When the Court reconvened on the morning of Wednesday, August 19, the first witness to take the stand was General John Morgan, a sturdy frontiersman who lived with his father, Colonel George Morgan, and his brother Tom on an estate appropriately named Morganza, a few miles from Pittsburgh.
General Morgan, having been sworn, testified that some time in August of 1806, his father received a letter signed by Aaron Burr stating that he and Colonel de Pestre would like to dine with them the following day. His father, said General Morgan, asked his two sons to meet Colonel Burr on the road and this they did about seven miles distant from Morganza.
After a few words of general conversation, continued the witness, Colonel Burr observed that the Union could not possibly last and that a separation of the states must ensue as a natural consequence in four or five years. General Morgan went on to say that, at his father’s table during dinner, Colonel Burr again observed that the separation of the Union must inevitably take place in less than five years. To this General Morgan said his father exclaimed “God forbid!” General Morgan testified further that Burr observed that with 200 men he could drive the President and Congress into the Potomac, and that with 400 or 500 he could take possession of the city of New York.
After dinner, said the General, Burr walked with the two brothers for about a mile. In the course of this airing he asked if either of them had a military turn, surely a surprising question to ask a man bearing the title of General! Morgan’s testimony ended with an account of a farewell ride with Burr to the town of Washington, about ten miles distant, during which Burr made further inquiries about the local militia.
On cross-examination by Colonel Burr, General Morgan admitted that the letter from Burr to Morgan’s father followed one from the elder Morgan to Burr inviting him to Morganza, so that the meeting between Burr and the Morgans had not after all been initiated by Burr.
General Morgan was followed on the witness stand by his father who confirmed in substance the evidence presented by his son. He explained further that he had enjoyed a long acquaintance with Burr and had received many civilities from him. In fact, said Colonel Morgan, when Burr was being persecuted after his duel with Hamilton he had invited Burr to stay with him at Morganza.
Colonel Morgan considered Burr’s conversation at dinner so reprehensible that he informed his neighbors, General Neville and Judges Tilghman and Roberts. It was they, he said, who wrote a joint letter of warning to President Jefferson.
General Morgan was recalled to the stand by Burr just long enough to be asked what state of mind his father was in when General Neville and Judge Tilghman visited him. General Morgan replied that his father had recently had a fall which had done him considerable injury. Colonel Burr wanted to know if General Morgan had not made an apology to Judge Tilghman for the state of his father’s mind. But the only admission Burr could wring from the witness was that he had said his father was old and infirm and, like other old men, told long stories and was apt to forget his repetitions.
Thomas Morgan, the General’s younger brother, on taking the stand quoted Colonel Burr as having said that under the existing government there was no encouragement for talents; that John Randolph of Roanoke had declared on the floor of the Congress that men of talents were dangerous to the Government. He said Burr next asked him whether he, who at the time was studying law, would be interested in a military enterprise. And, said Tom, when he replied that it depended entirely on the object, Burr explained: “I wish you were on your way with me.”
The testimony now returned to the Blennerhassett household. The next witness was Jacob Allbright, a stolid Dutchman who, like Peter Taylor, had been in the employ of the Blennerhassetts. He testified that he had been invited to go on the expedition and that he also had been offered a dollar a head for any volunteers he could get from the Dutch colony in New Lancaster, Ohio, from which he came.