To James Madison from Peter Foster (Abstract), 19 March 1805
§ From Peter Foster1
19 March 1805, Norfolk. “Having not heard from you Sins august Last a twelve month2 and Having a good oppertunity By Captn. Butler to Send I Beg the favor of your answer By him if thier is any prospect of my gitting any thing for my Loses & Conefinement in the Havana if that theire Should Be any prospect that throo you<r> good Endevours I Shall Be Reimburst for the grate Loos I met with your Returnd answer By Capn. Butler will Be gratefully acnoleded.”
RC (DNA: RG 76, Preliminary Inventory 177, Spain, Treaty of 1819 [Art. XI] [Spoliation], entry 322, Miscellaneous Records, ca. 1801–24, box 4, envelope 5). 1 p. Addressee not indicated; assigned here on the basis of Jacob Wagner to JM, 9 Sept. 1803, , 5:390–91 and n. 3, which indicates correspondence between Foster and the State Department around that time.
1. The correspondent presumably was Capt. Peter Foster (ca. 1759–1833) of Hanover County, Virginia, who had been a midshipman in the Virginia navy and a lieutenant in the First Virginia State Regiment during the American Revolution. He was married to Ann Southall Shelton, widow of John Shelton, and died in the home of Edwin Shelton of Hanover County (Richmond Enquirer, 22 Mar. 1833; 1 [1893–94]: 67; W. S. Morton, “Revolutionary Officers of Virginia,” , 2d ser., 1 [1921]: 291; Tyler’s Quarterly 8 [1926–27]: 134; Virgil D. White, ed., Genealogical Abstracts of Revolutionary War Pension Files [4 vols.; Waynesboro, Tenn., 1990–92], 2:1244).
2. The letter has not been found, but for Foster’s case, see Vincent Gray to JM, 2 Feb. 1805, and n. 2.