brigadier-generalship on 5 March, 1792, and to the supreme command of the army on the death of Wayne in 1796. He was made governor of Louisi- ana in 1805, and in the autumn of that year dis- closed to the government the plan of Aaron Burr to erect a southwestern empire. Burr asserted, and Jackson believed, that he was implicated in this conspiracy, and the presumption is very strong that he was its originator. In 1811 he was court-mar- tialed, charged with complicity with Burr, and with being in the pay of Spain, but was acquitted for lack of evidence, his subsequently published correspond- ence with the Spanish government, which conclu- sively shows his guilt, not being then accessible. In 1813 he was made major-general, and employed in the northern department, where he was not suc- cessful, owing to a disagreement with Gen. Wade Hampton. A court of inquiry exonerated him in 1815. He was discharged from the service at the close of the war, and removed to Mexico. His life he has. in part, related in his " Memoirs of My Own Times" (3 vols., Philadelphia, 1816). His treason is outlined in Humphrey Marshall's " His- tory of Kentucky " (2 vols., Frankfort, 1824), and more fully related in Charles Gayarre's " Spanish Domination in Louisiana " (New York, 1854), and James R. Gilmore's " Advance-Guard of Western Civilization " (1887). See also Daniel Clark's " Proofs of the Corruption of Gen. James Wilkin- son" (1809), and "Burr's Conspiracy Exposed and Gen. Wilkinson Vindicated" (1811).
WILKINSON, Jemima, religious impostor, b.
in Cumberland, R. I., in 1753; d. in Jerusalem,
Yates co., N. Y., 1 July, 1819. She was brought
up as a Quaker, and at the age of twenty, having
recovered after a severe fever and an apparent sus-
pension of life, she claimed to have been raised
from the dead, to have received a divine commis-
sion, and to be able to work miracles. She was
shrewd and persuasive, and, having secured numer-
ous followers, retired with them in 1789 to a tract
of 14,000 acres which had been purchased in Yates
county, N. Y., and which she named Jerusalem.
She assumed the name of " Universal Friend," was
accompanied by two " witnesses," Sarah Richards
and Rachel Miller, and insisted on the Shaker
doctrine of celibacy. The exercises of her religious
meetings also resembled those of that sect. When
she preached she stood in the door of her bed-
chamber, wearing a waistcoat, stock, and white silk
cravat. Though she recommended poverty, her
dupes enabled her to live in luxuiy, and she owned
lands that were purchased in the name of Rachel
Miller. After her death the sect was entirely dis-
persed. See " History of Jemima Wilkinson," by
David nume (Geneva, N. Y., 1821).
WILKINSON, Jesse, naval officer, b. in Vir-
ginia about 1790; d. in Norfolk, Va., 23 May, 1861.
He entered the navy as a midshipman, 4 July, 1805,
and was commissioned a lieutenant, 10 April, 1810.
During the war of 1812 he commanded the schooner
" Hornet," which was used as a despatch-vessel on
Potomac river in 1813-'15. He served at the Nor-
folk navy-yard in 1816-'18 and in 1820-'l, and in
the intervening time commanded the " Hornet "
and was on coast-survey duty. He was promoted
to master-commandant, 18 April, 1818, commanded
the brig " Spark," of Com. David Porter's flotilla,
for the suppression of piracy in the West Indies in
1822-'3, and served at the Norfolk navv-yard in
1824-'5 and at Boston in 1826. He served in the
"John Adams" in the West Indies against the
Sirates in 1827-'8, was promoted to captain, 11
larch, 1829, and was at the navy-yard at Norfolk
in 1829-'33. He commanded the frigate " United
States," of the Mediterranean squadron, in 1835-'40,
and the West India squadron, in the flag-ship
" Macedonian," in 1840-2, and was commandant
of the Norfolk navy-yard in 1843-7. In 1848-'9
he was commodore commanding the West India
squadron in the flag-ship " Raritan." After this
he served on boards and courts-martial until his
death, though most of this period of his life was
spent on leave or waiting orders.
WILKINSON, John, naval officer, b. in Nor-
folk, Va., 6 Nov., 1821. He entered the navy as a
midshipman, 8 Dec, 1837, attended the "naval
school at Philadelphia, and became a passed mid-
shipman, 29 June, 1843, served in the " Oregon "
on special service in 1844-5, and in the " Ports-
mouth " in 1845-'6. He was attached to the
" Saratoga " in the later operations on the Gulf
coast of Mexico, was commissioned a master, 25
June, 1850, and became lieutenant, 5 Nov., 1850.
He served in the steamer " Southern Star," on the
expedition to Paraguay, in 1858-'9, was on duty in
the coast survey in 1860-'l, and when the civil war
began resigned his commission, 20 April, 1861, and
entered the Confederate navy as a lieutenant. He
was assigned to duty in Fort Powhatan on the
James river, and then ordered to command a bat-
tery at Acquia creek. In the spring of 1862 he
was appointed executive of the ram "Louisiana,"
at New Orleans, in which he was taken prisoner at
the capture of the city by Farragut. He was ex-
changed, 5 Aug., 1862, and on 12 Aug. left Rich-
mond with funds and Confederate bonds with
which to purchase and load a vessel in England
with a cargo of war material. He there bought
the steamer " Giraffe," in which he ran the blockade
at Wilmington, N. C, having on board machinery
to make Confederate paper.- money. Shortly after-
ward the " Giraffe " was renamed the " R. E. Lee."
He made regular trips from Wilmington to Ber-
muda with cotton, and back with cargoes of arms
and military stores. In October, 1863, he was or-
dered to command an expedition to release the
Confederate prisoners on Johnson's island ; but the
Canadian governor-general learned of the plot, and
it was a failure. He served in the iron-clad "Al-
bemarle " in 1864, and in September had command
of the " Chickamauga," in which he destroyed a
great many merchant-vessels. In 1865 he had
charge of the blockade-runner " Chameleon," which
he took to Liverpool, where she was seized after
the war, and delivered to the U. S. government.
He has published " The Narrative of a Blockade-
Runner * (New York, 1877).
WILKINSON, Morton Smith, senator, b. in Skaneateles, Onondaga co., N. Y., 22 Jan., 1819. Pie received an academical education, went to Illinois in 1837, was engaged for two years in railroad business, afterward returned to his native place, where he studied law, was admitted to the bar in Syracuse in 1842, and in 1843 began practice at Eaton Rapids, Mich. He removed to St. Paul, Minn., in 1847, was elected a member of the first territorial legislature in 1849, and was appointed one of a board of commissioners to prepare a code of laws for the territory. He was elected to the U. S. senate as a Republican in 1859, and held his seat till 1865, serving as chairman of the committee on Revolutionary claims, and as a member of the committee on Indian affairs. He was a delegate to the Baltimore convention of 1864 and to the Loyalists' convention of 1866 at Philadelphia, and served in congress from Minnesota from 4 March, 1869, till 3 March. 1871. He was a member of the state senate in 1874-'7, and afterward united with the Democratic party.
