James Wilkinson: (1757 - 1825)
He was the son of Joseph Wilkinson & Althea
(Betty) Heighe, born in Benedict, Calvert Co., Maryland. He married
1st to Ann Biddle (daughter of John Biddle & Sarah Owen) in 1778 at
Philadelphia and 2nd to Celestine Trudeau (daughter of Charles Laveau Trudeau)
in 1810 at New Orleans. His children were: John (1780-1796), James B. (1783/84-1813)
(m.Hannah Toulmin/Coleman in 1810), Joseph B. (1785-1865) (m. Catherine
Andrews in 1807), Margaret (m. Benjamin Rogers) & Elizabeth S. (b.1816)
(m. Toussaint-Francois Bigot).
James was enrolled in the Medical College
of Pennsylvania in 1773, but his education was interrupted by the Revolutionary
War in 1775 when he became a captain in the Continental Army serving under
Benedict
Arnold (he also served under Gen.George Washington & Gen. Horatio
Gates). James saw action at the unsuccessful attempt to take Montreal,
the Siege of Boston and the battles of Saratoga, Trenton & Princton.
In 1777 he was Brevet Brigadier General and the Secretary of the Board
of War, a position he held until 1778 when he was forced to leave because
of his involvement in a move to remove Gen.George Washington as the Commander
in Chief of the Continental Army.
From 1781 to 1783 Wilkinson tried farming
in Pennsylvania while also assuming the responsibilities of Brig.Gen.of
the Pennsylvania Militia in 1782. In 1783/84 he moved to Kentucky and establish
trading connection with New Orleans where in 1784 he swore allegiance to
the Spanish government there. He apparently again took the oath of allegiance
to Spain at New Orleans in 1787, becoming Spanish Secret Agent #13 in his
attempts to keep Kentucky from joining the Union.
In March of 1791 he led a force of Kentucky
Volunteers (2nd in command to Gen.Charles Scott - William
Clark is a lieutenant under Wilkinson in this action) on a punitive
campaign against the Ohio Valley tribes and the next year given the rank
of Major General in the U.S.Army. By August of 1794 he is again a Brig.Gen.under
Gen.Anthony Wayne at the Battle
of Fallen Timbers (Wilkinson intentionally delayed sending a supply
train to Wayne in an attempt to undermine Wayne, according to Clark) and
in 1796 is given the command of Detroit. From 15 December 1796 to 13 July
1798 he held the position of Commander
in Chief of the U.S.Army (replacing Anthony Wayne). [He replaced Alexander
Hamilton as the senior U.S.Army officer and Commander in Chief of the U.S.Army
in June of 1800 - Hamilton was killed in a duel with Aaron
Burr in July of 1804].
James was transferred to the Southern Frontier
in 1798 and in December of 1803 took possession of the Louisiana Purchase
(from the Com.of France - Laussat) on behalf of the United States with
Gov.William Claiborne. On 30 July 1805 he was at St.Louis, Missouri (as
the newly appointed U.S.Military Gov.of Louisiana Terr.), commanding Zebulon
Pike to take a force up the Mississippi River, exploring the river
to its source and to establish an American presents in the area in a attempt
to wrestle control of the fur trade from the British. Pike arrived at the
Canadian controlled Prairie du Chien on the 4th of September where he began
to meet the British & French traders who controlled the trade out of
the Great Lakes S.W. trade route (Fazer, Aird, Cameron & Woods) then
ascended the Mississippi to the destination of the British traders from
the L.Superior trade route (Dickson, Grant
& McGillis) while also meeting with the
Chiefs of the Dakota & Ojibwe Nations (Wabasha,
Red Thunder, Broken Tooth
& Flat Mouth). In July of 1806, Wilkinson
sent Pike on
another exploratory expedition (Wilkinson's son James Jr. accompanied the
expedition) to the S.W. where he became a prisoner of the Spanish Gov.
During this period, ex-Vice President Aaron
Burr was allegedly (with James Wilkinson) intending to invite the western
subjects of Spain to form an independent empire in the west, with it's
capital being New Orleans. In 1807 Burr surrendered to American officials
after Wilkinson informed President Jefferson of his designs and in March
of 1807 James is replaced by Meriwether Lewis as Governor. Not long after
this occurred, the Missouri Fur Company was formed with its headquarters
in St.Louis, Mo. with James brother, Benjamin Wilkinson among its founding
partners (also P.Chouteau, M.Lisa, A.Chouteau, Wm.Clark, Wm.Morrison, R.Lewis,
S.Labbadie, P.Menard & A.Henry).
Wilkinson
was court martialed by order of President Madison and found not-guilty
of the charges, on 25 December of 1811. So being the senior U.S.Army officer
at the beginning of 1812, he was given the task of the invasion
of Canada at the out break of the war. He had under his command 8000
men (and Gen.Zebulon Pike) who left Ft.George for the north, but the campaign
turned to a retreat and the death of Pike. Again, Wilkinson was tried &
acquitted in the disastrous Canadian invasion, but this time it ended his
U.S.Army career.
Wilkinson
spent his remaining years in Mexico where he traveled in 1821 in an effort
to gain a Texan land grant. He died in Mexico City on 28 December 1825,
from the effects of smoking Opium.
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