To James Madison from Edmund Pendleton Gaines, 16 October 1826
From Edmund Pendleton Gaines
Cincinnati Ohio October 16th. 1826
Dear Sir
In soliciting your attention to the enclosed copy of a letter which I have addressed to the Adjutant General of the Army,1 preparatory to a review of the principal occurrences of the late war with England, in which I was immediately concerned; I cannot but hope that my conduct may occur to your recollection in a light sufficiently favorable to exonerate me from any possible charge of a disposition to obtrude upon the sanctity of that repose to which your past labours and distinguished services give you the highest claim: a repose to which I would gladly add a thousand sources of happiness, rather than contribute to interrupt one of the many with which your home, your amiable family, and friends—with every retrospect of a past life of preeminent usefulness, must abound.
On my return from New York to the city of Washington in the month of December 1816, you did me the favor to communicate to me, verbally, your impressions in reference to the course pursued against me. I was then too much overpowered by the conflicting feelings of the moment—of a deep sense of the injury done me by Mr. Crawford—restrained by the unalterable respect entertained towards you, officially, and individually, to communicate with you as I had desired to do, or to profit by what you said to me. To enable me to command my feelings I endeavored to assume a composure which I could not feel—this added to my embarrassment, and in this dilemma I took leave of you.
I shall esteem it a favor of great value to myself and my children, to receive from you whatever impression the enclosed paper may recall to your mind upon the subject—particularly as to the application of the accuser2 for a court of Inquiry—the subsequent charges—the appointment of the General Court Martial, and my trial.3
Should you deem it proper to comply with my request upon this occasion, any wish that you may see fit to express as to the time and manner of communicating to my friends the contents of your letter will be strictly observed by me.
I shall never cease to recollect with pleasure and gratitude that you were for Eight years my constitutional commander in chief—during which time I formed towards you sentiment⟨s⟩ of exalted veneration and respect—which n⟨either⟩ time nor any circumstance can obliterate or change. With a tender of my respectful compliments to mrs. Madison, & my prayers for your & her happiness, I have the honor to be with the truest regard your Obdt Servt
Edmund P. Gaines4
Maj: Genl by Brevet in the Army of the U.S.
RC and enclosures (DLC). RC docketed by JM; damaged by removal of seal. For enclosures, see n. 1.
1. The enclosures are copies of Gaines to Roger Jones, 8 Oct. 1826 (16 pp.), requesting the “name, grade, and corps of every officer and man who served under me” during the Fort Erie Campaign in August 1814 and “extracts or copies” of documents relating “to me, or to any detachment, officer or Soldier of my command” during that month in order “to say, and to do, whatever I may deem to be right, in asserting the claims, defending the reputation, and rescuing from the foul machinations of intrigue the victors of the plains of Erie” and his own reputation; and a general order, issued by Gaines on 17 October 1813 (2 pp.), discharging a Pennsylvania militia regiment and a unit of the Petersburg, Virginia, volunteers.
2. Gaines’s accuser was Lt. Col. William A. Trimble (1786–1821), who had fought under Gaines’s command at the Siege of Fort Erie in August 1814. Trimble was dissatisfied with how Gaines reported the battle, feeling that Gaines had not fully acknowledged Trimble’s and his men’s contributions (James W. Silver, Edmund Pendleton Gaines: Frontier General [Baton Rouge, 1949], 43 and n. 40).
3. For the court-martial proceedings against Gaines, see Daniel Parker to JM, 28 July 1816, , 11:246–47 and n. 1.
4. Edmund Pendleton Gaines (1777–1849), a Virginia-born soldier, entered the U.S. Army as an ensign in 1797 and became a captain in 1807. A series of rapid promotions followed the start of the War of 1812, and his service at the Battle of Crysler’s Field and as commander at Fort Erie, where he was severely wounded, led to a rank of brigadier general. He saw service in the Seminole and Black Hawk Wars and engaged in interminable skirmishes with the War Department and other officers, with whom he was often at odds. He died of cholera in New Orleans.