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496
Mississippi Historical Society.
dexter and the late Judge Wm. B. Shields, to propose terms to Colonel Burr. They were accompanied by Colonel Fitzpatrick. On the morning of the 16th they reached the bank opposite the boats, and a skiff was immediately sent over for them. They were met by Colonel Burr, to whom Major Shields handod a letter from Mr. Mead explaining the object of the visit. Colonel Burr immediately and with a sneer ridiculed the idea of his meditating any views against the tranquility of the Territory; declared that he would have proceeded forthwith into the Territory on his arrival at Bayou Pierre to meet the Governor but for his fear of assassination; denounced General Wilkinson as a traitor and made use of these remarkable words in relation to that officer; ?If I am sacrificed my port-folio will prove him to be a villian.? At this instant of time the conversation was interrupted by a gallant attempt made by Lieutenant Patterson of the Claiborne militia to capture a portion of Burr?s forces. Lieutenant Patterson, who had been reconnoitering for some days had anchored his boat behind a willow point, so as to conceal it from observation. Perceiving that the majority of Burr?s men had left their boats and dispersed themselves in the woods, he pushed his boat out in the stream and landed about 200 yards below with thirty well armed and resolute men. Davis Floyd, a bold and daring man, immediately approached Colonel Burr, who was yet standing with the commissioners, and asked permission to drive back this armed band. Colonel Burr requested Colonel Fitzpatrick to interfere and Lieutenant Patterson was ordered to desist and to repair with his command to the mouth of Coles Creek.
The conversation was then resumed between Burr and the commissioners. Colonel Burr pointed to his boats and asked if there was anything military in their appearance. The commissioners remarked that they did not look like agriculturalists; that they were just such men as might be expected to be about a camp. They then informed him the militia had been ordered out to oppose his farther progress. He replied that he was willing to submit to the civil authorities, and proposed that an interview should take place between him and the acting Governor on the next day at some convenient place in the Territory, and that the commissioners should guarantee his safety
A Trip Through the Piney Woods.?Claiborne.	497
in the meantime, and restore him to his boats if Mr. Mead should accept his surrender to the civil authority; that his boats and crew should keep the position they then occupied until after the proposed interview took place, and that in the meantime they should not be attacked nor commit a breach of the peace nor violate any of the laws. The proposition was committed to writing and accepted and the house of the late Thomas Calvit, near the mouth of Coles Creek, where a detachment of troops under Colonel Claiborne was stationed, was designated for the interview. On the 17th of January Burr, accompanied by Colonel Fitzpatrick, descended the river to the mouth of Coles Creek, where he was received by Captain Davidson?s company of dragoons and conducted to the house of Mr. Calvit. Mr. Mead immediately proposed, 1. That the agreement entered into with Messrs. Poindexter and Shields should be declared void; 2. That Burr should surrender himself unconditionally to the civil authority and proceed directly to the town of Washington; 3. That his boats should be searched and all military apparatus found disposed of as the government should think fit.7 To these terms Mr. Mead required an unequivocal reply in fifteen minutes, with the understanding that if Burr declined them he was to be instantly returned to his boats and the troops ordered to seize him and his party by force of arms. The terms were accepted, Burr, however, strongly protesting against being permitted in any way to fall into the power of General Wilkinson. He received, it is believed, satisfactory assurances from the acting Governor on
7At Burr?s trial in Richmond, in May, 1807, Jacob Dunbaugh, a sergeant in the U. S. Army, who got a furlough from his commanding officer at Fort Massac for twenty days, and joined Colonel Burr, swore that the night the boats left Petit Gulf for Coles Creek he saw a man named Wylie pass into the stem of Colonel Burr?s boat with an augur and hand-axe, and that shortly afterwards he saw several bundles of muskets sunk by cords through holes made at the gunwales of Colonel Burr?s boat.
When Colonel Fitzpatrick and four other gentlemen searched the boats under the stipulation made with the acting Governor, they discovered very few arms, not more than would be wanted for an agricultural settlement.
It is proper to add that Dunbaugh appears to have been a perjured witness, a good deal under the influence of General Wilkinson, who strained every nerve to convict Burr.