To Alexander Hamilton from Sheftall Sheftall, 17 May 1792
From Sheftall Sheftall1
Philadelphia, May 17, 1792. Inquires concerning action taken on petition of his father, Mordecai Sheftall.2
ALS, Mr. B. H. Levy, Savannah (on deposit at American Jewish Archives, Cincinnati, Ohio).
1. During the American Revolution, Sheftall Sheftall, a resident of Savannah, served as assistant commissary general of issues for the state of Georgia under his father, who was deputy commissary general of issues. In 1778, both father and son were imprisoned by the British. After his exchange as a prisoner in 1780, Sheftall Sheftall was appointed by the Board of War as flag master on a ship which took supplies and money through the British blockade to the prisoners at Charleston, South Carolina. When this letter was written, Sheftall was a prominent merchant and tobacco inspector at Savannah.
2. Mordecai Sheftall petitioned Congress for the first time on June 28, 1780. Although he was unable to obtain the necessary records in support of his petition because of the British occupation of Savannah, Congress at that time made a partial settlement of his account (Memorial of Mordecai Sheftall, June 28, 1780, ADS, Papers of the Continental Congress, National Archives; Memorial of Mordecai Sheftall, August 21, 1780, ADS, Papers of the Continental Congress, National Archives; Mordecai Sheftall to Samuel Huntington, November 21, 1780, ALS, Papers of the Continental Congress, National Archives; , XVIII, 1113). On March 29, 1792, the House of Representatives referred Sheftall’s second petition “praying a settlement of his accounts as deputy commissary general of issues, during the war” to H (, 554). It was not until February 27, 1794, that H reported that the acts of limitation barred Sheftall’s petition (see “Report on Several Petitions Barred by the Acts of Limitation,” February 27, 1794). On March 15, 1802, Sheftall’s widow petitioned Congress for a reconsideration of her husband’s petition of March 29, 1792 (V, 136).