To James Madison from John G. Jackson, 10 January 1815
From John G. Jackson
Washington City Jany. 10th. 1815
Sir.
I beg leave to adress you upon a subject highly interesting to the people of my district.
In September last there were marched to Norfolk from the 20th. Brigade of Virginia Militia commanded by me about 600 men. The sickness & deaths which this corps have suffered are great & distressing almost beyond example. The people are covered with mourning, & some of the most zealous friends of the government are withdrawing from its support: & condemning the march of our militia to Norfolk, & their detention at that place as an act of wanton cruelty. Indeed the hardy robust men of the mountains, who never saw a case of fever & ague, or billious fever, until they reached that quarter, were the first victims to the insalubrity of the climate. The Survivors now at Norfolk will be entitled to their discharge before the Campaign opens in the Spring. Is there any indispensible necessity for detaining them, for the residue of the six months tour? If there be not, I respectfully solicit that their discharge may be ordered: and by all means, that no further requisition be made on our western militia to march to Norfolk.1 They will go to any other point—meet the enemy & resist him with their characteristic bravery: but they will not go to Norfolk, & if ordered thither the Enemies of the Government will have the gratification to see Virginians refusing obedience to the constituted authorities, in a quarter where their friends have been hitherto predominant.
I need not assure you of my zeal, & readiness to cooperate in support of the Laws, & the Constitution: they encrease with the exigencies of the times; but I am constrained by a sacred regard for both, to communicate the truths contained in this letter, & to hope that its object may be attained without detriment to the public interest. I have the honor to be your mo Obt Servt.
JG Jackson
RC (DLC). Docketed by JM.
1. Jackson’s Twentieth Brigade of Virginia militia was drawn from the counties of Harrison, Randolph, and Wood, and three of its companies were in service at Norfolk at the time of this letter. Two of the companies were discharged on 22 Feb. 1815, but the third remained at Norfolk until 22 Mar. In the meantime, general orders of 12 and 13 Jan. 1815 from Virginia Adj. Gen. Claiborne Gooch called out additional men from Jackson’s brigade to be stationed at Richmond, along with troops from numerous other western Virginia counties for service at Norfolk. Jackson’s men and others of these latter requisitions were discharged on 15 Feb. 1815 by orders from James Monroe (Butler, Guide to Virginia Militia Units, 104–5, 182, 215, 218–21, 227, 235–38; Butler, Defending the Old Dominion, 124–25; 10:415; Monroe to Jackson, 16 Feb. 1815, and Monroe to Joseph Neville, 16 Feb. 1815, DNA: RG 107, LSMA).