James Madison Papers

To James Madison from William C. C. Claiborne (Abstract), 5 May 1805

§ From William C. C. Claiborne

5 May 1805, New Orleans. “In a late Letter which I have received from Mr. Chambers the United States Factor at Fort St. Stephens, he states: ‘The Letter you were pleased to obtain from the Marquis of Casa Calvo, authorized the Vessel to pass by the Post of Mobile, and the Commandant of the Post assured me she should return freely and without hindrance.’

“A Copy of my Correspondence with the Marquis upon the Subject of the passage by Mobile of the Vessel alluded to by Mr. Chambers, was forwarded to you on the 30th March.1

“Captain Carmick was Shipwrecked in the Lake, and compel’ed to return to this City.2 He will again set out for Pensacola in a day or two. The enclosure3 is a Copy of my Letter to Governor Folch.”4

RC and enclosure (DNA: RG 59, TP, Orleans, vol. 6); letterbook copy (ibid.); letterbook copy (Ms-Ar: Claiborne Executive Journal, vol. 15). RC 1 p.; in a clerk’s hand, except for Claiborne’s emendations and signature; docketed by Wagner. Minor differences between the copies have not been noted. For enclosure, see n. 3.

1See Claiborne to JM, 30 Mar. 1805, and nn. 2–3.

2For Daniel Carmick’s assignment to carry Claiborne’s message to Vicente Folch, see Claiborne to JM, 29 Apr. 1805.

3The enclosure (1 p.; docketed by Wagner as received in Claiborne’s 5 May dispatch; printed in Carter, Territorial Papers, Orleans, 9:444–45) is a copy of Claiborne to Folch, 26 Apr. 1805, stating that although Casa Calvo had promised to write to Folch about the American post road, Claiborne was so solicitous about the matter that he had decided to write himself requesting Folch’s protection for mail carriers. For Claiborne’s correspondence with Casa Calvo about the postal route through West Florida, see Claiborne to JM, 21 Apr. 1805 (second letter), and nn. 4–5.

4On the RC, Claiborne has added the phrase “on the subject of the Road”here.

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