Officer promoted
From the Otsego Herald
for Saturday, Nov. 21, 1812
Compiled, with comments
by HUGH C. MacDOUGALL
Weather: Utica 1812
Almanack: Now S.W. winds
which brings a storm of rain.
Lex Talionis
We have been informed, (says the Kentucky Gazette) that the Canadians who from a love of Liberty had joined our army at Sandwich [in Upper Canada], were as basely betrayed by [William] Hull, as was his army. Our informant saw nine of them swing on one gallows. Some naturalized citizens had been sent to Quebec for trial.
If we naturalize foreigners as citizens, we are bound to protect them as such. Let our government act in the spirited manner commodore. John Rodgers has done — seize an equal number of English prisoners, and retaliate — and there will be an end to those acts of cruelty. So Washington did in our revolutionary war.
COMMENT: Up to this period in the war, prisoners of war (especially from militias) had been allowed to return home on “parole” — an undertaking not to participate further in the war. Now prisoners were increasingly kept, by both sides, and sometimes badly treated. Lex Talionis, or “the law of retaliation,” comes from the Exodus expression: “An eye for an eye; a tooth for a tooth.”
A new Otsego doctor
The subscriber hereby informs the inhabitants of Burlington that he has opened an office over the store of Mr. S. Williams, and is ready to attend to calls in the practice of Physic & Surgery.
Having been in the study and attended to the practice of two physicians, eminent in their profession, and also availed himself of a course of Medical Lectures at Boston, with the privilege of visiting at the hospital with the physicians and seeing their treatment in a great variety of diseases both acute and chronic, he hopes therefore to merit their patronage and confidence.
ISAAC CUSHMAN. Burlington, Nov. 16,1812.
COMMENT: Dr. Isaac Cushman (1790-1850) was born in Bernardston, Mass. He married Harriet Keziah Garret in 1819, and they had eight children, all born in Burlington Flats. He died in Sherburne, Chenango County, and is buried there.
Brig Oneida
Ogdensburgh, Nov. 5. By an officer who arrived here on Tuesday from Sacket’s Harbor, we learn that the brig Oneida, accompanied by eight vessels, each carrying a long 32 pounder, sailed from there last Monday morning for the purpose of “sweeping the lake.” The squadron is commanded by Com[modore Isaac] Chauncey. — Success to them!
COMMENT: The 247 ton US Brig Oneida was built in Oswego, NY in 1808-09 under the supervision of a small naval unit including Ensign James Fenimore Cooper, and became the first American warship on the Great Lakes. In this foray, the Oneida, accompanied by four schooners, attacked HMS Sloop-of-war Royal George at Kingston on the north shore of Lake Ontario, and inflicted considerable damage on her.
Officer promoted
The President has been pleased to confer the brevet rank of major on captain Z. Taylor, of the 7th regiment of infantry, for his gallant defense of fort Harrison.
COMMENT: Zachary Taylor (1784-1850) spent 40 years as a professional soldier, known to his troops as “Old Rough and Ready.” On this occasion, early in his career, he was promoted to brevet (temporary) major for his heroism in defending Fort Harrison, in the Indiana Territory, from an attack by Indians led by the famed Chief Tecumseh. Taylor would go on to become one of the leading American generals in the Mexican War, and was elected as 12th president of the United States in 1848. He died, of gastroenteritis, 16 months after assuming office, and was succeeded by Vice President Millard Fillmore.
Resolution from Otego
At a Republican Meeting, holden at Walter Knott’s, Inn-keeper, in the town of Otego, on the 28th day of October, 1812....Resolved....
Fellow Citizens, we feel it our indispensable duty to cast our mite into the great political treasury, at a time when the source of negociation is expended, and the worn out patience of the United States drove by foreign aggressions in the last disagreeable alternative, of biding a transient adieu to peace....
A nation not satisfied with the services of thousands of our enslaved seamen, nor glutted with the blood they have inhumanly shed upon the water; but (degrading to humanity) they have condescended to bow their Majestic Greatness to a level with Copper-colored barbarity, that they might act in concert with their western allies against the acknowledged rights of the United States....
COMMENT: By “copper-colored barbarity” is meant, of course, American Indians, most of who allied themselves with Great Britain and Canada during the War of 1812.
New Cooperstown lawyer
Franklin Ripley, Attorney at Law, has commenced practice in this village, in connection with Robert Campbell, Esq., Councellor at Law. Cooperstown, Nov. 2, 1812.
COMMENT: Franklin Ripley (1789-1860), spent little time in Cooperstown before returning to his home town of Greenfield, Mass, where he spent the rest of his life as lawyer and judge. “Mr. Ripley was a positive man in all of his convictions, strong in his friendships, liberal in his contributions when he had decided the cause was good, and had the fullest confidence of the community in his honesty, sound judgment and ability.” — from History of Greenfield. Robert Campbell (1789-1847), a lawyer from Cherry Valley, moved to Cooperstown and became one of its leading attorneys.
