[War of 1812 Letter Signed by Peter Gansevoort as Brigadier General at Headquarters in Albany, New York].

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Orders for a recruiting officer to go to Utica with cash to find new recruitments. Military uniforms were to be shipped to Utica, but in the meantime enlistments were to continue: “You will pay particular attention to the Discipline & Behavior of your recruits. Endeavour on all occasion to prevent all strife remain between them & the inhabitants. Punishing in an exemplary manner all outrage committed on the Citizen or their property. You must push the service with zeal and adhere closely the accompany instruction.”

Peter Gansevoort (1749–1812) was the grandfather of Herman Melville, a colonel in the American Revolution and led resistance to 1777 British siege of Fort Stanwix where he was the first to raise the American flag. Gansevoort died 5 months after this letter: he had never recorded from a cold he took in late 1811 while presiding over the court-martial of General James Wilkinson in Frederick, Maryland. (ANB, et al.) 

A good letter at the end of Gansevoort’s military career and during the War of 1812.

Price: $400.00