To James Madison from Wilson Cary Nicholas, 23 November 1816
From Wilson Cary Nicholas
Richmond Nov. 23. 1816
Dear Sir
I feel the utmost reluctance to address you upon a subject of a personal nature or about one with whom I am nearly connected. My feelings & distress are such, that I cannot forbear to do it, and I trust to your goodness to pardon the liberty I am about to take. The eldest son of my brother George, who has serve’d in the army eight years & risen to the command of a Regt. has been involved in personal difficulties with Genl. Bissel, from circumstances of a personal nature unconnected with the service.1 My information is, that an engagement was formed between a daughter of Bissel & Col. Nicholas, that in answer to an application to be permitted to marry the young lady, a brutal & offensive rejection was rec[e]ived such as wou’d have called for & justified the most exemplary chastisement, if it cou’d have been inflicted without a violation of the rules of the army. This I have no doubt lead to all the consequences that have resulted.2 What they have been I am not fully informed.3 Col. Nicholas I know to be an open hearted, frank & generous fellow, that must contend upon very unequal terms, with a malignant, cautious & cunning man. I believe him to be incapable of an unworthy or dishonorable act. That he may have been indiscreet is possible; his worth long service & what is due to the memory of his father, will I trust induce you to consider with some degree of indulgence mere indiscretions. As to any thing he may have done in relation to Genl. Bissel, I am sure the provocation received, will extenuate if not justify it. From the nature of the case & the sentence of the court martial Genl Bissel must have been the aggressor.4 A man asking of another his daughter, wou’d never accompany the request with an insult. My brother after devoting the greater part of his life to a zealous & disinterested service of his country, left no other inheritance to a numerous family, but his fame. To his family and friends it will be most afflicting, that it shou’d be sullied by the disgrace of his Eldest son. If this can be prevented by you without a sacrifice of the public good, I presume to hope it will be done. I am sure you will do me the justice to believe, that I wou’d not bring disgrace upon my country to save any individual from it. I am with great respect Dear Sir your hum. Serv.
W. C. Nicholas
RC (DLC). Cover docketed by JM.
1. Robert Carter Nicholas, nephew of Wilson Cary Nicholas, entered the army in 1808 and by 1814 was colonel of the Nineteenth Regiment of Infantry. He was transferred to the Eighth Regiment of Infantry in May 1815 (, 1:746).
2. On 15 Jan. 1816 Brig. Gen. Daniel Bissell wrote to Maj. Gen. Andrew Jackson to complain about the behavior of Nicholas and his associates, mentioning that he had refused Nicholas permission to visit him. He accused Nicholas of shameful behavior during the 1814 campaign on the Niagara Peninsula and of refusing to take steps to vindicate Nicholas’s honor. He also claimed that Nicholas had spread “Seditious and Scurilious Stuff” about him, and he threatened both to challenge Nicholas to a duel and to bring him before a court-martial (DLC: Andrew Jackson Papers).
3. The court-martial of Nicholas was held in Nashville between 17 Sept. and 26 Oct. 1816. In a 2 May 1816 statement, Bissell preferred the five charges against Nicholas, discussed below, and filed an additional charge of cowardice on 17 July 1816.
The “neglect of duty” charge specified Nicholas’s “negligent, disorderly, unofficerlike and unmilitary manner” during the removal of troops from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to Portage Des Sioux, Missouri Territory, in August and September 1815, which allowed his troops to commit “tresspasses and injuries” against the property of residents along the route.
Two charges of “conduct unbecoming an officer and a gentleman” and one of “ungentlemanly conduct” claimed that in August 1815 Nicholas had published a notice in a Pittsburgh newspaper falsely accusing his superior officer of misconduct during the War of 1812; that in 1815 and 1816 Nicholas had attempted to spread lies about Bissell, accusing him of numerous crimes, including possibly murder, while also threatening “Vengence”; and that in response to a charge of “cowardice” on Nicholas’s part during the 1814 Battle of Bridgewater [Lundy’s Lane], Nicholas had also failed to refute that charge as he had pledged to his officers that he would do. Furthermore, Bissell alleged that Nicholas had “degraded the Character of an Officer” by neglecting to call Bissell to account for charges “supposed to have been said by” the latter.
Finally, Bissell’s charge of “conduct prejudicial to good order and military discipline” stipulated that Nicholas had neglected the health and cleanliness of his troops by “totally disregard[ing] the decency of his own person and dress.” The additional charge of “cowardice” accused Nicholas of avoiding the enemy around Bridgewater and Fort Erie in 1814, and asserted that Nicholas had described Fort Erie as “nothing but a Slaughter pen.”
Charges against Nicholas were also preferred by Maj. White Youngs, who accused the colonel of thirteen specifications, including personal immorality, issuing an order prohibiting “Camp Women” from visiting officers’ quarters and kitchens, cohabiting with women, lying, reprimanding officers without the benefit of a court-martial, failing to return salutes, addressing officers in “language rude ruff and vulgar,” and failing to appear on parade “giving an example of idleness and inattention […] contrary to the rules and Articles of War” (DNA: RG 153, General Court Martial Case Files, K-1).
While pleading not guilty to some of these charges, Nicholas objected to having to plead to most of them at all, mainly on the grounds that they lacked specificity as to time and place and that Bissell had no right to bring them anyway as he, too, was under arrest at the time. On 29 Oct. 1816 Nicholas also complained to Jackson about the injustice of the proceedings, adding that if Jackson was unmoved by his protest, he should forward Nicholas’s letter and the court proceedings to JM (DNA: RG 107, LRRS, J-236:9).
The court returned a series of mixed verdicts, finding Nicholas not guilty of most of the charges and stating in their guilty verdicts, mostly relating to the charge of publishing notices about Bissell’s personal conduct, that Nicholas’s actions were justifiable under the circumstances. Nevertheless, the court sentenced Nicholas to be dismissed from the service, but recommended that the president commute the punishment. On 3 Dec. 1816 JM wrote, at the end of nearly three hundred and fifty pages of testimony: “The sentence of the Court is disapproved,” after which Nicholas was allowed to “resume his Sword and join his Regiment at Baton Rouge without delay” (DNA: RG 153, General Court Martial Case Files, K-1).
4. Shortly before Nicholas’s trial, Bissell himself went before a court-martial on four charges including “unofficer like conduct” and “conduct unbecoming an officer and a gentleman.” Among the specifications were writing “a most rude and scurrilous letter” to Nicholas and using “contemptuous and disrespectful language towards president Madison.” He was found guilty of using “rude and abusive” language about Nicholas as well as various offenses of gambling, embezzlement of public property, and several instances of falsehood and calumny, including that relating to JM, for which he was sentenced to receive a reprimand in general orders (Miles’ Weekly Register 11 [1816]: 255).