An Artist in Treason: The Extraordinary Double Life of General James Wilkinson by Andro Linklater Page A
Authors: Andro Linklater
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to the commander in chief. In agreeing to resolve his quarrel with Stirling, he let Clement Biddle know that he was guided by Washington’s public disapproval of dueling among his officers. Then on March 3, he publicly renounced the promotion to brigadier general that Gates had procured for him.
His reward was to be summoned to an interview with the commander in chief, where he was able to demonstrate that, as Washington himself had believed, he “was rather doing an act of justice than committing an act of infidelity” in quoting from Conway’s letter. The difficulty was that he had not quoted it accurately. To demonstrate the point, Washington showed Wilkinson the entire file of correspondence concerning the cabal, including Gates’s letter accusing Wilkinson of “a wicked forgery” and demanding that he be “exemplarily punished” for a crime that amounted to “positive treason.”
“He seemed a good deal surprized at G[ate]s’s Letters,” Washington commented laconically to Stirling, “& was not at all sparing in his abuse of him & C[onwa]y.”
In fact, the discovery that Gates had turned so viciously against him overwhelmed Wilkinson. He hurried back to Reading to be consoled by Nancy and, while there, came to a momentous decision about his military career. In a short, cold letter sent from the Biddles’ house on March 29 to Henry Laurens, president of Congress, he peremptorily resigned from the Board of War, declaring, “After the act of treachery and falsehood in which I have detected Major General Gates, president of that board, it is impossible for me to reconcile it to my honor to serve with him.” Coolly, Laurens advised Congress to accept the resignation, but returned the letter as “improper to remain on the files of Congress.”
Had that been the end of the relationship, it would at least have been a clean break. But almost four months later, Wilkinson inadvertently encountered Gates as both men arrived in White Plains, New York, to give testimony on behalf of General Arthur St. Clair at his court-martial for the loss of Ticonderoga. The sight of the man who had termed him a forger ignited Wilkinson’s smoldering fury, and again his dying father’s words about honor sprang to mind. This time Gates accepted the challenge and fought the duel. Each was to fire three times, but when Gates’s pistol twice flashed in the pan and misfired, Wilkinson shot in the air, an action that should have satisfied honor on both sides. Gates refused to fire a third time and duly declared that Wilkinson had “behaved as a gentleman.”
By the conventions of dueling that was sufficient to satisfy honor, but Wilkinson wanted more. He demanded to have the declaration in writing, and when it was given, refused to provide a similar certificate for Gates. Next day, both men with their seconds, the engineer Tadeusz Kosciuszko for Gates and John Barker Church for Wilkinson, assembled in the courthouse to settle the matter, and at that point Wilkinson exploded. To provide such a certificate, he shouted, would be “to prostitute my honor” because Gates was no better than “a rascal and a coward,” and in a frenzy of indignation he challenged the general to yet another duel.
Gates walked away from a man so clearly out of control, but now the seconds began to argue over the certificate and the quarrel rapidly descended into farce. Kosciuszko and Church were also supposed to appear for St. Clair’s defense, but pushed each other aside trying to enter the courtroom at the same time. In their fury they drew their swords and began to fight until driven off by guards. Despite the absence of his homicidal witnesses, St. Clair was cleared of all charges against him.
There was an edge of hysteria in James Wilkinson’s uncontrollable rage, as though what Gates had done to him was so unbearable he had to be blotted out. But the urge to destroy Gates had only succeeded in destroying his own desire for military glory.
His reward was to be summoned to an interview with the commander in chief, where he was able to demonstrate that, as Washington himself had believed, he “was rather doing an act of justice than committing an act of infidelity” in quoting from Conway’s letter. The difficulty was that he had not quoted it accurately. To demonstrate the point, Washington showed Wilkinson the entire file of correspondence concerning the cabal, including Gates’s letter accusing Wilkinson of “a wicked forgery” and demanding that he be “exemplarily punished” for a crime that amounted to “positive treason.”
“He seemed a good deal surprized at G[ate]s’s Letters,” Washington commented laconically to Stirling, “& was not at all sparing in his abuse of him & C[onwa]y.”
In fact, the discovery that Gates had turned so viciously against him overwhelmed Wilkinson. He hurried back to Reading to be consoled by Nancy and, while there, came to a momentous decision about his military career. In a short, cold letter sent from the Biddles’ house on March 29 to Henry Laurens, president of Congress, he peremptorily resigned from the Board of War, declaring, “After the act of treachery and falsehood in which I have detected Major General Gates, president of that board, it is impossible for me to reconcile it to my honor to serve with him.” Coolly, Laurens advised Congress to accept the resignation, but returned the letter as “improper to remain on the files of Congress.”
Had that been the end of the relationship, it would at least have been a clean break. But almost four months later, Wilkinson inadvertently encountered Gates as both men arrived in White Plains, New York, to give testimony on behalf of General Arthur St. Clair at his court-martial for the loss of Ticonderoga. The sight of the man who had termed him a forger ignited Wilkinson’s smoldering fury, and again his dying father’s words about honor sprang to mind. This time Gates accepted the challenge and fought the duel. Each was to fire three times, but when Gates’s pistol twice flashed in the pan and misfired, Wilkinson shot in the air, an action that should have satisfied honor on both sides. Gates refused to fire a third time and duly declared that Wilkinson had “behaved as a gentleman.”
By the conventions of dueling that was sufficient to satisfy honor, but Wilkinson wanted more. He demanded to have the declaration in writing, and when it was given, refused to provide a similar certificate for Gates. Next day, both men with their seconds, the engineer Tadeusz Kosciuszko for Gates and John Barker Church for Wilkinson, assembled in the courthouse to settle the matter, and at that point Wilkinson exploded. To provide such a certificate, he shouted, would be “to prostitute my honor” because Gates was no better than “a rascal and a coward,” and in a frenzy of indignation he challenged the general to yet another duel.
Gates walked away from a man so clearly out of control, but now the seconds began to argue over the certificate and the quarrel rapidly descended into farce. Kosciuszko and Church were also supposed to appear for St. Clair’s defense, but pushed each other aside trying to enter the courtroom at the same time. In their fury they drew their swords and began to fight until driven off by guards. Despite the absence of his homicidal witnesses, St. Clair was cleared of all charges against him.
There was an edge of hysteria in James Wilkinson’s uncontrollable rage, as though what Gates had done to him was so unbearable he had to be blotted out. But the urge to destroy Gates had only succeeded in destroying his own desire for military glory.
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