To Thomas Jefferson from Henry Dearborn, 31 January 1805
From Henry Dearborn
War Department January 31—1805
Sir,
I have the honor of transmitting you an Extract from the duplicate of Col. Hammond’s letter of June 30th. 1804 and a copy of his of the 26th. of October last; and of stating that the dates of my letters to him are the same as mentioned in the extract and the copy. His commission is dated October 1st. 1804, and was transmitted to him from this Office, at St. Louis, on the 2d. of last November—The duplicate of his letter of June 30th. was received on the third of September, and that under date of October 26th. on the 14th. of November last; since which no communications have been received from him.
Accept, Sir, the assurances of my high respect & consideration
H Dearborn
RC (DLC); in a clerk’s hand, signed by Dearborn; at foot of text: “The President of the US.”; endorsed by TJ as received from the War Department on 31 Jan. and “Colo. Hammond” and so recorded in SJL. PoC (PHi: Daniel Parker Papers). FC (DNA: RG 107, LSP). Enclosures: (1) Extract from Samuel Hammond to Dearborn, 30 June 1804, from Varello near Augusta, Georgia; Hammond received Dearborn’s letter of 30 May regarding his appointment; he has been hesitant to accept, doubting his qualifications, but after much consideration has “resolved to do so”; he hopes that Dearborn will reply soon; with a cover letter, Hammond to Dearborn, 15 Aug., stating that Hammond put the original of the 30 June letter into the Augusta post office on 1 July but received no reply; he places little confidence in the Augusta postmaster and asks that any future communications be sent to the post office at Campbellton, South Carolina (Trs in DLC). (2) Hammond to Dearborn, 26 Oct. 1804, Varello; Hammond has just received Dearborn’s letter of 17 Sep. and concludes that neither the original of his 30 June letter nor its duplicate ever reached the secretary; the situation is very inconvenient for Hammond, as he does not know whether to travel to Washington for the next session of Congress or to prepare for a journey to St. Louis; Dearborn’s letter will hasten Hammond’s departure for St. Louis, where he hopes to find instructions regarding his new appointment (Tr in DNA: RG 233, PM, 8th Cong., 2d sess.; endorsed by a House clerk; enclosed in TJ to the House of Representatives, 31 Jan.).
His commission: Hammond, a congressman from Georgia, was one of the Louisiana District commandants appointed by TJ the previous year (Biog. Dir. Cong.; TJ to Dearborn, 30 Aug. 1804; Dearborn to TJ, 13 Sep. 1804).