History of the United States of America, Volume 3 (of 9) : $b During the second administration of Thomas JeffersonAdams, Henry
History
History of the United States of America, Volume 3 (of 9) : $b During the second administration of Thomas Jefferson
Adams, Henry
United States -- History -- 1801-1809; United States -- History -- 1809-1817
Graham, leaving Ohio, reached Kentucky December 22, and induced the
Governor and Legislature, December 24, to follow the example of Ohio;
but he lost much time between Chillicothe and Frankfort, so that
even after driving Burr from Ohio to Kentucky, and from Kentucky to
Tennessee, the quickest pursuit could not prevent the conspirators
from taking their path down the Cumberland. Graham in Ohio heard
nothing of Burr’s doings in Tennessee, although since November 3
Jackson’s close friend Patton Anderson was scouring the country round
Nashville for recruits, and had raised a company of seventy-five men.
As Burr went farther South, the secrecy of his intimates became more
closely guarded, and their movements more obscure.
Burr and Adair reached Nashville December 14, and went directly to the
river, where their boats were building. By that time Burr was well
trained in the comedy he had within the last month so often played.
Senator Smith of Ohio began it October 23, by writing the request that
Burr’s design should be “candidly disclosed,” because Smith had fears
that it might interrupt the tranquillity of the country. A month later
Henry Clay made the same request. No sooner did Burr reach Clover
Bottom, where his boats were building under Andrew Jackson’s charge,
than he found himself required to repeat the familiar formula. Jackson,
in company with General Overton as his witness, soon appeared at Clover
Bottom, and intimated as plainly as had been done by John Smith and
Henry Clay that his own credit required a disavowal of designs against
the Union. Burr, with his usual dignified courtesy, instantly complied;
and his denials were accepted as satisfactory by Jackson.
On Jackson’s part this conduct was peculiarly surprising, because
more than a month before he had written to Governor Claiborne[196]
at New Orleans a secret denunciation of Burr and Wilkinson, couched
in language which showed such intimate knowledge of Burr’s plans
as could have come only from Burr himself or Adair. In accepting
Burr’s disavowals, December 14, Jackson did not mention to Burr his
denunciatory letter written to Claiborne, November 12, in which he
had said, “I fear treachery has become the order of the day.” Like
Senator Smith, he was satisfied to secure his own safety; and upon
Burr’s denial of treasonable schemes, Jackson, although he did not
write to Claiborne to withdraw the secret charges, went on building
boats, providing supplies, and enlisting men for Colonel Burr’s
expedition. His motives for this conduct remained his own secret. Many
of the best-informed persons in Tennessee and Kentucky, including
Burr’s avowed partisans, held but a low opinion of Jackson’s character
or veracity. Eight years afterward Jackson and John Adair once more
appeared on the stage of New Orleans history, and quarrelled, with
charges and counter-charges of falsehood and insinuations of treason.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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