James Wilkinson (24 March 1757 – 28 December 1825) was Governor of the Louisiana Territory from 1805 to 1807, succeeding William Henry Harrison and preceding Meriwether Lewis. Wilkinson had served on Horatio Gates' staff during the American Revolutionary War and backed the Conway Cabal against George Washington, and he would later be discovered to be a paid agent of the Kingdom of Spain, leading to President Theodore Roosevelt saying of him, "In all our history, there is no more despicable character."
Biography[]
American Revolutionary War[]
James Wilkinson was born on 24 March 1757 in Benedict, Maryland, and he came from a dispossessed family that lost had much of its land in Maryland. His father's last words to him told him that he would disinherit his son if he ever put up with an insult, leading to him being sensitive and combative. He studied medicine in Philadelphia before joining the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War, and Wilkinson served in William Thompson's rifle battalion from 1775 to 1776, seeing action at the Siege of Boston and the invasion of Canada in 1775. Wilkinson would be appointed a staff officer under Major-General Horatio Gates, and he embellished his own role in the victory at the Battles of Saratoga, leading to him being promoted to Brigadier-General despite being only 20 years old. This caused uproar among senior generals in the army, and Gates forced his resignation in March 1778 due to rumors spreading that Wilkinson was a part of the Conway Cabal. From 29 July 1779 to 27 March 1781, he served as Clothier-General of the Army, but he resigned due to "lack of aptitude".
Defection to Spain[]
In 1782, Wilkinson reluctantly became a Brigadier-General in the Pennsylvania militia and a state assemblyman in 1783, and in 1784 he moved to Kentucky, seeking to win its independence from Virginia. It was in April 1787, when he made a trip to New Orleans in Spanish Louisiana, that he defected to the Kingdom of Spain. Governor Esteban Rodriguez Miro allowed him to give Kentucky a monopoly on trade in the region in exchange for promoting Spanish interests, and on 22 August 1787 he signed an expatriation declaration and swore allegiance to the King of Spain. He sought for Spain to admit Kentucky as a vassal state, and in 1788 he openly campaigned to get Kentucky to swear allegiance to Spain. Governor Miro accepted Wilkinson's request for a $7,000 pension in recompense for his services, but Miro would ultimately not give him his pension due to Wilkinson losing Spain's confidence; however, he would still secretly be paid by Spain over the years.
Further contact with Spain[]
James Wilkinson fought for Kentucky during the Northwest Indian War against the Wea tribe, and he was commissioned as a Lieutenant-Colonel in the US Army. Wilkinson grew jealous of Anthony Wayne during the war, and he refused to go to Wayne' Christmas party; Wayne saw this as disrespect, and Wilkinson made criticisms about Wayne's spotless victory at the Battle of Fallen Timbers simply to insult him. When Wilkinson complained to George Washington about Wayne, Wayne began an investigation into Wilkinson's past with the Spanish, and couriers from Governor Francisco Luis Hector de Carondelet were intercepted by Wayne en route to Wilkinson to pay him. Despite his treason being confirmed, he served as Senior Officer (now Chief-of-Staff) of the US Army on two occasions. In 1803, in order to have his pension restored, Wilkinson advised the Spanish on how to contain American expansion, and he tipped them off about the goal of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. Wilkinson was later discovered to have been in contact with the traitor Aaron Burr when he attempted to buy land in Tejas from Spain to create a new republic in the Southwest, and Burr was arrested near Natchez, Mississippi in October 1806. In 1807, Meriwether Lewis took over governance of the Louisiana Territory from Wilkinson due to Wilkinson's treason.
End of career[]
In 1812, Wilkinson held command of US forces for the last time when the War of 1812 broke out with the United Kingdom. Wilkinson replaced Henry Dearborn on the Canada frontier, and he was defeated at the Battle of Crysler's Farm on 11 November 1813 and the Second Battle of Lacolle Mills on 30 March 1814, and he was discharged from the army in 1815. From 1816 to 1825 he served as envoy to Mexico during the Mexican War of Independence, and he attempted to negotiate the purchase of some land in Texas from Mexico. He died in Mexico City during his scheming.