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Aaron Burr #2
Aaron Burr: The Conspiracy and Years of Exile, 1805-1836
A biography of Burr's later years argues that the conspiracy charges brought against him were instigated by the Spanish minister to the United States.
496 pages, Hardcover
Published January 1, 1982
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70 people want to read
About the author
Milton Lomask
89 books3 followersRaised in Maquoketa, Iowa, Milton Nachman Lomask earned a BA in journalism at the University of Iowa. After working in a succession of newspaper jobs in Texas, St. Louis, New York City and Chicago, he earned an MA degree at Northwestern University in 1941. Lomask served in the United States Army's Chemical Warfare Service during World War II, after which he worked in advertising and publicity before quitting in 1950 to work full-time as a writer.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
September 24, 2011
Dry but worth the read. Excellent background for the time period. Author does excellent job with subject.
June 6, 2023
My interpretation of this account is that Burr had big picture problems. Whatever his plan was, most likely to detach Texas from Spain and become its leader, it wasn't going to work, but he couldn't see it.
One problem was that unlike others who had idealistic goals, such as Miranda who wanted to liberate Venezuela, Burr was plainly just out for money and power. The necessary followers would have been far less likely to join up with Burr. (Burr and Miranda, eventually a successful liberator in South America, met once. Each despised the other.)
Another problem Burr had was that his plan relied on Wilkinson being his second in command. But Wilkinson would never have agreed to be second to anyone in such a venture. (In addition, for it to work, Wilkinson needed his top subordinate in the army to be part of the plan, but that gentleman refused to show any enthusiasm for Wilkinson's hints around it, so he never even divulged the plan to him.)
Getting funding and the support of a few warships from the British was also problematic. While they would have been otherwise willing, they were a just a leetle busy with a problem called Napoleon at the moment. The chances that they would divert men, funds and materiel to such an adventure were nil. Burr apparently did not see that either, or refused to.
Burr would tell different stories, depending on the sympathies of his hearer. To some he would say he meant to attack Spanish Mexico and to liberate its residents. To others he would say he would split off the western states to create a realm. By saying the latter he actually squeezed $2500 in support out of the Spanish ambassador to the US! To yet others he would say he would do both. But the part he failed to realize is that such a big conspiracy could not be in any way be kept quiet, that it would take a long time to all get organized and that people would begin to act against him.
Really this whole project was doomed from the start. Burr failed to even notice.
Other tidbits:
Burr was a great voluptuary. Whenever he had money he spent it on outrageous luxuries that were far beyond his ability to afford. He was always touching his friends for money and spent most of his life artfully evading creditors.
General James Wilkinson, the one who originally gave Burr the idea, what a guy he was. The highest ranking general in the army at the time, but also in the pay of Spain as their spy/agent number 13, earning $2000 a year, collectible when he arrived back in New Orleans. Once he was gone for quite a while so the money built up and there was a change in the Spanish paymaster so they didn't know exactly how much they owed him. Wilkinson stated the amount at $20K. The Spaniard was dismissive and proud to have cut it down to $12K. Wilkinson was quite pleased as well for they had actually only owed him $6K.
Wilkinson seems to have had few principles, being mainly motivated by money. As a consequence he usually equivocated and played both sides. For example, in 1787 in a Kentucky district assembly he sponsored petitions calling on Spain to open the Mississippi to Americans, but in letters to his Spanish superior he urged them to keep the river closed to encourage westerners to abandon their allegiance to the US.
An even more extreme instance occurred with the appearance in 1788 of Dr. John Connolly, who secretly worked for the Governor of Canada and was trying to raise an army of ten thousand westerners to seize Louisiana from Spain. Wilkinson assured him he would help and then turned around and told his Spanish controller and that he would hire a hit man to target Connolly. But the assassin was stopped by an armed guard dispatched by Wilkinson himself and Connolly escaped. So both the Spanish and the British thought he was a very valuable guy to befriend. But what a tangled web to weave.
The first person to write publically about Burr's plans in the southwest, even as they were happening, was the Spanish ambassador to the US, which was not surprising since Spain was the ultimate target of whatever he was planning. This minister's warnings were first printed in the newspaper founded by none other than Alexander Hamilton, as if his dead hand was reaching out from the grave for revenge on Burr, especially as after publication the essay was reprinted across the country.
Book mentions that Liberty Hall in Frankfort, Kentucky, was designed by Thomas Jefferson. Seemed odd since Jefferson never traveled west of the Natural Bridges. So I looked it up in Wikipedia and asked ChatGPT. Wikipedia states that it's unknown who designed it. I guess this must have been a tall tale that people in Frankfort liked to tell back when this book was written. ChatGPT said he did not design it, but traveled to visit, which is clearly wrong.
After Jefferson made a public proclamation that surely Burr was guilty, the first person to see the problems with it was John Adams. If he was guilty, why wasn't he being tried by a jury rather than being so pronounced by the first magistrate? Adams was no fan of Burr, but he couldn't see that any European power would have given him much aid to sever the union, or that he could have accomplished anything without such aid. But this was typical Jefferson. As John Quincy Adams said, in reference to his claim that he learned Spanish by reading Don Quixote on an Atlantic passage, "he tells tall tales sometimes".
One problem was that unlike others who had idealistic goals, such as Miranda who wanted to liberate Venezuela, Burr was plainly just out for money and power. The necessary followers would have been far less likely to join up with Burr. (Burr and Miranda, eventually a successful liberator in South America, met once. Each despised the other.)
Another problem Burr had was that his plan relied on Wilkinson being his second in command. But Wilkinson would never have agreed to be second to anyone in such a venture. (In addition, for it to work, Wilkinson needed his top subordinate in the army to be part of the plan, but that gentleman refused to show any enthusiasm for Wilkinson's hints around it, so he never even divulged the plan to him.)
Getting funding and the support of a few warships from the British was also problematic. While they would have been otherwise willing, they were a just a leetle busy with a problem called Napoleon at the moment. The chances that they would divert men, funds and materiel to such an adventure were nil. Burr apparently did not see that either, or refused to.
Burr would tell different stories, depending on the sympathies of his hearer. To some he would say he meant to attack Spanish Mexico and to liberate its residents. To others he would say he would split off the western states to create a realm. By saying the latter he actually squeezed $2500 in support out of the Spanish ambassador to the US! To yet others he would say he would do both. But the part he failed to realize is that such a big conspiracy could not be in any way be kept quiet, that it would take a long time to all get organized and that people would begin to act against him.
Really this whole project was doomed from the start. Burr failed to even notice.
Other tidbits:
Burr was a great voluptuary. Whenever he had money he spent it on outrageous luxuries that were far beyond his ability to afford. He was always touching his friends for money and spent most of his life artfully evading creditors.
General James Wilkinson, the one who originally gave Burr the idea, what a guy he was. The highest ranking general in the army at the time, but also in the pay of Spain as their spy/agent number 13, earning $2000 a year, collectible when he arrived back in New Orleans. Once he was gone for quite a while so the money built up and there was a change in the Spanish paymaster so they didn't know exactly how much they owed him. Wilkinson stated the amount at $20K. The Spaniard was dismissive and proud to have cut it down to $12K. Wilkinson was quite pleased as well for they had actually only owed him $6K.
Wilkinson seems to have had few principles, being mainly motivated by money. As a consequence he usually equivocated and played both sides. For example, in 1787 in a Kentucky district assembly he sponsored petitions calling on Spain to open the Mississippi to Americans, but in letters to his Spanish superior he urged them to keep the river closed to encourage westerners to abandon their allegiance to the US.
An even more extreme instance occurred with the appearance in 1788 of Dr. John Connolly, who secretly worked for the Governor of Canada and was trying to raise an army of ten thousand westerners to seize Louisiana from Spain. Wilkinson assured him he would help and then turned around and told his Spanish controller and that he would hire a hit man to target Connolly. But the assassin was stopped by an armed guard dispatched by Wilkinson himself and Connolly escaped. So both the Spanish and the British thought he was a very valuable guy to befriend. But what a tangled web to weave.
The first person to write publically about Burr's plans in the southwest, even as they were happening, was the Spanish ambassador to the US, which was not surprising since Spain was the ultimate target of whatever he was planning. This minister's warnings were first printed in the newspaper founded by none other than Alexander Hamilton, as if his dead hand was reaching out from the grave for revenge on Burr, especially as after publication the essay was reprinted across the country.
Book mentions that Liberty Hall in Frankfort, Kentucky, was designed by Thomas Jefferson. Seemed odd since Jefferson never traveled west of the Natural Bridges. So I looked it up in Wikipedia and asked ChatGPT. Wikipedia states that it's unknown who designed it. I guess this must have been a tall tale that people in Frankfort liked to tell back when this book was written. ChatGPT said he did not design it, but traveled to visit, which is clearly wrong.
After Jefferson made a public proclamation that surely Burr was guilty, the first person to see the problems with it was John Adams. If he was guilty, why wasn't he being tried by a jury rather than being so pronounced by the first magistrate? Adams was no fan of Burr, but he couldn't see that any European power would have given him much aid to sever the union, or that he could have accomplished anything without such aid. But this was typical Jefferson. As John Quincy Adams said, in reference to his claim that he learned Spanish by reading Don Quixote on an Atlantic passage, "he tells tall tales sometimes".
March 24, 2022
Masterful coverage of A Burr
February 28, 2013
Milton Lomask's second, and final, volume of his biography of Aaron Burr picks up just after Burr's duel with Alexander Hamilton. This volume is concerned mostly with Aaron Burr's failed attempts to raise funds for an invasion of American lands ruled by Mexico, which was later deemed treason by Burr's enemies and blackened his name even though several juries found him not guilty. Lomask often strays from his main subject and gives long histories, which are often tedious or unnecessary, of other players in the "conspiracy". With the bulk of the massive tome out of the way, Lomask describes Burr's exile in Europe (and the book becomes more interesting and easier to follow who is who), his return to America, which is followed by a quick recounting of Burr's death, which to me was too brief and arrived too abruptly after spending over 400 pages with the charismatic Aaron Burr.
The book is well written, and kept my interest throughout. If you are interested in the period, history, or the subject, it's a great read, also highly useful for college papers; but for anyone else, not worth the time.
The book is well written, and kept my interest throughout. If you are interested in the period, history, or the subject, it's a great read, also highly useful for college papers; but for anyone else, not worth the time.
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November 26, 2015I HOPE THE MUSICAL WILL INSPIRE AN ACTUALFAX DECENT AARON BURR BIOGRAPHY.
THERE ACTUALFAX IS A DECENT TWO-PART ONE BY LOMASK, WHO LIKES BUT DOESN'T EXCUSE BURR. HOWEVER, IT CAME OUT IN THE 80'S AND IT'S OUT OF PRINT. SOME LIBRARIES AND USED BOOK DEALERS HAVE IT THOUGH.
THERE ACTUALFAX IS A DECENT TWO-PART ONE BY LOMASK, WHO LIKES BUT DOESN'T EXCUSE BURR. HOWEVER, IT CAME OUT IN THE 80'S AND IT'S OUT OF PRINT. SOME LIBRARIES AND USED BOOK DEALERS HAVE IT THOUGH.
March 10, 2016
Excellent book
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews