Blennerhassett Island in Romance and Tragedy: The Authentic Story of Blennerhassett Island with the Burr Episode Entwined about it, the Romance and Mystery of the Blennerhassetts, Burr Under Footlights and Shadows, Tragedy of Theodosia Burr.

201 pp. Includes black-and-white illustrations. "Blennerhassett Island, an island on the Ohio River below the mouth of the Little Kanawha River, is located near Parkersburg in Wood County, West Virginia, USA. Historically, Blennerhassett Island was occupied by American Indians. Nemacolin, chief of the Delaware Nation made it his last home, dying in 1767. European Americans knew it as Backus Island, naming it for Elijah Backus who purchased it in 1792 in the wave of westward settlement following the American Revolutionary War. In 1798 Harman Blennerhassett, a figure in the Aaron Burr "treason" conspiracy, purchased the east end of the island with his wife Margaret Agnew and it became known by their name.[1] Their residence, Blennerhassett House, where Burr and Blennerhassett are alleged to have plotted treason against the United States in the Burr Conspiracy, burned to the ground in 1811. That area has been designated the Blennerhassett Island Historical State Park and the island was named for him." ABOUT HARMAN BLENNERHASSETT: "Harman Blennerhassett (8 October 1765 – 2 February 1831) was an Anglo-Irish lawyer and politician. The most distinguished of the Blennerhassetts' many visitors was the former vice president of the United States, Aaron Burr. His three stays on the island resulted in its becoming headquarters for his mysterious 1806–1807 military expedition to the Southwest. Although branded a treasonous plot (supposedly to separate the American West from the Union) by Burr's enemy, President Thomas Jefferson, the enterprise's true goal probably was the conquest of Spanish-ruled Texas. As the result of the president's call for the arrest of Burr, Blennerhassett, and their ca. 70 followers, the mansion and island were occupied and plundered in December 1806 by local Virginia militia. Blennerhassett fled, was twice arrested, and finally imprisoned in the Virginia state penitentiary. He was only released following Burr's acquittal at the end of a long 1807 treason trial at Richmond, Virginia. The Blennerhassetts never returned to their island home, which in 1811 was destroyed by fire." ABOUT AARON BURR: "Aaron Burr Jr. (February 6, 1756 – September 14, 1836) was an American politician. He was the third Vice President of the United States (1801–1805), serving during Thomas Jefferson's first term. Burr served as a Continental Army officer in the American Revolutionary War, after which he became a successful lawyer and politician. He was elected twice to the New York State Assembly (1784–1785, 1798–1799),[1] was appointed New York State Attorney General (1789–1791), was chosen as a U.S. senator (1791–1797) from the State of New York, and reached the apex of his career as vice president. In the waning months of his tenure as president of the Senate, he oversaw the 1805 impeachment trial of Supreme Court Justice Samuel Chase. Burr shot his political rival Alexander Hamilton in a famous duel in 1804, the last full year of his single term as vice president. He was never tried for the illegal duel and all charges against him were eventually dropped, but Hamilton's death ended Burr's political career. Burr left Washington, D.C., and traveled west seeking new opportunities, both economic and political. His activities eventually led to his arrest on charges of treason in 1807. The subsequent trial resulted in acquittal, but Burr's western schemes left him with large debts and few influential friends. In a final quest for grand opportunities, he left the United States for Europe. He remained overseas until 1812, when he returned to the United States to practice law in New York City, where he spent the rest of his life in relative obscurity."