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James Wilkinson (1757-1825), a native of Maryland, was the ranking general in the U.S. Army in 1803 when he and Governor William C. C. Claiborne accepted the Province of Louisiana from the French. Later appointed Governor of the Louisiana Territory (the Louisiana Purchase above the Territory of Orleans), he became involved with Aaron Burr in his scheme to detach the western states from the U.S. Wilkinson eventually turned against Burr but only narrowly escaped indictment and prosecution. As the government's chief witness in the conspiracy trial, held in Richmond, Virginia during the year 1807, Wilkinson began the process of rehabilitating his reputation. He was finally cleared of charges that he was complicit in Burr's scheme in 1811, the same year as the publication of Burr's Conspiracy Exposed. In the page from that work displayed here is a letter from Wilkinson to Governor Claiborne in which the General describes measures to be taken to protect New Orleans from attack by the conspirators.      [Burr's Conspiracy Exposed; and General Wilkinson Vindicated Against the Slanders of His Enemies on that Important Occasion (1811)]

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