Isaac A. Coles to Thomas Jefferson, 4 April 1813
From Isaac A. Coles
Leesburg April 4th 1813.
Dr Sir,
I take the liberty of introducing to your Acquaintance Lieut Peyton of the 20th Regt who has just been ordered to recruit at Charlottesville—He is an amiable & deserving Young officer—
The recent appointment of two Majors to our Regt, now with the army at Niagara, will have the effect, I fear, of keeping me in the recruiting for some time to come—
The appointment of Col: Randolph to the command of the 20th, has been particularly gratifying to all the officers of that Regt—I fear however that it may have been less acceptable to his family—
I hope in the course of four or five weeks to have it in my power to visit the different rendezvous in the upper Country, when I promise my self the happiness of Spending a day at Monticello—
I. A. Coles
RC (DLC); at foot of text: “Thomas Jefferson”; endorsed by TJ as received 15 Apr. 1813 and so recorded in SJL.
Bernard Peyton (1792–1854) entered the United States Army as a first lieutenant in May 1812, rose to the rank of captain in April 1813, and was honorably discharged in June 1815. By 1816 he had established a mercantile firm in Richmond. TJ soon charged him with making occasional purchases on his behalf. From about 1820 Peyton was also TJ’s principal Richmond correspondent, endorsing and renewing bank loans, making payments and transferring funds, and selling his flour and tobacco. Peyton was a director of the Farmers’ Bank in 1820, 1834, and 1835, and he was adjutant general of Virginia, 1821–41. TJ unsuccessfully recommended that he be appointed postmaster of Richmond in 1819 and 1824, but he held that post from 1841–45. A member of the Virginia State Agricultural Society, Peyton bred and sold horses. By 1852 he had moved to Albemarle County, where he lived at Farmington (Horace Edwin Hayden, A Genealogy of the Glassell Family of Scotland and Virginia … [1891], 547; Peyton Society of Virginia, The Peytons of Virginia II [2004], 2:433; , 1:787; TJ to Peyton, 20 Jan. 1816, 25 Aug., 3 Sept. 1824; TJ to Return J. Meigs, 14 Nov. 1819; ; American Beacon and Norfolk & Portsmouth Daily Advertiser, 12 Jan. 1820; Richmond Enquirer, 5 Mar. 1830, 16 Jan. 1834, 15 Jan. 1835; American Turf Register and Sporting Magazine 8 [1837]: 477; , 5:372, 373, 6:444 [10 Mar. 1841, 14 Mar. 1845]; Southern Planter 1 [1841]: 148; 14 [1854]: 374; , 142; Albemarle Co. Will Book, 23:47; Richmond Whig and Public Advertiser, 23 June 1854).
On this day Coles sent Thomas Mann randolph a letter introducing Peyton, reporting the recruitment of “about 400. men” for the 20th Infantry Regiment, and explaining that “As my return to active service will in all probability depend on my success in filling the Regt be assured that every effort will be made on my part to effect it” (RC in MHi).
Index Entries
- Coles, Isaac A.; as army recruiter search
- Coles, Isaac A.; introduces B. Peyton search
- Coles, Isaac A.; letters from search
- Coles, Isaac A.; plans to visit TJ search
- Jefferson, Thomas; Correspondence; letters of introduction to search
- Peyton, Bernard; identified search
- Peyton, Bernard; introduced by I. A. Coles search
- Randolph, Thomas Mann (1768–1828) (TJ’s son-in-law; Martha Jefferson Randolph’s husband); as colonel in U.S. Army search
- Randolph, Thomas Mann (1768–1828) (TJ’s son-in-law; Martha Jefferson Randolph’s husband); B. Peyton introduced to search