James Wilkinson (March 24, 1757 – December 28, 1825) was an American soldier / officer, politician, and later discovered years to be Royal Spanish secret agent #13, who was associated with multiple scandals and controversies, including the Burr conspiracy.

He was twice the Senior Officer of the U.S. Army, appointed to be the first Governor in the newly acquired western lands of the new Louisiana Purchase of 1803, later organized by the United States Congress and the third President, Thomas Jefferson as the new Louisiana Territory in 1804–1812, west of the Mississippi River,[3] and commanded two unsuccessful military invasion campaigns in the St. Lawrence River valley theater north in Canada during the War of 1812.

[4] In the years since Gayarré's research became public, Wilkinson has been savagely condemned by subsequent American academic historians and politicians.

[2]: 9  Even though James Wilkinson's family lived on a smaller estate than those of Maryland's elite, they still saw themselves as members of the higher social class.

[22]: 8  He served as an aide to Nathanael Greene during the Siege of Boston, and participated in the placing of guns on the Dorchester Heights in March 1776.

[22]: 8  Following the British abandonment of Boston, Wilkinson went with the rest of the Continental Army to New York where he left Greene's staff and was given command of an infantry company in the 3rd New Hampshire.

[23]: 297  When he arrived, he embellished his own role in the victory, and was brevetted as a brigadier general on November 6, 1777,[23]: 299  then appointed to the newly created Board of War.

[2]: 68 After his resignation from the Continental Army, Wilkinson reluctantly became a brigadier general in the Pennsylvania militia in 1782 and also a state assemblyman in 1783, due to the wishes of George Washington.

Unable to gather enough support for his position at the convention, Wilkinson then approached Spanish Governor Esteban Rodríguez Miró with a proposal.

Wilkinson asked for and received a pension of $7,000 from Miró, while requesting pensions on behalf of several prominent Kentuckians, including: Harry Innes, Benjamin Sebastian, John Brown, Caleb Wallace, Benjamin Logan, Isaac Shelby, George Muter, George Nicholas, and even Humphrey Marshall (who at one time was a bitter rival of Wilkinson's).

In May 1791, Lieutenant Colonel James Wilkinson led a subsequent raid that August, intended to create a distraction that would aid St. Clair's march north.

[25] Many of the confederation leaders were considering terms of peace to present to the United States, but when they received news of Wilkinson's raid, they readied for war.

During all of this time, Wilkinson had renewed his secret alliance with the Spanish government (through the Governor of Louisiana Francisco Luis Héctor de Carondelet), alerting them to the actions of both the US and the French occupancy in North America.

During the Quasi-War crisis of the late 1790s between France and the United States, he was given the third-place rank in the U.S. Army behind George Washington (who, having been succeeded as president by Adams, died in December 1799) and Alexander Hamilton.

Archaeologists from Southern Illinois University have located the remains of this base, which is producing much previously unknown information and artifacts from the daily life of the frontier army.

One senior officer, Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Butler, was eventually court martialed in 1803 for failing to cut his hair.

[34] Andrew Jackson, who "loathed Wilkinson," took up for Butler and sent a series of letters on the matter to Thomas Jefferson, who ultimately declined to intervene.

[36] At this time, Wilkinson renewed his treasonous relationship with Spanish colonial officials, offering advice to them on how to contain American expansion in exchange for the restoration of his pension.

Among other things, Wilkinson tipped off the Spanish to the object of the Lewis and Clark Expedition and provided advice to the Marquess of Casa Calvo to aid in his negotiations over the Texas–Louisiana border.

After Burr's arrest, he claimed he was leading a group of settlers to take up residence on land in Texas which he had leased from the Spanish government in Mexico.

Since Wilkinson was both the senior brigadier general of the United States Army and the Louisiana governor, Burr cultivated his support.

Burr's subsequent efforts to recruit participants in his plans became public, raising fears that he was conspiring with England to start a war with Spain.

In October 1806 Wilkinson sent to President Jefferson a letter in which he painted Burr's actions in the worst possible light, while portraying himself as innocent of any involvement.

[43] He was removed from the Territorial Governor's office after being publicly criticized for heavy-handed administration and abuse of power (and replaced with Meriwether Lewis).

The Mobile District, now coastal Mississippi and Alabama, had remained under Spanish control following the U.S. annexation of the Republic of West Florida in 1810.

Before the Battle of Bladensburg, General Wilkinson helped conceive a strategy of using the militia dominated forces as guerrilla fighters against the incoming British attack on the Capitol.

[52] On August 22, 1787, Wilkinson signed an expatriation declaration and swore allegiance to the King of Spain to satisfy his own commercial needs.

While awaiting the Mexican government's approval of his land scheme, Wilkinson died in Mexico City on December 28, 1825, at the age of 68.

[7] Some 65 years after the general's misdeeds, then-Governor of New York, Theodore Roosevelt, condemned him in print: "In all our history, there is no more despicable character.

"[5] Historian Robert Leckie characterized him as "a general who never won a battle or lost a court-martial", while Frederick Jackson Turner called Wilkinson "the most consummate artist in treason that the nation ever possessed".