Partially printed document signed ("John Armstrong") as Secretary of War, appointing Colonel John Chrystie an Inspector General, with a draft of his reply declining the appointment.
March 19, 1813.
Price: $500.00
About the item
1 p. partially printed document, accomplished in manuscript, with 1 p. manuscript draft reply on second bifolium leaf. 4to (9-3/4 x 7-3/4 inches). Old folds.
Item #304427
Armstrong (1758-1843) a delagate to the Continental Congress, a U.S. Senator from New York and briefly Secreatry of War under James Madison (1813-4) during the War of 1812. He was forced to resign as Secretary of War in September 1813, after failing to defend Washington from the British.
Here he appoints Colonel John Chrystie an Inspector General of the US Army. Chrystie declined the post and a draft of his reply — dated Niagra, April 30th, 1813 — is penned on the attached bifolium leaf: "In reply I have to state that being now in command of a battalion of the 13th Infy. I prefer my present situation." Chrystie (1788-1813), after whom Chrystie Street in Manhattan is named, was lieutenant colonel in the 13th U.S. Infantry. He would die of natural causes just three months after his reply to Armstrong.
