Discovering Foreign Policy in the PWD

Elected and appointed officials in the 1790s faced a number of challenges when the war between Great Britain and France forced the United States into a defensive position. Federalists and Republicans debated loyalties as each faction sought to protect the commercial and political interests of the new nation. The Papers of the War Department offer a number of documents relevant to researchers interested in foreign policy of the early American republic. This post highlights documents that reveal some of this history.

Transcribing Can Be An Unexpected Research Method

The War Department in the Classroom

In this guest post, Zayna Bizri describes her approach to using the Papers of the War Department in the classroom and offers suggestions for those who wish to do the same. Bizri is a doctoral candidate in History at George Mason University; her dissertation is tentatively titled “Selling Her the Military: Recruiting Women into the Armed Forces in World War II”

In the Fall semester of 2015, I taught an upper-level undergraduate course, War and American Society, which focused on the connections between the military and the broader culture. I wanted my students working with primary sources as soon as possible, so I used the Papers of the War Department Project as part of a series of Workshop Days where they learned the day-to-day job of being a historian. The PWD project covered two Workshop Days.

A War Department of Twelve

Today, the Pentagon alone employs upwards of 30,000 people. Contrast this with Secretary of War James McHenry’s diminutive War Department Staff of 1798, working out of an office “at the Northeast corner of Chestnut and Fifth Street,” in Philadelphia.

Yellow Fever’s Challenges to the Government in Philadelphia

In 1797 the city of Philadelphia experienced an epidemic of Yellow Fever. The residents of the city were all too familiar with the disease. In 1793, the city had faced one of the worst epidemics in the early republic. When the devastating Yellow Fever outbreak hit the city of 50,000, nearly 20,000 fled the city and almost 5,000 people perished.

Only four years later when Yellow Fever again gripped the city in the fall of 1797, residents had to weigh the benefits and costs of remaining in the city.  One such resident was President John Adams. Adams had the power to decide whether the government would stay in Philadelphia, the nation’s capital at the time, or relocate.

Loyal Citizen or Lying Cheat?

When his 1798 claim for a reward of ten dollars for capturing and returning a deserter was denied by the Accountant of the War Department, Hugh McAlister appealed the decision by writing directly to the President of the United States. McAlister argued that he was a “well known friend to the Constitution” and that William Simmons, the Accountant, had only denied the claim because of a preexisting prejudice.

He was right that Simmons was prejudiced against him. Simmons remembered that McAlister had been implicated in a case of forgery in 1797. Joseph Humprheys, one of the witnesses in the case, had alleged that McAlister was part of a scheme to forge to forge soldier’s powers of attorney and thereby take their pay or land. If nothing else, McAlister was the Notary Public who had certified as true the forged powers of attorney, and while he was not convicted, Simmons and others believed him to have been guilty.

What were Charleville Muskets?

This collection includes ubiquitous references to the Charleville musket or the “Charleville pattern.”   Charlevilles were originally made  in France in the early 176os. The name Charleville comes from the name of the arsenal in northeastern France where they were produced.  Charlevilles  became a mainstay for the colonists during the American Revolution thanks in part to the efforts of Lafayette and the American Silas Deane.  Because France was not officially at war with Britain until 1778, they had to find workarounds in the manner of shipping.   Thus shiploads of Charlevilles would sometimes make their way to the West Indies first, where they were then reembarked and transported  on American vessels to  America. These were .69 caliber smoothbores–packing a punch for sure, but not very accurate and so generally employed in mass formations at a standard rate of fire  of about two to three rounds per minute.   In some documents you’ll find references to either Black Walnut or Maple as the preferred wood for the stocks.  In this document, there is reference to the “Charleville pattern,” but it very likely means the  Springfield Musket of 1795, manufactured at the Springfield Armory in Massachusetts.

The Embargo

One of the strengths of the War Department’s papers are the opportunities they provide to learn about the international policies of the Early Republic. An insight on how leaders attempted to negotiate their place in the world as a new nation can be seen in one May 9, 1794 letter.

In 1793 war had broken out between England and revolutionary France. The United States was concerned about how this conflict would affect them. As a nation with a small military that is also physically isolated, the U.S. had used economic sanctions and embargos as a tactic to avoid direct war with Europe since the American Revolution. Some thought that this was the right approach in 1793. But not all agreed. Congressmen Fisher Ames of Massachusetts worried that this embargo would “not make our commerce better” while the “enemy… are not to be wounded in any way.”

Canadian Refugees

In April, 1798, United States Congress passed “An Act for the relief of the refugees from the British Provinces of Canada and Nova Scotia.” Under the Act, the Secretary of War was required to advertise its terms and review all claims submitted. Who were these refugees? Why was their welfare the responsibility of the Secretary of War?

Just as there were some people in the colonies who remained loyal to the British Crown, there were people in Canada and Nova Scotia who supported the Continental Congress’ claim of independence. These people aided the Continental Army in Canada by providing food or shelter or by enlisting. Many of them then had to leave their homes when the British retook the area during the war, and those who made it to the United States often stayed until the end of the war and beyond. They lost their homes, their property, and sometimes their businesses. These were the refugees of the Act, and it was the intention of Congress to compensate them for their losses with grants of land.

Fort Duquesne

With the exception of perhaps West Point, no garrison is more frequently cited in this collection than Fort Pitt, along with its commander, Major Isaac Craig who restored the fort in 1791. But long before this bastion on the confluence of the Monongahela and Allegheny Rivers became a major supply depot for pushing provisions and supplies down the Ohio River to the western forts during the 1790s, the French  controlled this region,  using their  their own system of Indian alliances with the Six Nations of Iroquois and by constructing a series of forts running north-south from French Canada, including Fort Frontenac, (modern day Kingston Ontario, Fort Oswego, Fort Presque Isle (modern day Erie PA), and Fort LeBoeuf (Waterford PA).

“Much more promising than many of the Virginia gentlemen.”

With Valentine’s Day fast approaching thoughts are turning to love, courtship, and those cute candy hearts with the phrases on them. But love can also be serious business – especially if you are trying to marry the niece of the President.

That was the situation that Andrew Parks found himself in while he was wooing Harriot Washington, niece of then President George Washington, in 1796. With no biological children of his own, Washington was known to be a doting uncle. Because of this, and because of the prominence of his family, Washington was hesitant about Parks and wanted to learn more about the young man’s character before supporting the relationship.

Washington, D.C., the inconvenient city

The Federal Government moved from Philadelphia to the new city of Washington, D.C. in the summer of 1800. Although the primary office of the War Department moved, some offices, like that of the keeper of military stores, remained in Philadelphia for a time.

Toward the end of July, Jeremiah Condy sent a letter from his home in the District of Columbia to Samuel Hodgdon, who was still in Philadelphia. Condy was a clerk in the Accountant’s Office as well as a practicing lawyer, and he was less than impressed with the new capital city.

Humphreys versus Fox

A Quaker, Josiah Fox (1763–1847) was a British naval architect who came to the United States in 1793 to examine United States timber for shipbuilding and to teach drafting to American ship designer Jonathan Penrose’s sons. In 1794 he received a job as a draftsman working under Philadelphia Naval Constructor Joshua Humphreys (also a Quaker) and designer of the first six frigates. Fox and Humphreys clashed over design issues, the former believing that Humphreys’  designs were too radical-that Humphrey’s ships were too long in proportion to the beam and that the stem and stern rose too sharply. Eventually these disagreements led to considerable animosity between the two.

Secret Agent Number 13

James Wilkinson was a soldier and a statesman. Serving in the American Revolution and the War of 1812, Wilkinson was also the Commanding General of the United States Army from 1796 to 1798 and again from 1800 to 1812. From 1805 to 1807 Wilkinson served as the first Governor of the Louisiana Territory.

But Wilkinson had a dark secret. Beginning in 1787 he was also a spy for the Spanish Crown. With the intention of bringing western territories under Spanish control and gaining territory for himself as a reward, Wilkinson worked against the U.S. government from within for thirteen years. He conspired with fellow spy Aaron Burr, but gave Burr up to President Thomas Jefferson, avoiding implication himself.

The Uncertain Fate of Samuel Ewing

At the end of July 1800, President John Adams signed a warrant for the execution of a deserter. Less than a month later, however, he reversed the decision and cancelled the warrant, although he held off granting a full pardon. What happened?

First, here are the facts of the case as related to Adams. Samuel Ewing deserted in Detroit from Captain Porter’s company in a regiment of Artillerists and Engineers on May 8, 1800. The next evening, he returned to the fort with a loaded musket and threatened to kill anyone who tried to capture him. When Lieutenant Rand approached him, Ewing pointed his musket and attempted to fire but the gun failed.

The Battleground State of Ohio

Much like this election season, in 1794 Ohio was a battleground state. But in a different way. There American settlers and Native Americans clashed over land rights.

In October of 1794 The Northwest Indian War had been fought for the previous nine years and after the Battle of Fallen Timbers on August 20 of that year the Chief of the Wyandots sought peace.

In this war native tribes banded together to prevent American settlers from entering their land. These tribes, who called themselves the Western Confederacy, were the Wyandot, Delaware, Shawnee, Ottawa, Chippewa, Potawatomi, Miami, Wea, Kickapoo, and Kaskaskia. The Ohio lands they sought to defend had been guaranteed to them by the British Empire with the Treaty of Fort Stanwix in 1768. But following the American Revolution, the U.S. felt that this treaty was no longer applicable and settlers sought out lands in the Ohio River valley.  American settler’s intrusion into native lands sparked the war in 1785.

Hazards of Travel

In October 1790, Secretary of War Henry Knox and a Mr. Strong were involved in a carriage accident. As Knox explained in a letter to Jeremiah Wadsworth, the coachman took a turn too fast and the carriage overturned. Although the carriage was “much broken,” Knox and Strong luckily walked away with only bruises. “We do not so much repine at our misfortune as we rejoice at escaping greater evils, which we might have sustained” wrote Knox.

The War Department, the French Five Hundred and Humanitarian Assistance on the Frontier

Hoping to garner national revenues from the sale of lands, in 1787 the Confederation Congress sold 1.5 million acres for a million dollars to the Ohio Company, a joint stock company made up of former Continental Army officers.   But like the British crown before the Revolution, and the Confederation Congress in the 1780s, the Federalists in the 1790s never quite managed to realize their hopes of an orderly and controlled pattern of settlement in the western lands.  The problem was that most American settlers knew there was no need to pay for land when it was simply there for the taking.  So, perhaps in an effort to find less savvy purchasers, one venture, the Scioto Company,  sent the poet Joel Barlow on a mission to France to try and sell land claims to a group of French artisans anxious to escape the French Revolution. The difficulty, as it turned out, was that the Scioto Company had sold shares in land it did not actually own. In any event, it was too late for the French settlers, who had already arrived in America, (many at the port of Alexandria, Virginia)  and quite anxious to settle on lands described by Barlow as a place of “milk and honey, where fish leaped into one’s arms, grapes grew in abundance and tallow candles could be picked from trees along the Ohio River.”  As it turned out, the settlement, modern day Gallipolis, Ohio (city of the Gauls) was extremely rough country and  far from developed.  In an instance of what we might term today “humanitarian relief”  for the hapless settlers, who apparently  lacked the rudimentary skills and know-how required to tame such wilderness, the War Department dispatched Major John Burnham and a detachment of about 35 men to construct 80 log houses and a number of block houses at the settlement. Ultimately though, disease and hostile Indians killed and scattered the “French five-hundred.” By 1806, there were only a handful remaining.  The Scioto Company collapsed in 1792.  In this document,  Major Burnham, in submitting his resignation, makes  references to the “Scioto business.”

On the Job Market

Many people today can relate to the trials and tribulations of being on the job market during an economic recession. The frustrations that this can cause have to be balanced with an upbeat willingness to sell your skills and appeal to your potential employer.  Samuel Newman found himself in this same situation more than 220 years ago.

Hoping for a political appointment in the War Department, Newman wrote to Secretary of War Henry Knox. Knox received the letter on January 17, 1790. Though serving as a Captain in the US military Newman was still having a difficult time supporting his family. 1790 was a time of economic hardships in the country. Having just adopted the Constitution and still trying to rebuild following the Revolutionary War, the American economy was not strong because there had not been enough stability to foster growth. State taxes were also a huge burden on residents as states attempted to repay their war debts by levying huge taxes. This was especially true in Massachusetts, where Newman lived.

Who was Isaac Craig?

There are many letters in the Papers of the War Department written by Major Isaac Craig, Deputy Quarter Master and Military Store Keeper Pittsburgh. He was a conscientious storekeeper, taking the trouble air out goods potentially infected by yellow fever. But who was this efficient Major in Pittsburgh?

Isaac Craig was born in County Down, Ireland, around the year 1742. As a youth he apprenticed as a carpenter, and emigrated to Philadelphia when he was in his early twenties, between 1765–1766. He joined the Marines in 1775 then transferred to the Artillery in 1777; his experiences of the Revolutionary War included the famous crossing of the Delaware and the Battle of Brandywine. In April 1780 he was ordered to Fort Pitt, and, with the exception of brief assignments elsewhere, he stayed in that area for the rest of his life.

Governor George Izard

As with many of the rising stars of the new US military found  in this collection    (Meriwether Lewis and Zebulon Pike for example),  George Izard began his storied career in the junior officer ranks of the US Army. Born in Europe in 1776, George Izard’s father was Ralph Izard, a delegate to the Continental Congress and South Carolina Senator.  Young George attended Columbia University and the College of Philadelphia.  At the age of sixteen, he returned to Europe under the care of Thomas Pinckney, Minister to England. While in Europe he received formal  military instruction at academies in England, Germany, and France- where he studied military engineering.  When Izard returned to America, he was assigned to Charleston, South Carolina, oversaw the construction of Fort Pinckney, and held command over a regiment of artillerists and engineers until 1800.

The Ups and Downs of Tobias Lear

Tobias Lear appears with a fair degree of frequency in the Papers of the War Department, mostly in his capacity as personal secretary to President George Washington.  He is perhaps best known for having recorded Washington’s last words, ‘Tis well,”  and for noting and carrying out Washington’s burial instructions.  Born to a relatively prosperous and connected  family in Portsmouth New Hampshire in 1762, Lear caught the eye of his uncle Benjamin Lincoln, who recommended Lear to Washington.   Beginning around 1784,  Lear went on to become virtually indispensable to Washington.  Nevertheless, Lear struggled personally and financially.  Beginning around 1793, he left Washington to pursue development of the Potomac River for commerce and navigation, but lost money.  He  apparently once pocketed the rent he  collected from one of Washington’s tenants,  which infuriated his boss.  During the so-called Quasi War with France, Lear was appointed as a Colonel and aide to Washington, though he never saw action.  Present at Washington’s death, Lear recorded Washington’s request that he not be placed into the vault for three days after his death.  (Some have suggested that Washington feared being buried alive).  Oddly, given that Washington came to despise Thomas Jefferson toward the  end of his life, Lear went on to become Jefferson’s  Consul General to the North African Coast, where he would  eventually negotiate the release of captive American sailors aboard the Philadelphia.   Lear apparently committed suicide in 1816.

Hamilton’s Illness, Redux

A few weeks ago, we posted a document that referred to Alexander Hamilton’s illness, which was unnamed in the document. The astute transcriber (Nsalomone) did some research and provided a wealth of background to that illness and the circumstances. Here is a hint: It was yellow fever.

Nicole Salomone points out several key aspects of the epidemic, including its breadth. She also demonstrates the fascinating political implications of Hamilton’s choice for his personal doctor.

Celebrating the 4th with a Bang

The Society of the Cincinnati in Providence, Rhode Island, made sure to celebrate the 12th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence in an explosive manner. That year, 1787, they cajoled Jeremiah Olney, inspector of public and military stores, to give them twenty-four pounds of gunpowder from the public magazine. The powder was damaged and might not have been good for use in guns, but it certainly worked for shooting off cannon to celebrate Independence.

Jonathan Jackson

The name “Jonathan Jackson” appears in hundreds of War Department letters, especially documents from the accountant’s office. Who was he?

Jackson was born in Boston in 1743, attended Harvard, and later became a merchant in Newburyport, Massachusetts. As supporter of the American Revolution, he had some of his merchant ships converted to privateers, served as a member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives in 1777 and was a delegate to the Continental Congress. A solid Federalist with Revolutionary credentials, Jackson became the Federal Supervisor of Revenue for the District of Massachusetts from 1782 to 1800. He later became treasurer of Harvard University and president of the Boston Bank.