James Madison Papers

To James Madison from Washington Johnston, 11 December 1811 (Abstract)

§ From Washington Johnston

11 December 1811, Vincennes. Encloses a memorial from both branches of the Indiana territorial legislature “upon the subject of the Army lately under the Command of Governor Harrison.”1

RC and enclosure (DLC). RC 1 p. Signed by Johnston as Speaker of the House of Representatives. Docketed by JM. For enclosure, see n. 1.

1Johnston enclosed a five-page memorial, dated December 1811, to the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives seeking land bounties in recognition of the service of those militiamen who had just fought in William Henry Harrison’s Wabash campaign. The memorial alluded to the human costs of securing the territory, especially for the widows and orphans of those men who had paid the “first instalment on a quarter section of land.” Their land would revert to the U.S. unless the government intervened to make “some ample provision for the unfortunate.” The memorial also requested that “a donation” of one quarter section be given to every private in the army with proportional grants for each officer and noncommissioned officer in order to encourage “the soldier and the citizen to turn out when a call from his country envited.”

Index Entries