To Thomas Jefferson from Henry Dearborn, 7 December 1804
From Henry Dearborn
Decemr. 7th 1804.
Sir
On the subject of the memorial from sundry persons in the 2d. Legion of Militia in the District of Columbia, on which you have been pleased to request my opinion, I take the liberty of submiting the following observations.
The laws of the United States providing for the organization and government of the Militia of the District of Columbia having provided suitable tribunals for the trial of officers who may be guilty of improper conduct, and for removing such as may be guilty of such offences as to render them unfit to be continued in Commission, which tribunals may with convenience be resorted to at all times, the interference of any other authority in the case now in question would in my opinion be unnecessary and inexpedient.
with respectful consideration I am Sir Your Obedt. Servt
H, Dearborn
RC (DLC); at head of text: “To the President of the United States”; endorsed by TJ as received from the War Department on 7 Dec. and “Alexa petition v. Peyton” and so recorded in SJL. Tr (same); in a clerk’s hand.
TJ received a memorial from Elisha Cullen Dick, John Pittman, and Peter Wise, Jr., asking him to remove Francis Peyton as commanding officer of the Alexandria militia. The three men had been named to draft the petition at a public meeting called to protest the state of the second legion, “much depreciated, and disorganized during the operation of its present establishment” (undated petition not found, but recorded in SJL as received from Dick, Wise, and Pittman on 3 Dec. with notations “McKinney to be Colo. v. Peyton” and “W”; Alexandria Daily Advertiser, 22 and 26 Nov.). Peyton, whose proposed removal sparked much commentary in the local press, apparently met with TJ on the matter, and the president sent a note, probably on Monday the 3d, asking Peyton, “Will you be here on Saturday by 2. aclock on the subject we spoke of? there is reason to conclude it without delay, to prevent something worse” (RC in Will Paulsen, Charlottesville, Virginia, 1988; undated; postmarked Washington, D.C., 3 Dec.; see Richard C. Frajola, Inc., Catalogue, Item No. 68, Danbury, Conn., 4 June 1988; Alexandria Expositor, for the Country, 26 Nov.; Alexandria Daily Advertiser, 27 Nov., 1 Dec.; National Intelligencer, 5 Dec.).
For the act providing for the organization and governance of the District of Columbia militia, see , 2:215-25. Dearborn composed a paragraph similar in content to this letter: “Sir The laws of Congress which provide for the organization & discipline of the Militia within the District of Columbia, having provided suitable tribunals for the trial of any member of said Militia for misconduct, it is inexpedient for the Executive to interfere in the manner contemplated by the address refered to in your letter of the 6th. Inst.” No letter of 6 Dec. from TJ to the War Department has been found or was recorded in SJL (MS in DLC: TJ Papers, 155:27177; undated).