Military Letter Oct 25 1811 Prior To War Of 1812

Attached is a Military letter from 1811. This is one of my favorite items. Read the letter to see why.

Wow, Nice letter of actual US patriotism!

My favorite quote:
"What European power would undertake the conquest of a nation of armed freemen."

What a quote! As we as free-people struggle for the freedoms today... freedom of speech, religion, etc. It is always good to learn from the past and be encouraged by patriots before us!

Thanks for sharing!

"Freedom" at the time, was very mixed. I have a printed and manuscript document from during that war, in French. It is a Mandat de Payement. It authorizes the city of New Orleans to pay 8 piastres to a slave owner for the use of his slave.

Excellent point on the Freedoms through time (mixed on who and what is included) including freedoms being taken away by governments across the world through laws and by force today.

Thanks again for civil discourse.

The politicization of slavery can obscure many folks from this incredibly important current topic. The history of slavery is important but only if we, as a society, learn from it. But the sad fact is that the number of enslaved people is higher today than at any other time in history. Today over 150 countries still have some form of slavery which affects at least 45 million people worldwide.

According to the 2017 International Labour Organization 'Global Estimates of Modern Slavery' modern forms of slavery include 'ownership' (also called 'chattel' slavery), government conscription (forced military service or government labor), forced prison labor, forced migrant labor, debt bondage (slavery until debts are paid), sexual slavery, forced marriage/child marriage, and child labor.

I do not think we should ever forget the past, but the past should not be more important than the current job at hand.
Don

There is rampant human trafficking on a massive scale taking place right now on the Southern border of the United States and it is being facilitated by our own Government. Yet there are people who are hopelessly poisoned by ideology that are constantly prattling on about which American historical figures did what bad thing and what statue needs to come down and what building needs to be renamed while woman and children are trafficked right now, right here in this Country. And you here crickets about it because what really matters what "side" is in power.

It is all so tiresome.

The letter is amazing and refreshing and the emotion comes through clearly. It was not ideological sloganeering. Freedom was real and wanted and desirable and people were hungry for it and died for it.

Thank you for sharing it.

Well stated "51studebaker and rogdcam!" Concur big time! Refreshing letter and of great historic value as well as reminder of the cost of freedoms: War of 1812 would be the next year!

We should not be divided on this topic nor should we 'taking sides', this topic should bring us together to end the suffering and exploitation. The first step is to stop the divisiveness.
Don

Edit: If there ever was a topic that ALL freedom loving people should be on the same side of it is the enslavement of other humans. Clearly no freedom loving people would ever argue that they support enslaving other people; being against enslaving other people is the common ground and this common ground should make us cohesive and bring us together.

The issue is not the Southern US border, the Olympics, BLM, or XYZ; the issue is coming together for human rights. Allowing ourselves to become lost in the fog of political warfare serves no useful purpose and actually prevents us from coming together on a topic that should be easy to all pull together on.

Of course it is; the population of the world is FAR higher then it has ever been. The NUMBER of any human activity will be higher, that's why it is important to look at the PERCENTAGES. And any human trafficking going on at the US border has been going on for decades.

https://www.cbp.gov/border-security...-trafficking

In my mind the 'importance' is the measure of human pain and suffering which is clearly about the total number of enslaved people and not the percentages.
Don

I agree, but the statement was made about the number of people involved being far higher then ever. The smaller the percentage of the population that is, the better. It's not to minimize the suffering, it's to attempt to be precise about the problem.

I've studied the War of 1812 a fair amount as many key incidents happened in my area of Ontario, my ancestors at the time were American on one side, British on the other, and I'm Canadian, and frankly, it could win awards for pointlessness and military incompetence.

It featured multiple attempted invasions of Upper Canada & Lower Canada by superior American forces, political dithering & infighting on both sides, cowardice (as when the British general Proctor abandoned the great Indigenous leader Tecumseh in the midst of the Battle of the Thames, resulting in Tecumseh's death) and the usual pillaging, inhumanity and suffering (as in the burning of a peaceful nearby native village after said battle). Only to essentially end up with the status quo ante.

On the bright side, it has been the world's longest & most peaceful border ever since.

gmot-At least hockey is sort of back to normal.....

Wonderful document and great history there. thanks for sharing it.

Beautiful piece of history!

Hmm. A characteristic piece of cant written by a denizen of a slave state.