General Wilkinson’s Vendetta with General Wayne: Politics and Command in the American Army, 1791–1796*

James Wilkinson's gift, Humphrey Marshall remembered, was his manner and appearance. "The combined effect," Marshall concluded, was "greatly advantageous to the general," but only "on a first acquaintance." Wilkinson's group openly criticized General E. Wayne; one even wrote to a congressman, accusing the commander of being "ignorant, jealous, partial, rude, ungentlemanly, and unjust." The army settled down to garrison life in the line of forts north of Cincinnati, while Wayne patiently negotiated a settlement with the Indians. In Congress, Wilkinson's machinations distorted the whole process of military policy in 1796 and very nearly destroyed the reorganization legislation that created the nineteenth century military establishment. Moreover, the feud revealed a maturity in the army that it had never before possessed. Wilkinson's letters to him, while polite, were arrogant and overbearing, and on several occasions Wilkinson used Wayne's distance to question or modify specific orders.