Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1889, volume 6).djvu/545

Rh and, as chairman of the senate committee, he re- ported the bill that passed congress, authorizing the president to use the army to suppress the nulli- fication movement. In 1833 the electoral vote of Pennsylvania was cast for him for vice-president. In 1834 he was appointed minister to Russia. In 1842 he was again elected to the house of repre- sentatives, and served until 19 Jan., 1844, when he was made secretary of war by President Tyler. In 1855 he was chosen state senator from Alleghany county. At the opening of the civil war, although more than eighty years of age, he took an active interest in supporting the government as major- general of the home-guard, being always a stanch war Democrat. Prom 1805 until the time of his death he was active in any matter for the improve- ment of Pittsburg. In 1810 he helped to organize the Pittsburg manufacturing company, which in 1814 was incorporated as the Bank of Pittsburg, and he was its first president. He was interested in building the bridge across Monongahela river, and aided the Pennsylvania railroad in reaching the city of Pittsburg. His second wife was Matilda Dallas, daughter of Alexander James Dallas.

WILKINSON, James, soldier, b. in Benedict, Md., in 1757; d. near the city of Mexico, 28 Dec., 1825. He had just completed his studies for the medical profession when he enlisted in the army under Washington at Cambridge. There he soon formed a close in- timacy with Col. Benedict Arnold and Capt. Aaron Burr, and, being given a captain's commission, joined Arnold in Septem- ber, 1775, on his ex- pedition into Can- ada. He was ad- vanced to the rank of major, and in June, 1776, ap- pointed to the staff of Gen. Horatio Gates. Subsequent- ly he was promot- ed to a colonelcy, and appointed ad- jutant-general. In this capacity he was in the battle of Berais's Heights on 19 Sept., 1777, and in the more important engagement of 7 Oct. Under cover of darkness, Col. John Hardin, of Kentucky, had penetrated the British lines and obtained an accurate view of their strength and position. He regained the American outposts, and there met Wilkinson, who was making the rounds with some boon companions. Hardin confided to him his discoveries, and begged he would at once make them known to Gen. Gates. This Wilkinson did, suppressing Hardin's name, and making him- self the hero of the midnight adventure. The con- sequence was that when Burgoyne had surren- dered, Wilkinson was made bearer of the tidings to congress, with a recommendation for his ap- pointment as a brigadier-general. He was eighteen days on the way, and the news was a week old when he finally delivered his despatches. After several days a proposal was introduced into congress to present him with a sword, whereupon Dr. John Witherspoon dryly remarked : " 1 think ye'd better gie the lad a pair of spurs." This defeated the reso- lution, but congress, several weeks later, did ap- point him a brigadier-general by brevet, and soon £^£/kj£-^£ ^u^-7 o-w-f afterward secretary of the board of war, of which Gates was a member. Wilkinson was at this time deep in the Conway cabal, which proposed to ele- vate Gates to the chief command of the army, and the discovery of the conspiracy was due to his tell- ing the secret in a convivial hour to Lord Stir- ling. Forty-nine army officers of his own grade petitioned congress to rescind his appointment as brigadier, and he at once resigned his brevet com- mission, retaining his rank of colonel. He was not again actively employed till toward the close of the war, when he served for a time as clothier-general of the army. He then emigrated to Lexington, Ky. Mississippi river was then closed to Ameri- can commerce, and western produce was rotting on the ground for lack of a market. Wilkinson saw that he might realize a speedy fortune if he could obtain from the Spaniards an exclusive right to trade with New Orleans. Securing the good-will of the commandant of Natchez, by the present of a Rair of thoroughbreds, he loaded a flat-boat with Kentucky produce, in the spring of 1787, and sent it boldly down the Mississippi, while he went by the land-route to New Orleans. The flat-boat preceded him, and was promptly seized by the authorities on its arrival ; but it was quickly liberated on the appearance of Wilkinson, who secured an unlimited trading permission from the Spanish governor. The price he was to pay for this commercial concession and an annual pension of $2,000 was the betrayal of his country. In the entire district west of the Alleghanies great dissatisfaction then existed with the Federal government, in consequence of its inability to open the Mississippi to western commerce and its failure to protect the people against the raids of the savages. It was thought that advantage could be taken of this disaffection to sever the west from the east and erect it into a separate republic in close alliance with Spain. Thus divided, both republics would be weak, and neither would be dangerous to the Spanish possessions. Wilkinson went about the accomplishment of this treasonable project with consummate ability, and by June, 1788, by means of Spanish gold and Spanish promises, was able to count upon the support of a majority of the convention, which was to meet on the 28th of the ensuing July, to form a constitution for the new state of Kentucky. His work he now considered done ; but Diego Gardoqui, the Spanish minister, desired the secession of the entire west, and despatched a messenger with corrupt overtures to John Sevier, leader of the settlers south of Kentucky. Sevier at once despatched a quick messenger to Isaac Shelby, at Danville, Ky., who, with the aid of Thomas Marshall and George Muter, succeeded in thwarting Wilkinson's treasonable designs in the convention. Wilkinson continued his efforts, but with no chance of success. His trading adventures not proving successful, he applied, in 1791, for reinstatement in the army. In December of that year he was appointed a lieutenant-colonel on the recommendation of Thomas Marshall, who justified the appointment by saying that so long as Wilkinson was unemployed he considered him dangerous to the public quiet, if not to the safety, of Kentucky. He took service in the western department under Gen. Anthony Wayne, but continued a treasonable correspondence with the Spanish officials, and there is proof that down to 1800 he was in receipt of a Spanish pension. His intrigues encouraged Spain to persist in the occlusion of the Mississippi, and they entailed twelve years of savage warfare upon the border settlements. Wilkinson performed good service against the northwestern Indians, and was promoted to a