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LEAKE, Isaac. Letter to Daniel D. Tompkins about Payment to Militia, War of 1812. ca. 1814. Single Page Manuscript. SIGNED.
Signed Letter (8\" x 10\") pp, [4]. Single-page signed letter on pink paper, folded to form four pages with manuscript text occupying pages one, two, and four, and page three remaining blank. The reverse displays original postal markings and multiple folds from contemporary delivery. Good condition. The paper remains generally clean with occasional light spotting and surface soiling. The sheet is heavily creased from historical folding, with some small sections having ripped off along the fold lines, and the edges exhibit numerous tiny chips and tears. There is uneven discoloration visible along the folds, and the reverse contains mathematical equations accomplished in pencil.
This 1814 military correspondence involves a petition from Quartermaster Isaac Leake to New York Governor Daniel D. Tompkins regarding a pay dispute for soldiers in Lieutenant Colonel Putnam Farrington’s regiment. The soldiers had been recorded as \"Absent without leave\" during musters on October 22 and November 26, but Leake argued they should be paid because they returned immediately and continued their duties without facing disciplinary charges. In an endorsement signed by S. Lush, the Governor authorized the payment by instructing officers to physically strike the \"absent without leave\" notation from the official muster rolls with the Inspector’s consent. While this administrative workaround secured compensation for the New York militia, it stands in logical contrast to the stricter martial standards of the Regular Army during the War of 1812, where unauthorized absences frequently resulted in formal court-martials or capital punishment rather than the clerical alteration of official records.
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