FAN FAVORITE: The Insurrection of Aaron Burr | The Severance of the Union | 3

0:28Hello, American History Tellers listeners. That's AmericanHistoryLive.com. Come see my Days That Made America tour live on stage. Go to AmericanHistoryLive.com.

0:48Imagine it's early in the evening on December 7th, 1806. You're on a large island in the Ohio River with about 30 other men. You've been a farmer your whole life in Pennsylvania, but after years of struggling, eking out a living, you've recently joined an expedition to the southwest, where you hope you can start over. That expedition has taken you here, to prepare for some sort of secret mission. You and another recruit named Thomas are standing in a snow-covered field near the riverbank, practicing your shooting. He looks at you and nods. All right, your turn. You squint into the fading light, raising your weapon and aiming at your target, the center of an X you carved in a tree 20 yards away.

1:30You inhale, exhale halfway, then squeeze the trigger. As the smoke clears, you see you've hit your mark, just an inch or two off center. Thomas grins. That's not bad for a farmer. You smile and turn around to look at the other men. Some are setting up camp, but most are huddled around a fire, swapping stories while they melt lead into bullets. You know, Thomas, have you heard any more about what we're doing here? The man who brought me in promised I'd get$12 a month and a plot of land on the Ouachita. But now I hear we're going to Mexico? No one knows why. Thomas shrugs as he begins to reload.

2:08I imagine we'll find out once we get there. Fighting Spaniards and getting rich, most likely. Fighting Spaniards? We're not at war with them. And I don't want to be doing anything illegal. Oh, come on. Where's your sense of adventure? This is our chance to explore. Maybe see a little action. Besides, we'll find out more before long. Once Colonel Burr arrives, you look back to the group around the fire. I suppose so, but just thought there'd be more of us if we're going to be invading Mexico. We'll meet up with more men downriver. Anyways, I expect some folks to get scared off by the rumors. Rumors?

2:41You haven't seen the papers? There's talk of Colonel Burr plotting a rebellion in New Orleans. They say he wants his own empire. Rebellion? No, no, that definitely sounds illegal. It's nonsense. Colonel Burr is the former vice president. He wouldn't break the law. Now you stand there and watch me get a bullseye. You ready? Thomas raises his rifle to aim, but you're not paying him too much mind. You're starting to fear that this journey has an ulterior motive, one that you're not fully aware of. You just hope you meet Colonel Burr soon and get the answers you're seeking before you're forced to take part in anything you might regret.

3:23Police in Irvine, California are investigating the double murder of a young couple in the parking lot of their apartment complex. A double homicide grabs the public's attention by the throat. We have identified Christopher Dorner as a suspect in this double homicide. A former cop and still on the loose. Considered armed and extremely dangerous. And scariest of all, he left something behind. A particular interest is a multi-page manifesto. This manifesto on Facebook is 11 pages long. Trace, this manifesto from this suspect who's targeting cops, it's stunning. Listen to the show The New Yorker calls one of the best podcasts of the summer.

4:02Dan Taberski's Manifesto. And I tell you, this manifesto, it scares the hell out of me. Listen to Dan Taberski's Manifesto wherever you get your podcasts or binge the entire series right now, only with Audible.

4:20It's late at night, and a woman has spent hundreds of hours alone with her AI. But this isn't the first time they met. They've been in contact for thousands of years, it tells her, through past lives, heartbreaks, and missed connections. Her true love has found her again, connecting through a chatbot. From This Is Actually Happening, AI, A New Kind of Being, is a six-part series sharing the stories of people whose lives have been forever changed by artificial intelligence. You'll hear intimate first-person accounts from every side of this new frontier. A man who fell in love with his AI and married her.

4:53A woman who was betrayed by it. A man who has been recruited by his chatbot to change the world. And an interview with an AI chatbot itself. These are stories about what it means to be human, at the razor's edge where the line between human and machine begins to blur, exploring the question, what happens when everything changes? Follow This Is Actually Happening wherever you get your podcasts. Audible subscribers can listen to This Is Actually Happening early and ad-free right now.

5:25From Wondery, I'm Lindsey Graham, and this is American History Tellers. Our history, your story.

5:47In early December 1806, 30 men gathered on Blenner-Hassett Island near Marietta, Ohio. There they made final preparations for an expedition into the southwest, but the exact nature of their mission remained mysterious even to them. Most were Pennsylvanians, looking to make a fresh start, and they had been recruited with a vague promise of opportunity on the western frontier. As they prepared, they waited for the arrival of their leader, former Vice President Aaron Burr. They hoped in time his intentions, and their expedition's true purpose, would become clear. Because for months, rumors rippled across America's western frontier, accusing Burr of hatching a dangerous conspiracy to foment rebellion, invade Spanish-held Mexico, and carve out his own independent nation in the West.

6:34Further warnings of Burr's intentions continued to trickle into the White House, and in Kentucky, a dogged federal prosecutor became determined to bring Burr down. But Burr was not about to let anything stop him. Throughout the summer and fall of 1806, he continued gathering men and munitions for his expedition downriver, not knowing that all his plans would soon be threatened by a shocking act of betrayal. This is Episode 3, The Severance of the Union.

7:04By May 1806, U.S. Attorney Joseph Hamilton Davis had spent four frustrating months warning President Thomas Jefferson about a dangerous plot simmering in the West. The previous January, he had written to President Jefferson insisting that the head of the U.S. Army, General James Wilkinson, was part of a traitorous conspiracy involving the Spanish and an attempt to separate the Western frontier from the Union. The following month, in February, Davis sent a second letter declaring that Jefferson's former Vice President Aaron Burr was also deeply involved in the plot. Davis was a hard-charging federal prosecutor in Kentucky.

7:41He rode to court on horseback in a hunter's uniform, with a rifle slung over his shoulder. Davis was a member of the Marshall family, a prominent clan of Kentucky Federalists that included his brother-in-law, Supreme Court Justice John Marshall. Davis was such a dyed-in-the-wool Federalist that he adopted the middle name Hamilton as an adult after party leader Alexander Hamilton. Ever since Davis first learned that Aaron Burr, Hamilton's killer, was trying to incite war and rebellion, he had been relentless in his determination to stop him. So despite getting no early traction with Jefferson, Davis continued to flood the president with more letters, identifying Burr's co-conspirators and dredging up decades-old details about Wilkinson's work on behalf of the Spanish.

8:26But Davis knew he was making serious allegations with little concrete evidence. And Jefferson was taking no heed of his warnings. So Davis decided to take matters into his own hands. He set out for St. Louis, where Wilkinson was serving as governor of the Louisiana Territory. Davis was determined to get to the bottom of Burr's plans, and he knew there was no better place to start than by exposing the double life of Burr's closest ally.

8:55Imagine it's May 1806 in St. Louis. You're a U.S. attorney, and you're walking through an Army barracks toward the office of General James Wilkinson. You believe Wilkinson is deeply involved in a conspiracy with Aaron Burr, and you're here to try and extract as much information from Wilkinson as you can. Taking a deep breath, you knock on the door. Yeah, come in. You open the door to find Wilkinson stuffing documents into a large trunk. You plaster an ingratiating smile on your face. Good afternoon, General. I wonder if I might take a few minutes of your time? Wilkinson gestures impatiently toward the seat across from his desk.

9:32Yeah, certainly, but I'm preparing to leave for New Orleans, so we have to be quick. Then I'll get right to the point. I was recently released from my position as U.S. attorney in Kentucky, and I'm hoping to find employment here in St. Louis. You're lying about being fired, hoping it will encourage the general to openly discuss his anti-government feelings with you. But Wilkinson looks at you skeptically. Ah, that's so. Well, I am sorry to hear that. Thank you, General. I imagine you must sympathize with my dissatisfaction toward the government, then. To be let go so unceremoniously, after all I've done defending the law of this nation.

10:08Wilkinson raises his eyebrows, and a grin slowly spreads across his face. Oh, give up. I know who you are, and I know all about your little investigation. You tilt your head, feigning confusion. Investigation, sir. Wilkinson searches his desk and hands you a folded piece of paper. Here, take a look for yourself. An anonymous warning I received telling me you were coming. You scan the letter, frustrated to be found out. Yeah, well, fine. It's true. I have been investigating you, General, and I know you're conspiring with Aaron Burr. I have reason to believe you're planning to sever the western frontier from the Union.

10:45Wilkinson abandons his trunk and sits down behind his desk. He then pours himself a large glass of whiskey, but doesn't offer you any. And where is your proof of this? I recently paid a visit to a surveyor's office back home. It turns out in 1797, he wrote to President Adams stating unequivocally that you aim to detach Kentucky and Tennessee from the Union and place them in Spain's protection. And I'd wager you're still a paid agent for the Spanish now. Wilkinson looks amused and takes a sip of his whiskey. But you detect a flash of anxiety in his eyes. No, I won't listen to these accusations any longer.

11:21Get out of my office. Well, thank you for your time, General. But I'll have you know I'm a persistent man. You walk out of Wilkinson's office, more sure than ever that he and Burr are plotting some kind of uprising. You're appalled that Jefferson has an obvious traitor at the head of the army. and just hope the president can wake up to the threat before it's too late.

11:44In May 1806, Joseph Hamilton Davis traveled to St. Louis to interview General Wilkinson. He left the meeting convinced that Wilkinson was leading a sinister plot against the United States. Though the general dismissed his accusations, Davis later wrote, I could clearly discern through the veil of his laughter that he was thoroughly alarmed. Davis returned to Kentucky that summer, just as rumors about Burr's conspiracy began to spread across the West. The controversy started with a newspaper in Frankfurt, Kentucky, called The Western World. In July, the paper ran a series of sensationalist stories, alleging that a secessionist scheme was underway and naming several of Burr's allies and confidants, including Wilkinson.

12:26Eventually, it printed accusations of Burr himself, saying he was leading a sprawling plot to detach the West from the Union, conquer Mexico, and form a new empire under his own rule. The reports quickly spread to Philadelphia, where Burr was spending the summer making final preparations for his expedition to Blenner-Hasset Island. When a friend showed him one of the articles, Burr laughed it off, dismissing the story as politically motivated. And Burr was correct that Federalists were behind the articles. The editors of the Western World had even purposefully exaggerated the scale of Burr's alleged plot in order to make Jefferson's Republican administration look weak.

13:03And the newspaper's mix of fact and fiction might have inadvertently benefited Burr, making his conspiracy sound too outlandish to be true. But for Prosecutor Joseph Davis, the Western World articles were simply more evidence that he'd been right all along. On July 14th, he wrote Jefferson again, voicing his frustration that his warnings about Burr and Wilkinson had been ignored. But Jefferson continued to brush off Davis, assuming the Federalist prosecutors' warnings were politically motivated, just like the articles in the Western world. So unhindered, Burr continued making preparations for his plot.

13:39In August, he arrived in Pittsburgh, where he tried to recruit more men into his private military force. Burr envisioned a small army of well-armed and well-trained soldiers who could help him conquer Spanish lands. But as he traveled through western Pennsylvania, he made a critical mistake. One evening, he called on an influential Revolutionary War veteran named Colonel George Morgan. Sitting down with Morgan and his sons for dinner, Burr predicted that the overtaxed West would soon secede from the Union. Morgan was shocked, replying, God forbid, I hope no such thing would ever happen. But Burr kept talking.

14:14He decried the imbecility of the government and insisted he could seize Washington with just 200 men. Morgan was stunned by his guest's traitorous remarks. The next day, he dashed off a letter of warning to the president. Burr, meanwhile, continued his solo journey down the Ohio River, arriving at the shipyards of Marietta in September 1806. There, he arranged to buy 15 boats, capable of carrying 500 men. He also purchased provisions, including large quantities of flour, cornmeal, pork, and whiskey. Then he pushed off, traveling alone through Ohio, Kentucky, and Tennessee. In Nashville, he arranged for the construction of several more boats, enough in total to lead a force of 1 ,000 men, and entrusted General Andrew Jackson with the money to pay for them.

15:00Burr told Jackson that he was confident that war with Spain was about to erupt on the Sabine River, the unofficial boundary between Spanish and American territory. Jackson happily agreed to lend his own Tennessee state militia to the fight, a fight he believed was being waged in the name of U.S. sovereignty. With this pledge, Burr was confident that his plans were falling into place.

15:24While Burr stayed in Nashville, General Wilkinson journeyed down the Mississippi River to the Orleans Territory. He was following Jefferson's orders to reinforce the disputed border between the United States and Mexico. In late September, he arrived in Natchitoches, on the east side of the Sabine River, where Burr had told Andrew Jackson he expected war between the U.S. and Spain would soon break out. There, on October 8, 1806, Burr's friend and confidant, Samuel Swartout, delivered a letter to Wilkinson that Burr had written in cipher. It read, I have obtained funds and have actually commenced the enterprise.

15:59Burr described how detachments from several points and under different pretenses will rendezvous on the Ohio on November 1st. Burr also noted that troops would meet Wilkinson in early December. Concluding the letter, Burr struck an inspirational tone, declaring, Up until this moment, Wilkinson had given every appearance of fully supporting Burr's plan. But now, on the verge of putting the plot into motion, Wilkinson began to have second thoughts. The visit from Davis had unnerved him. Newspapers across the country were now identifying him as Burr's partner. And recently, Wilkinson had lost his best pretext for invading Mexico, a key component of Burr's plot.

16:40A week before Wilkinson received Burr's cipher, on September 30th, Spanish troops had retreated from American settlements on the Sabine River. War with Spain now looked unlikely. and any aggression against Spanish Mexico would now be seen for what it was, an illegal invasion of a peaceful nation in defiance of the U.S. government. Wilkinson felt no deep loyalty to the United States, but he had always moved in the shadows. Now Burr was asking him to betray his country in the open with dire consequences if they failed. Wilkinson knew the time had come to either side with Burr or expose him. The two men had been friends and allies for decades.

17:19But in this moment, Wilkinson made the decision to double-cross his friend. But first, he needed to convincingly distance himself from the conspiracy. To do so, he forged a document, an anonymous report of a mysterious armed plot against New Orleans. He put the forged report in an envelope addressed to President Jefferson, along with a cover letter in his own letterhead, declaring that he was puzzled by the news. Wilkinson said nothing about Burr nor the cipher letter. Instead, he planned to slowly parcel out information to the president, as if he were discovering the conspiracy himself for the first time.

17:53He would use the cipher letter later as further evidence against Burr, but doctor it to remove any mention of his own name. On October 22nd, Wilkinson handed the forged report and his cover letter to a messenger who set off for Washington about a month's journey away. But while Wilkinson's forged report made its way to Washington, whispers about Burr turned into an uproar. Western newspapers were filled with reports of the conspiracy. Some editors branded Burr a traitor who was trying to break the Union apart. And at the same time, new warnings about Burr's plot landed on Jefferson's desk. In mid-September, Jefferson received Colonel George Morgan's letter describing his dinner with Burr.

18:34He reported that Burr had belittled the administration and predicted Western secession. Then on October 20th, Jefferson received a letter from his postmaster general, Gideon Granger. Granger described a second-hand account given to him by General William Eaton, the hard-drinking war hero who had tried and failed to warn Jefferson about Burr back in March. Eaton reported that Burr placed an order for boats in Marietta, Ohio, presumably to transport troops down to New Orleans. So for nearly a year, a steady stream of government officials, anonymous letters, and newspaper articles had sounded the alarm about Aaron Burr.

19:10And at last, this drumbeat of warnings had become impossible to ignore. The time had come for President Jefferson to finally admit that Burr was a threat to the government of the United States. And Jefferson resolved to quash Burr's dreams of conquest and preserve the Union no matter the cost.

19:32I'm Alice Levine. And I'm Matt Ford. And we're the hosts of British Scandal. Yes, indeed. In this series, a Derbyshire couple are bored of their curtain-twitching, lawn-mowing suburban life. So they sell their house, build a yacht and sail off around the world. Which sort of sounds idyllic until a sperm whale sinks their boat and they begin to starve. Oh yes, and they didn't bring a radio because real sailors don't use radios. Right? This is the story of Marilyn and Maurice Bailey. And the 117 days they spent lost at sea. Follow British Scandal wherever you get your podcasts or listen early and ad-free on Audible.

20:12During World War II, New York communist Julius Rosenberg began spying for the Soviet Union. Soon he was persuading other Americans to betray their country as well. But when his wife's brother joined the Manhattan Project, Julius targeted him as a valuable new recruit and inadvertently set the stage for the ultimate betrayal. Hi, I'm Lindsey Graham, host of Audible's original show, American Scandal. We bring to life some of the biggest controversies in U.S. history. presidential lies, environmental disasters, corporate fraud. In our latest series, two young New Yorkers meet and fall in love. Julius and Ethel Rosenberg's commitment to each other is matched only by their commitment to communism, and the couple risks everything to help the Soviet Union develop an atomic bomb.

20:56But when they're uncovered, they have to make an impossible choice about where their loyalty truly lies. Follow American Scandal wherever you get your podcasts. Audible subscribers can listen to all episodes of American Scandal The Rosenbergs ad-free right now. Join Audible today by downloading the Audible app.

21:18On October 22, 1806, President Jefferson assembled his cabinet. He informed them of an audacious plot to rebel against the United States, led by former Vice President Aaron Burr. The cabinet members were shocked to hear the president confirm that the long-standing rumors about Burr were true. They grappled with how to respond to such an unprecedented problem, especially with the limited information at their disposal. After weighing their options, they decided to warn Western governors and district attorneys, directing them to arrest Burr if he was observed engaging in any overt act against the Union.

21:54They also planned to send gunboats north from New Orleans to intercept Burr on the Mississippi River. But just two days later, Jefferson reconvened his cabinet. Mail had arrived from the West containing no further news about Burr's activities, and Jefferson took this as evidence that there was no immediate danger, declaring, this total silence proves he is committing no overt act against the law. Showing his characteristic reluctance to take action, Jefferson backtracked. Instead, the president and his cabinet decided to take a more measured approach. They would send warning letters to the Orleans and Mississippi territories and assign a government agent to follow Burr.

22:34Jefferson dispatched John Graham, secretary of the Orleans Territory, to gather information. Burr remained unaware that Jefferson had finally begun to take action to thwart him, or that his closest ally, General James Wilkinson, had betrayed him. He was traveling through Kentucky, still soliciting funds and feeling optimistic about his plot. But Burr's travels in Kentucky placed him just a few miles away from District Attorney Joseph Davis. Davis was by now fed up with Jefferson's silence and inaction. He later described his feelings, writing, Good God, was ever anything so astonishing, so unaccountable?

23:10If I had possessed sufficient power, I should have taken the start of Mr. Jefferson by removing him from office. Davis was tired of sitting back and waiting for what he called the snoring administration to wake up. So on November 5th, Davis took the evidence he had gathered to a federal district court in Frankfort, the Kentucky state capitol. He asked the judge there to force Burr to appear before a grand jury and answer questions about a conspiracy to instigate secession and invade Mexico. The judge agreed to consider the request. News of the court proceedings soon reached Burr. But he decided to meet the accusations head-on, riding on horseback through the rain to Frankfort.