James Wilkinson - Last Years

Last Years

In 1821 Wilkinson visited Mexico in pursuit of a Texas land grant. While awaiting government approval of his Texas scheme, Wilkinson died in Mexico City, where he was buried.

Wilkinson's involvement with the Spanish (Agent 13), although widely suspected in his own day, was not proven until 1854, with Louisiana historian Charles Gayarré's publication of the American general's correspondence with Rodríguez Miró, the Spanish governor of Louisiana. Other historians would subsequently add to the catalog of Wilkinson's treasonous activities. According to recent Burr biography by David O. Stewart, Wilkinson was severely condemned in print by then-New York Governor Theodore Roosevelt, some 65 years after the general's misdeeds, with this judgment: "In all our history, there is no more despicable character."

Read more about this topic:  James Wilkinson

Famous quotes containing the word years:

    In many respects, the preteen years mimic adolescence, but without one essential ingredient: hormones.
    Lawrence Balter (20th century)

    Those who come a hundred or two hundred years after us will despise us for having lived our lives so stupidly and tastelessly. Perhaps they’ll find a means to be happy.
    Anton Pavlovich Chekhov (1860–1904)