To Thomas Jefferson from George Ingels, 5 October 1804
From George Ingels
United States Arsenal,
near Philadelphia October 5th. 1804.
Sir,
The object of this letter is most respectfully to solicit the appointment of me, to the Office of Superintendant of Military Stores: in making my solicitation, I pray you to accept my apology for not accompanying it with recommendations: I did not conceive it an indispensible measure: as in 1802 you were pleased to signify your pleasure in the appointment of me to my present Office, and the recommendations on my behalf, I presume can readily be refered to.
On the 31st. July last, immediately after the decease of the late Superintendant, the honorable the Secretary of War requested me by Letter to Act as Superintendant and Agent for the Indian Factories until you should be pleased to appoint a Superintendant; in compliance with the Secretary’s request I am now executing the duties of those Offices, & I cherish a belief my attention and care will meet with approbation.
My application you will readily perceive Sir, is for preferment, and your selection of me will ever be remembered with the deepest and most affectionate gratitude.
With high Respect, I am Sir, Your most Obedient Servant.
Geo Ingels
Military Store Keeper.
RC (DNA: RG 59, LAR); at foot of text: “Thomas Jefferson Esquire President of the United States”; endorsed by TJ as received 7 Oct. and “to be vice Irwin” and so recorded in SJL.
George Ingels (1746-1827) was a carpenter, a deacon in the Baptist Church, and a public figure in the city of Philadelphia. During the American Revolution, Ingels fought at the battles of Trenton and Princeton and afterward served as a commissary in the Continental Army’s military stores department at Lancaster, Pennsylvania. After the war, he returned to Philadelphia and in 1787 was appointed the state’s inspector and measurer of lumber. At Philadelphia’s 4 July 1788 celebration of the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution, Ingels bore the standard of the city’s house carpenters in the grand procession. During the 1790s, he became a member of Pennsylvania’s Republican Party and served as a state legislator representing Philadelphia County. In 1801, several Philadelphia Republicans recommended him to replace Federalist Samuel Hodgdon as the superintendent of military stores in Philadelphia. TJ apparently met Ingels in March 1802, when he delivered a letter from Robert Patterson recommending him for the position of military storekeeper at the Schuylkill Arsenal. After receiving his appointment in April 1802, Ingels served in this position through the War of 1812 (American Baptist Magazine, 8 [Boston, 1828], 93-5; Samuel Hazard and others, eds., Pennsylvania Archives, 119 vols. [Harrisburg, 1852-1935], 3d ser., 10:682; New-Haven Gazette, 17 July 1788; Poulson’s American Daily Advertiser, 1 Nov. 1800; Vol. 34:69-70; Vol. 37:107-9).
requested me: on 27 July, Henry Dearborn arrived in Philadelphia on his way to Massachusetts and issued orders for the temporary execution of the duties of the late William Irvine (American, and Baltimore Gazette, 3 Aug.; Dearborn to TJ, 23 Aug.).