Thomas Fitzpatrick
Manuscript heading: Colonel Fitzpatrick
Thomas Fitzpatrick a local militia officer in the Mississippi Territory circa 1807. According to records from the Mississippi Department of Archives and History, Colonel Thomas Fitzpatrick was based in "Green Ville“[sup]1[sup] and acted under the authority of the territorial governor.
He was the official who confronted Aaron Burr following Burr’s escape from arrest in early 1807.
In a letter dated January 15, 1807, Fitzpatrick reported attempting to negotiate Burr’s surrender ‚along with Burr’s request to be tried within the territory‚ until the approach of Colonel F.L. Claiborne’s force prompted him to renew the attempt at arrest, recognizing the danger posed by Burr’s party.
Figure 1 Fitzpatrick letter concerning Burr’s capture
1 ”Green Ville" or Greenville is not the current Greenville, MS. This now abandoned town
was located to the south near Natchez, was the county seat for Jefferson County from 1803 to 1825
Source: Trip Through The Piney Woods, PDF p. 42.