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Autographs/T: John Tyler Requests the Return of Two Virginia Deserters

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Autographs/T: John Tyler Requests the Return of Two Virginia Deserters
JOHN TYLER, 10th President of the United States. Letter Signed, "John Tyler," as Governor of Virginia, 1-1/2 pages, June 29, 1826, Richmond, 9.75" x 8", Very Fine. To Secretary of War James Barbour, urgently requesting the return of two Virginia militiamen who illegally enlisted in the U.S. military service. "The enclosed papers will inform you that two soldiers belonging to the Public Guard at this place and regularly enlisted therein, have deserted from the state service, and have been enlisted in the service of the United States at the Bellona Arsenal ‹ They will also inform you that a regular demand has been made for them of Major Lomax the commanding officer of the Arsenal and that he declines surrendering them upon the ground that his authority to do so is defective, and that the power to direct the surrender alone exists with the Department of War ‹ I am confident that it is only necessary to bring this matter to your notice in order to effect the desired restitution ‹ The consequences of a refusal to issue the necessary order ( a refusal which I do not anticipate) would prove not only destructive of the discipline of this small state corps, a corps the existence of which is deemed to be necessary for the preservation of the public property at this place, and the secure confinements of convicts in the public jail or penitentiary, but would tend to its utter destruction. I must therefore ask you to issue the necessary order to effect the desired purpose and must be permitted to express the hope that since the example of these deserters may prove contageous, that the order be issued without delay." Endorsed on the address leaf by Barbour: "Genl. Brown. The Secretary of War orders that the within named, Francis Gunwell and Bailey P. Daniel be forthwith discharged and delivered up to the officer of the State of Virginia and that orders to that effect be prepared and transmitted to Major Lomax today, By order of the day officer C. Vander Venter." The right to retain state soldiers in state service was an important one, and Tyler was acting quickly and correctly in the matter. Light toning and minor archival repairs to letter. The address leaf is separate; it has a few tears, mostly closed; the red wax seal is extant, and the red circular postmark from Richmond