Burr

Abstract

Before the Corps of Discovery had broken camp on the Missouri River on 11 July 1804, the vicepresident of the United States had mortally wounded Washington’s former treasury secretary. William Croghan knew them both. Following the conclusion of his term as vicepresident, Burr made a tour of the South and West, correctly assuming his days in the capital had come to an end. In Louisville, Croghan, George Rogers Clark, Ohio senator Jonathan Dayton, and others had successfully won more than $100,000 from Indiana’s legislature to build a canal around the Falls of the Ohio. Burr, who was gathering a quasi-military unit at Blennerhassett’s Island, was keenly interested in the project, as the success of his project depended upon the navigation of the river. Burr dined at Locust Grove and joined his old friend’s canal company. Was it at Locust Grove that Clark and Croghan learned of Burr’s treason?