From this on, there seems to be no pause in the movement of the pitiful tragedy. So far as Blennerhassett is concerned it all appears measurably clear, save for one feature to be mentioned in a moment. In July, 1806, Burr made his purchase of the Washita lands. The tract comprised four hundred thousand acres for which he was to pay forty thousand dollars; five thousand he paid down. His son-in-law, husband of the rare Theodosia Burr Alston, doubtless furnished the funds in part; a number of friends in the East aided. At this time war seemed very probable; "Never was an adventurer more sanguine of success than was Burr in July and August . . . " affirmed Parton; "the plot seemed well laid. The excellence of it was that both his schemes were genuine. He really had two strings to his bow. If war broke out, he would march into Mexico; if not, he would settle on the Washita; and wait for abetter opportunity."

On the 29th of July Burr forwarded by the hand of his agent Swartwout the famous cypher letter to General Wilkinson; it reads as follows, the italics being the words Wilkinson erased when he turned State's evidence and divulged the plot:

Your letter, postmarked 13th May, is received. At length I have obtained funds, and have actually commenced. The eastern detachments from different points, and under different pretences, will rendezvous on the Ohio, 1st of November. Every thing internal and external favors our views. Naval protection of England is secured. Truxton is going to Jamaica, to arrange with the Admiral on that station. It will meet us at the Mississippi. England, a navy of the United States, are ready to join, and final orders are given to my friends and followers. It will be a host of choice spirits. Wilkinson shall be second to Burr only, and Wilkinson shall dictate the rank and promotion of his officers. Burr will proceed westward 1st of August, never to return. With him go his daughter and grandson. The husband will follow in October, with a CORPS of worthies. Send, forthwith, an intelligent friend with whom Burr may confer. He shall return immediately with further interesting details: this is essential to harmony and concert of movement. Send a list all persons known to Wilkinson west of the mountains, who could be useful, with a note delineating their character. By your messenger, send me four or five of the commissions of your officers, which you can borrow under any pretense you please. They shall be retained faithfully. Already are orders given to the contractor to forward six months' provision to points Wilkinson may name; this shall not be used until the last moment, and then under proper injunctions. Our project, my dear friend, is brought to a point so long desired. Burr guarantees the result with his life and honor, with the lives, and honor, and the fortunes of hundreds, the best blood of our country. Burr's plan of operation is to move down rapidly, from the falls, on the 15th of November, with the first five hundred or one thousand men, in light boats now constructing for that purpose, to be at Natchez between the 5th and 15th of December, there to meet you. there to determine whether it will be expedient in the first instance, to seize on, or pass by, Baton Rouge ... on receipt of this, send Burr an answer, . . . draw on Burr for all expenses, etc. The people of the country to which we are going are prepared to receive us; their agents, now with Burr, say that if we will protect their religion, and will not subject them to a foreign power that, in three weeks, all will be settled. The gods invite us to glory and fortune; it remains to be seen whether we deserve the boon. The bearer of this goes express to you; he will band a formal letter of introduction to you, from Burr; he is a man of inviolaable honor and perfect discretion, formed to execute rather than project, capable of relating facts with fidelity and incapable of relating them otherwise. He is thoroughly informed of the plans and intentions of, and will disclose to you, as far as you inquire, and no further; he has imbibed a reverence for your character, and may be embarrassed in your presence; put him at ease, and he will satisfy you.

(Note: The words in italics were stricken out, and, in sonic instances, supplied by others, in the copy which was presented to the Legislature of Louisiana by General Wilkinson, his reason for the alteration being to divert public suspicion from himself as being connected with Burr."—Saflord, The Blennerhasiett Papers, 169.)

On August 4th, Burr with Mrs. Alston and son set out for the West. From Bedford, Pennsylvania, he wrote Blennerhassett on August 15th that he would reach him on the 23d or 24th of that month. As he forged westward he seems to have spread everywhere the seeds of sedition; diverging north and south from his direct course he met many people and talked to each as he felt would do most good; to one he would emphasize the land purchase; with another the possibilities of war and glory; to another he coincided in despising the reigning government at Washington, though everywhere he made it appear that Jefferson's administration favored war with Spain, and everywhere spread the intimation that Burr's plan was secretly favored by it. If in most instances he fed the right sauce to the right gander he made a mess of it in one staunch home in the "Monongahela country"—that of Colonel Morgan near Canonsburg, Pennsylvania. After talking freely to the Colonel's sons he descended from his chamber, when his host thought him abed, and broached the subject uppermost in his mind to the old Colonel. The latter's attitude gave the sharp Burr great reason to change the topic of conversation, which he quickly did. Morgan in consultation with others dispatched a letter to President Jefferson; this letter, Jefferson later said, gave him his first notion of Burr's real design.

Reaching Blennerhassett Island, the plan of operations was quickly rounded into shape. The land speculation was circulated as the real purpose, and all comers were to have one hundred acres of land as bounty for embarking. How much or how little Burr confided in Blennerhassett is not known. It has been said that the Irishman was kept in the dark so far as the larger dreams of the fortune-seeker were concerned. If such was the case how are we to explain the series of articles which the fluent pen of Blennerhassett now wrote, and which were published in the Ohio Gazette at Marietta under the non-de-plume of "Querist"? They present the view of a logical separation of the eastern and western States of the Union. Who can explain these literary productions, originating immediately after Burr's arrival, otherwise than as part and parcel with the plan of operations then outlined ? To the present writer these articles form one of the strongest proofs of the treasonable influence exerted by Aaron Burr on the western people.

From this time on Burr and Blennerhassett were in close touch, the former securing men for the emigration, the latter preparing the boats and stores, and arranging his affairs before departing from his home. Burr made Kentucky his headquarters, but visited all the important western towns. Blennerhassett ran back and forth between Kentucky, the island, and Marietta. The expedition was to proceed in three divisions. One Comfort Tyler, from New York, was in command of boats to start at Pittsburg containing the emigrants of that region and the East. When this flotilla reached the island it was to be joined by Blennerhassett's boats, fifteen in number, then being built by Col. Jos. Barker on the Muskingum. The combined fleets were to be met by Burr's own boats (six) at the mouth of the Cumberland, these having been built and stocked at Nashville, for the payment of which Andrew Jackson held four thousand dollars of Burr's money. Burr hoped the expedition would get off by November 15th but was disappointed in this. On November 14th Tyler wrote Blennerhassett that he hoped to set sail by December 15th but that his "settlers" were late in arriving. He purposed being at the island by December 8th. By contract Blennerhassett's boats were to be ready December 9th. They were to number fifteen; ten were to be forty feet, and five fifty feet long; all were to be ten feet wide and two and one half feet deep, "after the Schenectady model, such as were used on the Mohawk river." A keelboat sixty feet long was to carry arms and stores; one of the boats was to be finished in the best of style for Blennerhassett's family; this was to have separate rooms, glass windows, and a fire-place. The boats were to be provisioned with pork, bacon, flour, kiln-dried meal, whiskey, etc. The cost of the boats was two thousand dollars and the cost of the provisions an equal amount.

Little by little the suspicions of people were awakened by these preparations; Burr was accused in Kentucky of plotting disunion; Blennerhassett confidentially acknowledged the authorship of the "Querist" articles, and rumor ran riot in the neighborhood that Blennerhassett's boats were being built for treasonable purposes. An agent, one Graham, was sent westward by Jefferson on the receipt of Colonel Morgan's letter, who palmed himself off on Blennerhassett as an ardent Burrite and then hurried to Chillicothe, the capital of Ohio, with a clear idea of what Blennerhassett thought was on the tapis. As early as October 6th a mass meeting of the citizens of Wood County, of which Newport, now Parkersburg, W. Va., was the metropolis, was held for the purpose of protecting "the honor and safety of the settlers and their property, and to cause every person friendly to the Constitution of the United States to express their attachment thereto." Matters came to a crisis when, on receipt of information from General Wilkinson, who turned State's evidence, President Jefferson issued a proclamation on November 27th announcing that "unlawful enterprises were on foot in the western States . . . and commanded all officers, civil and military, to use their immediate and utmost exertions to bring the offending persons to condign punishment." The Ohio Legislature, December 6th, authorized the calling out of militia at Marietta.

The situation now presented is perfectly typical of the Ohio Valley at this time, when this valley was "the West." There was the political rivalry, which Burr's friends, with Henry Gay at their head, soundly denounced as "persecution"—such as had driven him out of the East. The virulence of this political rivalry could not have been more bitter than here on the river that was the dividing line of Roundhead and Cavalier. Then there was the idle crew that Burr's agents had enlisted along the river, hot for this or any other adventure; a number of these were earnest, honest men but the rank and file were the rowdies with which the valley was infested and eager as Catiline's old tribe for "new things." With the overhauling of Burr in Kentucky and the issuing of Jefferson's proclamation, a wave of boisterous patriotism swept over the valley, inherently honest, although identified with half-ruffian hordes who made the pretence of preserving order an opportunity for riotous outlawry.

Jefferson's proclamation and the action of the Ohio Legislature December 6th came just in time to thwart Blennerhassett's plan of departure. Tyler, with only four boats and thirty-two men, reached Blennerhassett Island December 7th, but before Blennerhassett's own boats were completed they were seized by the Ohio militia. This adroit movement followed the arrival of Jefferson's proclamation. At Newport (Parkersburg) even a bolder measure was proposed; this was nothing less than the seizure of Blennerhassett and his men. Learning this fact the latter wrote hastily to Colonel Barker at Marietta for such of the boats as were completed. Finding these held by the State of Ohio, the baffled man, fully determined to escape the Virginia militia, prepared to leave the island on the following night, December 10th.

His situation was now pitiable; many of those who had agreed to embark in the adventure were thunder-struck at the President's proclamation and its results; few of them, and those a most unreliable lot, remained steadfast in the adventurous plan. An episode of the hour is not without its significant, as well as humorous, aspects, in that day of rowdy and outlaw. A band of young men who were unmoved in their determination to follow the fortunes of the fleeing Irishman undertook to filch the appropriated flotilla of flatboats from the militia at Marietta. One boat was secured on the maraud, the militia succeeding in holding the remainder, and in this one boat, near midnight of December 10th, poor "Blanny," as he was locally known, set sail with Tyler's boats.

Mrs. Blennerhassett and children were left to come later in the family boat that was being built. For this boat Mrs. Blennerhassett made a hurried trip to Marietta on the following day and during her absence the horde of Virginia militia descended upon the island estate under the command of Colonel Hugh Parker. The commander, learning of Blennerhassett's flight, put off post haste "cross country" to head the boats at Point Pleasant. The militia, lacking the restraining hand of their leader, occupied the mansion like vandals and, filled with liquors there discovered, entered upon a disgraceful round of violence and destruction. This wantonness is described by two young men, Morgan Neville and William Robinson, who chanced to be passing down the Ohio and were arrested as accomplices, as follows:

On the 13th day of December 1806 the boat in which we were, was driven ashore, by ice and wind, on Backus' Island, about one mile below Mr. Blennerhassett's house; we landed in the forenoon, and the wind continuing unfavorable, did not afford us any opportunity of putting off until three o'clock in the evening, at which time we were attacked by about twenty-five men, well armed, who rushed upon us suddenly, and we, not being in a situation to resist the fury of a mob, surrendered; a strong guard was placed in the boat, to prevent, we presume, those persons of our party who remained in the boat, from going off with her, while we were taken to the house of Mr. Blennerhassett. On our arrival at the house we found it filled with militia; another party of them were engaged in making fires, around the house, of rails dragged from the fences of Mr. Blennerhassett. At this time Mrs. Blennerhassett was from home. When she returned, about an hour after, she remonstrated against this outrage on the property, but without effect; the officers declared that while they were on the island, the property absolutely belonged to them. We were informed, by themselves that their force consisted of forty men the first night; and on the third day it was increased to eighty. The officers were constantly issuing the whiskey and meat, which had been laid up for the use of the family; and whenever any complaint was made by the friends of Mrs. Blennerhassett, they invariably asserted that everything on the farm was their own property. There appeared to us to be no kind of subordination among the men; the large room they occupied on the first floor presented a continued scene of riot and drunkenness; the furniture appeared ruined by the bayonets, and one of the men fired his gun against the ceiling; the ball made a large hole, which completely spoiled the beauty of the room. They insisted that the servants should wait on them, before attending to their mistress; when this was refused, they seized upon the kitchen, and drove the negroes into the wash house. We were detained from Saturday evening until Tuesday morning; during which time there were never less than thirty, and frequently from seventy to eighty men living in this riotous manner entirely on provisions of Mrs. Blennerhassett. When we left the island, a cornfield near the house, in which the corn was still remaining, was filled with cattle, the fences having been pulled down to make fires. This, we pledge ourselves to be a true statement of those transactions, as impression was made on us at the time.

In company with these young men Mrs. Blennerhassett set sail in a flatboat secured from A. W. Putnam of Belpre on the night of December 17th.

Blennerhassett escaped detection of guards both at Gallipolis and Point Pleasant. His boats passed the "Falls" at Louisville December 16th. On the 2 nd Burr came down the Cumberland with two boats. The combined flotilla numbered eleven boats, and an hundred-odd men. Fort Massac was reached
December 29 th and on the next day the Mississippi was entered. As is well known both Burr and Blennerhassett were brought to trial at Richmond, Virginia, and declared "not guilty" of treason as accused.

The island farm and home, despoiled and overgrown, was seized by Blennerhassett's creditors and when he returned a year later it was truly a "Deserted Isle" that welcomed the ill-fated man. The house had been gutted of its contents, the slaves had run away or been seized for debt. The boats that were completed on the Muskingum had been used as government transports for troops to St. Louis, the provisions had been sold by the government. Some of the older residents of the Muskingum valley can still remember when portions of some of Blennerhassett's uncompleted boats formed portions of farm buildings until the knives of relic-hunters demolished them.

Negligence of tenants, river freshets, and the rudeness of those in charge (who viewed it as public property) had rendered the building and surroundings pitiable to behold; window casings had been torn out to procure the leaden weights by which the sashes were poised; the stone roller used to level the lawn and grounds was broken to obtain the iron axles on which it ran. Hemp and cordage rnachinery took the place of flowers and shrubbery.

Blennerhassett looked sadly upon the ruins of his once bright home, and returning to Natchez, purchased a plantation of one thousand acres, at St. Catherine, near Port Gibson, Claiborne County, Mississippi;on it he placed twenty-two slaves, and there, upon about two hundred acres, began the culture of cotton. The war with Great Britain, in 1812-15, occasioned an embargo and reduction of values, and the enterprise was abandoned. He sold the plant entire for twenty-seven thousand dollars, which scarcely satisfied his creditors.

He removed to New York, and attempted the practice of law. Not succeeding, he went to Canada in 1819, and there also failed in his purposes. Then he visited Ireland, his native heath, to prosecute a reversionary claim, but was barred by statute of limitations. During this absence of her husband, Mrs. Blennerhassett found a home in New York, and was financially assisted by the Emmets. She went then to Pennsylvania, where at Wilkesbarre, her sister, Mrs. Dow, resided. She next joined her husband in Montreal, and while there, in 1824, wrote for publication a volume entitled Widow of tlte Rock and other Poems. Among the productions of her pen while in Canada was the pathetic poem, The Deserted Isle. She died in New York and was buried in the '' Marble Cemetery" on Second Street. Blennerhassett died at Port Pierre, Isle of Guernsey, February 1st, 1831.

Before leaving the island with the flotilla, Blennerhassett had rented to Colonel Nathaniel Cushing, a friend in Belpre, the entire estate, crops, cattle, and agricultural utensils. He kept possession for two years, and it was then, on creditors' suits, taken out of his hands by the courts, and furniture and library under an attachment sold at auction for bills endorsed by Blennerhassett for Burr.

Joseph S. Lewis, of Philadelphia, a merchant, purchased the island in September 1817, after the failure, and destruction of the house and property. It passed into the hands of George Neale, Sr., and is now possessed by his daughter Alice and son-in-law Amos W. Gordon. It is a pleasure resort during the summer season. The old well is still in use, and some locust and other trees said to have been planted by Blennerhassett himself overshadow its moss-covered edges and its crystal waters that drop from the old oaken bucket. The caps of the stone gateway are shown in the steps of the present dwelling. On the fine grassy terrace where Blennerhassett was wont to promenade and repeat the entire Iliad in the original Greek, fierce baseball games are played on sunny Sunday afternoons, while the peanut vender hawks his ware and the "pop" bottles resound under the shade of the gigantic sycamores.

Source: The Ohio River: A Course of Empire, by Arthur Butler Hulbert 1906 - Transcribed by C. Anthony