To James Madison from John Armstrong, 25 July 1814
From John Armstrong
War Department, July 25th, 1814.
Sir:
I send herewith a letter, received by express, from Sackett’s Harbor.1 The information given, is important; and though without the authority of a name, knowing as I do, the hand-writing and the character of the writer, I have no hesitation in vouching for the entire credibility of the statement. I am, &c.,
(Signed) John Armstrong.
Printed copy and enclosure (John Armstrong, Notices of the War of 1812 [2 vols.; New York, 1836–40], 2:237–38). For enclosure, see n. 1.
1. Armstrong enclosed an unsigned letter to him, dated 20 July 1814, reporting that despite Capt. Isaac Chauncey’s statement on 8 July 1814 that his fleet was “nearly ready, and would leave the harbor in a few days,” he was still in port on 20 July. In the interim Chauncey had declared that he would not sail to Burlington unless the British fleet led him there, had fallen ill and failed to pursue the British when they came within range of Sackets Harbor, and finally, still sick, had not authorized his second-in-command, Capt. Jacob Jones, to attack the British fleet when it actually blockaded the harbor. That blockade, the writer observed, had prevented the sailing of a boat convoy carrying artillery for Maj. Gen. Jacob Brown. For the plan requiring that Chauncey assist Brown in attacking Burlington and the consequences of his refusal to do so, see Memorandum on Cabinet Meeting, 7 June 1814, 7:545, 546 n. 3.