James B. Wilkinson [Jr.] (son of the General). Autograph Letter Signed. Philadelphia, September 20, 1803. 1 page + integral stampless address leaf. To Jefferson’s Secretary of War, Henry Dearborn, Washington. With Dearborn’s Autograph Draft (unsigned) written on the following two pages. * George Ingersoll. Autograph Letter Signed. Fort Jay [New York harbor], September 4, 1804. 2pp. + integral stampless address leaf. To Dr. William Eustis (later Secretary of War).
Two important unpublished letters about General James Wilkinson, the highest-ranking officer of the United States Army at the time of the Louisiana Purchase, whom his biographer called “An Artist in Treason”. When Wilkinson’s son wrote Secretary Dearborn to ask if his mother should consider joining his father in Natchez or New Orleans, the General was at Fort Adams in the Mississippi Territory, negotiating treaties with the Indians, while President Jefferson’s envoys negotiated an agreement to buy the vast Louisiana Territory from France. In replying to Wilkinson Jr., Dearborn vaguely refers to the “change of circumstances which will probably take place in that quarter in the course of a few months” that would give Wilkinson “duties to perform which will render his continuance on the Mississippi necessary…”. Just days later, Jefferson appointed Wilkinson, together with Mississippi Governor Claiborne, as his envoys to take control of the Territory. Dearborn, already suspicious of his “friend” Wilkinson’s motives, also suggested that the General, in future, move to Maryland, where he could be close to Washington without the expense of living in the capital, knowing that Wilkinson was always short of money - though unaware that he was receiving payments from the Spanish Government to betray such state secrets as the projected Lewis and Clark expedition. Dearborn intended that Wilkinson would leave New Orleans as soon the territorial transition was completed. Instead, Wilkinson would be appointed first Governor of the Louisiana Territory north of New Orleans, stretching from St. Louis west to Spanish Texas. That appointment was in the works when Major George Ingersoll complained to his influential friend William Eustis, that Wilkinson had ordered him to disease-ridden New Orleans. Eustis was unable to get Wilkinson’s order countermanded, and Ingersoll soon resigned from the Army. But when Eustis succeeded Dearborn as Secretary of War five years later, he tried to get Wilkinson removed from office, following allegations of involvement in Aaron Burr’s treasonous conspiracy to set up an independent western nation. Again Eustis failed, and Wilkinson was still in command of the American Army at the start of the War of 1812 - until a military disaster finally forced his resignation in disgrace. Not until long after Wilkinson’s death did it also become known that he had also been a paid secret agent of Spain.