EP291: The Tale of the Stolen Texas Confederate Locomotive and The Opportunistic Patriot

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Send them to OurAmericanStories.com for some of our favorites. Up next, a story from the Atlanta History Center, a great museum where you can see exhibits like the massive cyclorama painting and a locomotive with a truly unique story, the Texas. Built four years before Lincoln was elected, the locomotive is best known today as the principal pursuit engine in the great locomotive chase, which occurred after union spies stole her running mate, the General.

But the story goes far deeper than that. Here's Jackson McQuigge, Vice President of Properties at the Atlanta History Center, with the story. I want to say I was born into it, but I have been a fan of railroads and interested in railroads pretty much all my life.

That's something that I shared with my dad. And growing up in Tampa, Florida, with deep roots in Atlanta, Atlanta's history was always of interest to me. And I think that, you know, by the age of like 14, I was volunteering at the Florida Railroad Museum, scraping paint and doing all the things that older people didn't want to do, you know, and I've just always been fascinated by trains. I mean, it is just absolutely one of the most fascinating technologies, and I think I'm interested in it because, you know, travel is such a fun thing and there's no better way to go than traveling by train. You can visit with friends and have a drink, have a meal, look out the window. You can get on a sleeping car and see the world go by overnight.

I just think there's nothing better. Atlanta is very, very new by comparison to many cities. Savannah is a century older than Atlanta. Atlanta is only about the same age as Los Angeles.

I mean, it's a very new city. So, when a surveyor for the Western and Atlantic Railroad drove a stake in the ground, a wooden surveyor stake, right about where State Farm Arena is today, Atlanta didn't exist. And Atlanta gradually became a railroad hub. One of the nicknames for Atlanta, in fact, is the Chicago of the South.

So, the locomotive Texas, it's only one of two locomotives left from the Western Atlantic. The very railroad that Atlanta owes its existence to, if you think about that for a second, the tangible links to the city's past are really few. Atlanta is a city that likes to redevelop itself over time. Sherman burned it and also suffered a cataclysmic fire and development has really changed the way Atlanta has looked time and time again. But this locomotive, like its sister, the General, date back to the 1850s. This is unusual for Atlanta. My boss likes to say they're the Romulus and Remus of Atlanta.

I think that's a great sound bite and he's almost right. But the locomotive was one of the two participants in the Great Locomotive Chase, which is a Civil War incident of some note and certainly a lot of coverage. The Chase involved three different locomotives, a pole car running two miles, and you name it.

It's really an interesting story. During 1862, April of 1862, as a matter of fact, there were a group of Union spies that had made it behind Confederate lines and the effort was to disrupt the Western Atlantic Railroad in order to ultimately take Nashville. And if you could cut Nashville off from the rest of the South, and Chattanooga as well, you would hurt the Confederacy. So they made it behind the lines of the Confederates, dressed in civilian clothes, got on a train in Atlanta. When the train got to what was called Big Shanny, in those days everybody got off the train to go eat, and in that case, breakfast.

There was no club car to have Bloody Marys and stuff in at that point. So they're the last ones left on the train. Everybody's eating breakfast at the Lacey Hotel and that gave them their opportunity to steal the Locomotive General and head north. And it was to get far ahead, tear up track, disrupt telegraph lines, and really put a severe crimp into the Confederacy's war efforts. But what they didn't count on was that the crew of the general decided to give chase to these guys and try to catch the general locomotive as it was going up the line.

The pursuers, Captain William Fuller and others, wound up finding the Texas, found that it had a good head of steam and it had enough fuel that it could be run to chase after the general. They decided, well heck, average track speed's 15 miles an hour. Let's do 50. Let's do it in reverse.

Let's do it on track that wouldn't be a good industrial siding by today's standards. This is just really rudimentary railroading at that stage. It must have been a frightening ride.

I'm really glad that I wasn't on it. It reflects the lack of caution that only somebody who's pretty youthful can do and pretty motivated by adrenaline, I would argue. Finally, the pursuers wound up catching the Raiders led by James J. Andrews. So they were known as Andrews Raiders.

It sounds like a 60s band, but there you have it. But they caught them, captured them. Some were hanged, including Andrews who was hanged here in Atlanta. And the pursuers were celebrated as folk heroes at the time because that was one where the South won one. And so, as a result, it became the famous locomotive that caught up to the general and achieved a degree of fame just because it was the one that won the chase, so to speak. And you've been listening to Jackson McQuigge telling stories about the thing he loves most. And so many Americans do.

Always this country has been fascinated with train travel. When we come back, more of Jackson's stories and more about trains and the great locomotive chase here on Our American Stories. Folks, if you love the great American stories we tell and love America like we do, we're asking you to become a part of the Our American Stories family. If you agree that America is a good and great country, please make a donation.

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Hey, you guys. This is Tori and Jenny with the 9 0 2 1 OMG podcast. We have such a special episode brought to you by nerd tech ODT. We recorded it at I heart radio's 10th pole event, Wango Tango. Did you know that nerd tech ODT remejipants 75 milligrams can help migraine sufferers still attend such an exciting event like Wango Tango?

It's true. I had one that night and I took my nerd tech ODT and I was present and had an amazing time. Here's a little glimpse of our conversation with some of our closest friends. This episode was brought to you by nerd tech ODT remejipants 75 milligrams. Life with migraine attacks can mean missing out on big moments with friends and family.

But thankfully, nerd tech ODT remejipants 75 milligrams is the only medication that is proven to treat a migraine attack and prevent episodic migraines in adults. So lively events like Wango Tango don't have to be missed. Soon millions will make Medicare coverage decisions for next year, and UnitedHealthcare can help you feel confident about your choices. For those eligible, Medicare annual enrollment runs from October 15th through December 7th. If you're working past age 65, you might be able to delay Medicare enrollment depending on your employer coverage.

It can seem confusing, but it doesn't have to be. Visit UHCMedicareHealthplans.com to learn more. UnitedHealthcare, helping people live healthier lives. I know everything there is to know about running a coffee shop. But for small business insurance, I need my State Farm agent. They make sure my business stays piping hot.

And I stay cool and confident. See, they're small business owners too, so they know how to help you best. State Farm is in your corner and on it. Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there.

Call your local State Farm agent for a quote today. And we return to our American stories and the story of locomotive Texas. When we last left off, Jackson McQuigge was telling us about the famous great locomotive chase during the Civil War, which the Texas participated in as the main pursuit locomotive. But there's a lot more to the story than just that. Here again is Jackson with the rest of the story. After the great locomotive chase, it wound up in Virginia because there was a salt mine up there.

Of course, at the time before refrigeration, salt was the way you preserved food. It was actually captured and briefly used by the U.S. military railroad for a brief time before it was sent back to Atlanta. The Texas very nearly wound up being cut up for scrap a number of times, and it certainly was very nearly abandoned in many cases. Unlike the General, which is the other locomotive that participated in the great locomotive chase, which was preserved in the 1880s, it was sort of the one that was seen as the one that needed to be preserved. It was a worn out locomotive by 1900, really by the late 1890s. And historian Mark Brainerd of Chattanooga found that there was this fellow who was the master mechanic.

In other words, the guy in charge of the roundhouse here in Atlanta for the Western Atlantic and later for the N.C. and St. Elle, which absorbed the Western Atlantic. And he knew about the history of the Texas. There wasn't a lot of interest in preserving it, but he kind of made sure that it never wound up on the retirement roster, that he kept it hid out and busy. I'm sure he had been told to get rid of the old thing many times, but he kept it as a pet. I mean, this is the equivalent of trying to keep a 1940 automobile kicking around with your 2021 Tesla. There's no logical reason why the locomotive should still be on the roster of the N.C. and St. Elle in 1900, but yet it was. But we wound up in a scenario with that engine, we as Atlantans, where it was again looking like it would be scrapped again. A fellow by the name of Wilbur Kurtz, later to become known as the technical advisor gone with the wind, an interesting character all the way around, a man who was pretty much consumed with a great locomotive chase to the point where he married the daughter of one of the southern pursuers.

Kind of weird, isn't he? He began a campaign that actually resulted in the saving of the Texas. And when I say campaign, I mean letters to the editor, a grassroots effort to get the locomotive preserved, in part because the general had been preserved.

The Civil War Veterans Group, the Grand Army of the Republic Union soldiers, had helped to see that it got preserved. But the Texas had no such love, so one of the Hearst newspapers here in Atlanta, called the Atlanta Georgian, it began a campaign right alongside Wilbur Kurtz. It encouraged Atlantans to send in their nickel and dime contributions to help preserve the Texas. Again, all this time it's sitting at the railroad yard waiting to get scrapped.

And that effort, while it created a lot of interest, was not successful at first. So, lo and behold, the locomotive owes its very preservation not to that effort, although that helped, but by a group of women who got together and found great interest in saving the locomotive. They called themselves the Ladies of Atlanta, and it was an ad hoc group, who effectively went to the president of the NC and St. El Railway and said, you're going to give us this locomotive, and we're going to give it to the city of Atlanta, and we're going to preserve it.

And of course, how could he disagree with the Ladies of Atlanta? He agreed and the locomotive was saved. It took six years to get it to Grant Park, where it was finally put under a shed on display in the park. But at least it's at the park, right? In 1927, the locomotive was actually put into the same building as the Cyclorama in Grant Park. We moved the locomotive in 2015, and it had been there so long, it was literally in a basement level behind a 1970s constructed theater, where you saw the photo or the intro film about what the Cyclorama was. So we had to extricate the locomotive out of that building by running it through a movie theater, which I think is a first. Oh, and the movie theater was underground, so we had to dig down to get to it.

It was a truly fun, bizarre day. When we took the locomotive out of Grant Park and out of the old Cyclorama building, put it on a truck, shipped it up to the North Carolina Transportation Museum in Spencer, where I used to work, we really got into seeing what was there. We found out that there wasn't a lot of original Texas there. The tender was from a different locomotive. The frame was only half from the original Texas. The cab was different, the boiler was different, the wheels were different, the cylinders were different. And in fact, the bell was different. You name it, and it was from another locomotive, or it had been fab.

So what did we have here? Well, we found out that the stand, the frame that actually holds the bell onto the locomotive, that was from the original Texas. But we kind of felt liberated to tell other stories about the locomotive's history. And since the great locomotive chase story is told in so many places, we wanted to tell the broader context about railroads and being developers, railroads being city shapers, railroads being our life's blood here in Atlanta to this day. By the way, the decision that we made after determining that the Texas contained a lot of parts from engines that weren't the Texas, we decided to paint it in its 1886 colors, and that was indeed controversial. One of my friends, who I knew would react poorly to the decision, saw a picture on Facebook of the engine just after it had gotten painted at a museum in North Carolina, and tagged me in a post and said I had a lot of explaining to do.

In fact, this friend of mine accused me of ruining his childhood, and that's a direct quote, to which my response was, well, that must have been a pretty bad childhood. You know, I mean, that was the most significant thing that occurred in it. But, you know, what we say to folks that are maybe a little concerned that it doesn't look like it did during its Civil War years, and doesn't have the paint that was on it, is it's just paint. There were three pursuing locomotives in the great locomotive chase, and the other two are razor blades now.

They're gone. The Texas got through by the skin of its teeth. And at various points, like we've been discussing, it has been all but forgotten. Through 2015, it was behind glass panels. It was this look, don't touch artifact. You couldn't go in the cab. You really didn't get to understand too much about its history. It was just this forgotten locomotive.

It was just hard to relate to. And, you know, I'm a museum guy, and museum folks, well, they're just really into, like, having visitors come and stand at a distance sometimes from the objects. But, you know, the Texas is a durable object, and part of the experience of it is to actually get in the cab and see what it was like to be at the throttle of that little, by today's standards, locomotive.

And I think people really understand history more when they interact with it physically. And the fact that you can do that with a locomotive that was built in 1856, I think is just kind of fun. While I was waiting for y'all, there were a couple of families that came through, and they all went in the cab with a locomotive.

Every one of them went into the cab. I think that's neat. They just had the ability to stand where history had taken place. And that's huge. And no doubt, indeed, it's huge when people can interact with the nation's history. And a special thanks to Monty for producing that piece and bumping into that story in his travels around the country with Robbie. The two did a road trip together, and that's where we discovered Jackson McQuigge. And he is the vice president of properties at the Atlanta History Center, where they are keeping alive stories about this great southern city.

Jackson McQuigge's story of the locomotive Texas, here on Our American Stories. My friends and sufferers still attend such an exciting event like Wango Tango. It's true. I had one that night, and I took my NURTEC ODT, and I was present and had an amazing time. Here's a little glimpse of our conversation with some of our closest friends. This episode was brought to you by NURTEC ODT Remedapants, 75 milligrams. Migraine attacks can mean missing out on big moments with friends and family.

But thankfully, NURTEC ODT Remedapants, 75 milligrams, is the only medication that is proven to treat a migraine attack and prevent episodic migraines in adults. So, lively events like Wango Tango don't have to be missed. Soon millions will make Medicare coverage decisions for next year, and UnitedHealthcare can help you feel confident about your choices. For those eligible, Medicare annual enrollment runs from October 15th through December 7th. If you're working past age 65, you might be able to delay Medicare enrollment depending on your employer coverage.

It can seem confusing, but it doesn't have to be. Visit UHCMedicareHealthPlans.com to learn more. UnitedHealthcare, helping people live healthier lives. I know everything there is to know about running a coffee shop, but for small business insurance, I need my State Farm agent. They make sure my business stays piping hot, and I stay cool and confident. See, they're small business owners too, so they know how to help you best. State Farm is in your corner and on it. Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there.

Call your local State Farm agent for a quote today. This is Our American Stories. And our next story, well, it's a bit of American history. It's the story of Aaron Burr. And you know him perhaps from your high school American history classes, what little you may remember from them, or maybe from the Broadway musical Hamilton. But who was Aaron Burr? Well, Bill Bryke is here to tell us a little bit more about the often reviled politician. Here's Bill. Lin-Manuel Miranda, in his extraordinary Hamilton, an American musical, brilliantly captures Aaron Burr in three lines. The free advice he has Burr offer to Alexander Hamilton even when they first meet in 1776. Talk less. Smile more.

Don't let them know what you're against or what you're for. Around twilight on June 7th, 1812, a 56-year-old man returned from six years self-imposed European exile. He landed in New York, somewhere near today's South Street seaport. He hastened to a friend's house at 66 Water Street only to find no one at home. Only around midnight did he find a room, already occupied by five other men, in a plain house along a dark alley. In the morning, he returned to find his friend Samuel Swartout at home. And after an affectionate welcome, the Swartout brothers lodged him.

The charm that had borne Burr up throughout his life remained potent. A boyhood friend and longtime political opponent, Robert Troop, lent him ten dollars and a law library. Then ten dollars was real money.

Then, as now, a law library is essential to one's practice. He rented space at 9 Nassau Street. He took out some newspaper advertisements. He ordered a small tin sign, brightly lacquered, bearing his name, and tacked it to the outside wall. When he arrived to open his office on the morning of July 5, 1812, a line of clients awaited him.

Hundreds more would follow. Within 12 days, his receipts totaled what was then a staggering two thousand dollars. However, the inhabitants of New York viewed the man, Milton Lomask wrote. They had not forgotten the skills of the advocate. Thus, Aaron Burr, former colonel in the Army of the Revolution, former attorney general of New York, former United States senator, and former vice president of the United States, resumed the practice of law. He had been born February 6, 1756, in Newark, New Jersey. He entered Princeton in the sophomore class at 13, took his degree with distinction at 16, and even spoke at commencement. He was elegant from youth, small, slender, broad-shouldered, and handsome. He had fine taste in clothes, to which dozens of unpaid tailors on two continents would attest. His manners were exquisite, his conversation never palled, and whether in the courtroom or the Senate, he spoke quietly and conversationally, without bombast or literary allusion. He strove to see things as they are, not as they ought to be, and possessed a massive savoir-faire, dexterity enough to conceal the truth without telling a lie, sagacity enough to read other people's countenances, and serenity enough not to let them discover anything by yours.

He was also throughout his life much pursued by women, and they never had to run very far or very fast. He fought for American independence at Quebec, Brooklyn, and Morningside Heights. He was a lieutenant colonel at 22, wintered at Valley Forge, and had a horse shot from under him at Monmouth on June 28, 1778. That means he had gone in harm's way, for he might have been hit by the shot that killed his charger.

Only one who has been thrown from a horse can understand what that means, the pains of having the wind knocked out of you if not muscles sprained and bones broken. The man of pleasure once single-handedly suppressed a mutiny in his regiment. A ringleader leveled his musket at Burr, shouting, Now is the time, my brave boys. The last syllable had barely left his lips when Burr, having drawn his sword, severed the man's arm just above the elbow.

The regiment knew no more mutinies. During his service, he met Theodosia Prevost, the wife of a British officer serving in the West Indies. Burr later wrote that she possessed the truest heart, the ripest intellect, and the most winning manners of any woman he had ever met. She spoke French fluently, frequently quoted the Latin poets, and read avidly. Burr admired and wanted her.

She responded with warmth and friendship. Her husband died in 1781. She married Burr the following year. Nothing so testifies to Theodosia Prevost's character, charm, and intelligence than that this sensual, cynical man was throughout their marriage her loving, faithful husband. More, though Burr was a feminist by instinct, he admired Mary Wollstonecraft's Vindication of the Rights of Women and kept a print of Mrs. Wollstonecraft's portrait on his wall. His marriage made those beliefs heartfelt. He was among the first practical politicians and Burr was nothing if not practical to work for women's education on a par with men. It was a knowledge of your mind, he wrote to Theodosia, which first inspired me.

The ideas which you have often heard me express in favor of female intellectual powers are founded on what I have seen in you. She died in 1794 after 12 years of marriage. He never ceased to mourn her. Perhaps their relationship was the noblest achievement of his life. In Hamilton, Burr is asked, If you stand for nothing, Burr, what will you fall for?

Clearly, at least in his love for Theodosia and his passion for human rights, he stood for something. In 1782, he was admitted to the New York bar at the age of 26. He was elected to the legislature in 1784 at 28, where he fought to abolish slavery and appointed Attorney General in 1789 when he was 33. In 1791, he defeated Philip Schuyler, father-in-law of Alexander Hamilton, for the United States Senate. Thus, the feud between Hamilton and Burr began. The new senator worked hard without taking politics seriously. For him, it was the pursuit of fun and honor and profit. This earned him the antipathy of Thomas Jefferson, who took politics almost as seriously as he did himself.

To be fair, perhaps that is not entirely true. We know Jefferson had red hair in part because he preserved a letter addressed to him as you red-headed son of a bitch. Yet the Virginian and Burr needed one another. Burr controlled the country's first mass party organization, the Society of St. Tammany. If Thomas Jefferson was the Democrats' first ideologue, Burr was their first mechanic. In 1800, the Jeffersonians nominated Senator Burr for vice president and his troubles began. Presidential electors then voted for two candidates without specifying a preference for president and for vice president. The candidate receiving the most votes became president. The second-place candidate became vice president. Jefferson and Burr tied with 73 votes each. The election went to the House of Representatives. The Federalists, who detested Jefferson, sought to elect Burr instead. After 36 ballots, the House finally elected Jefferson president and Burr vice president.

There is no evidence that Burr had plotted with the Federalists to win the presidency. Nonetheless, Jefferson, who always had a slight touch of paranoia, froze him out and withheld patronage from his followers. And you're listening to the remarkable story of Aaron Burr.

And my goodness, Princeton at 13. And we often talk about the fact that, boy, in earlier days, people grew up faster and maybe it wasn't a bad thing. And my goodness, knowing the sting of battle, which Aaron Burr did know, at 22 of Lieutenant Colonel, he wintered at Valley Forge.

His horse was shot out from underneath him in the Battle of Monmouth in New Jersey. And my goodness, the man knew battle, knew politics, and knew love. When we come back, more of the story of Hamilton's chief antagonist telling his side of the story, Aaron Burr's story, here on Our American Stories.

Hey, you guys. This is Tori and Jenny with the 90210MG podcast. We have such a special episode brought to you by NerdTech ODT. We recorded it at iHeartRadio's 10th poll event, Wango Tango. Did you know that NerdTech ODT Remedipant, 75 milligrams, can help migraine sufferers still attend such an exciting event like Wango Tango?

It's true. I had one that night and I took my NerdTech ODT and I was present and had an amazing time. Here's a little glimpse of our conversation with some of our closest friends. This episode was brought to you by NerdTech ODT Remedipant, 75 milligrams. Life with migraine attacks can mean missing out on big moments with friends and family.

But thankfully, NerdTech ODT Remedipant, 75 milligrams, is the only medication that is proven to treat a migraine attack and prevent episodic migraines in adults. So lively events like Wango Tango don't have to be missed. Soon millions will make Medicare coverage decisions for next year. And UnitedHealthcare can help you feel confident about your choices. For those eligible, Medicare Annual Enrollment runs from October 15th through December 7th. If you're working past age 65, you might be able to delay Medicare enrollment depending on your employer coverage.

It can seem confusing, but it doesn't have to be. Visit UHCmedicarehealthplans.com to learn more. UnitedHealthcare, helping people live healthier lives. I know everything there is to know about running a coffee shop, but for small business insurance, I need my State Farm agent. They make sure my business stays piping hot, and I stay cool and confident. See, they're small business owners too, so they know how to help you best. State Farm is in your corner and on it. Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there.

Call your local State Farm agent for a quote today. And we're back with our American stories and the story of Aaron Burr. When we last left off with Bill Bryke, after being elected president, Thomas Jefferson froze Burr and his constituents out.

We return to Bill Bryke with the rest of this story. In April 1804, Burr, knowing Jefferson would not allow his renomination later that year, ran for governor of New York. Hamilton had come to hate Burr, and Hamilton's rage was reflected in his intensely personal campaigning, which included indiscreet personal remarks reported in the newspapers. Burr was heavily defeated.

Burr seized upon correspondence published in the Albany Register. Dr. Charles Cooper wrote, General Hamilton and Judge Kent have declared in substance that they looked upon Mr. Burr to be a dangerous man, and I could detail to you a still more despicable opinion which General Hamilton has expressed of Burr. Burr requested an acknowledgment or denial of the still more despicable opinion of himself attributed to Hamilton. Two days later, Hamilton replied with a lengthy dissertation on the meaning of despicable.

Burr responded, The common sense of mankind affixed to the word the idea of dishonor. He then demanded Hamilton generally disavow any intention to convey impressions derogatory to the honor of Mr. Burr. Hamilton was trapped.

This would have meant denying a great deal of his political conversations, speeches, and correspondence over two decades. Hamilton now feebly offered that he could not recall using any term that would justify Dr. Cooper's construction. Burr again demanded a disclaimer. Hamilton refused. On June 27, 1804, Burr challenged and Hamilton accepted. On Wednesday, July 11, 1804, at 7 a.m., the two men stood ten paces apart on the Weehawken Schwar in New Jersey, pistols in hand. Hamilton, perhaps a second before his opponent, fired into the air.

Burr shot true. He was indicted for murder in New York and in New Jersey. While his lawyers and friends worked to quash the indictments, he returned to Washington, D.C., where he resumed his duties as vice president.

On March 2, 1805, his last day in public office, Burr rose from the chair. He stood before a hall of professional politicians familiar with every rhetorical device, many of whom hated him. Without changing his customary conversational tone, he spoke briefly of the United States and the Senate itself. The Senate, he said, is a sanctuary, a citadel of law, of order, and of liberty. It is here, it is here in this exalted refuge, here, if anywhere, will resistance be made to the storms of political frenzy and the silent arts of corruption.

And if the Constitution be destined ever to perish by the sacrilegious hands of the demagogue or the usurper, which God averts, its expiring agonies will be witnessed on this floor. Then, having spoken for once from the heart, he stepped down, walked across the chamber, and went out the door. He was only 49 years old. Behind him, the Senate sat in silence. Senator Samuel Mitchell of New York wrote, My colleague, General Smith, stout and manly as he is, wept as profusely as I did.

He did not recover for a quarter of an hour. Even before leaving office, Burr had begun a conspiracy. Precisely what Burr planned remains a mystery, a puzzle, a lock without a key. He told his first biographer, Matthew L. Davis, the scheme he called X was intended to revolutionize Mexico and settle some lands he had in Texas.

Perhaps it was. But the legends remain, and the papers tantalize. The maps of New Orleans, Veracruz, and the roads to Mexico City, and the correspondence hinting he would not liberate but seize Mexico, draw the western states from the Union, and combining them into one nation, stand at the throne of the Aztecs and crown himself Emperor of the West. The gods invite us to glory and fortune, Burr wrote to his co-conspirator, General James Wilkinson, then General-in-Chief of the United States Army. John Randolph of Roanoke, most ferocious of politicians, called Wilkinson, the mammoth of iniquity, the only man I ever saw who was from the bark to the very core a villain.

Wilkinson, whose self-designed uniforms, encrusted with gold braid and frogging, failed to conceal his enormous girth. He was, as we now know, a paid agent of Spain, a man on the take. At some point, Wilkinson ratted out Burr to Jefferson. On November 27, 1806, Jefferson issued a proclamation that led to the collapse of the plot, Burr's arrest, and Burr's indictment for treason by levying war against the United States. Wilkinson was not the subject of prosecution, though we now know that Jefferson, too, knew Wilkinson was taking money from the Spanish. Perhaps Wilkinson knew too much in an age not yet so cruel as to eliminate those who knew too much. Burr was tried in Richmond, Virginia, before Chief Justice John Marshall, Jefferson's third cousin.

The cousins detested one another. The prosecutor insinuated that Marshall would be impeached if he did not rule for the prosecution on the evidentiary motions. Marshall noted the threat in his decision. He also noted the Constitution requires treason to be proven by the testimony of two witnesses to the same overt act of treason. Of the dozens of witnesses presented by the government, none had testified to an overt act.

Marshall then excluded all evidence presented by the government as merely corroborative and incompetent. Within 25 minutes, the jury found Burr not guilty. Now, in a self-imposed exercise in discretion, Burr left for Europe. At first, Burr sought financial support for X from the British and then the French.

Nothing came of it. From the exile's beginning, Burr recorded his experiences in his private journal. Perhaps its saddest revelations are that this vital, charming man was so easily bored. Yet, as Lomask writes, there was a limit to how many parties he could attend, how many ceremonies he could watch, how many books he could read, how many bright and articulate people he could draw within the radiant circle of his charm. He devoted his energies to fornication, with prostitutes if necessary and other women when possible.

Lomask notes he described his amatory encounters as muse, a French hunting term meaning the beginning of the rutting season in animals. This suggests that he despised himself for treating sex in this way. Yet some principles remained uncompromised despite boredom and the lack of money.

He never descended to drinking cheap wine. After his return to the United States, he only dabbled in politics. In 1812, he was pulling strings from an unknown man in the West named Andrew Jackson, who will do credit to a commission in the army if conferred upon him. When Jackson became president in 1829, Samuel Swartout, whose hospitality Burr had enjoyed on his return from exile, was appointed collector of the Port of New York with Burr's help.

As M.R. Werner relates in his history of Tammany Hall, Swartout later hurried to Europe when his accounts showed that he had borrowed from the government's funds the sum of $1,225,705.69. The public, with that charming levity that has always characterized its attitude toward wholesale plunder, made the best of a bad situation by coining a new term. When a man put the government's money into his own pocket, it was said he had swore out it. In 1833, Burr married Eliza Jumel, perhaps the richest American woman of the time. She had, after what may have been the most successful career of her age as, shall we say, a working girl, married an extremely wealthy man. By the time she married Burr, Madame Jumel was a widow. Burr probably married her for her money.

Within the year, she began divorce proceedings on the grounds of adultery, a remarkable, even heartening accusation against a man of 78. On September 14, 1836, the day on which the decree of divorce from Madame Jumel was entered by the court, Aaron Burr died in a second-floor room at Winans Inn, 2040 Richmond Terrace in Port Richmond, Staten Island. Two days later, he was buried beside his father and grandfather in Princeton, New Jersey. Lomask wrote, For nearly twenty years the grave went unmarked. Then a relative arranged for the installation of a simple marble slab. In 1995, the Aaron Burr Association placed a bronze plaque on the grave that recites his services to the Republic.

And great job on that by Robbie, our producer, and Bill Bryke. Aaron Burr's story, here on Our American Stories. Soon millions will make Medicare coverage decisions for next year, and UnitedHealthcare can help you feel confident about your choices. For those eligible, Medicare annual enrollment runs from October 15 through December 7. If you're working past age 65, you might be able to delay Medicare enrollment depending on your employer coverage.

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