From James Madison to Richard Rush, 24 September 1816
To Richard Rush
Montpellier Sepr. 24. 1816
Dear Sir
You will observe in one of the inclosed letters several legal points stated by Commodore Patterson relating a distribution of property taken in the Fort on Apalachecola. Will you be so good as to examine them, and communicate the result?1 The report of the Land Commander has not yet come to hand but will probably not be delayed.2 It may throw light on some of the facts.
In consequence of your opinion expressed in the papers communicated by Mr. Dagget, they are sent to the files of the Dept. of State.
I have recd. your cordial letter alluding to your trip to Virginia, and the portion of it which Montpell[i]er had.3 We can not better express the satisfaction it afforded us than by hoping that it may be repeated, under circumstances which will double and prolong it. Accept for Mr[s]. Rush & yourself the best regards, in which Mrs. M sincerly joins.
James Madison
I send a parcel of the latest foreign Gazettes. After perusing them at your leisure & using any part of them, please to have them handed to Mr. G. Dept. State.
RC (MA).
1. On 15 Aug. 1816 Capt. Daniel T. Patterson sent two letters to Navy secretary Benjamin W. Crowninshield. One described the recent capture of the “Negro Fort” (3 pp.; DNA: RG 45, Captains’ Letters). The other forwarded enclosures listing the property seized on that occasion; asking for a decision as to whether that property should be regarded “as Prize of War or captured from outlaws”; and requesting how the property should be divided among the army, navy, and Indian forces involved in the operation (2 pp.; ibid.). For Rush’s response, see his 29 Sept. 1816 letter to JM.
2. JM would eventually receive a copy of Lt. Col. Duncan L. Clinch’s report on the destruction of the “Negro Fort” (see Clinch to Robert Butler, 2 Aug. 1816). His remark, however, confirms that he had already read the two letters written by Patterson to Crowninshield on 15 Aug. 1816 (see note 1 above).