U.S. Army Commander Who Was Also a Spanish Spy

When discussing spies, the names John Walker, Aldrich Ames, Julius and Ethel Rosenberg come to mind. There are others, and while they all hurt the United States military, none of the above were the commanders of one of the branches.

James Wilkinson was. He served admirably in the Continental Army during the siege of Boston, and during the attempted invasion of Canada in 1776 he commanded troops under Benedict Arnold before becoming General Gates aide during the Battle of Saratoga. Ultimately, he was cashiered out of the U.S. Army because he was part of a group that tried to convince the Continental Congress to replace Washington with Gates.

Wilkinson moved to Kentucky and in 1788, opposed the new constitution and led a campaign to create the Union of States. Few thought it was a good idea, so Wilkinson approached the Spanish Governor of the Louisiana Territory to grant him a tract of land near modern Vicksburg and a pension of $7,000 where he could live if the U.S. accused him of treason. The effort failed to create the Union of States.

When the new Legion of the United States was formed to fight the Native Americans in the Northwest Territories, George Washington chose Anthony Wayne over Wilkinson as its commander. (See Post #45 from 3/22/2020 The Legion of the United States – https://marcliebman.com/the-legion-of-the-united-states/). By now, Washington and others suspected Wilkinson of having ties to the Spanish government. They just didn’t have specifics, and therefore, Wilkinson could be considered as the Legion’s commander.

With his feelings hurt by Washington’s pick of Wayne over him, Wilkinson launched a campaign to discredit Wayne by filing complaints about anything that fancied Wilkinson. He also resumed his alliance with the Spanish government through the Spanish Governor of the Louisiana Territory – Francisco Luis Héctor de Carondet. When the U.S. intercepted a shipment of gold coins intended for Wilkinson, General Wayne began court-martial proceedings but died before the trial could begin. There has been speculation that Wilkinson poisoned Wayne, but no concrete evidence has surfaced.

The Army transferred Wilkinson to the Ohio Valley where he was tasked with forming a force in the Ohio Valley that could be called on to defend the area if attacked by the French or the Spanish during the Quasi-War with the French in 1798 – 1800. While he was doing this, he provided the plans to the Spanish. At the time, he was fourth in the Army’s chain of command which began with President Adams, Washington, who was no longer the president but was the General of the Army, Hamilton, and then Wilkinson.

Jefferson sent Wilkinson to New Orleans where he and the first Louisiana Territorial Governor, William Claiborne, “formally” took position of the Louisiana Territory. This gave Wilkinson the opportunity to resume his contacts with the Spanish and tipped them off about the Lewis and Clark Expedition and two others by giving them information on the composition and routes.

When Spain attempted to negotiate the Texas-Louisiana border, he received money from the Spanish in return for information on how to counter the American negotiating positions. James Wilkinson’s machinations and his ties to the Spanish didn’t end when he was appointed Governor General of Louisiana in 1805. They only got deeper when Wilkinson was in the center of a scandal involving former Vice President Aaron Burr. That is the subject of next week’s post.

1797 Painting by Charles Willson Peale of James Wilkinson.