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APPENDIX.

THE annexed Letters and General Orders will show the difficulties General Van Rensselaer had to contend with; and the measures he pursued to meet them; his devotion to the interests of the service, the comfort of the troops, and the honour of their arms. The Letters which passed after the battle between him and General Sheaffe, rival chiefs as they were, in fame and in courtesy, will be read with interest and profit.

APPENDIX, No. I.

Extract from Wilkinson's Memoirs, 1st vol., from page 564 to 581. Major Gen. Dearborn had been placed in the command of the Northern frontier early in 1812, with views to the invasion of Canada, but if I am rightly informed, without being furnished with any plan, general or particular, or any indication of the course which might probably be pursued for the direction of his operations. Lake Champlain presented the great military highway to the centre of the enemy's province, and the American settlements at the foot of that lake were remote and exposed; the general therefore judiciously determined to take his first position with the regular recruits in that quarter; but in the progress of the campaign, the misfortune at Detroit put the western frontier of the State of New York in danger, and in defect of regular troops, the general called on the Governor of the State for a body of militia. This gentleman who distinguished himself as a supporter of the war did not hesitate to comply with the requisition and Major General Stephen Van Rensselaer was selected for the command, The motives for this selection were equivocal, but in relation to the public service it was well judged, because of the amiable disposition, the elevated patriotism, the sound discretion, the solid judgment, inflexible honour and firm resolution of this officer. But Gen. Van Rensselaer was opposed in politics to Governor Tompkins, and had differed also with him in opinion as to the expediency of the war, and at the same time they were rival candidates for the government of the State. In the spirit of the times, when almost every public measure is regulated by interested intrigue; the suggestion may not be uncharitable, that this

command was offered to Gen. Van Rensselaer, in the expectation that he would refuse it, and that his refusal would affect his popularity. But this virtuous citizen, although in possession of the first patrimonial estate in America, and in the enjoyment of every blessing which can sweeten domestic life, notwithstanding his opposition to the policy of the war, was too sensible of the obligation which he owed to his country and its government, to pause a moment for the course he should pursue. He received the orders of Gen. Dearborn, and commenced his march for the frontier, accompanied by Col. Solomon Van Rensselaer, adjutant general of the State of New York, of whom I must be permitted to say a few words. This high-minded citizen soldier, and honourable man, made his noviciate in arms under my orders as a Cornet of dragoons, more than twenty years before, and at that tender age was distinguished for his coolness and intrepidity in action. His father had served as a lieutenant colonel in the revolutionary war, and fought and bled for his country in the affair near Fort Ann, against the 9th British regiment of Infantry, in 1777; he had transfused his spirit and patriotism into his son, who in my presence during the campaign of 1794, fought with sang froid and bled with complacency. Rising by regular promotion to a troop, he was particularly noticed by General Washington, and raised to the command of a squadron; but he was among the disbanded at the reduction of 1800; and after that period, although anxious for a military appointment to which he would have done honour, his politics, as a good federalist, opposed an insuperable bar to his applications.

On reaching Utica, General Van Rensselaer was called to Sacketts Harbour, by a rumour of the movements of the enemy in that quarter, and from thence after a short halt he proceeded to Ogdensburgh, where Colonel Van Rensselaer projected a handsome enterprize, which failed through the want of a few regular troops; an armed vessel of the enemy, lay along side a wharf adjoining the British magazines at

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