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SURRENDER AT ASTORIA IN 1818 275 and not at the Columbia; and the commonly stated version 3 that Mr. Prevost insisted upon waiting for word from England before proceeding northward may be put down as incorrect. He had no reason to expect any such word. But the fates proved propitious for Mr. Prevost after all. Writing again to Secretary Adams from Santiago de Chile on July 8th he said: "Captain Hickey of the British navy com- manding the Blossom yesterday submitted to my inspection certain orders from his government addressed to the officer commanding on this station, instructing him to proceed forth- with to the Columbia River for the purpose of surrendering that place in conformity to the first article of the Treaty of Ghent to anyone authorized on the part of the U. States to receive such possession. This intelligence was so grateful to me as furthering the views of the President that in order to give immediate effect to the act I proposed to Captain Hickey to accompany him thither for the purpose. This Gentleman met the offer with a cordiality that does him honor and I shall accordingly proceed tomorrow to the port, there to embark for the contemplated voyage." And his next, from Lima, Peru, on July 27th, says : "In my last of the 8th of July by Captain Rea of the American I acquainted you of my intention to proceed to the Northwest Coast on board of his Britannic Majesty's sloop of war Blossom, in order to receive the surrender of the establishment on the Columbia River and there to hoist the American flag. I have now the honor to transmit a copy of the order to Captain Shireff on that subject and to announce to you my arrival at this place on my way thither." Before following Judge Prevost (as he was known at Wash- ington and New York) to the Columbia it is in order to men- tion such brief biographical information 4 as is available about him. It will be new to most readers to connect even in the spirit of romance or gossip the distasteful name of Aaron Burr with Oregon history, but the record discloses that when 3 See Oregon Hist. Quar., Vol. 19, No. 3, p. 184. 4 See "The Prevost Family in America" in N. Y. Genealogical & Biographical Record, Jan., 1883, Vol. 13; 27-28.