The Traumatic Colonel. Ed White
you may discover many unimportant traits; but upon the first blush, or a superficial view, they are obscured like the spots in the sun, by a radiance that dazzles and fascinates the sight.
—Port Folio, 1805
They would often meet together at sun-down in the woods and caves, and hold kintikoys, where they drank largely of the Burr decoction; stripped themselves star[k] naked, and sung, and fiddled, and capered, and danced, and played the fool all night long. They would mark themselves too in the day time, and dress themselves up like mountebanks, jugglers, and rope dancers. Then they would run along upon the tops of the fences, tumble in the dirt, act pantomimes and make speeches, with many other diverting tricks, to the amusement of the bye-standers. At such times too they had a remarkable fondness for filth, and would lie down in the drains and ditches, and smear and daub themselves all, and throw nasty matter at the travelers.
—American Citizen, 1805
Thus Mr. Burr, for aye intriguing,
With this side, and with that side leaguing,
Has late contriv’d a scheme quite handy,
To make himself, for life, a grandee.
—Thomas Fessenden, “Democracy Unveiled,” 1805
There is a chain of connection through the continent—of which Burr has been and still is the master link.
—Aurora, October, 13, 1806
This is indeed a deep, dark, and widespread conspiracy, embracing the young and the old, the Democrat and the Federalist, the native and the foreigner, the patriot of ’76 and the exotic of yesterday, the opulent and the needy, the “ins” and “outs”; and I fear it will receive strong support in New Orleans from a quarter little suspected.
—General James Wilkinson to President Thomas Jefferson, November 1806
Col. Osmun and Lyman Harding Esq. were bound in the sum of 2500 dols. as sureties of Burr. It is a singular fact that the late Vice President of the United States, is now advertised in all the public places in this Territory, as well as in the Newspapers, as a runaway.
—Trenton Federalist, 1807
The debate on the bill to prohibit the importation of slaves was resumed, but seemed to have lost all its interest.
—memoirs of John Quincy Adams, January 26, 1807
Mr. Burr and his conspiracy have begun to occupy our attention.
—John Quincy Adams to John Adams, January 27, 1807
I never, indeed thought him an honest, frank-dealing man, but considered him as a crooked gun, or other perverted machine, whose aim or stroke you could never be sure of.
—Thomas Jefferson to William Branch Giles, 1807
A gentleman, the other day, remarked to another, as a singular fact, that the initials of the name of A. Burr, were those of the two greatest conquerors that had ever spread ruin and devastation over the face of the earth, to wit, Alexander and Buonaparte. It is by no means singular, retorted his facetious friend; they will stand for the vilest traitor that ever disgraced humanity, Benedict Arnold, but in fact they will stand for any body.
—Miller’s Weekly (Pendleton, SC), 1807
Colonel Burr (quantum mutates ab illo!) passed by my door the day before yesterday, under a strong guard. So I am told, for I did not see him, and nobody hereabouts is acquainted with his person. . . . To guard against inquiry as much as possible he was accoutered in a shabby suit of homespun, with an old white hat flapped over his face, the dress in which he was apprehended. . . . His very manner of traveling, although under arrest, was characteristic of the man, enveloped in mystery.
—John Randolph to Joseph H. Nicholson, 1807
I am anxious to see the Progress of Burr’s Tryal; not from any Love or hatred I bear to the Man, for I cannot say that I feel either. He is, as you say a Nondescript in natural History. But I think something must come out on the Tryal, which will strengthen or weaken our Confidence in the General Union. I hope something will appear to determine clearly, whether any foreign Power has or has not been tampering with our Union. If it should appear that he is guilty of Treason and in Concert with any foreign Power, you and your twelve thousand Copetitioners might petition as earnestly as you did for Fries, if I was President, and the Gallows should not lose its prey. An ignorant Idiot of a German, is a very different Being from a Vice President of the United States. The one knew not what Treason was; the other knows all about it. The one was instigated by Virginians and Pensilvanians who deserved to be hanged much more than he did. The other could be instigated only by his own ambition, avarice or Revenge. But I hope his Innocence will be made to appear, and that he will be fairly acquitted.
—Benjamin Rush to John Adams, 1807
A stranger presents himself. It is Aaron Burr. Introduced to their civilities by the high rank which he had lately held in his country, he soon finds his way to their hearts, by the dignity and elegance of his demeanor, the light and beauty of his conversation, and the seductive and fascinating power of his address. . . . Such was the state of Eden, when the serpent entered its bowers!
—William Wirt, for the prosecution against Aaron Burr, 1807
If I were to name this, I would call it the Will o’ wisp treason. For though it is said to be here and there and everywhere, yet it is nowhere. It only exists in the newspapers and in the mouths of the enemies of the gentleman for whom I appear; who get it put in the newspapers.
—Luther Martin, in defense of Aaron Burr, 1807
The rebellion had been crushed, it was said, in the womb of speculation; the armies of Colonel Burr were defeated before they were raised.
—Edward Livingston, A Faithful Picture, 1808
And there was the fascinating colonel Burr. A man born to be great—brave as Cæsar, polished as Chesterfield, eloquent as Cicero. Lifted by the strong arm of his country, he rose fast, and bade fair soon to fill the place where Washington had sat. But alas! lacking religion, he could not wait the spontaneous fall of the rich honors ripening over his head, but in an evil hour stretched forth his hand to the forbidden fruit, and by that fatal act was cast out from the Eden of our republic, and amerced of greatness for ever.
—Mason Weems, Life of George Washington, 6th ed., 1808
Of Burr I will say nothing, because I know nothing with certainty.
—John Adams to James Lloyd, 1815
For more than thirty years Colonel Burr has been assailed and abused in public journals, at home and abroad. Some of them have misrepresented him from ignorance of the facts; others from party purposes or malicious feelings. It is sometimes amusing to read some of these misrepresentations. It is not Mr. Wirt alone who has gained fame by indulging the imagination on the wonderful sorceries of Colonel Burr. Others have given him the eye of the basilisk, from whose glance it was impossible to recede, and that when once fixed on an object the destruction of it was certain. They have represented his voice as sweeter than that of the Sirens, and that he used this charm as successfully as the fabled enchantresses. Even his gait had something of necromancy about it, and reminded these lovers of the wonderful of the stealthy step of Tarquin approaching the couch of the chaste Lucretia. In their legends, he was more successful in his intrigues than Apollo, for no Diana could interfere between him and the object of his pursuit. These exaggerations and fictions often reached his ear, but did not disturb him. He took no pains to make explanations or excuses. When asked in a proper manner for his opinions, he always gave a direct and prompt answer to the inquirer, but never permitted any one to put a supercilious interrogatory to him.
—Samuel Lorenzo Knapp, The Life of Aaron Burr, 1835
Remembering what has been said of the power of Burr’s personal influence, his art to tempt men, his might to subdue them, and the fascination that enabled him, though cold at heart, to win the love of woman, we gaze at this production of