Andro Linklater - An Artist in Treason - The Extraordinary Double Life of General James Wilkinson

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NOTES

INTRODUCTION: A TEST OF LOYALTY

The pivotal test of General James Wilkinson’s ( JW) uncertain loyalties received considerable publicity at Aaron Burr’s trials in the summer of 1807. Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Cushing’s sworn affidavit was presented in court; see T. Carpenter’s The Trial of Colonel Aaron Burr on an Indictment of Treason , and reprinted in JW’s Burr’s Conspiracy exposed and General Wilkinson vindicated against the slanders of his enemies on that important occasion . JW’s own reactions were recorded in Burr’s Conspiracy . The widespread belief that he was in the pay of Spain, a “Spanish pensioner,” provided the basis of Burr’s defense. In their words, “General Wilkinson had an interest with the king of Spain.”

CHAPTER 1: THE PENNILESS ARISTOCRAT

The main sources for colonial Maryland’s aristocratic and tobacco culture are Aubrey C. Land’s rather old-fashioned Colonial Maryland— A History (Kraus International); Trevor Burnard’s Creole Gentlemen: The Maryland Elite, 1691–1776 (New York and London: Routledge, 2002); and Arthur Pierce Middleton’s Tobacco Coast: A Maritime History of Chesapeake Bay in the Colonial Era (Newport, VA: Mariners’ Museum, 1953). The background of JW’s ancestry and upbringing is taken from his Memoirs and from his two earlier biographies; James R. Jacobs’s meticulously researched Tarnished Warrior: Major-General James Wilkinson ; and Thomas R. Hay and M. R. Werner’s Admirable Trumpeter: A Biography of General James Wilkinson . None of these sources refer to the near bankruptcy of Joseph Wilkinson. Evidence for this appears in the colonial probate records in the Maryland State Archives, Liber 52, 54, and 86 with relevant folios; in Calvert County tax assessments for 1783, MSA 1437; and in genealogical records of the Wilkinson and Heighe families.

8 “these bold and indigent strangers”: Quoted in The Conquest of the Old Southwest by Archibald Henderson (New York: Century, 1920).

8 “The Manners of Maryland are somewhat peculiar”: John Adams diary, November 21, 1777, Adams Family Papers (AFP), Massachusetts Historical Society, (digital) www.masshist.org/digitaladams/aea.

10 “The last words my father spoke to me”: Memoirs , 1:7–9.

12 For colonial Philadelphia, see The Private City: Philadelphia in Three Periods of Its Growth by Sam Bass Warner, Jr. (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1987).

12 “These inclinations were seconded” and JW’s time in Philadelphia: Memoirs , 1:11–13.

13 “The Rage Militaire ”: quoted in Margaret Wheeler Willard, ed., Letters on the American Revolution, 1774–1776 (Boston, 1925).

CHAPTER 2: CITIZENS AND SOLDIERS

The rivalry between supporters of militia and professional soldiers in the Revolutionary War has been the subject of extensive research. I have consulted the following: Lawrence D. Cress’s Citizens in Arms:The Army and the Militia in American Society to the War of 1812 (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1982), and his chapter “Reassessing American Military Requirements, 1783–1807” in Against All Enemies: Interpretations of American Military History from Colonial Times to the Present , edited by Kenneth J. Hagan and William R. Roberts (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1986); Ricardo A. Herrera, “Self-Governance and the American Citizen as Soldier, 1775– 1861,” Journal of Military History 65, no. 1 ( January 2001); Paul David Nelson, “Citizen Soldiers or Regulars: The Views of American General Officers on the Military Establishment, 1775–1781,” Military Affairs 43, no. 3 (October 1979); William B. Skelton, “The Confederation’s Regulars: A Social Profile of Enlisted Service in America’s First Standing Army,” William and Mary Quarterly , 3rd ser., 46, no. 4 (October 1989); and Skelton’s “Social Roots of the American Military Profession: The Officer Corps of America’s First Peacetime Army, 1784–1789,” Journal of Military History 54, no. 4 (October 1990).

15 “the familiarity which prevailed”: Memoirs , 1:33–34.

16 “no Dependence can be put on the Militia”: General George Washington to John Hancock, July 10, 1775.

16 “When I look to the consequences of it”: Quoted in The Correspondence of King George the Third from 1760 to December 1783 , ed. John Fortescue (London: Frank Cass & Co., 1967).

16 “never desired to see better soldiers”: Quoted in Nelson, “Citizen Soldiers or Regulars.”

16 “A Standing Army, however necessary”: Samuel Adams to James Warren, January 7, 1776, Warren-Adams Letters, I.

16 “Our troops are animated”: Address of the Continental Congress to “The Inhabitants of the Colonies,” February 13, 1776, JCC.

17 “Men may speculate as they will”: Washington to John Banester, April 21, 1778, Writings of George Washington .

17 “The regiment was ordered for muster”: Memoirs , 1:34–35.

18 Grover court- martial: Washington to John Hancock, president of Congress, May 5, 1776, JCC.

19 For Benedict Arnold’s reputation, see Willard S. Randall’s Benedict Arnold, Patriot and Traitor.

20 “We are now in a sweet situation”: JW to General Nathanael Greene, May 24, 1776, Memoirs , 1:43–44.

20 “Captn Wilkinson . . . is truly alarming”: Washington to John Hancock, June 7, 1776, JCC.

20 “Captn Wilkinson’s Conjectures were not realized”: General Schuyler to Washington, June 10, 1776, JCC.

20 JW’s relationship with Arnold: Memoirs , 1:46–49.

21 JW and General Sullivan: Ibid., 1:51–59.

22 “a Gentleman who I have always esteemed as a friend”: General Wayne to James Wilkinson, June 16, 1792, quoted in Nelson, Anthony Wayne, Soldier of the Early Republic .

CHAPTER 3: WOOING GENERAL GATES

The first volume of JW’s memoirs provides the story of his relationship with General Horatio Gates. Despite JW’s unreliability, the depth of his feeling for Gates is unmistakable. For Gates’s character and career, see Nelson, General Horatio Gates: A Biography , and his “Legacy of Controversy: Gates, Schuyler, and Arnold at Saratoga, 1777.”

24 “my dear General’s affectionate friend”: JW to Gates, June 10, 1776, Memoirs , vol. 1.

24 “an old granny looking fellow”: Quoted in Nelson’s “Legacy of Controversy.”

25 “the intrepid, generous, friendly, upright, Honest man”: JW to Varick, quoted in James R. Jacobs, Tarnished Warrior.

26 “the first officer in Military knowledge”: Washington to Jack Washington, March 5, 1776, GWP.

26 “a certain great man is damnably deficient”: Lee to Gates, December 13, 1776, Memoirs , 1:108.

27 General Lee’s capture: Memoirs , 1:101–10.

27 JW’s account of the battle of Trenton: Memoirs , 1:125–31; also Ferling, Almost a Miracle.

29 Evidence of the interest Washington took in Wilkinson’s career appears in a letter from William Fitzhugh, Washington’s neighbor and friend: “With respect to Wilkinson, who I verily believe is a young Fellow of Great Merrit, I will Endeavor, as you are Pleas’d to Advise, to get Him Provided for in The Battalions to be rais’d Here.” Fitzhugh to Washington, October 17, 1776.

29 The diatribes against the militia: Quoted in Nelson, “Citizen Soldiers or Regulars.” 30 For the reorganization of the Continental Army, see Cress, Citizens in Arms , and Wright, Continental Army .