To James Madison from Benjamin W. Crowninshield, 26 April 1815
From Benjamin W. Crowninshield
Navy Department April 26th: 1815
Sir,
I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your note, with the proceedings of the Court martial on Dr: Roberts.1
I have this day issued an order to convene a new Court to try him upon the former charges and such additional ones, as may be exhibited against him, which according to Capt. Sinclairs letter will tend to produce a different result. I have the honor to be with great respect Your obedient Servant
BW Crowninshield
RC (DLC); letterbook copy (DNA: RG 45, LSP). RC in a clerk’s hand, signed by Crowninshield; docketed by JM.
1. JM’s note has not been found. Navy Surgeon Joseph G. Roberts was tried by court-martial at Lake Erie in December 1814 on charges of neglect of duty, disrespectful behavior towards his commanding officer, Capt. Arthur Sinclair, and unofficerlike conduct. He was found guilty and sentenced to six months’ suspension from duty without pay. When Sinclair forwarded the proceedings to the Navy Department on 12 Dec. 1814, however, he noted that a review of Roberts’s accounts conducted since the trial strongly suggested that in addition to his other misconduct, the surgeon had either flagrantly wasted or embezzled navy stores. Roberts resigned before the second court-martial could be convened (Dudley, Naval War of 1812, 3:675–80).