Description:

1812 Captain's Commission of Henry B. Brevoort, who commanded marines aboard Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry's relief flagship "Niagara" in his victorious Battle of Lake Erie in 1813

JAMES MADISON (1751-1836) Partly Engraved Document Signed "James Madison" as President and "W. Eustis" as Secretary of War, 1 page, 14.75" x 17.5". Washington, D.C., May 26, 1812. On vellum. Right and left edges rough and toned with blank areas of paper loss. Patriotic vignette at top center and military vignette across bottom engraved by John Draper. Blind embossed War Department seal affixed at upper left with red wax. Good condition.

Commission of Henry B. Brevoort as "Captain in the Second Regiment of Infantry in the service of the United States to take Rank as such from the first of May 1811..." On May 26, 1812, the day President Madison signed this commission, he sent this Special Message to Congress: "I communicate to Congress, for their information, copies and extracts from the correspondence of the Secretary of State and the minister plenipotentiary of the United States at Paris. These documents will place before Congress the actual posture of our relations with France." Six days later, on June 6th, it was followed by another Special Message to Congress beginning "I communicate to Congress certain documents, being a continuation of those heretofore laid before them on the subject of our affairs with Great Britain..."

On June 18, 1812, Congress declared war on Great Britain. Henry B. Brevoort (1775-1858), a descendant of the early Dutch families in New York, was among the first Americans to move to Detroit in the summer of 1796. Lieutenant Brevoort commanded the USS Adams in Detroit from 1802-1812. During the summer of 1812, Gen. William Hull, the U.S. Army commander at Detroit, added the ship to the defenses of the forward outpost of the city, where it assisted in supplying American troops and materials to Fort Mackinac and Fort Dearborn.

On August 16, 1812, Gen. Hull surrendered the vessel, the city and the forts to the British in the Siege of Detroit. The British recommissioned the brig as the HMS Detroit in honor of their victory in this battle. In the Battle of Lake Erie on September 10, 1813, Infantry Capt. Brevoort commanded marines aboard the Niagara, relief flagship of Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry. Having with his family lived in Detroit, Brevoort was in possession of much valuable information regarding the number and strength of the British vessels, which proved of great service to Commodore Perry in his victory in the Battle of Lake Erie. Brevoort was promoted to Major in 1814.

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