To James Madison from Hugh O’Reily, 2 May 1813

From Hugh O’Reily

Fort Alert May 2 1813

Sir

You will please to excuse the liberty by a private Soldiar to The first Magestrate of this great Nation. It is of the utmost importance to me to get an honourable discharge from the Service. I should recommend myself for Some Commission in the first Regt. Refer you to Collonel Lewis Cass, who will inform you I have been the first man landed on the Canedean Shore This war. I would also Call Collonel Van horn And Major Rolan and Capt Richard Tolbot all of The 19th. Regt. also to General Wm. Henry Harrison John H Piatt of Cincinati also to General James Findley who I suppose has this moment Some Thousands of Public Money1 Leutenat C Miller of the 4th. Regt. Genneral Mc.Aurthur Chilicothe Ohio. I Know not who the Secratery of War is or I Should not Troubl you. I Beg leave to recommend to your Excellen⟨cy⟩ two Boys of mine now in Cincinati David Townesend O Reily and George Washingto⟨n⟩ O Reily to which place I would repair with all possible Speed to put up Proviss⟨ions⟩ General wade Hampton now at orlean⟨s⟩. I will wait on your Excellency as Soon as I can get niy I am nearly 45 years old. I understand puting well. Cincinati ⟨is⟩ a Cheap Country to put provission of the Ohio the high way to Orleans. I pray your Excellency Accept my most Cordial well wishes &c. &c.

Hugh O Reily

I hope you will direct discharge to Major John A Burd Traders Hill or Fort Alert.

RC (DLC). Addressed to “His Excellency James President United States.” Dated 2 May 1819 and addressee identified as James Monroe in the Index to the James Madison Papers; date corrected here and addressee identified as JM based on internal evidence. Docketed by JM.

1. In the fall of 1812 Ohio militia Brig. Gen. James Findlay was designated as the War Department’s agent at Pittsburgh to receive and distribute a $400,000 shipment of specie (PJM-PS, description begins Robert A. Rutland et al., eds., The Papers of James Madison: Presidential Series (8 vols. to date; Charlottesville, Va., 1984–). description ends 3:35 n. 2; William Eustis to Findlay, 29 Oct. 1812, DNA: RG 107, LSMA).

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Source Project: Madison Papers
Title: To James Madison from Hugh O’Reily, 2 May 1813
Author: O’Reily, Hugh
Recipient: Madison, James
Date: 2 May 1813

Reference

Cite as: “To James Madison from Hugh O’Reily, 2 May 1813,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Madison/03-08-02-0557. [Original source: The Papers of James Madison, Presidential Series, vol. 8, July 1814–18 February 1815 and supplement December 1779–18 April 1814, ed. Angela Kreider, J. C. A. Stagg, Mary Parke Johnson, Anne Mandeville Colony, and Katherine E. Harbury. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2015, p. 648.]