To James Madison from William Harris Crawford, 9 February 1816
From William Harris Crawford
Department of War, 9th: February, 1816.
Sir,
In compliance with a resolution of the Senate of the 5th: Instant,1 I have the honor to lay before you copies of the letters addressed by the Secretary of War to the Board of General Officers, and of the report of the Board of General Officers to the department of War, concerning the reduction of the late army to the peace establishment, together with copies of the report of the Secretary of War to the President, and of the several general orders which have ⟨been issued respecting⟩ the same. I have the honor to be, With very great respect, your Obt. Servant.
Wm H Crawford
RC (DNA: RG 46, Executive Proceedings, Other Records, 14B–D1); letterbook copy (DNA: RG 107, LSP). RC in a clerk’s hand, signed by Crawford. In the margin to left of signature, in an unidentified hand: “The Documents which are mentioned above were returned.”
1. The resolution, moved in executive session by Rufus King of New York, requested the president to forward “copies of the letters addressed by the Secretary of the Department of War to a Board of General Officers, and of the report of the Board of General Officers to the Department of War, concerning the reduction of the late army to the Peace Establishment; together with copies of the report of the Secretary of War to the President, and of the several general orders which have been issued respecting the same” ( 3:28). JM responded to the resolution in his 13 Feb. 1816 message to the Senate, forwarding the letters and reports he had received from Alexander J. Dallas on 3, 4, 5, and 9 May 1815 (ibid., 29–30; 9:243, 252, 265–67).