To James Madison from Richard Claiborne, 30 June 1806 (Abstract)
From Richard Claiborne, 30 June 1806 (Abstract)
§ From Richard Claiborne.1 30 June 1806, New Orleans. “Acting for the Secretary of the Territory of Orleans, I have the honor to inclose to you the following Returns:
“‘Civil appointments by Governor claiborne, from the 1. day of January 1806, to the 30. June 1806’:2
“‘Pardons and Proclamations by Governor claiborne from 1. Jany 1806, to 30. June 1806’:3
“⟨‘⟩Return of the officers of the militia of the Territory of Orleans, Since the return made the 8. of May 1806’:4 at the same time I cannot but remark that this document seems to me to incumber one department of the administration with a subject that belongs to another, namely the Secretary at War.
“The returns of the Governor’s Executive acts will be forwarded every 6 months, towit on the last day of June, and the last day of December.”
RC and enclosures (DNA: RG 59, TP, Orleans, vol. 8). RC 1 p.; docketed by Wagner. For enclosures (printed in , 9:662–69), see nn. 2–4.
1. Richard Claiborne (ca. 1752–1819), a Virginia native and cousin of Orleans Territory governor William C. C. Claiborne, served in the Revolutionary War and thereafter lived in London for several years. Returning to the United States, he resided in Philadelphia and Washington, D.C., where in 1802 he received a patent for a boat paddle. His efforts to obtain a government appointment in the Mississippi Territory failed, but in 1803 he moved there nevertheless, and by 1806 had ventured on to New Orleans and become Governor Claiborne’s private secretary. He was appointed clerk of the Superior Court for the First District of Orleans Territory in 1807, and was judge of Rapides County for about four years beginning in 1808. Along with practicing law in New Orleans, Claiborne did further work on his boat paddle, which was shaped like a duck’s foot (, 11:499–500 n.).
2. The enclosure (3 pp.; docketed by Wagner) listed the names of forty-nine appointees: three judges, three clerks, twelve justices of the peace, three attorneys, five sheriffs, seven auctioneers, eleven treasurers, a recorder, a coroner, an interpreter, a keeper of records, and a keeper of mortgages. Also included were the dates and places of the appointments, and notes indicating that a few appointees had resigned or been dismissed.
3. Claiborne enclosed copies (14 pp.; docketed by Wagner) of four pardons, three writs of election, and two proclamations; and of safe-conduct letters for Juan Ventura Morales and Gilberto Leonard, 27 Jan. 1806, and the marqués de Casa Calvo, 12 Feb. 1806.
4. For the 8 May 1806 return, see John Graham to JM, 8 May 1806, 11:550 and n. 1. The enclosed return (1 p.; cover dated 30 June 1806 and docketed by Wagner) listed the names, ranks, and dates of a total of fifteen appointments to the cavalry, infantry, and Orleans Volunteers, together with notes indicating that five appointees had resigned, one had been dismissed, and one had been promoted.