SIR, Letter from governor Claiborne to major-general Carrol. New Orleans, February 26th, 1815. I TAKE great pleasure in communicating to you a resolution of the general assembly of this state, expressive of gratitude and thanks to you and your gallant comrades, " for the brilliant share they have had in the defence of Louisiana, and the happy harmony they have maintained with the inhabitants and militia of this state." Under a leader, young in years, but old in deeds of valour, our brethren of Tennessee hastened to our relief; they arrived in time to participate in all the conflicts with the advancing foe, and greatly to contribute to his final overthrow. It must be pleasing to you, to contemplate the present comparative security of Louisiana. It cost you and your brave associates some toilsome days and watchful nights. But it is not to the gratitude of this state only, that you have acquired a title. The whole union must feel indebted to those whose faithful services have conduced to the preservation of one of its important members. I tender to you, sir, &c. (Signed) ANSWER. WM. C. C. CLAIBORNE. SIR, Camp Henderson, above New Orleans, March 2, 1815. I HAD the honour of receiving your letter of the 24th ult. covering the resolution of the legislature of the state of Louisiana, expressing in a very flattering manner their thanks to the troops of Tennessee, and to me individually, for the share we have taken in the defence of this country. I hope you will convey to the legislature the grateful senti ments with which I am impressed for the honour done me and the troops whom I command. I cannot withhold the expressions of gratitude due to the people of New-Orleans for their benevolence in furnishing our suffering soldiers with warm clothing during the inclemency of winter, and at a time when the enemy were before our works. They have administered to our sick and wounded every friendly attention, and extended to them all the rights of humanity. The bright beams of peace appear ready to burst around us, and I hope soon to offer to you and the people of this country my congratulations for this glorious event. If the report of peace be correct, the presence of the Tennessee arms will be no longer necessary, and our soldiers in returning home, will carry with them the impressions of friendship to the citizens of this country, which I hope may be cherished as their intercourse becomes more frequent, and perpetuated as long as the Mississippi continues to flow. I offer you the salutations of my friendly esteem, WM. CARROLL, Maj. Gen. Com. Div. Tenn. Militia. Letter from governor Claiborne to general Adair. New Orleans, February 25th, 1815. SIR, To a soldier who has done his duty in all the conflicts in which his country has been involved, from the war of independence to the present moment, it must be matter of great exultation to notice the valour and firmness of the children of his old friends to be convinced that they are the true descendants of the original stock. That the young men of your brigade should have looked up to you in the hour of battle, as their guide and their shield, is only a continuation of that confidence which their fathers had in a chief whose arm had so often, and so successfully, been raised against the foe. The enclosed resolution of the general assembly of Louisiana, will show you the high sense which is entertained in this state of your services, and those of your brothers in arms. Be towards them the vehicle of our sentiments, and receive for yourself, the assurances of my respect, and best wishes for your health and happiness. (Signed) WM. C. C. CLAIBORNE. ANSWER. SIR, Camp Dupre, February 26th, 1815. I HAVE the honour of acknowledging the receipt of your excellency's note of yesterday (politely handed by colonel Leblanc) inclosing a resolution of the legislature of the state of Louisiana, generously awarding the thanks of the state to the militia from her sister states, who aided in the late successful struggle to expel a powerful invading enemy from her shores. To a proud American, citizen or soldier, the consciousness of having faithfully discharged his duty to his country, must ever be his highest and most lasting consolation. But when to this is added the approbation, the gratitude of the wisest, the most respectable part of the community, with whom and under whose eye it has been his fortune to act, it will ever be esteemed, not only the highest reward for his services, but the most powerful incentive to his future good conduct. Accept, sir, for the legislature, my warmest acknowledg ment for the honourable mention they have made of the corps to which I belong; and for yourself the esteem and respect so justly due from me for your polite and highly interesting note of communications, and my best wishes for your health and happiness. JOHN ADAIR. SIR, (Signed) Letter from governor Claiborne to general Coffee. New Orleans, February 25th, 1815. IT affords me the greatest pleasure to enclose you a resolution of the general assembly of Louisiana, acknowledging the faithful and useful services of our western brothers, and tendering their thanks to you among other distinguished officers. The love of country, which induced you to change the calm of domestic life for the privations incident to a camp, is no less ardent in the brave volunteers whom you lead, than the gratitude which the people of Louisiana bear towards you and them; a heroic band, whose firmness in the field has alike contributed to avert from our settlements the horrors of an Indian warfare, and to the entire defeat and discomfiture of the powerful foe, who so arrogantly menaced the safety of this great and growing city. Receive for yourself, and be towards your companions in arms, the organ of expressing my highest confidence and sincerest good will. (Signed) WM. C. C. CLAIBORNE. SIR, ANSWER. Camp Coffee, near New Orleans, March 4th, 1815: I HAVE the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 25th ult. and the resolution it enclosed of the legislature of Louisiana, presenting the thanks of that honourable body, to their brother soldiers from the west, for "the share they have taken in the defence of this country, and the harmony they have maintained with the inhabitants and militia of the state." To know that we have contributed, in any degree, to the preservation of our common country, is to myself and the brave men under my immediate command the most pleasing reflection. To have received so flattering and distinguished a testimonial of our services adds to the pleasure which that consciousness alone would have afforded. While we indulge the pleasing emotions that are thus produced, we should be guilty of great injustice, as well to merit as to our own feelings, if we withheld from the commander-in-chief, to whose wisdom and exertions we are so much indebted for our successes, the expression of our highest admiration and applause. To his firmness, his skill, his gallantry--to that confidence and unanimity among all ranks produced by those qualities, we must chiefly ascribe the splendid victories in which we esteem it a happiness and an honour to have borne a part. We enter with sensibility into the feelings of the legislature, and of your excellency, on occasion of the harmony which has been so happily preserved with the inhabitants and militia of the stateMay the same spirit of brotherhood always unite us when contending against a common enemy in defence of our best rights. I tender the assurances of my own and of my companions' thanks, for the distinguished manner in which you and the legis lature have been pleased to notice and honour our exertions. I have the honour to be, sir, &c. (Signed) JOHN COFFEE, Brig. Gen. T. V. M. G. Men. THE enclosed vote of thanks of the general assembly of Louisiana, which I now have the honour to transmit you, brings to my recollection the satisfaction I experienced more than twelve years ago, on signing the commission which ushered your military talents into light. At that early period of your life, the highest hopes of your future usefulness were entertained by your friends, and to them and to you it must be alike pleasing to know that these hopes have been fully realized. Your gallant conduct, and that of the corps under your command during the last campaign, was indeed" the astonishment of one army and the admiration of the other." It will be gratefully remembered by your country, and has afforded for me an occasion to renew to you the assurances of my respect and esteem. (Signed) WM. C. C. CLAIBORNE, SIR, ANSWER. Cavalry Camp, above New Orleans, February 28th, 1815. I HAVE have had the honour to receive your communication covering a vote of thanks from the general assembly of the state of Louisiana. The very handsome terms in which your excellency and the general assembly have thought proper to speak of the humble efforts of the corps which it has been my good fortune to command, cannot be otherwise than acceptable to their feelings and flattering to their pride, for which we are more indebted to your excellency's partiality than to any extraordinary merit of our own, and which we are well aware consists principally in a great share of zeal for our country's service, kindled into action by the presence of a base and brutal invader. That the same unity of sentiment which gave force to our arms may continue, and that the people of Louisiana may long enjoy the substantial benefits resulting from the late most glorious conflict, in which they so honourably shared, is confidently to be expected and devoutly to be wished. |