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Greatest traitor in US History wasn't Benedict Arnold

GulfRastaGulfRasta Posts: 150 ✭✭✭
edited June 15, 2022 1:11PM in World & Ancient Coins Forum

Ok. I have way more than what I've started. I have a tangential story. The greatest traitor in US history.
General James Wilkinson. He made Benedict Arnold look loyal. This particular issue I worked on with the Aaron Burr Society with a leading Burr expert and relative. The real bad guy in the Aaron Burr story including the Alexander Hamilton killing.
" The Man Who Double-Crossed The Founders "
" It was just after the Revolutionary War — at a time when a young United States and a mighty Spain were fighting for control of North America — that American war hero James Wilkinson marched across the border between the U.S. and Spanish-ruled Louisiana to sign a secret allegiance to Spain.

"Some people are born to treachery," author Andro Linklater tells NPR's Steve Inskeep, "and I think he was."

The most notorious American traitor you've probably never heard of, Gen. James Wilkinson is the subject of Linklater's book An Artist in Treason: The Extraordinary Double Life of General James Wilkinson. "
https://www.npr.org/2010/04/28/126363998/the-man-who-double-crossed-the-founders

Thing about Wilkinson was the silver. Yep. Spanish 8 Reales.
" Silver Dollars Everywhere, Including In The Drink

The real problem for Wilkinson was getting paid for his intelligence, which was the only reason he had become a spy in the first place. Wilkinson was hard pressed to find a way of secretly transporting the loud, unwieldy payments the Spanish sent him — thousands of silver dollars at a time. He tried packing them in casks used for sugar, coffee and rum, but the clinking of the cash made it hard to hide the barrels' valuable contents.
"On one occasion, one of his messengers, who was carrying about 3,000 silver dollars, was murdered by his boatmen," Linklater says. "At that moment, Wilkinson absolutely came to the very edge of being discovered."

The five murderers, all Spanish, took the money and scattered across the Kentucky countryside, but were soon captured and taken before a magistrate. As luck would have it, though, the assassins spoke no English — and Thomas Power, the interpreter the magistrate sent for, was secretly another Spanish spy.

With Power there to translate, the Spaniards explained that the money they had stolen was in fact a payment for information Wilkinson had sold to Spain. But what Power told the magistrate, Linklater recounts, was: "'They just say they're wicked murderers motivated by greed.'"

And just like that, Wilkinson got away. "

Cont...

Comments

  • GulfRastaGulfRasta Posts: 150 ✭✭✭

    History records the following.
    " April 13, 1813

    Gen. James Wilkinson seized control of Mobile from the Spanish during the War of 1812. Wilkinson surrounded Fort Carlota, now Fort Conde, with a combined army and navy force the previous day. Severely outnumbered, the Spanish commander, Capt. Cayetano Perez, surrendered without a fight. Most Americans believed that Mobile and the remainder of Spanish West Florida rightfully belonged to the United States through the terms of the Louisiana Purchase in 1803. While Spain was not a belligerent in the War of 1812, Wilkinson captured the district to prevent the Spanish from supplying their British ally with aid. "
    https://alabamanewscenter.com/2017/04/13/day-alabama-history-gen-wilkinson-seized-control-mobile-war-1812/

    My 3rd great grandfather, the slave trader and bast***, was there too. Signing the instrument of surrender so Alabama could be part of the USA. It was 60 Creoles against the bulk of the US Army.

  • GulfRastaGulfRasta Posts: 150 ✭✭✭

    " In the aftermath of the American Revolution, which ended in 1783, relations between the Spanish and the newly established United States were tense. The United States coveted Mobile and its rich river system, and in April 1813, U.S. Army general James Wilkinson arrived with more than 1,000 men with orders from Pres. James Madison to take possession of the city. Unable to defend their position, the Spanish surrendered Fuerta Carlota without firing a shot on April 13. The United States took possession of Mobile and resurrected the name Fort Charlotte for the installation. "
    http://encyclopediaofalabama.org/Article/h-3935

  • GulfRastaGulfRasta Posts: 150 ✭✭✭
    edited June 15, 2022 7:21AM

    My Hispanic ancestors didn't sneak into the USA.
    The US and it's army came to them and took over.
    Roll Tide

    I hope now you start to understand. We didn't land on Plymouth Rock...
    BTW. This area was discovered and claimed in 1519. Alberto Pineda. The Mayflower was still a tree and not a boat yet.

  • GulfRastaGulfRasta Posts: 150 ✭✭✭
    edited June 15, 2022 7:27AM

    As for Aaron Burr. Aaron Burr was arrested not far from here. Rumor has it Burr was here to see a British Colonel to make contact with my 3rd great grandfather but Spain and my ancestor would not see Burr. He was a loose cannon and wanted man by then.
    https://www.al.com/living/2015/02/on_this_day_in_1807_aaron_burr.html

    https://www.al.com/live/2009/12/bay_minette_to_honor_harry_tou.html

  • GulfRastaGulfRasta Posts: 150 ✭✭✭

    Changed title and added comment in unashamed attempt to generate publicity for my agenda. That's cool. My stuff checks out and it really is amazing.
    This Aaron Burr stuff is awesome.

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