Washington Irving reports that "Wilkinson strutted into the Court, and ... stood for a moment swelling like a turkey cock." Burr ignored him until Marshall "directed the clerk to swear General Wilkinson; at the mention of the name Burr turned his head, looked him full in the face with one of his piercing regards, swept his eye over his whole person from head to foot, as if to scan its dimensions, and then coolly ... went on conversing with his counsel as tranquilly as ever."[1128]
Wilkinson delighted Jefferson with a different description: "I saluted the Bench & in spite of myself my Eyes darted a flash of indignation at the little Traitor, on whom they continued fixed until I was called to the Book—here Sir I found my expectations verified—This Lyon hearted Eagle Eyed Hero, sinking under the weight of conscious guilt, with haggard Eye, made an Effort to meet the indignant salutation of outraged Honor, but it was in vain, his audacity failed Him, He averted his face, grew pale & affected passion to conceal his perturbation."[1129]
But the countenance of a thin, long-faced, roughly garbed man sitting among the waiting witnesses was not composed when Wilkinson appeared. For three weeks Andrew Jackson to all whom he met had been expressing his opinion of Wilkinson in the unrestrained language of the fighting frontiersman;[1130] and he now fiercely gazed upon the creature whom he regarded as a triple traitor, his own face furious with scorn and loathing.
Within the bar also sat that brave and noble man whose career of unbroken victories had made the most brilliant and honorable page thus far in the record of the American Navy—Commodore Thomas Truxtun. He was dressed in civilian attire.[1131] By his side, clad as a man of business, sat a brother naval hero of the old days, Commodore Stephen Decatur.[1132] A third of the group was Benjamin Stoddert, the Secretary of the Navy under President Adams.[1133]
In striking contrast with the dignified appearance and modest deportment of these gray-haired friends was the gaudily appareled, aggressive mannered Eaton, his restlessness and his complexion advertising those excesses which were already disgusting even the hard-drinking men then gathered in Richmond. Dozens of inconspicuous witnesses found humbler places in the audience, among them Sergeant Jacob Dunbaugh, bearing himself with mingled bravado, insolence, and humility, the stripes on the sleeve of his uniform designating the position to which Wilkinson had restored him.
Dunbaugh had gone before the grand jury on Saturday, as had Bollmann; and now, one by one, Truxtun, Decatur, Eaton, and others were sent to testify before that body.
Eaton told the grand jury the same tale related in his now famous affidavit.[1134]
Commodore Truxtun testified to facts as different from the statements made by "the hero of Derne"[1135] as though Burr had been two utterly contrasted persons. During the same period that Burr had seen Eaton, he had also conversed with him, said Truxtun. Burr mentioned a great Western land speculation, the digging of a canal, and the building of a bridge. Later on Burr had told him that "in the event of a war with Spain, which he thought inevitable, ... he contemplated an expedition to Mexico," and had asked Truxtun "if the Havanna could be easily taken ... and what would be the best mode of attacking Carthagena and La Vera Cruz by land and sea." The Commodore had given Burr his opinion "very freely," part of it being that "it would require a naval force." Burr had answered that "that might be obtained," and had frankly asked Truxtun if he "would take the command of a naval expedition."
"I asked him," testified Truxtun, "if the executive of the United States were privy to, or concerned in the project? He answered emphatically that he was not: ... I told Mr. Burr that I would have nothing to do with it.... He observed to me, that in the event of a war [with Spain], he intended to establish an independent government in Mexico; that Wilkinson, the army, and many officers of the navy would join.... Wilkinson had projected the expedition, and he had matured it; that many greater men than Wilkinson would join, and that thousands to the westward would join."
In some of the conversations "Burr mentioned to me that the government was weak," testified Truxtun, "and he wished me to get the navy of the United States out of my head;[1136] ... and not to think more of those men at Washington; that he wished to see or make me, (I do not recollect which of those two terms he used) an Admiral."