To James Madison from William Harris Crawford, 26 [ca. 20] August 1815
From William Harris Crawford
Department of War 26th. [ca. 20]1 Augt. 1815
Sir
It has become important to settle with the least possible delay, the effects of brevet commissions in the Staff, on the peace establishment.
Under the act of 1813., certain staff appointments were Created, and brevet commissions were directed to issue to the persons selected to fill them, whether taken from the line or otherwise.2 The law, fixing the military peace establishment, has repealed the above stated act,3 but some of the officers holding those brevet Commissions, are retained in the line, & contend that they are entitled to their brevet rank in the staff, in the same manner, & upon the same principle as brevet Commissions granted for meritorious Services. It is contended by the officers in the line, that as the law under which these commissions were issued, has been repealed, & the services contemplated by the law are not, & cannot be, performed, that they are a perfect nullity, and can confer upon their holders, neither rank or emolument.
This question is respectfully submitted for the consideration & decision of the President. With great respect I have the honor to be your most obt. & very humbe Servt.
Wm H Crawford
RC and Tr (DLC). RC docketed by JM, probably at a later date, “October 1. 1815”; he may have intended to refer to Richard Rush’s 1 Sept. 1815 opinion on brevets (see Daniel Parker to JM, 7 Sept. 1815, n. 1). Tr, dated 26 Aug. 1815, bears JM’s 27 Aug. 1815 note: “J. M. requests the favor of Mr. Dallas to look into this case, and communicate his opinion on it,” below which is written Dallas’s undated reply, enclosed in his 12 Sept. 1815 letter to JM. Cover of Tr addressed by JM to Dallas at Philadelphia and marked “private”; postmarked at Washington, 29 Aug.; docketed by Dallas and Crawford.
1. Crawford appears to have written “26th. Augt. 1815,” and the letter is dated accordingly in the Index to the James Madison Papers. However, the secretary of war was not in Washington on that date. He left the city for Montpelier on 22 Aug., and four or five days later continued his journey to Georgia via Albemarle County and Richmond, without returning to Washington (Daily National Intelligencer, 25 Aug. 1815; see also George Graham to JM, 22 Aug. 1815, and JM to Graham, ca. 28 Aug. 1815). Furthermore, JM enclosed a copy of the above letter in his second ca. 26 Aug. 1815 letter to Richard Rush. Even though the president may have added the enclosure and mailed his letter a few days after the date that he gave it, a 26 Aug. letter from Crawford at the Department of War, had he been there, would probably not have reached Montpelier in time for JM to return the copy of it that Rush received in Washington on 29 Aug. For these reasons it seems likely that Crawford wrote the present letter ca. 20 Aug. 1815.
2. Crawford referred to “An Act for the better organization of the general staff of the Army of the United States,” 3 Mar. 1813 (, 2:819–20).
3. “An Act fixing the military peace establishment of the United States,” 3 Mar. 1815 (ibid., 3:224–25).