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Lot 11
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Henry Dearborn Superb Archive
Henry Dearborn Superb Archive
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Description:

Henry Dearborn Superb Archive

DEARBORN, HENRY. Archive, 1814-1824. 3 letters, 9 pp. total, 8" x 10" to 8" x 13"; pamphlet, 28 pp., 5.75" x 9.5”. Letters have expected folds and some tears along folds, staining and foxing. Some loss of text in one letter. Expert repair to separations at fold of letter date Sept 15, 1817. Pamphlet is bound with string and chipped on edges, not affecting text.

This interesting archive of materials relates to the later life of General Henry Dearborn, a veteran of both the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812, the fifth Secretary of War of the United States from 1801 to 1809, and the Senior Officer of the United States Army from 1812 to 1815. The archive includes two letters to his son, a letter from his wife, and a pamphlet his son prepared to defend him against accusations from a fellow officer over whose court-martial Dearborn had presided a decade earlier. The second letter to his son is particularly fascinating, as it is written from Washington amid the contested 1824 presidential election.

EXCERPTS:

Henry Dearborn to his son Henry A. S. Dearborn, Autograph Letter Signed, February 1, 1814, Greenbush, New York, “I herewith enclose to you three blank notes for from two to three thousand dollars. I hope they will arrive in [?].”

Henry A. S. Dearborn (1783-1851) was Henry Dearborn’s son by his second wife. The younger Dearborn attended Williams College for two years and graduated from the College of William and Mary in 1803. He studied law and practiced in Massachusetts and Maine. In 1808, he oversaw the construction of forts for the defense of Portland, Maine, and during the War of 1812, he commanded volunteers defending Boston harbor. He succeeded his father as collector of the port of Boston and held that position from 1813 to 1829.

Sarah Bowdoin Dearborn to her husband Henry Dearborn, Autograph Letter Signed, September 15, 1817, Boston, Massachusetts, “Yesterday we attended meeting in Brattle St both parts of the day a young man by the Name of Walker preached. he is quite an ofhand man at prayer, has a good voice, and his tongue does not appear to be too big for his mouth. I was not much pleased with his sermon in the morning, but was quite pleased with his afternoon sermon.”

“Your good daughter Dearborn has this minute come in. She, her husband, & children have been to Salem. I am happy to tell you that your son continues better.”

Sarah Bowdoin Dearborn (1761-1826) married her cousin James Bowdoin III in 1780, but they did not have any children. After his death in 1811, she married Henry Dearborn in 1813. Well ahead of her time, she created a prenuptial agreement that protected all property she brought into the marriage. S he devoted much of her life to the relief of the poor and to missionary efforts. In 1803, she was a founding officer of the Boston Female Asylum.

Henry Dearborn to his son Henry A. S. Dearborn, Autograph Letter Signed, December 4, 1824, Washington, D.C., “We are very comfortably lodged in Pennsylvania Avenue near the Presidents House & the public offices. we have had lots of calls, and have been constantly employed in returning them, and at dinner & evening parties. a large proportion of the Members of Congress have arrived. I have got through the settlemt of my accounts and received a balance quite as large as I had contemplated. the Crawford party are considered as completely prostrated, beyond any chance of recovery. I left my card at his house, and at the houses of the other heads of Departments, & foreign Ministers. they have all returned my call except Mr Crawford. I have several times met the other heads of Departments but have not had the honor of seeing Mr Crawford.”

Dearborn writes to his son in the midst of the contested election of 1824. When President James Monroe declined to seek a third term, the Democratic-Republican Party broke into factions. Monroe’s Secretary of State John Quincy Adams of Massachusetts, Monroe’s Secretary of the Treasury William H. Crawford of Georgia, House Speaker Henry Clay of Kentucky, and Senator Andrew Jackson of Tennessee all pursued the Presidency. The Congressional caucus overwhelmingly nominated William H. Crawford for president and Albert Gallatin for vice-president. Gallatin later withdrew, and Nathaniel Macon of North Carolina replaced him. Though Crawford’s chances for the Presidency were, as Dearborn wrote, “completely prostrated,” he did have an opportunity to remain in federal service. Crawford declined incoming President Adams’s offer to remain as Secretary of the Treasury and returned to Georgia at the end of his term in March 1825. There, he was appointed a state superior court judge and held that position until his death a decade later.

Henry A. S. Dearborn, Defence of Gen. Henry Dearborn against the Attack of Gen. William Hull. Boston: Edgar W. Davies, 1824.

“General William Hull, late of the army, having made an appeal ‘to the People of the United States,’ in which he has attempted to exonerate himself from blame, by attributing his unfortunate surrender of the army at Detroit to my father, it becomes my duty, in his absence, to present a statement of facts, which will show, that the causes of the disasters of the North Western Army were those, which induced a court martial to sentence the commander ‘to be shot to death,’ and that there is not the shadow of a reason to warrant him in attributing his unconditional surrender of an entire army and territory, to the conduct of General Dearborn.” (p3)

“This has been the most painful act of my life. I should never have exposed the character of General Hull, had it not been my duty as a Son, during the absence of a much injured Father.” (p28)

In 1805, President Thomas Jefferson appointed William Hull (1753-1825) as governor of the Michigan Territory, where Hull worked to purchase land from Native Americans for European-American settlement. During the War of 1812, Hull served as commander of the Army of the Northwest,

This item comes with a Certificate from John Reznikoff, a premier authenticator for both major 3rd party authentication services, PSA and JSA (James Spence Authentications), as well as numerous auction houses.

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