100 Second memorial quoted extensively in Clark’s Proofs, appendix 105, and referred to in JW’s Memoirs 2:113. Jacobs and Hay were both at pains to play down JW’s assistance to Spain, but there was real value in his specific recommendation for a garrison of two hundred men and galleys with fifty rowers at New Madrid, and for organizing the militia on American lines by companies, battalions, and regiments “officered by the most respectable of their countrymen” so that military duty would be seen as patriotic and socially desirable.
101 “My anxiety about him is so great”: Hay, “Letters of Mrs. Ann Biddle Wilkinson.”
102 “a valuable tract of land of 10,000 acres”: Ibid.
CHAPTER 10: ENSHACKLEDBY DEBT
Details of JW’s increasing indebtedness are to be found in the Harry Innes Papers and Daniel Clark’s Proofs and demonstrate his failings in respectively real estate and commerce.
103 “On my arrival here”: JW to Miró, January 26, 1790, legajo 2374, quoted in Gayarré, History of Louisiana, 278.
104 “The great falling off which I observe”: Miró to Valdes, May 22, 1790, ibid.
104 “that Congress strongly suspects my connection with you”: ibid.
104 “I much regret”: Miró to JW, April 30, 1790, ibid.
105 “I am of opinion that said brigadier-general”: Miró to Valdes, May 22, 1790, ibid.
105 “Let me conjure you to be rigid”: JW to Miró, undated, legajo 2374.
106 For JW’s partnership with Peyton Short, see Clark, Proofs. Clark wrote, “I am authorised without the fear of contradiction to state, that this gentleman felt for years the embarrassments caused by the connection,” 38.
106 “appalled my Spirit”: JW to Michael La Cassagne (also written “Lacassagne”), January 20, 1790, First American West:The Ohio River Valley, 1750–1820, LoC.
107 For the impact of General Harmar’s defeat, see especially Kohn, Eagle and Sword, and Cress, “Reassessing American Military Requirements.”
107 “The voice of all ranks called me”: JW to Miró, February 14, 1791, legajo 2374, cited in Jacobs, Tarnished Warrior, 98.
107 “The consternation arising”: Henry Knox to George Washington, September 22, 1791, GWP.
107 “During a residence of more than seven years in these woods”: JW to Knox, August 26, 1791, GWP.
108 “in the name of the President of the United States”: Knox to St. Clair, September 29, 1791, GWP, requiring him to pass on the message.
108 “to effect a violent seperation from the United States”: Thomas Marshall to Washington, February 12, 1789, GWP.
108 “I was greatly alarmed”: Washington to Marshall, March 27, 1789, GWP.
108 James O’Fallon’s letter to Washington, September 30, 1790, GWP.
109 “To hold a post of such responsibility”: Washington to Alexander Hamilton, June 25, 1799, GWP.
109 For the evolution and composition of the army after 1783, see especially Kohn, Eagle and Sword; Cress, Citizens in Arms; and Skelton, An American Profession of Arms.
111 “My views in entering the Military Line are ‘Bread & Fame’ ”: JW to Peyton Short, December 28, 1791, quoted in Jacobs, Tarnished Warrior, 102.
CHAPTER 11: A GENERAL AGAIN
Information after JW rejoins the army divides into three types: they relate to his public duties as an officer, to his private ambitions to gain command, and to his activities in relation to New Orleans. Regarding the first, the sources already cited are invaluable; for the second, JW’s letters to Congressman, later Senator, John Brown, and Harry Innes (the Innes Papers) are useful; for the third, the Spanish archives remain essential. JW’s Memoirs, volume 2, throw an unreliable light on all three strands.
113 Of the many excellent and harrowing accounts of St. Clair’s defeat, William Darke’s firsthand version in his letter to Washington has an unequaled immediacy. William Darke to Washington, November 9, 1791, GWP.
114 “The [regular] Troops were instantly formed”: Ibid.
114 “[The Indians] could skip out of reach”: The Military Journal of Major Ebenezer Denny (Philadelphia: Historical Society of Pennsylvania, 1849).
114 “To suffer that army to be cut to pieces”: Recounted by Tobias Lear to Dr. Benjamin Rush and retold by Richard Rush in Washington in Domestic Life (Philadelphia: Lippincott, 1857).
115 “my private interest”: JW to Miró, December 4, 1791, legajo 2374.
115 “The depth of the snow”: JW to Samuel Hodgdon, March 12, 1792.
116 Comments on candidates for commanding officer: “Memorandum on General Officers,” Philadelphia, March 9, 1792, PGW.
117 Thomas Jefferson’s notes: Annals of Thomas Jefferson, ed. Franklin Sawvel (New York: Round Table Press, 1904), 62.
117 “I regret much”: Hay, “Letters of Mrs. Ann Biddle Wilkinson.”
118 “Brigadier Wilkinson’s attention”: Washington to Knox, August 13, 1791, PGW.
119 “Political Conditions of the Province of Louisiana”: Original in Papeles de Cuba, Estados de Misisipi, 313, quoted by James Alexander Robertson, Louisiana under the Rule of Spain, France, and the United States, 1785–1807 (Cleveland: Clark, 1911), 1:280–83.
119 Carondelet’s message confirming JW’s pension of two thousand dollars a year: Carondelet to JW, February 1, 1792, legajo 2374.
120 “To save me in this”: Peyton Short to JW, December 21, 1791, Innes Papers, vol. 23.
120 “I pray you, my friend”: JW to Innes, February 29, 1792, ibid.
120 “uncontrolled power over my whole property”: JW to Innes, April 10, 1792, ibid.
121 “The Vice of drunkeness”: Knox to Washington, September 17, 1792, GWP, 248.
121 “Be pleased therefore, Madam”: Major Armstrong to JW, June 1, 1792, quoted in Jacobs, Tarnished Warrior, 110.
122 The St. Tammany’s Day celebration: Jacobs, Tarnished Warrior, 110.
122 “2000 select troops composed of Musketeers”: JW to Carondelet, December 15, 1792, legajo 2374.
CHAPTER 12: DISCIPLINE AND DECEIT
For the creation of the Legion of the United States, the military sources are those cited earlier, but of particular relevance is Birtle, “The Origins of the Legion of the United States.” For Wayne’s side of the toxic battle with JW, Paul David Nelson’s biography Anthony Wayne, Soldier of the Early Republic remains indispensable. The sources for JW’s double life are those cited earlier.
124 “It is painful to consider”: Knox to Washington, July 17, 1789, GWP.
126 Mad Anthony: The origin of Wayne’s nickname reflected his character. See Nelson, Anthony Wayne.
126 For the composition of the army, see Skelton, “Social Roots of the American Military Profession.”
128 “send as soon as possible a canoe to New Madrid”: Carondelet to Gayoso, October 29, 1793, quoted in Hay, Admirable Trumpeter, 136.
128 “the projected attack against Louisiana”: JW to Carondelet, November 23, 1793, ibid.