentucky, he had been dismissed by a grand jury. Instead of indicting Burr the jury rebuked the authorities for their overzealousness in interfering with him and his men.

Burr had nothing to fear from the civil authorities of Mississippi, but the military under Wilkinson’s command were quite a different matter. According to his later testimony Burr imagined his life was in danger. For the first and last time in his life he acted in a manner that suggested cowardice. He deserted his followers. Disguising himself as a backwoodsman he mounted a horse and started his flight. By this time the alarm had been broadcast and everywhere people were on the lookout for him.

It was Nicholas Perkins who, informed of the presence of a mysterious stranger near Wakefield, in Washington County, Alabama, set out to investigate. His keen eye noted that the boots showing below the stranger’s pantaloons were much too fine for any ordinary countryman. Burr, on being challenged, acknowledged his identity and agreed to go with Perkins who turned him over to the military authorities at Fort Stoddart, an army post north of Mobile.

The commander was a young Virginian, Lieutenant Edmund Pendleton Gaines. Gaines engaged Perkins to deliver his prisoner to the Government in Washington. On March 5 the party set out. The first part of the journey, made on horseback, lay through the Cherokee Indian country in Alabama and Georgia. Heavy rain increased the discomfort of the travelers. Burr bore his hardships without a whimper and with but one incident of insubordination. As a lawyer he knew his arrest was highly questionable. South Carolina was the home of his son-in-law where he might perhaps find sympathy. So, while passing through the little settlement of Chester in that state, Burr leaped from his horse and shouted, “I am Aaron Burr, under military arrest, and claim the protection of the civil authorities.” Perkins, with his superior size and strength, calmly took him around the waist, sat him back on his horse, and the party proceeded. Thereafter, Burr traveled in a gig. That is, until the party shifted to a stagecoach shortly before reaching Richmond.

The original destination had been Washington. But at Fredericksburg, Virginia, Perkins received counterinstructions from President Jefferson to deliver his prisoner to the authorities in Richmond. So on their arrival at the Eagle Tavern, Perkins’ task was nearly ended.

That explains why and how a former Vice-President of the United States found himself in the toils of the law. The rumors of conspiracy that had spread throughout the country during the last two years had now been confirmed by the President of the United States. Burr’s guilt, declared that highest authority, was “beyond question.” And, but for the honor of Wilkinson the soldier and the fidelity of Wilkinson the good citizen, who acted in the nick of time, no telling where the country would be. Such was the official version.

No wonder the general public, in the face of the damning evidence, expected the ensuing trial to be a mere formality. No wonder a toast that became universally popular was drunk to “Aaron Burr—may his treachery to his country exalt him to the scaffold, and hemp be his escort to the republic of dust and ashes.”

The gallows might loom before him. Burr surveyed the prospect with his accustomed calm.