Commission by James Wilkinson as Governor and Commander in Chief of the Louisiana Territory to Pierre Provenchere as Major of Militia. 19th Century facsimile.

Indiana territory: 1804. 19th Century facsimile; likely a collotype.23.7 x 38cm....James Wilkinson (1790-1818) governor of the Louisiana Territory, high ranking official in the United States Army, and informant of, and suspected co-conspirator in the Aaron Burr conspiracy.... As Senior Officer under President Jefferson he shared in taking possession of the Louisiana Purchase for the United States in 1803 but continued his intrigue with Spain providing them advice on how to prevent the United States from encroaching upon Spanish territory in exchange for restoration of his pension. He also participated in the conspiracy by Aaron Burr in 1804-06 to establish as independent nation from western states and territories of the United States during the time he was the first Governor of Louisiana Territory. Although Burr was acquitted, suspicions about Wilkinson’s part in the matter grew, eventually resulting in a court-martial in 1811 that resulted in his exoneration.....Pierre Provenchere , 1741-1831 :Pierre Provenchere de Villiers, a former tutor of King Louis XVI’s nephew, Charles Ferdinand Bourbon, Duc de Berry, immigrated to Delaware with his widowed daughter shortly after the outbreak of the French Revolution. Early in 1808 he moved to Philadelphia. Berry urged him to return to France after the fall of Napoleon, but Provenchere apparently decided to remain with his American relations (Dorothy Garesché Holland, The Garesché, De Bauduy, and Des Chapelles Families: History and Genealogy [1963], 33, 61, 78–9, 124–5, 140; James Robinson, The Philadelphia Directory for 1809 [Philadelphia, 1809]; John A. Paxton, The Philadelphia Directory and Register for 1813 [Philadelphia, 1813]; James Wilkinson to TJ, 3 Apr. 1807 [DLC: Aaron Burr Papers]).