Description:

Shelby Isaac 1750 - 1826 Major General and Kentucky Governor Isaac Shelby commends future Kentucky Governor John Crittenden during the War of 1812.

1pp bifold AMS signed by Kentucky Governor Isaac Shelby as "Isaac Shelby" at bottom right. In very good condition with dark and clear handwriting. Expected deeply scored folds and some loss to creases. A vertical strip of paper roughness found along left edge of first page. Professional repairs include sheer tabs reinforcing the first and fourth pages. Docket information located on back of weathered fourth page. Each page measures 7.75" x 9.875".

From his camp at Limestone, Kentucky (modern day Maysville, Kentucky) on November 2, 1813, Isaac Shelby wrote: "Major John Crittendon [sic] having acted as my second Aid De Camp, on the late Expedition into Canada, I cannot, in justice to his merit, or my own feeling, take leave of him without expressing my warmest approbation of his whole conduct during the Campaign, and the great Obligations I feel for the attachment shewn to my person, and the zeal and promptitude with which he always executed my orders, particularly so, in the battle of the 5th of October last on the River French. Given under my hand ... "

Shelby's "battle of the 5th of October last on the River French" was the Battle of the Thames, sometimes called the Battle of Moraviantown. Approximately 3,700 Americans and Indian allies faced off against a much smaller British, Shawnee, and Wyandot force in modern day southeastern Ontario. There were few but crucial losses to the British coalition, including Indian leaders Tecumseh (1768-1813) and Roundhead (c. 1760-1813). Five brigades of Kentucky militia and many Kentucky cavalrymen participated in the battle at which John Crittenden, as Major General's aide-de-camp, distinguished himself by his "zeal and promptitude".

Isaac Shelby (1750-1826) was a seasoned war veteran. He served first in Lord Dunmore's War, a Virginia border conflict in 1774, and then in some of the decisive later battles of the Revolutionary War. He had just been reelected as 5th Kentucky Governor when he volunteered to personally lead a contingent of volunteers from his state in the War of 1812. Major General Shelby joined William Henry Harrison (1773-1841)'s Army of the Northwest in its successful Canadian invasion.

John Crittenden (1787-1863) returned to civilian life after his military service with Major General Shelby. He became increasingly involved in state politics, eventually serving in the Kentucky House of Representatives, its Senate, and as 17th Kentucky Governor. Crittenden's political career also included serving as U.S. Attorney General during the Fillmore, Harrison, and Tyler administrations.

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