To James Madison from John Graham, [22 November 1806]
From John Graham
[Marietta, 22 November 1806]
“Blennerhassett has told two friends1 of mine that he had joined Burr in a plan [to] bri⟨n⟩g2 about a ⟨separation?⟩3 of the ⟨West?⟩4 from [the] ⟨Union?⟩.5 The plan was to seize the 19. of ⟨army?⟩6 77. an 39. to get the 65. 51. and 41. artillery and then 10. to force the ⟨West?⟩7 to the ⟨separation?⟩8 33. means of its […]. Thi⟨s⟩9 fact is so important and the proof of it so unquestion⟨ed⟩ that I would 30. now arrest Blennerhassett but that my friend is extremel⟨y⟩ unwilling to come forward as a witness.10 He will not howev⟨er⟩ hesitate if the ⟨president?⟩11 thinks it necessary that he should.
“Mr J. Henderson now at Dumfries can give you the best inform⟨a⟩tion on this subject. He is a Gentleman of nice Honor and is ⟨of⟩ course entitled to the most delicate treatment.
“It is believed by some here that 61. 35. 36. and most of the ⟨officers?⟩12 in the ⟨army?⟩13 are concerned in this Business. I have seen howeve⟨r⟩ nothing like an evidence of the fact.”
Extract (DLC: Burr Conspiracy Collection). In Graham’s hand. Undated; conjectural date and place assigned based on Graham’s description of this extract, which he enclosed in his 28 November 1806 letter to JM. Italicized words are those encoded by Graham using a State Department code, decoded here by the editors with assistance from James E. Lewis’s partially reconstructed key. The numerals in the text represent words for which there is as yet no key.
1. Graham probably referred to Hugh Phelps and Alexander Henderson Jr., both of whom had met with Blennerhassett regarding Burr’s projects (see James Wilson to JM, 21 Nov. 1806).
2. Encoded “brilg.”
3. Encoded “46.”
4. Encoded “73.”
5. Encoded “71.”
6. Encoded “18.”
7. Encoded “73.”
8. Encoded “46.”
9. Encoded “thir.”
10. This was likely Alexander Henderson Jr., who, as described in Wilson to JM, 21 Nov. 1806, “did not feel himself Justified in disclosing” his conversation with Blennerhassett and would not do so “unless called upon in a court of Justice.”
11. Encoded “67.”
12. Encoded “54.”
13. Encoded “18.”