From James Madison to George Graham, 30 August 1815
To George Graham
Montpelier Aug. 30. 1815
Dear Sir
I have recd. the letter of the 26th. in which you sent the extract, from Mr. Dallas’s relating to a Commercial Treaty with G.B. There appears to be a concurrence of N. paper articles, in giving probability to the account. It can not be long before we shall be fully informed on the subject.
I return you the letters intended for Mr. Crawford, which you will forward directly from Washington. They will reach him as soon, as if detained here till you enable me to give them the proper local address. The intelligence from Apalachicola, is important, and with the final arrangement made with G.B. puts an end to some apprehensions from that quarter.1 If I do not forget, Col: Hawkins’s enquiry will be answered by your late communications to him.2
I have signed the commission of Paymaster for Lt. A. Philips, which will authorize him to act. It may be exchanged hereafter for one with Mr. Crawford’s signature. The Cadet appt. for 3 Guerrant must await his signature which was forgotten by him. In the mean time the young man may be informed, that the appt. is decided on.
The Brevets for Ls. Nourse & Whiting, may await the return of Mr. Crawford, or may be issued now, if that be inconvenient and their claims be thought sufficiently clear & decided.
I have a letter from Carter Tarrant, acting as Chaplain at N. O. under the war appt.4 He was recommended, I believe, particularly by Col. Johnson of Ky, as a man of piety & patriotism. Of the 4 authorized Chaplains one only has, as I recollect been retained. If there be no objection to Mr. T. known to the Dept. let him be continued. He does not like his present Station; but that may be for consideration hereafter. Accept my friendly respects
James Madison
RC (NHi: Gilder Lehrman Collection, on deposit).
1. The information to which JM referred was evidently that contained in a 6 Aug. 1815 “confidential report” on the state of the British fort at Apalachicola, made to assistant Creek agent Christian Limbaugh by Kendal Lewis and William Hardridge. Benjamin Hawkins enclosed a copy of the document in his 11 Aug. 1815 letter to Graham (DNA: RG 107, LRRS, H-191:8; printed in , 2:747–48), noting that it “exhibits a different state of things there from what were heretofore apprehended.” That previous information had also been forwarded to the War Department by Hawkins, in a letter of 27 July 1815 (DNA: RG 107, LRRS, H-185:8; printed in , 2:743). Hawkins there enclosed a 20 July report sent to Limbaugh by Creek native William McGirt, stating that Lt. Col. Edward Nicolls had left the fort in the command of Lt. William Hambly, with orders, as Hambly told McGirt, to attack any U.S. commissioners attempting to survey the lower boundary line of the Creek territory ceded to the United States by the Treaty of Fort Jackson, because such action would violate the ninth article of the Treaty of Ghent. Lewis and Hardridge, by contrast, stated that Hambly had abandoned the fort to the possession of “about 80” black men and “wished the place destroyed, but dare not make it known to any person.” Hambly, who according to a note by Hawkins was “a clerk in the house of John Forbes & Co. at Apalatchacola,” had not known McGirt well enough to tell him the truth, Lewis and Hardridge explained. He declared that he “never expected Colo. Nicolls back” and that if the United States attacked the fort he would encourage the Indians to fight on their side; he also gave detailed information on the fort’s construction and armament and outlined his scheme for getting the Indians to drive the blacks out of it “if no body else would undertake the business.”
2. In his 11 Aug. 1815 letter to Graham (see n. 1 above), Hawkins asked whether the commissioners were to proceed with the boundary line survey even if the Creek chiefs refused to ratify the Treaty of Fort Jackson. JM probably referred to Graham’s letters to Hawkins of 15 July 1815, conveying the president’s request that Hawkins be present at the surveying of the line to help minimize tensions with the Indians (DNA: RG 107, LSMA); and 22 July 1815, reporting that John Kershaw had declined appointment as a commissioner, asking Hawkins to serve in his place, and enclosing a blank commission to be filled by Hawkins’s name to that effect (DNA: RG 75, LSIA).
3. Left blank in RC. JM referred to Charles Guerrant, who accepted his appointment to the United States Military Academy on 8 Dec. 1815 (DNA: RG 94, U.S. Military Academy Cadet Application Papers, 1815).