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

108 “to effect a violent seperation from the United States”: Thomas Marshall to Washington, February 12, 1789, GWP.

108 “I was greatly alarmed”: Washington to Marshall, March 27, 1789, GWP.

108 James O’Fallon’s letter to Washington, September 30, 1790, GWP.

109 “To hold a post of such responsibility”: Washington to Alexander Hamilton, June 25, 1799, GWP.

109 For the evolution and composition of the army after 1783, see especially Kohn, Eagle and Sword ; Cress, Citizens in Arms ; and Skelton, An American Profession of Arms.

111 “My views in entering the Military Line are ‘Bread & Fame’ ”: JW to Peyton Short, December 28, 1791, quoted in Jacobs , Tarnished Warrior , 102.

CHAPTER 11: A GENERAL AGAIN

Information after JW rejoins the army divides into three types: they relate to his public duties as an officer, to his private ambitions to gain command, and to his activities in relation to New Orleans. Regarding the first, the sources already cited are invaluable; for the second, JW’s letters to Congressman, later Senator, John Brown, and Harry Innes (the Innes Papers) are useful; for the third, the Spanish archives remain essential. JW’s Memoirs , volume 2, throw an unreliable light on all three strands.

113 Of the many excellent and harrowing accounts of St. Clair’s defeat, William Darke’s firsthand version in his letter to Washington has an unequaled immediacy. William Darke to Washington, November 9, 1791, GWP.

114 “The [regular] Troops were instantly formed”: Ibid.

114 “[The Indians] could skip out of reach”: The Military Journal of Major Ebenezer Denny (Philadelphia: Historical Society of Pennsylvania, 1849).

114 “To suffer that army to be cut to pieces”: Recounted by Tobias Lear to Dr. Benjamin Rush and retold by Richard Rush in Washington in Domestic Life (Philadelphia: Lippincott, 1857).

115 “my private interest”: JW to Miró, December 4, 1791, legajo 2374.

115 “The depth of the snow”: JW to Samuel Hodgdon, March 12, 1792.

116 Comments on candidates for commanding officer: “Memorandum on General Officers,” Philadelphia, March 9, 1792, PGW.

117 Thomas Jefferson’s notes: Annals of Thomas Jefferson , ed. Franklin Sawvel (New York: Round Table Press, 1904), 62.

117 “I regret much”: Hay, “Letters of Mrs. Ann Biddle Wilkinson.”

118 “Brigadier Wilkinson’s attention”: Washington to Knox, August 13, 1791, PGW.

119 “Political Conditions of the Province of Louisiana”: Original in Papeles de Cuba, Estados de Misisipi , 313, quoted by James Alexander Robertson, Louisiana under the Rule of Spain, France, and the United States, 1785–1807 (Cleveland: Clark, 1911), 1:280–83.

119 Carondelet’s message confirming JW’s pension of two thousand dollars a year: Carondelet to JW, February 1, 1792, legajo 2374.

120 “To save me in this”: Peyton Short to JW, December 21, 1791, Innes Papers, vol. 23.

120 “I pray you, my friend”: JW to Innes, February 29, 1792, ibid.

120 “uncontrolled power over my whole property”: JW to Innes, April 10, 1792, ibid.

121 “The Vice of drunkeness”: Knox to Washington, September 17, 1792, GWP, 248.

121 “Be pleased therefore, Madam”: Major Armstrong to JW, June 1, 1792, quoted in Jacobs, Tarnished Warrior , 110.

122 The St. Tammany’s Day celebration: Jacobs, Tarnished Warrior , 110.

122 “2000 select troops composed of Musketeers”: JW to Carondelet, December 15, 1792, legajo 2374.

CHAPTER 12: DISCIPLINE AND DECEIT

For the creation of the Legion of the United States, the military sources are those cited earlier, but of particular relevance is Birtle, “The Origins of the Legion of the United States.” For Wayne’s side of the toxic battle with JW, Paul David Nelson’s biography Anthony Wayne, Soldier of the Early Republic remains indispensable. The sources for JW’s double life are those cited earlier.

124 “It is painful to consider”: Knox to Washington, July 17, 1789, GWP.

126 Mad Anthony: The origin of Wayne’s nickname reflected his character. See Nelson, Anthony Wayne .

126 For the composition of the army, see Skelton, “Social Roots of the American Military Profession.”

128 “send as soon as possible a canoe to New Madrid”: Carondelet to Gayoso, October 29, 1793, quoted in Hay, Admirable Trumpeter , 136.

128 “the projected attack against Louisiana”: JW to Carondelet, November 23, 1793, ibid.

129 “Hell on earth”: Quoted in Jacobs, Tarnished Warrior , 113.

130 Journal of a Journey through the United States, 1795–6 (Morrisiana, N.Y., 1869).

130 “filled with ardent poison & Caitiff wretches”: quoted in Nelson, Anthony Wayne , 241.

130 “I am persuaded your good sense”: Knox to JW, May 17, 1793, WDP.

131 “I have often expressed to her and to Colonel Biddle”: Knox to JW, ibid.

131 “the novelty of the thing”: JW to Washington, November 1, 1792, PGW.

131 “There is no calculating on anything but insult”: Quoted in Nelson, Anthony Wayne , 249.

132 “the old man really is mad”: Ibid., 250.

132 “My General treats me with great civility”: JW to Innes, October 3, 1793, Innes Papers, vol. 23.

132 “into the nature and degree of the Confusion of Stores”: Knox to Wayne, December 28, 1793, WDP.

132 “Your remarks of the disproportionate punishments of death”: Knox to JW, July 17, 1792, WDP.

132 “Mrs. W. ventures to hope your Excellency”: JW to Wayne, December 20, 1793, quoted in Jacobs, Tarnished Warrior , 118.

133 “to retard, disjoint and defeat the mediated irruption”: JW’s accounts presented to Carondelet, September 22, 1796, legajo 2375.

CHAPTER 13: POISONED VICTORY

The sources here are also those of the previous chapter.

134 “two distinct Parties”: Nelson, Anthony Wayne , 251.

134 “I am unsettled in my purpose”: JW to Innes, March 12, 1794, Innes Papers, vol. 23.

134 “I owe so much to my own feelings”: JW to John Brown, August 28, 1794, Innes Papers, vol. 23.

135 Article signed “Army Wretched”: Nelson, Anthony Wayne , 255.

135 “During my stay I found him attending”: Ibid.

138 The Battle of Fallen Timbers: JW’s jaundiced account of the march and battle was conveyed in a long letter to John Brown written after the fighting, JW to Brown, August 28, 1794. See Quaife, “General James Wilkinson’s Narrative of the Fallen Timbers Campaign,” Mississippi Valley Historical Review , June 1929, 81–90.

CHAPTER 14: THE BATTLE FOR COMMAND

JW’s relentless battle for command and his desperate need for money from New Orleans swamped all other considerations, leaving the correspondence with Henry Knox and Carondelet as the major sources of information for this period in his life.

140 Official report on the battle: Wayne to Knox, August 29, 1794, American State Papers, 3rd Cong., 2nd sess., Indian Affairs, vol. 1.

140 “Yet the specious name of Victory”: JW to Brown, August 28, 1794, Innes Papers, vol. 23.

140 “The whole operation presents”: November 10, 1794, JW to Innes, ibid.

141 “a liar, a drunkard”: December 1794, JW to Innes, ibid.

141 “You must rest assured that your military reputation”: December 4, marked “private”; followed by December 5, 1794, Henry Knox to JW, WDP.

141 For the military costs involved, see Kohn, Eagle and Sword .

142 “I always indulged the Brigadier”: Wayne to Knox, January 25, 1795, quoted, with comments on Wayne’s surprise at JW’s animosity, in Nelson, Anthony Wayne , 276.