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.