To James Madison from Daniel Parker, 28 July 1816
From Daniel Parker
July 28th. 1816
Sir,
I have just received the within communication from Major Genl. Gaines.1 A list of the citizens named has been sent to the Judge Advocate who has orders to summon all such as may be deemed material as well for the prosecution as for the accused. Such of the officers as had not previously been ordered have been written to except Brigr. Genl. Smith & Captain Shipp who are at St. Louis and Colonel G. M. Brooke who is a member of the General Court martial at Nashville.
In the absence of the Secretary of War I have the honor to ask if it will not be proper to delay any orders to these officers untill the Court meet. Perhaps their depositions may be taken, or when Genl. Ripley has given his evidence he may go on to St. Louis which will be his station & relieve Genl. Smith. Colonel Brooke is probably on his way to Nashville. Col. Mc.Ree and Major Fanning have been ordered to return to this country & will doubtless arrive in time. I have the honor to be With perfect respect Your Mo. Ob. Servt.
D. Parker
RC (DLC). Docketed by JM. For enclosures, see n. 1.
1. On 22 May 1816 Brig. Gen. Edmund Pendleton Gaines was ordered to prepare for a court-martial in New York City on more than a dozen charges of “misconduct” and “gross injustice” arising from the Niagara Peninsula campaign in the summer of 1814. The general, in acknowledging receipt of the order on 24 July 1816, declared that the charges against him were “extraordinary,” and he believed that they had been circulated “in friendly whispers, at the City of Washington.” Gaines thereafter considered himself to be under arrest, transferred his duties to other officers, and attended to the tasks relating to his trial (DNA: RG 107, LRRS, G-71:9). The lengthy lists of witnesses, civilian and military, who were to be summoned to testify both for and against Gaines may be found in his personnel file for 1816 (DNA: RG 94, Letters Received, filed under “Gaines”). In the hearing, which began in September and ended in November 1816, Gaines was honorably acquitted, JM noting on the record on 9 Nov. 1816: “The sentence of the Court honorably acquitting Major General Gaines of all the charges and specifications alleged against him is approved” (DNA: RG 153, General Court Martial Case Files, K-2).