Lot
970 
New Orleans, Apr 18, neat strike of cds and manuscript "25" cent rating on 1806 folded cover to Brigadier General Wilkerson, Civil and Military Governor of the Territory of Louisiana at St. Louis Mo., inside docketed from Daniel Clark; cover tear and toned fold, Fine and early Louisiana Territorial use. Estimate $300 - 400.
Daniel Clark (1766- 1813) was the first Delegate from the Territory of Orleans to the United States House of Representatives.
James Wilkinson was born in Benedict, Maryland in 1757. He enlisted in the Continental Army under Washington. Closely associated with Benedict Arnold and Aaron Burr, he was directly implicated in Burr's scheme to establish a southwestern empire. He went to Kentucky shortly after the Revolution and obtained from the Spaniards an exclusive right to trade with New Orleans, which according to one writer "was the betrayal of his country." After reinstatement in the Army is 1791, he served under Anthony Wayne in the northwest and succeeded to the command when Wayne died in 1796. Even though the cloud of secret dealings with the Spanish still hung over him, he nevertheless was named Governor of Louisiana Territory immediately after its organization. In 1811 he was court-martialed for conspiring with Burr, but two years later he was promoted to Major General. He was discharged after the War of 1812 and died in Mexico in 1825. Long after his death documents in the Spanish archives were discovered proving that he was a Spanish secret agent while serving in the U.S. Army.
Realized: $650