To James Madison from Mary Negus, 10 July 1806
From Mary Negus
Philada. July 10th. 1806.
Sir
Induced by a belief that the Circumstances of the Expedition of General Miranda does not meete the approbation of yourself nor the administration, and Convinced from Information that the Administration will Do all in there power to effect the Liberation of my husband1 and Safe the Life of an Inocent man When I inform them that he Sailed from this place In the Schooner Bee and Cleared for Port au prince and I am well Convinced that he was Ignorant of there Destination he Whent out as first mate and from information of the Muste Respectable Testimony. When he lay at Jacamell When he was informed for the First time Where they where a going was a vers⟨e⟩ to proceeding and Actually Refused to go that then left him but one Alternetive either to go Volenterily or they would confine him below in Irons. Finding know Method to Escape, Almoste Distracted he was forced to Consent, Rather than Undergo the Ignominious Disgrace of being confined in Irons this Information I have Recd. from persons who are Ready at any time to Swear to the Facts. All are Respectable officers of Ship.
If Information was Sent to Spain Where the prissioners are Confined, they could vouch for this truth, I hope knows means in your power Will be left Untryed to effect his immediate Release and Will think myself honored if you will favor me With a Reply to this Letter. I have honor to be Sir your very obedient & humble st.
Mary Negus
RC (DNA: RG 59, ML). Docketed by Wagner.
1. Bennett B. Negus of Philadelphia was among the twenty-seven men named in an undated handwritten “List of American Subjects captured under the Command of General Miranda” obtained by the State Department. Seventeen of the men were from New York, three from Philadelphia, three from Massachusetts, and four from Connecticut. They were “All Captured in the Schooners Bachus & Bee 28th. of April 1806” (DNA: RG 59, Records Relating to Impressed Seamen, Lists and Misc. Papers, 1796–1814, box 13). Most of these names or versions of them, including “Baily Negus,” appeared in a list of fifty-eight men “Taken in the two schooners, which accompanied the Leander,” published in the 1 July 1806 issue of the Philadelphia Aurora General Advertiser and widely reprinted; the contributor noted that the names were “copied in … an incorrect manner” by a person who did not know English. On 16 Sept. 1808 Bennett B. Negus and thirty-five other participants in Miranda’s expedition petitioned Congress to liberate them from their captivity in Cartagena, but two House of Representatives reports recommending that the government ransom the prisoners were voted down (, 10th Cong., 2d sess., 488–91, 511–12, 896–98; ibid., 11th Cong., 1st sess., 161, 257–58, 269–73, 314–15).