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THE 
 
 MEMOIRS 
 
 OF 
 
 dEN. Joseph Gardner Swift, LL,D„U,S, A, 
 
 FIRST GRADUATE OF THE 
 
 United States Military Academy, West Point, 
 
 Chief Engineer U. S. A. from 1812 ro 18 18. 
 
 1800 1865. 
 
 To which is added a Genealogy of tlie Family of 
 THOMAS SWIFT OF DORCHESTER, MASS., 1634, 
 By HARRISON ELLERY, 
 
 Member of the New England Historic Genealogical Society. 
 
 PRIVATELY PRINTED. 
 1890. 
 
COI'VKIGHT, 1890, 
 
 Bv Hahkison Eli.brv, 
 
INTRODUCTORY. 
 
 The genealogy of the descendants of Thomas Swift of Dorchester, 
 Massachusetts, which is added to these Memoirs, was written a few years 
 ago, during leisure moments, with the intention of confining it to the 
 first four generations of the family, and contributing the same to the 
 pages of the New England Historical and Genealogical Register. It was 
 to have been one of a series of genealogies of those families with which 
 I am connected by marriage, and which I hoped from time to time to 
 complete. But the temptation to all who engage in genealogical work 
 to expand has been yielded to, and what was intended to be simply the 
 history of the early generations of the family has become what this book 
 contains. 
 
 While corresponding with various members of the family on the subject 
 of its history, I found in possession of the sons of the late General Swift, 
 of the United States Army, his journal. At my solicitation they permitted 
 me to examine it. It proved a very interesting document, and it seemed 
 to me that it would be a valuable contribution to history if printed. I 
 suggested to them that it be embodied in one book with the genealogy, 
 provided I could obtain enough subscribers to warrant it. They expressed 
 their willingness,, and also from their family pictures contributed the 
 illustrations which adorn the book. 
 
 General Swift was much interested in his family history, having made 
 considerable eftort to collect facts concerning his ancestry; and it seems 
 
G INTRODUCTORY. 
 
 particularly appropriate that what is herein printed on the subject should 
 appear in connection with his Memoirs. 
 
 While the descendants of Thomas Swift who bear the name have been 
 few, those of his contemporary, William Swift of Sandwich, Mass., with 
 whom no relationship has as yet been established, have been very 
 numerous. They may be found in all parts of the United States. But 
 not all who bear the name of Swift in this country are descended from 
 these two primitive settlers, for among the immigrants to this country 
 during the past half-century will be found those who bear this respectable 
 patronymic. 
 
 It is but justice to myself to say, that this genealogy was printed before 
 the History of Milton, and that the use of my advance sheets was made 
 by my permission, in writing the article on the Swift family which 
 appears In that work. 
 
 HARRISON ELLERY. 
 
ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 Gen. Joseph Gardner Swift, Frontispiece 
 
 Coat-of-Arms and Family Chair, . (Genealogy) . . opp. page i 
 
 Dr. Foster Swift (Genealogy) . opp. page 23 
 
 Mrs. Dr. Foster Swift, . . . (Genealogy) . opp. page 26 
 
 House of Capt. John Swift, . . (Genealogy) . . page 29 
 
Gen'l Joseph Gardner Swift, LL. D. 
 
MEMOIRS. 
 
 FROM THE DIARIES OF J. G. SWIFT. 
 
 West Point. July, 1807. 
 
 From very early life I have been in the habit of making memoranda of 
 events, and in reference to persons who have in any wise interested me. 
 This habit was induced by the example of my father, who leit me often in 
 care of his office, and with permission to peruse his diary. My earliest 
 essays in this imitation were puerile, but they were kindly received by my 
 mother, who taught me early to read, and who, pleased with my essays, 
 encouraged my progress. As may be the case with most young people, a 
 diary of their time, however impressive to them may have been the event 
 when recorded, could afford but little to amuse, and less to interest, grown- 
 up folks. I therefore set me down at my alma 7nater to review the records 
 of my boyhood. A first impression is to obliterate all that precedes my 
 entrance into the army — while indeed there can be but a morsel to glean 
 in the seven years of cadet and subalternship in times of peace. 1 find 
 myself at this time commandant of a post that had occupied some of the 
 pages of our revolutionary history, — a housekeeper also at the head of a 
 family of a wife and one son — so to amuse my leisure, and may be gratify 
 my son, and may be to gratify a common feeling that " Every man's world 
 is important to himself," I conclude to overhaul my files of diaries and to 
 collate what might seem useful to show the influences that give a cast to 
 a young man's pursuits. 
 
 Of the origin of my family : They were husbandmen frora England, who 
 migrated to Massachusetts Bay soon after the first colony landed at Plymouth. 
 
lO THE MEMOIRS OF 
 
 Tradition lands them at Squantum, in Boston Bay. They were the family 
 of Thomas Swift (son of Robert) from Rotherham in Yorkshire, which 
 Thomas became a "freeman" 6th May, Anno 1635 ; the year his first son, 
 Thomas, was born. He purchased fourteen hundred acres of land in Milton, 
 then Dorchester, the eastern part of which tract is elevated and overlooks the 
 whole of Boston Harbor, and is situate eio-ht miles from Faneuil Hall, that 
 cradle of American independence. This tract became subdivided among- 
 the descendants of the said Thomas. His oldest son, Thomas, my ancestor, 
 was also the ancestor of the Swifts of Sandwich, and of Colonel Hermon 
 Swift of the Revolutionary Army, of Chief Justice Zepheniah Swift, both of 
 Connecticut, and also of the Swifts, Senator Swift of Vermont and Generals 
 John and Philetus, of New York and other States of the Union.* He, the 
 second Thomas, was also the father of Rev. John Swift of Framingham, and 
 of Colonel Samuel Swift, a lawyer of Milton, whose oldest son, Samuel, was 
 my grandfather, Samuel Swift, a graduate of Cambridge College, 1735, and 
 who died in Boston 1775. Colonel Samuel Swift of Milton was also a judge 
 of the court, and a member of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery of Boston, 
 of which company also his son, my grandfather, Samuel, was a member. 
 The oldest son of this Samuel was my father, Foster Swift, who studied 
 medicine in Boston with Dr. Joseph Gardner; in February, 1783, married 
 my mother, Deborah Delano, the daughter of Captain Thomas Delano, at 
 Nantucket, where 1 was born the last day of the year 1783, during the 
 absence of my father in Virginia. He had gone thither with letters to 
 General Washington from General Lincoln, for the purpose of settling as a 
 physician in the vicinity of his only brother, Jonathan Swift, a merchant of 
 Alexandria. My maternal grandfather was a direct descendant from Philip 
 de la Noye, a Hugueaot or Protestant emigrant from Leyden to Plymouth. 
 The variation in spelling the name is of record in the Plymouth annals, 
 omitting the two final letters. 
 
 As was usual at Nantucket dwellings, my grandfather had constructed 
 upon his house-top a " walk," with a staff and vane thereon, to indicate the 
 
 * Note. — General Swift is certainly in error here. Gene.ilogical research does not connect, on this 
 side of the Atlantic, the Swifts of Sandwich, who descend from William, with the Dorchester family. — //. E. 
 
GENERAL JOSEPH GARDNER SWIFT. 1 1 
 
 course of the wind, and also a mariner's compass and spy glass to observe 
 the vessels going and coming upon whaling voyages. In this lucrative 
 business Captain Delano had an interest. He had been an early and 
 successful voyager to the Brazil Banks, and also a shipmaster in the London 
 trade, which latter had enabled him to educate his sons in England. His 
 daughter Deborah wrote a fair hand, and kept her father's accounts and 
 correspondence. Her father was of a gentle nature and kind to children. 
 He often gratified me with views from the "walk," and gave me ideas of the 
 use of a spy glass and compass. He was also a sportsman, and occasionally 
 took me with him to his farm at "Anaise" [Quaise?] and "Siasconset," near 
 the sea side, from whence he brought returns in the "calash" of shoal duck 
 and sea bass. He was also one of the proprietors of the sheep folds, and with 
 him I have been to the Nantucket sheep washings and shearings, a period 
 of much rejoicing in cakes and ale on that island of " primitive people." I 
 was too young while residing with my grandparents to 1792, to note the 
 peculiarities of the people, but my mother used to say that the simple and 
 free visitings among Nantucket families was very unlike any association 
 of other places of her residence. It was a confiding intimacy and unre- 
 strained hospitality. Their tables were abundant in simple fare. Bread 
 formed by baking green corn and from flour made of parched corn, and 
 soup from the dried green corn, formed characteristic dishes at their unpre- 
 tending tea drinkings, the prominent hour for sociability at Nantucket. My 
 mother said that dinner gatherings were unusual, although it was not 
 deemed good Nantucket fellowship to evade or decline to participate in a 
 meal that might be suitable to the time of day that found a neighbor at 
 their houses. Those days of simplicity have given place to fashion^and less 
 sincerity — and we may say, less happiness. 
 
 My father returning in bad health from Virginia, had determined to remove 
 his family to Apponagansett, near New Bedford, and he there practiced 
 medicine. I have a recollection hereabouts in time, 1789, of being tied to 
 the pump on board a packet, to prevent my falling overboard. The occasion 
 was one of a visit to my father's relations in Boston. It was the period of 
 Washington's tour to New England, when, with many other children of 
 
12 THE MEMOIRS OF 
 
 larger growth, I was on Boston Common " beholding the hero." I have 
 retained in memory the real or ideal features of Washington, as then seen, 
 to which my mind refers whenever I see his portrait. 
 
 Near my father's residence there were mills on the Apponagansett River, 
 and William Russel, the miller, was a " friend of the boys." He once sprang 
 into the river and rescued me. I had fallen in from the bridge and cut my 
 head against a stone in the bed of the stream, the scar from which is visible 
 at this time, 1807. In 1792 my father removed his family to Taunton, a 
 beautiful village on a river of that name, situate half way between Boston 
 and Newport, and Providence, R. I., and New Bedford. Upon the spot 
 where my father built his house was the tomb of Elizabeth Pool, which, with 
 its monumental stone, was removed to the public cemetery. This woman 
 was a bold adventuress from Taunton in England. She had purchased the 
 township of Taunton from the Indians, and the town was incorporated by 
 the General Court in 1630. 
 
 I was placed at Mr. Abner Alden's school. He was a good teacher and 
 the author of some useful books. My last teacher had been " Master Hart," 
 for the benefit of whose school I had been placed near him at a friend of 
 my father's, John Smith, Esq., at the head of the Pasquemonset River. 
 While my father was on a visit to me there occurred a scene which remains 
 vivid in my memory. A negro had run away from Rhode Island, 1791. A 
 rumor had reached "the head of the river" that William Anthony had 
 apprehended the negro and would pass "the bridge" that night. The 
 people were anxious to rescue the negro, and the boys of our school were 
 employed In collecting stones at the bridge to intercept Anthony. The 
 crowd of men, women and boys remained up until late in the night, when a 
 horse's step was heard approaching rapidly. In spite of the missiles, 
 Anthony plunged his horse into the crowd, and riding with ability he escaped, 
 leaving the negro at the bridge. This instance is a strong Indication of the 
 feeling upon slavery. These people were worthy Quakers. 
 
 In the fall of this year, 1792, the small pox being rife in Boston, my 
 father sent me thither to the care of his sister Levering, and I passed lightly 
 through that disease by the aid of my father's friend, Dr. L. Hayward. In 
 
GENERAL JOSEPH GARDNER SWIFT. 13 
 
 Boston I enjoyed the friendly attention of John Gardner, Esq., the author 
 of " Helvetius " and other political essays in favor of Jay's treaty with 
 England. He was the nephew and heir of Dr. Joseph Gardner of Boston, 
 with whom my father studied medicine, and who had promised my father a 
 legacy to me, his namesake. The legacy was never received, but Mr. John 
 Gardner was my friend, and much contributed to my enjoyments at the 
 public exhibitions in Boston. 
 
 In September of the following year, 1793, Miss Sally Cady, a very well 
 educated and handsome young lady from Plainfield in Connecticut, opened 
 a school on Taunton Green, a beautiful area of sward around which the 
 village was situate. At this school, among other branches of instruction 
 was taught drawing and declamation. I was a pupil, and proprietor of a 
 nice writing desk and chair, a present from my father ; it was quite an 
 attractive novelty in the school, and I had the pleasure of having the pretty 
 girls of the school exchanging their usual bench for a seat at my desk; 
 which desk soon set the fashion that was followed by both girls and boys. 
 Miss Cady introduced recitations from Noah Webster's "Third Part," and 
 also dialogues between the girls and boys, taken from the works of Hannah 
 More and other authors. 
 
 In the year 1794 I had become useful to my father by transcribing 
 justice's papers. He was of the quorum, and I was also useful in his drug 
 and medicine store, pending his professional rides in the adjacent country. 
 Sometimes I accompanied my father in his rides on horseback. It was in 
 this year that I commenced my boyish journal in imitation of my father's 
 habit, and whose diary I was permitted to read and make extracts from, at 
 his writing table. Among my father's books a Dictionary of Arts attracted 
 my attention ; a recipe therein to make fireworks induced me to experiment 
 with gun powder. It took fire from heedlessness and burned me badly, 
 from the effects of which I was unable to use my eyes for several weeks. 
 A near neighbor, Mr. Cobb, hearing the concussion, ran to my father's office, 
 and covered my blistered face with ink. In this plight I was taken to my 
 mother, greatly to her dismay and alarm, in my father's absence ; a scene of 
 distress still vivid in my memory. 
 
14 THE MEMOIRS OF 
 
 When my father's family removed from Dartmouth to Taunton, 1792, the 
 Revolution of France was an absorbing theme of discourse, and a song 
 among the boys. The village barber shop, Mr. Sider's, was ornamented 
 with prints of the battle scene and overthrow of the Bastile, and with 
 portraits of warriors and scenes of tumult in Paris. My father's diary had 
 several aspirations against the influence that this revolution was exciting 
 upon the minds of our countrymen, and especially on those who had a share 
 in Shay's Rebellion, with the details of which insurrection he was familiar. 
 He described to me the skirmish at Springfield in which General Shepard 
 had a narrow escape from death by a shot from one of David Shay's 
 followers. My father was also familiar with the scenes of our war of the 
 Revolution, in which his father's family had suffered, and to which his father 
 had fallen a victim, and died under the confinement inflicted upon him, and 
 other prominent citizens of Boston. Among our family friends in Taunton 
 was General David Cobb, who had been an aid-dc-camp of Washington. 
 I have heard him describe scenes of the war and of suffering at Valley 
 Forge, but particularly of his agency in quelling the rebellion of Shay's, 
 and of his having dispersed a band that had in 1 786 assembled on Taunton 
 Green to prevent the session of the courts of law in Bristol County. The 
 band was commanded by one of Shay's lieutenants, one Valentine, of 
 Freetown. General Cobb harangued the rebels, and being a judge also of 
 the court of pleas, he told the rebels that he would that day sit a judge or 
 die a general, and then ordered a field piece to be unlimbered and pointed 
 at the rebels with the match lighted. They became panic-struck, and fled 
 in dismay at the report of the piece that sent a ball over their heads. This 
 Valentine was a noisy babbler to the mechanics and boys who assembled in 
 pleasant evenings upon Taunton Green, to whom myself and others used to 
 listen. His theme was the French Revolution, urging that our country 
 should return the favor of the aid that France had given us in our late war, 
 by joining our force to theirs to dethrone tyrants. This eloquence was 
 popular with the boys until the rumor reached them of Genet's insulting 
 Washington. This touched the patriotic feeling, and affection for the hero. 
 The boys even began to ciuestion the propriety of the civic feasts given in 
 
GENERAL JOSEPH GARDNER SWIFT. 1 5 
 
 1 793 in honor of French Hberty. These feastings had become common in 
 the country. When I was nearly ten years of age I was placed on the 
 festive board to sing the translated French songs then common among the 
 boys. I had a fair voice and my love for music was cultivated by a friend 
 of my mother's, Mrs. Olive Leonard, who sang sweetly and played also on 
 the guitar. Perhaps I owed some of my taste to a strolling Portuguese, 
 Emanuel Cuidozo, who habitually visited our village and sung the plaintive 
 airs of his native land, accom.panying himself with the lute strung to his 
 shoulder. This was a frequent entertainment in summer evenings on the 
 Green, for which the boys contributed many " a copper." Emanuel had the 
 tact to apply his Portuguese airs to American ballads, describing the battles 
 of St. Clair with the Indians in 1791. A young officer. Lieutenant Cobb, 
 had been killed in one of these battles. He was a Taunton boy and son of 
 the general ; the general was also our member in Congress at Philadelphia. 
 He sent my father " Poulson's Daily Advertiser" and documents of 
 Congress. These I used to read to my mother, by which means I had 
 some vague ideas of the Constitution, and plied my mother with many a 
 question about Congress. I remember an expression of force in my father's 
 diary for 1791, that " Rhode Island had escaped damnation by adopting the 
 Constitution." In his diary for 1794 he noted the resignation of Senator 
 Jefferson as a treason to Washington's administration, after having served 
 therein as Secretary of State. My father's diary also commented on the 
 prominent conduct of ♦ Albert Gallatin in the Pennsylvania Rebellion, the 
 whiskey boys' treason. He called the movement a leading act to aid in 
 " overthrowing the system and policy of Washington to advance his 
 country's glory and peace," etc. 
 
 In the following year, 1795, his diary notices the treachery of Secretary 
 Randolph as an event of sad import to the character of American statesmen 
 — the chief minister in the Cabinet betraying his trust. This notice was 
 soon succeeded by remarks on the vileness of the assault on the integrity of 
 Washington, made by a "Calm Observer" in the " Philadelphia Aurora." 
 Early in the year 1796 his diary commends Jay's treaty with England, and 
 scouts the idea of anti-Federalists who oppose the treaty on an assumption 
 
1 6 THE MEMOIRS OF 
 
 that it was virtually a breach of our alliance with France. My father 
 denounced the assumption a Jacobinic emanation, and deemed the treaty 
 the best that could be obtained while the United States had no navy to 
 sustain its rights on the ocean. He rejoiced, therefore, that the Senate 
 had adopted the treaty. 
 
 About these days the French cruisers began to capture our merchant 
 ships. This, and the impressment of our seamen by the British cruisers, 
 placed the country in a double dilemma — our treasury small, our means of 
 defence in no condition to go to war with either power. 
 
 These items in my father's diary, and my newspaper readings to my 
 mother, had furnished abundant themes for my comments and patriotic 
 effusions that occupy several pages in my diary. They may as well be 
 omitted here ; they would not aid my son's reflections as well as the few 
 extracts from his grandfather's journal. 
 
 1796. Very early in the history of Massachusetts, provision was made by 
 law for schools, one to every fifty families. Nay, it was made a penal offence 
 to omit their establishment. The same State at a later period endowed 
 many academies with lands in Maine. Among the number was one incor- 
 porated, 1792, in Taunton. The construction of this academy was begun in 
 1 795 and completed in 1 796, in July of which year the building was dedicated 
 to the care of Rev. Simeon Dogget, an highly educated graduate of Rhode 
 Island College, and of Miss Sally Cady, whom I have previously mentioned. 
 In this institution I commenced Latin, Greek and Geometry, with the then 
 purpose of entering Harvard University. Among the scholars of the 
 academy of whom 1 retain friendly and respectful remembrance were John 
 Mason Williams, since a judge on the Massachusetts bench ; Francis Baylis, 
 a member of Congress and Charge to Buenos Ayres ; Nicholas Tillinghast ; 
 Edward Mitchell of South Carolina, a distinguished physician ; Thomas 
 Paine, an officer in the U. S. Navy ; Charles B. King, an artist of City 
 Washington; Henry and Charles Cobb; Jona. Ingalls; John Presbury ; 
 Charles Richmond, a manufacturer of great enterprise and energy; Appolos 
 Cushman ; Philo H. Washburn, a distinguished lawyer in Maine, etc. These 
 halcyon days of '96-'97-'98 were of the most delightful character. On 
 
GENERAL JOSEPH GARDNER SWIFT. I 7 
 
 one occasion John Presbury was in default in composition. I sold him 
 mine for cakes, and wrote another for myself; he won the prize and of 
 course I was obliged to be mum. On another day my map was not ready, 
 and Presbury put in his own for me. Such intercourse it is that makes the 
 bonds of school-days strong. 
 
 In the year 1797 I lost a schoolmate and friend, Joseph Leonard, of the 
 family that had been iron masters from the first days of the colony. His 
 grave was for some time a rendezvous for several ot his mates. He 
 possessed fine generous qualities and was an excellent scholar. 
 
 In the year 1798 my cousin, William Roberdeau Swift, from Alexandria 
 in Virginia, became a member of my father's family. He introduced the 
 game of fine, at our school recesses, and he had a fine graphic talent. 
 
 It was in the same year that political parties became high in their 
 disputes, and the respective sides taken by the parents were visible among 
 their sons, and the boys had their discussion on the merits of Mr. Adams, 
 Mr. Jefferson and Governor Pinkney, and English or French became the 
 appelatives of men and boys. Among the laws of Congress was a "Stamp 
 Act" which disturbed the people, more from the fact that the name recalled 
 to mind one of the causes of the war of 1776 than from any inherent defect 
 in the principle upon which the tax was based. My father was an inspector 
 of the revenue and collector of the tax under this law. Occasionally it 
 became my duty, in my father absence, to deliver these "stamps" for notes, 
 bonds, &c., from which the boys called me an aristocrat. 
 
 At this time there resided in Taunton an Eaton scholar, Mr. Charles 
 Leonard, the son of the Chief Justice of the island of Bermuda, and of the 
 same family that I have before mentioned as iron masters in Raynham and 
 Taunton. This gentleman took the fancy to give me lessons in drawing, 
 and also upon the German flute, and he made me the present of a box 
 of Reeves' water colors. To these he was prompted by observing me at 
 work upon a camera obscura, to finish which he had furnished a suitable 
 lens, and by which some sketches of Taunton Green and River were made. 
 Soon after this my mother's brother, Captain Henry Delano, came from 
 England and made us a visit. He had a fine voice, and taught me several 
 
1 8 THE MEMOIRS OF 
 
 of Dibden's sea songs. He brought with him his "freedom suit of clothes," 
 a common perquisite in England, being made of fine scarlet cloth. He 
 gave this suit to me, from which myself, and years after, my brother 
 William and my own sons wore several garments. My uncle Henry was 
 of a cheerful temper, a sailor and ship-master who had seen many 
 vicissitudes. In a cruise to the Levant he had been captured by Algerines, 
 and retained in slavery several years, and finally ransomed by his adopted 
 country, England, where he had been educated and apprenticed to a 
 London merchant. He married a lady of the family of Osborne, and resided 
 near the "Bell in Edmondton." In the ensuing winter of 1798, I had an 
 escape from drowning. While skating upon the river at the margin of my 
 father's garden, in company with my cousin, Wm. R. Swift, and in presence 
 of my parents and uncle Henry, I broke through the ice and disappeared, 
 while my cousin had turned to another direction. Providentially I rose 
 to the surface through the broken ice, and was drawn to the shore by a pole 
 extended to me by Mr. Sherman, a Quaker, who, with several others of his 
 sect, were near the river side "on the prison limits." They were confined 
 by process of law for conscience sake — the Quakers refusing to perform 
 militia duty. 
 
 There was at this time residing in Taunton Mr. Benjamin Dearborn, a 
 very ingenious machinist and much respected citizen. He had established 
 in that town a factory of steel-yard balances. His factory was a very 
 interesting place to me, and he not only indulged my visits but he also 
 taught me the use of a theodolite, invented by himself, and aided me in the 
 construction of a wooden circumferentor, with which I made a survey of 
 Taunton Green — the plot and diagram of which is now among my files. 
 
 In these days we became familiar with the name of Talleyrand and the 
 French Directory, and of his offering our ambassadors money to form a 
 treaty. These, and the accounts of French cruisers capturing our merchant 
 ships, tended to encourage the building ships of war, the " Constitution," etc. 
 Several of our youths were ripe for becoming midshipmen, and General 
 Cobb had many applications to procure warrants for them. Some of these 
 applicants succeeded. My mother's views were of a peaceful nature. Her 
 
GENERAL JOSEPH GARDNER SWIFT. 19 
 
 family were of the sect of Quakers, or Friends, and lier preference was 
 that I should become a physician ; my own inclinations were to become a 
 traveler. Readings to my mother had furnished excitement to this pur- 
 pose. The appointment of General Washington to the command-in-chief 
 of the army had given a serious aspect to the times, and consequently there 
 was an increasing amount of subjects for discussion among men, and by 
 similar consequence the interest spread among the boys. I listened to the 
 conversation between General Cobb and my father on the prospects of 
 anti-Federalism — a party that opposed a war. The building of two frigates 
 was deemed an untimely threat to France, and the Federalists were 
 accused of a purpose to aid England in arresting the march of liberty 
 among our allies. The boys generally were disposed to favor both army 
 and navy, and we began to form companies in the " Manual Exercise," etc. 
 
 By the summer of 1799 I was prepared to enter Cambridge College. It 
 was at this period that there marched into town, and encamped on a 
 beautiful site near the margin of Taunton River, the 14th United States 
 regiment of infantry, commanded by Colonel Nathan Rice, composed of two 
 incomplete battalions of the Provisional Army. My father became the tem- 
 porary surgeon of this regiment, whereby, as his messenger, 1 became a 
 familiar in the tents of the officers. In a few weeks thereafter Captain 
 Amos Stoddard marched a company of United States Artillerists and 
 Engineers into camp, on its route to garrison Rhode Island Harbor. This 
 officer was an intimate friend of my father's, and had been a student of law 
 in our neighbor. Judge Padelford's office, on Taunton Green. It was very 
 pleasant to me to find that this officer recognized me as an acquaintance. 
 Lieutenants Williams and Steel were his subalterns. In their visits to my 
 father's family they indulged me with accounts of the artillery service, and 
 asked me if I would like to be a cadet in their corps. Here was a charm 
 for a boy. Under its influence I urged my parents to request the aid of 
 General Cobb to procure a cadet's warrant. Mr. John Gardner ot Boston, 
 whose country residence was near that of President Adams, interested 
 himself in this matter. He gave Mr. Adams a sketch of Taunton Green, a 
 
20 THE MEMOIRS OF 
 
 specimen of my crude pencilling. These gentlemen procured from Mr. 
 Adams the promise that the Secretary of War should send me the warrant 
 in the ensuing spring of 1800. 
 
 My whole time was now devoted to reading whatever I could find on 
 military- subjects. My preceptor, Mr. Dogget, permitted me the use of his 
 library, and from the encyclopoedia I transcribed the articles "Gunnerj'," 
 "Fortification," "War" and "Pyrotechnics," and copied all the plans, 
 including the implements of Sappers and Miners. Lieutenant Steel had 
 loaned me the military works of Muller, which I found, in several articles, 
 too profound for me. 
 
 At the close of this year of 1799, the death of Washington spread dismay 
 throughout the country. 
 
 In Taunton, as in most other towns throughout the Union, there was 
 much gathering of the people at the funeral obsequies. The boys of our 
 village were permitted to join the procession, and it was my province to 
 draw devices for the truncheons of the Marshals, and for the banner borne 
 by the scholars of the academy. 
 
 Anno 1800. With the anxiety of a boy I waited upon the post office 
 from an early day in the spring of this year, for the result of the promise of 
 President Adams. Late in the month of May my eyes were gladdened by 
 the sight of the frank of Secretary "McHenry," containing my warrant 
 of cadet, dated 12th May, 1800, with orders to report myself for duty 
 with Colonel Lewis Tousard, the commandant of engineers in the harbor 
 of Newport, R. L My excellent mother soon filled my trunk, and also, 
 giving my schoolmates an evening party for my leave-taking, dispatched 
 me in less than three weeks, so that on 12th June I presented myself to 
 Major Daniel Jackson of the Artillery, at Newport, who commended me 
 to Lieutenant-Colonel Lewis Tousard, the engineer of the harbor. This 
 veteran gentleman received me with courtesy, invited me to dine, and 
 introduced me to Mrs. Tousard, and a hantlsonu; Philadcli)hia lady. Miss 
 Gillespie, who appeared young enough to be the daughter of the colonel. 
 I was attached to the company of Captain Stoddard, at Voxl Wolcott, and 
 
GENERAL JOSEPH GARDNER SWIFT. 2 I 
 
 received as a member of the officers' mess, renewing my acquaintance with 
 Lieutenant Steel, and returning to him the works of Muller previously 
 mentioned. Colonel Tousard had been a Captain in Count Rochambeau's 
 army; was at the battle of Quaker Hill, 1778, where he lost an arm in a very 
 gallant action. This want of a limb, and his fine military aspect gave 
 the veteran an heroic appearance; and although one-armed he was a 
 good draughtsman, and favored me with some lessons in military plan- 
 drawing, and he also bestowed upon me a case of Paris drawing 
 instruments. The colonel sent me, in the capacity of aid, in his barge 
 to look after and bring him account of the works on the forts at the 
 Dumpling Rocks, and at Rose Island, Fort Adams and Fort Wolcott. 
 These works were then closing under the immediate care of Lieu- 
 tenant Droasy — in fact suspending for want of appropriations — leav- 
 mg, among other exposed walls, those of an extensive barrack at 
 Fort Hamilton, on Rose Island, in an unfinished condition. Fort 
 Wolcott was one of the designs of Colonel Rochefontaine, a very 
 small redout of a Cross-Moline form, enclosing a stone magazine, upon 
 which is engraved the name of that officer, and Mr. Boss, the United 
 States agent, to commemorate the event of its erection, 1794; and on 
 the key-stone of the gateway arch at Fort Adams, the names of Colonel 
 Tousard and John Adams, the President of the United States, were 
 inscribed, for similar information, 1798. A "South Wing Battery," as 
 it was called, was constructing at Fort Wolcott, and of earth, and it 
 was my duty to superintend the laborers in forming this parapet, 
 upon which were mounted six thirty-two pound cannon; in which 
 operation I received my first lesson in the use of the "French Gin," 
 m proving some brass howitzers that had recently been received from 
 the foundry of Mr. Paul Revere, of Boston. 
 
 The change of scene from quiet Taunton Green to military duty upon 
 the fortifications of Rhode Island was a charm, and it was some time 
 before the novelt>' wore off, and before the reveille found me in bed. The 
 circles of Newport were rendered fashionable by the summer residence 
 there of several Carolina families, and, though young, I was favored by 
 
22 THE MEMOIRS OF 
 
 the attentions of some of them, and by those of the resident families, 
 the Gibb's, Champlain, Auchmety, Hunter, WTiitehouse, and Mr. Gold 
 S. Silliman. 
 
 The period had arrived for the disbandment of the Provisional Army, 
 a part of which, with its ranks not half filled, was cantoned at Oxford, 
 Massachusetts, including the 14th Regiment before mentioned; the 
 military stores from whence were re-stored in the garrison of Newport 
 Harbor, in the making returns of which I had my share of employment. 
 In this summer arrived General Hamilton, with his suite. Colonel Aaron 
 Ogden and Captain Abraham R. Ellery, to inspect the fortifications and 
 the troops in the harbor. It was my good fortune to be charged with 
 the salute of cannon at Fort Wolcott, and on resuming my position on 
 parade was introduced to the general, who, may be in consideration of 
 my youth, complimented me on the accuracy of time in the salute, and 
 invited me to join the other officers at dinner at "Thomas Townsend's," 
 in town. The deportment of the general was a verj' easy and pleasant 
 dignity, and I listened with all my ears to his remarks. Among the 
 guests at the general's dinner were Captain Perry, United States Navy, 
 and his son, Oliver H., who had entered the service as midshipman a few 
 months before my becoming a cadet, and with whom a pleasant intimacy 
 was formed, and indulged at my own quarters and in the steerage on board 
 the frigate General Green. Before and after dinner comments were made 
 upon the fact that President Adams had not promoted General Hamilton 
 on the death of Washington — some of them not flattering to the justice 
 of the President — but the pretensions of other generals, and the settlement 
 of prominent difficulties with France, were deemed to be sufficient reasons 
 for the omission. 
 
 In the fall of the year I visited my mother at Taunton, and instead of 
 finding her in the new hou.se, had to witness its destruction by fire on 
 the 1 6th of September, during my father's ab.scnce at Nantucket, whither 
 he had gone to receive some aid to pay for this Iniilding from the estate of 
 my grandfather, who had died in November, 1799, at the age of 68. This 
 scene was very sail, but my mother bore it with an equanimity that distin- 
 
GENERAL JOSEPH GARDNER SWIFT. 23 
 
 guished her among those who knew her best. As is common in house- 
 burnings, suspicions were in this case attached to an incendiary; but it was 
 ludicrous to hear a superstitious cant that the fire was a divine retribution 
 for disturbing the ashes of Elizabeth Pool — before alluded to as the first 
 proprietor of the town, and whose tomb had become the site of my father's 
 house. In the month of October I returned to my post at Fort Wolcott. 
 The company drill had become an old story, but we were amused with 
 some experiments in throwing thirty-two pounder shot, some of which, at 
 a small elevation, reached the Dumpling Rocks. At this place Colonel 
 Tousard had commenced an oval tower, to form a cross-fire with the 
 other forts. Its unfinished caserns were left by Congress exposed to 
 decay in common with other masonry at the three other forts. In our 
 recreations at the mess table politics, as a topic, were not tolerated, 
 although the officers held decided opinions, and were generally Feder- 
 alists. During the past seasons of 1800 there had been much irritation 
 through the country on the coming elections. President Adams, it 
 was said, had abandoned the Federalists, by whom he had been elected, 
 and his conduct to his Cabinet was said to be disrespectful to the memory 
 of Washington, whose Cabinet Mr. Adams had retained. But Mr. Adams 
 was not quiescent under the insults of France, and this course was deemed 
 by the Jacobins an offence to gratitude. We had letters of marque and 
 some frigates at sea, and the "Insurgent," forty-four, had been captured by 
 Commodore Truxton in the " Constellation," thirty-six, while a third embassy 
 to France had been instituted. This endangered the election of Mr. 
 Adams or General Pinkney, at the same time that the urgency of M. 
 Talleyrand, to come to terms so suddenly after insulting our embassy, 
 was deemed to promote the elevation of Mr. Jefferson. The convention, 
 in the finale, had secured nothing but promises to adjudicate at some 
 undefined period for the spoliations committed on the seas. These were 
 prolific subjects in all societies, and their discussion created much personal 
 animosity. My friend. Captain Stoddard, to whose mind I was wont 
 to defer, said that these relations with France were risking the perma- 
 nence of Federal measures, while other Federalists held that Mr. Adams' 
 
24 THE MEMOIRS OF 
 
 course was wise and peaceful. At any rate, these discrepancies were 
 confusing the action of the Federal party, and advancing the influence 
 of Mr. Jefferson. 
 
 There were portions of the work at Fort Adams, upon the magazine 
 and wharf, that were incomplete, and which the artificers of the companies 
 of Stoddard and Heniy had been detailed to execute. I was placed on 
 duty there under the direction of Lieutenant Droasy, and attached to 
 the artillery' company of Captain Henry, and became messmate of Lieu- 
 tenant John Knight and Lieutenant John W. Livingston, a native of New 
 York, and a gentleman of prudent and systematic habits. Lieutenant 
 Knight was of a more errant character. He was from the Eastern Shore 
 of Maryland, and married Miss Sally Malbone of Newport, by whose 
 introduction I became acquainted with her brother, Edward Malbone, the 
 artist, and also Mr. Washington Allston, the intimate associate of Mr. 
 Malbone, and a recent graduate of Cambridge College — both of them 
 very interesting gentlemen. I found Captain John Henry an Irishman 
 of many pretensions, but his wife a pleasant acquaintance. She was 
 a daughter of the family of Ruche, or Duche, of Philadelphia. The lady 
 was a Swedenborgian, and she observed some peculiar rites of that sect. 
 
 1 80 1. It was not until the lapse of some half dozen of years that the 
 essay of Mr. Adams to commend appropriations for defensive work son 
 the coast and Niagara frontier was revived. The appropriations for the 
 army for the year 1801 were two millions, and for \\-\& fabrication of artns, 
 and for repairs of fortifications, six hundred and thirty thousand dollars. 
 
 Early in the winter of this year Major William McRea, of the 2d 
 Artillery, had relieved Major Jackson in the command of Newport Harbor. 
 Our new commandant was from Virginia. He had been a captain in 
 the 3d Sub Legion, under Generals Wayne and Wilkinson. He married 
 in Newport a belle, Miss Mary Champlain. The major established his 
 quarters at Port Adams, and received me into his mess. The winter 
 was very boisterous, and my chief employment was reading. 
 
 At this time the change of the national administration to the presidency 
 of Mr. Jefferson had not evinced any material change of measures. Much 
 
GENERAL JOSEPH GARDNER SWIFT. 25 
 
 disturbance was exhibited in the newspapers as proceeding from office- 
 bidders and office-seekers. Mr. Jefferson was, in the opinion of the latter, 
 too tardy in displacements, a measure of doubtful utility generally ; and 
 as ejecting subordinates, it is undoubtedly a vicious policy, the office being 
 intended for public, and not for personal benefit, save by its incidental 
 effects. The official experience of clerks is a species of national property, 
 and changing them, save for incapacity, vice, or old age, must produce 
 delays and errors in official transactions. 
 
 The 4th of July was this year celebrated at the forts in Newport Harbor 
 with a display suitable to the day, and also with some show in town, where 
 William Hunter, Esq., was the orator; a gentleman who had been educated 
 in England — a Federalist. His oration was deemed by our officers to 
 be too florid, but to my apprehension, it was learned and beautiful. Mr. 
 Hunter had a small collection of fine paintings at his residence, the work of 
 Rosa de Tivoli. These pictures had been presented, in Italy, to the father 
 of Mr. Hunter, who had been a surgeon in the British army, and "who had 
 rendered important professional aid to some gentlemen of distinction near 
 Florence," who had bestowed these pictures on the doctor. These 
 specimens of art were placed in the Academy of Fine Arts in the Bowling 
 Green, New York. 
 
 In the ensuing month of August I had leave of absence to visit my 
 father's family at Taunton, and was accompanied by my brother cadet, 
 Lewis Lowdais, the brother of Lieutenant Philip of the ist Artillery. I 
 found that since I had been home a brother had been born, who was named 
 for two of my mother's Ijrothers, William and Henry. While in Taunton I 
 apprehended a deserter from the army, one Seth Robbins, and marched him 
 and myself to Newport — thirty-six miles, in twelve hours — and for which 
 service the Secretary of War, General Dearborn, had directed the reward of 
 ten dollars, to be sent to me by Mr. William Simmons. Robbins made an 
 unsuccessful essay to leave me on the road, which made it needful to bind 
 both his hands. 
 
 During this summer of 1801 General Dearborn, the Secretary of War, 
 had given notice to our little army that President Jefferson had directed the 
 
26 THE MEMOIRS OF 
 
 establishment of a military school at West Point, for the instruction of cadets, 
 under the law of 1 794 and subsequent acts of Congress that authorized the 
 appointment of professors of the arts and sciences, and for the purchase of 
 apparatus and instruments necessary for the instruction of the artillerists 
 and engineers. General Washington had uniformly, and to the close of his 
 life, urged the necessity of this school, and had made an effort in 1 794 
 to open such a school at West Point, but the officers did not relish the 
 discipline of a school — at least it was so said of the younger by several of 
 the older officers of the army. 
 
 On the first of October I received a letter from General Dearborn 
 directing me to repair to this school. The order found me in the act 
 of closing a survey of the forts in Newport Harbor, and in making a 
 schedule of the armament, by the order of Major McRea. As soon as 
 this duty was accomplished, to wit, on the 7th October, I took my passage 
 on board a New York packet "up the Sound" and arrived at the city on 
 the 10th. This was my first voyage so far from home. The next morning 
 I took a " Whitehall boat" to Governor's Island and presented my letter 
 of introduction from Lieutenant Knight to Dr. James Scanlan, the surgeon 
 of Fort Jay on that island, who presented me to Captain Cochrane and the 
 other officers of the garrison. The doctor proposed an excursion to the 
 various points in the beautiful bay, and in the garrison barge the following 
 day accompanied me to the old military works on Brooklyn and Gowanus 
 Heights, the scene of the first discomfiture of Washington, Anno 1776. 
 The doctor was a great admirer of militar)' history, and quite familiar with 
 the scenes before us. The courtesy of this gentleman made a strong 
 impression on my memory. He was from the eastern shore of Maryland, 
 and a relation of Lieutenant Knight of Fort Adams. On the 14th October 
 in a Newburg packet I was sailing before a fine breeze up the Hudson. 
 The day was clear and the palisades and precipitous walls were a novelty in 
 height, as they have been to multitudes of other travelers. From failure 
 of wind and tide the vessel came to anchor in Haverstraw Bay, near Stony 
 Point, and the master permitted me the use of his boat and an oarsman to 
 visit the ground where Wayne and (iibbons had won laurels in the storm of 
 
GENERAL JOSEPH GARDNER SWIFT. 27 
 
 that point. The entrance into the highlands was at sunset — an impressive 
 scene to one who had never before seen a mountain like the "Dunderbero-." 
 We reached West Point at dusk. The name of this place had raised many 
 pictures to my imagination of Revolutionary history — the treason of 
 Arnold; the fate of Andre. It was a calm October evening; the only 
 sound was that of the cow bell. This sound at West Point has no doubt 
 left a pleasant remembrance with many a cadet. To this day the sound of 
 the cow bell revives the evening of my first landing at West Point. I 
 reported myself to the commandant, Lieutenant Osborn, and to Professor 
 Baron. Was received by Lieutenant William Wilson and Lieutenant Lewis 
 Howard as a member of their "artillery mess." Professor Baron furnished 
 me with Dr. Hutton's Mathematics, and gave me a specimen of his mode 
 of teaching at the blackboard in the academy. The academic hours were 
 four in each morning, from eight o'clock. There were twelve cadets that 
 formed, as yet, one class. The lesson to be given was accompanied with a 
 lecture from Mr. Baron upon its application. The afternoons of the day 
 were variously occupied in some brief military exercises, but much more in 
 field sports. Our professor, George Baron, was a north of England man 
 from Berwick-on-Tweed, or South Shields. He had been a fellow teacher 
 with Charles Hutton of the military academy at Woolwich. Mr. Baron 
 was of rude manner but he was an able teacher. He deemed Lieutenant 
 Wilson's hospitality to me as too exclusive, and wished me to join a small 
 mess of cadets who were not comfortably lodged ; and moreover there was 
 as yet no regular cadet mess at the Point. Soon after my stating this 
 objection to Mr. Baron, he sent his servant with a verbal order to me on 
 this subject of mess. I declined receiving any order from the mouth of a 
 servant. In an hour after Mr. Baron appeared at the fence of the yard 
 called the old artillery quarters, in which I was conversing with Lieutenant 
 Wilson. He said to me, "Do you refuse to obey my orders? " My reply 
 was, " No, sir, but I refuse to receive a verbal order by any servant." Mr. 
 Baron replied, " You are a mutinous young rascal." I sprang over the 
 fence to assault Baron. He fled to the academy, and thither I followed 
 him. He bolted the door in my face, and from the window of the upper 
 
28 THE MEMOIRS OF 
 
 Story, the " long room," he apphed coarse epithets, and to which I retorted. 
 At this time Mr. Bradock Havens, the master of the Butter-Milk Falls 
 packet " Ranger" was passing, and Mr. Baron desired him to witness my 
 language. In less than an hour after Cadet S. Gates called on me with a 
 written order to consider myself in arrest. The whole of these things I 
 faithfully reported to the Secretary of War. By some influence unknown 
 to me General Dearborn condescended to write to me in reply, advising me 
 to make some apology to Mr. Baron and avoid dismissal from the army. 
 To this considerate attention Lieutenant Wilson counseled my rejoinder, 
 stating that the officers of the post deemed Mr. Baron's conduct to me so 
 imgentlemanly and irritating that an apology could not be made to him. 
 At this juncture a circumstance occurred that suspended action against me, 
 and an official report was made to the Secretary of War by the command- 
 ant. Lieutenant Osborn, that Mr. Baron had been guilty of a crime. Mr. 
 Baron was placed in arrest in the month of November, therefore the 
 academic course was suspended, and I was at leisure, and my arrest of no 
 further restraint than it held me in readiness for trial. A portion of my 
 leisure was employed in exploring the Point more minutely than I had 
 done and the hills and redouts in the vicinity. 
 
 West Point Plain is one hundred and ninety feet above the level of the 
 Hudson, and forms an area of .seventy acres bounded by the margin of the 
 plain overlooking the river on the east and north. The buildings which I 
 found on my first arrival at the Point were, at the dock a stone house ; on 
 the brow of the hill above the first dwelling is the "White quarters," the 
 residence then of the commandant. Lieutenant Osborn, and his beautiful 
 wife ; and then the artillery mess of Lieutenants Wilson and Howard. The 
 academy is situated on the western margin of the plain, near the base of 
 rocks on whose summit, four hundred feet above, stands Fort Putnam. 
 Near the academy was an office on the edge of a small hollow, in which 
 depression were the remains of a mound that had been formed at the close 
 of the Revolution, to celebrate the birth of a Dauphin of France, our great 
 ally in those days. To the .south of this relic were the headquarters 
 tliat had been the residence of General Knox and the scene of many an 
 
GENERAL JOSEPH GARDNER SWIFT. 29 
 
 humble meal partaken by Washington and his companions in arms, at this 
 time the residence of Major George Fleming, the military store-keeper. 
 Farther south the quarters of Lieutenant J. Wilson and A. Macomb, and 
 a small building afterwards used for a laboratory. In front of these was 
 the model yard, containing a miniature fortress in wood, used in the lectures 
 on fortification, the handiwork of Colonel Rochefontaine and Major Rivardi. 
 Around this yard Cadet Armistead and myself planted twelve elm trees. 
 To the south and at the base of Fort Putnam Hill also were Rochefontaine's 
 quarters, now the residence of the family of Lieutenant Colonel Williams ; 
 diagonally from the garden gate of these quarters Rochefontaine had 
 constructed a paved foot walk to the barrack on the northeast side of the 
 plain, now the cadet's quarters. They are two hundred and forty feet in 
 length and were constructed by Major Rivardi, whose quarters were in a 
 building at the northern base of the Fort Putnam Hill, by the road leading 
 to the German Flats and Washington's Valley. Below the plain at the 
 northwest, near the river, were the military stores, two long yellow 
 buildings, containing the arms and accoutrements of the army of Burgoyne 
 and also numerous brass ordnance surrendered at Saratoga, and especially 
 a couple of brass "grasshoppers" taken by General Green in South 
 Carolina, and by resolve of Congress presented to that verj' distinguished 
 commander — all under the care of Major Fleming, who seemed to view 
 them as almost his own property, he having served in the conquest at 
 Berries Heights and Saratoga. To the east of these stores was the armory, 
 and also the residence of Zebina Kingsley, the armorer, and his exemplary 
 wife. To the east was the hospital, under the charge of Dr. Nicholas 
 Jones, our surgeon, and brother of Mrs. Lieutenant Osborn. At the 
 northeast angle of the plain was Fort Clinton, a dilapidated work of 
 Generals Drefortail and Kosciusko, engineers in the Revolutionary War. 
 This work was garnished with four twenty-four-pounder cannon, on sea coast 
 carriages. The fort also enclosed a long stone magazine filled with powder 
 "many years of age." The gloomy portals of these walls might remind 
 one of Dante's Inferno. To the west, overlooking the plain and five 
 hundred feet of elevation, is F"ort Putnam, a stone casemated castle, having 
 
30 THE MEMOIRS OF 
 
 on its platform a couple of twenty-four-pounder field pieces of artillery. 
 This work was commenced in 1777, and had been repaired at various 
 periods and never completed. The tradition was that Arnold had purposed 
 to admit British troops from the rear of this castle to overawe the plain 
 and works below. A surer plan for the purpose of the traitor could not 
 have been devised. On the eastern margin of the plain and sixty feet 
 below, there are stone steps leading to a small area whose outward edge is 
 of rock, sloping almost vertically to the Hudson. In this area is a small 
 basin in which had played a fountain, the whole having been constructed 
 by Kosciusko, and was his retreat and called after him, " Kosciusko's 
 Garden." Lieutenant Macomb and myself had repaired this garden, and it 
 is a favorite resort. 
 
 Some ninety yards south of Rivardi's barracks is a circular depression in 
 the plain, on the west margin of which are the ruins of the "old provost." 
 Nearly a mile northwest of the Point a ravine leads to a cascade over a 
 rock, the water from which winds to the Hudson at the " red house," the 
 occasional resting place of Washington, called Washington's Valley, and is 
 at the termination of the slope of the Crow's Nest, a mountain of fifteen 
 hundred feet in altitude that overlooks the point and river and many miles 
 around. Adjoining the south boundary of the plain a road leads down the 
 bank of the Hudson to Butter- Milk Falls and to Fort Montgomery. The 
 last named is the scene of the defeat of General Clinton, October, 1777. 
 The road previously mentioned passed through the farm of Esquire North, 
 whose house stood near the south boundary of the plain, a tavern that 
 much annoyed the command at West Point by selling rum to the soldiers, 
 because of an illegal act of Captain Stelle of the army, who in 1 794 had 
 levelled a field piece at North's house and suffered a severe penalty therefor 
 in a law suit. Mr. North's victory proved him to be a bad citizen, and his 
 .success an evidence of the law's supremacy. 
 
 In the fall of this year, 1801, Lieutenant-Colonel Tousard had established 
 his family in the Rochefontaine quarters as "inspector of artillery," and on 
 his departure to this duty at various points, Niagara, etc., he requested me 
 to escort Madame Tousard to the city. New York, a very pleasant e.xcursion 
 
GENERAL JOSEPH GARDNER SWIFT. 3 I 
 
 — and in the city, with the families of WilHam Denning, Esq., of Beverly, 
 near West Point, and that of his son-in-law, Mr. William Henderson, my 
 time was very agreeably passed. To the family of Mr. Denning I had been 
 introduced by Lieutenant William Wilson, and generally dined there on 
 Sundays. This place, Beverly, was the headquarters of General Arnold 
 and the scene of his first open act of treason, when he escaped in his barge 
 to the Vulture. My lodging room at Beverly had been the chamber of 
 Arnold. It was at Mr. Denning's that I first met Aaron Burr, who was 
 then a guest at Beverly. The place had been the property of Beverly 
 Robinson, who with his family had fled to Nova Scotia in the Revolution, 
 and the property had been confiscated under the laws of New York, and 
 purchased by Mr. Denning. 
 
 In December I returned to West Point and reported myself to Major 
 Jonathan Williams, the inspector of fortifications. Mr. Jefferson had 
 required of this gentleman " to repair to West Point and make himself 
 thoroughly acquainted with the military school recently there established, 
 and to assume the superintendence of the same." Major Williams 
 received the cadets at his hospitable board in the " Rivardi quarters," and 
 stated to us the course of instruction that he proposed to pursue. Mr. 
 Baron's case had first to be examined by a board of officers ; improprieties 
 were proved, and by order of the President, Mr. Baron was dismissed with 
 unusual marks of disgrace, /. <?., his name was set upon the public buildings 
 as a disgraced officer. The court found me "guilty of using disrespectful 
 words to my superior officer," but 1 was released and ordered to duty. 
 
 Mr. Jefferson had now been in office nearly a year, and though it was said 
 that he was opposed to the existence of the army, still there had been in 
 this year, 1801, $230,000 appropriated to repair and keep in order the 
 fortifications that had been commenced in 1794 and 1798, and $400,000 for 
 the fabrication of arms ; nevertheless I had left the works of Rhode Island 
 nearly suspended. 
 
 Politics were not generally discoursed upon at the Point, although the 
 political opinion of every person there was well known, and newspapers of 
 both parties were taken. My paper was Major Ben Russel's Columbian 
 Centinel, of Boston. 
 
32 THE MEMOIRS OF 
 
 In the ensuing spring the new military law of Congress, of i6th March, 
 had remodeled the army, and discharged many a worthy. Among the 
 number was the veteran Tousard and Lieuteant Droasy, my instructors 
 upon the public works in Newport Harbor. The case of Lieutenant-Colonel 
 Tousard occasioned much sorrow at West Point. He was aged, and had 
 been crippled in the service of the country; an industrious ofificer, well 
 educated at the military school of La Fere in France. By the operation 
 of the law some promotions had been made in the new corps of engineers. 
 
 In April the Academy was opened under the Professorate of Captain 
 William Amhurst Barron, formerly a captain of artillerists and engineers, 
 and transferred to the new corps. He had been a tutor in mathematics in 
 the University of Cambridge, of which he was a graduate and classmate of 
 John Quincy Adams. He was the son of a surgeon in the army of England, 
 who belonged to the medical staff of Lord Amhurst in Canada, and for 
 whom Captain Barron was named. He was of a social temper and kind 
 nature, and these qualities did not impair his ability as a teacher; he had a 
 facility in teaching. In a few weeks thereafter Captain Jared Mansfield, of 
 the engineers, became the acting professor of Natural and Experimental 
 Philosophy at the academy. This gentleman had a high reputation for 
 learning, and was the author of an erudite essay on the Motion of Bodies in 
 Free Space. He had been a teacher in Yale College, and was an intimate 
 of Mr. Jefferson's. The course of study was Hutton's Mathematics, 
 Enfield's Philosophy and Vaubau's Fortification, with practical exercies in 
 the fieUl in Surveying. 
 
 In the month of May a letter from Major McRea, the commandant at 
 Newport, R. I., requested me to report the survey of the fortifications in 
 Newport Harbor that had been made by me under his orders, to Major 
 Williams, the inspector, and which I did my best to accomplish. This was 
 my first essay, and it was favorably received by the inspector. This report 
 occasioned me to examine what had been done by the government. I 
 found that the inspectorship of fortifications and employment of two 
 engineers had been authorized by Congress in the year 1799, implying 
 a new purpose on the part of the government, to improve upon the system 
 commenced in 1794, and somewhat enlarged in 1798. In the first years of 
 
GENERAL JOSEPH GARDNER SWIFT. y^ 
 
 the government under the new Constitution — 1789 and '90 — the whole 
 expenditure of the War Department had been $137,000. In the two 
 following years the Western Indians, instigated by our own rapacity for land, 
 and by the policy of England to retard the progress of the Union, had 
 brought on a war in the North-West Territory that resulted at first in the 
 defeat of General St. Clair, but ultimatetly in the overthrow of the Indian 
 power by General Wayne, by the battle of the Maumee, in 1796. The 
 expenditures on these wars from 1791 to 1794, including the purchase of 
 arms, had been $923,000. In the year 1794 Congress appropriated $76,000 
 for maritime fortifications, and $96,000 for armament, and $131,000 for 
 Western defences. This maritime system of defence on the Atlantic border 
 embraced the harbors of Portland, Portsmouth, Gloucester, Salem, Marble- 
 head, Boston, Newport, New London, New York, Philadelphia, Wilmington, 
 Del., Norfolk, Alexandria, Ocracock and Cape Fear, Georgetown, Char- 
 leston, .Savannah and .St. Mary's. In selecting sites for these works, 
 those where defences had been constructed in the Revolutionary War 
 indicated the suitable points. Colonel Rochefontaine, Major Rivardi and 
 other officers of the regiment of artillerists and engineers were employed 
 in the construction of small redouts. None of sufficient area could 
 have been attempted under a fund of $76,000, nor prosecuted usefully 
 in the three following years; during which period $94,000 had been 
 appropriated among these works, including $20,000 for West Point, 
 appropriated in 1796. But early in the year 1798 the aspect of war 
 with France had induced Congress to appropriate $310,000 for fortifying 
 the Atlantic harbors. 
 
 In the month of June I became security for the payment of a debt of 
 $119 by Lieutenant Strong of the army, son of Colonel David Strong, 4th 
 Infantry. This affair gave me extreme trouble, my income being meagre. 
 Strong left West Point with promise of early payment, but he got into bad 
 company, became an inebriate, and soon after committed suicide in prison. 
 
 In July, by transfer, I became a cadet of engineers. The corps, as 
 organized by the law of i6th of March, 1802, consisted of Lieutenant 
 Colonel Jonathan Williams, a gentleman of much learning and devoted to 
 
34 
 
 THE MEMOIRS OF 
 
 science. He was born in Boston, and had been brought up in his father's 
 vocation, a merchant. He had been a man of business in London, married 
 the daughter of William Alexander, of the Scottish family of Sterling. 
 Mr. Williams had also been the agent of the United States at Paris 
 and Nantz under the auspices of Dr. Franklin, his kinsman, and who 
 bequeathed to Mr. Williams a part of his library. Mr. Jefferson had said 
 that Mr. Williams resembled Dr. Franklin in character and pursuits of 
 science. It was at the instance of Mr. Jefferson that Colonel Williams 
 was placed at the head of the corps of engineers. The next officer in 
 that corps was Major Decius Wadsworth, a graduate of Yale, a good 
 mathematician. He had been a captain of the artillerists and engineers. 
 Then followed Captain William A. Barron and J. Mansfield, previously 
 mentioned, and Lieutenant James Wilson, a highly educated gentleman, 
 the son of the Judge of the United States Supreme Court, who had 
 distinguished himself in the Constitutional Convention of Pennsylvania, 
 and Lieutenant Alexander Macomb, late a cornet of dragoons and 
 aid-de-camp to General William North, the adjutant-general of the 
 late Provisional Army. Neither Wilson nor Macomb had been cadets. 
 The number of cadets at the academy was twelve. Among them were 
 Simon Magruder Levy, from a respectable Jew family of Baltimore, and 
 formerly a sergeant in Captain Lockwood's company of infantry, and 
 thence promoted to cadet for his merit and mathematic attainments. 
 He was now twenty-five years of age. Walker Keith Armistead, from 
 Virginia, a very amiable young gentleman of eighteen j'ears of age, 
 and to whom I was much attached; Henry B.Jackson, son of the major 
 of artillery, and John Livingston, a merchant of Norfolk, Va. ; then 
 Ambrose Porter, a man of six feet height and abounding in story-telling 
 talent; Joseph Proveaux, from Charleston, S. C, a youth of seventeen, 
 of generous spirit but passionate, addicted to duelling and much oppo.sed 
 to study; two brothers, Samuel and William Gates, the .sons of Captain 
 Lemuel Gates of the army — the former a good scholar and very taciturn — 
 the latter was the youngest cadet at the Point, very active, a sportsman 
 and a general favorite among the cadets; Hannibal Montresor Allen, a 
 
GENERAL JOSEPH GARDNER SWIFT. 35 
 
 wild youth of seventeen years, the son of Ethan of Ticonderoga memory; 
 Julius Frederick Heileman, a handsome youth of sixteen years, the son of a 
 surgeon in our army at Fort Jay, who had belonged to the corps of Colonel 
 Baum of the Hessian corps of England, at the battle of Bennington. 
 
 During the summer I was attached to the company of artillery of Captain 
 George Izard, as acting lieutenant. In some infantry exercises a private 
 soldier, Wm. Goodwin, on the left Hank of the company, had lodged several 
 cartridges in his musket before it gave fire. The piece burst, wounded 
 Goodwin severely and prostrated me upon the ground, from which I was 
 confined to the hospital for several days. My captain was the son of Ralph 
 Izard, the United States Senator from South Carolina. Captain Izard had 
 been educated at the Military School of Metz, in France ; and at the Experi- 
 mental School of Metz, he was esteemed to be an accomplished officer. He 
 had a fine collection of books and charts, and very kindly permitted me to 
 look into them. He was at this time suffering from a wound received in a 
 duel with Mr. Pierre of Philadelphia. The cause was the captain's 
 declining to fulfill an engagement with the sister of Mr. Pierre, but without 
 the least injury to the honor of the lady. 
 
 During this year there was no new fort commenced in our maritime 
 harbors, and the appropriation of $70,500 was not sufficient to keep the 
 redouts in repair. 
 
 Early in this summer of 1802 Lieutenant Macomb and myself repaired 
 the dilapidated garden of Kosciusko, relaid the stone stairway to the dell, 
 and opened the little fountain at the base of "Kosciusko's Rock" in the 
 garden ; planted flowers and vines and constructed several seats, which made 
 the spot a pleasant resort for a reading party. In the exercises in the field. 
 Colonel Williams commenced with the cadets a survey of the country about 
 the Point by a series of triangles, to determine the position and altitude of 
 the adjacent mountains. It was found that Crow's Nest summit was one 
 thousand four hundred and eighty feet above West Point Plain ; the Break 
 Neck, one thousand five hundred; Anthony's Nose, below the Point, nine 
 hundred; the Sugar Loaf, seven hundred; Fort Putnam, four hundred; and 
 the plain itself one hundred and ninety feet above the Hudson. 
 
36 THE MEMOIRS OF 
 
 On the first of September commenced the first public examination at the 
 Military- Academy, conducted by Colonel Williams and Professors Barron 
 and Mansfield. The text books were Button's Mathematics. Enfield's 
 Philosophy, Vaubau's Fortification and Scheet's Artillery ; using the model 
 front of a fort that had been long at the Point, constructed, as the tradition 
 ran, by Rivardi and Rochefontaine. 
 
 Cadets J. G. Swift and S. M. Levy were the graduates, and they were 
 both commissioned to rank in the order just named from 12th October, 1802. 
 On the 1 8th of October Colonel Williams invited me to accompany him to 
 Albany, the object being to identify certain estate documents that were to 
 be sent to England ; and thither we proceeded on board an Albany sloop, 
 (and found our fellow passengers to be Judge Leonard Gansvoort and his 
 beautiful niece, Miss Storm of New York). We had a long passage, and 
 arrived at Albany on fifth day. At this time the trial between Gouverneur 
 and Kemble and a French mercantile house was in progress, and we 
 listened to the eloquent arguments of Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr. 
 General Hamilton recognized his acquaintance of Newport two years pre- 
 viously, and he invited me to dine with him at his father-in-law's — General 
 Philip Schuyler's. After dinner, among the subjects of conversation was the 
 canal and improved navigation of the Mohawk, to connect with Lake 
 Ontario at Oswego. It was graphically described by General Schuyler, 
 who. though suffering with gout, was eloquent on this subject. He 
 regretted that the locks were too small, and the Mohawk unmanageable. 
 He spoke of the object of the tour of Washington in 1 789 to be, among 
 other enquiries, to learn what improvements could be made to connect the 
 Hudson and the lakes. He also mentioned Mr. Western, an English 
 engineer, who had been over the Mohawk route and was deemed a skillful 
 engineer, etc. The conversation of General Schuyler on the Revolution was 
 very instructive. General Hamilton .spoke of Washington visiting General 
 Webb at Fort Lee, and that General Webb was not there, at which it was said 
 that General Washington threw his sword to the earth in a jjassion at the 
 absence of Webb, and swore: General Hamilton said it was not so; General 
 Washington was much (lis|)leased. and expressed himself in strong terms 
 
GENERAL JOSEPH GARDNER SWIFT. ^-j 
 
 of disapprobation. In the evening an amusing scene occurred at Rannie's 
 Exhibition. He placed a card in the hand of General Hamilton, promising 
 to turn it into a bank bill. The General joined heartily in the general 
 laugh and joke at the failure of the mountebank to redeem his pledge. 
 The following day General Hamilton, Colonel Williams and General 
 Schuyler discussed the subject of the Military Academy, the colonel giving 
 his ideas and purposes to encourage an enlargement of the present plan ; 
 General Hamilton approved, and he regretted that the Book of Instruments 
 that had been collected at West Point during the administration of Wash- 
 ington had been lost, by the burning of the "Old Provost" at the Point, in 
 1 794- He said that the fire was by some deemed a design of such officers 
 as had been sent to the Point for instruction in the arts and sciences, as 
 provided for by law. This building had been of stone, and was situate at the 
 edge of a hollow south of the barrack before mentioned ; and the story ran, 
 at the Point, that behind the Provost had been the scene of a duel between 
 Colonel Rochefontaine and my friend Lieutenant William Wilson ; in fact 
 Wilson said so to me, and that but for an accident in backing the pistol 
 cock it had been a fatal affair to the colonel — Anno 1793. Colonel 
 Williams and myself examined the old octagonal Dutch church, that stood 
 at the junction of Market and State Streets, and the old Hall where, in 
 1754, a congress had been held, which had been described to him by his 
 friend and relative. Dr. Franklin. After purchasing Neetat's General History 
 and the Works of Hogarth, from Leavenworth and Whiting, the colonel and 
 myself returned to West Point by an Albany sloop; and being becalmed at 
 Newburg, walked over Butter Hill and the Crow's Nest, and arrived at 
 the Point the first of November. 
 
 On the 1 2th of this month a meeting was assembled in the "long 
 room" of the Academy, consisting of Lieutenant-Colonel Williams, Major 
 Wadsworth, Professors Barron and Mansfield, Lieutenants Wilson, Macomb, 
 Swift and Levy, and Cadet Armistead, for the purpo.se of forming a Military 
 Philosophical Society, to promote military science and history. This 
 society soon embraced as members nearly every distinguished gentleman 
 in the navy and Union, and .several in Europe. Its funds were invested 
 in New York city stock. 
 
38 THE MEMOIRS OF 
 
 The academ)- was closed in December, and I visited my parents in 
 Taunton, and accompanied my mother to visit her mother at New Bedford. 
 This visit had several objects. One of them was to receive from my grand- 
 mother something left me by her husband, Thomas Delano, who had ever 
 distinguished me with marked affection, and who had now been three years 
 deceased. I found the estate still unsettled, and returned with hope 
 deferred. Among my mother's friends was an elderly lady, Ma'am Wilbur, 
 the sister of Dr. Gideon Williams, who had the fancy to teach children 
 to read. I had been her pupil. The mode of Mrs. Wilbur was a species of 
 musical cadence, spelling each syllable and sounding the same in time, with 
 open and clear voice, in the due order, until the whole word and sentence 
 was spelled and sounded simultaneously by the whole class — one of the 
 best modes of acquiring distinct pronunciation. We all loved her heartily, 
 and I presume none of her pupils ever visited Taunton during her life 
 without paying their respects to Ma'am Wilbur. 
 
 While at New Bedford my grandmother Delano gave me an account 
 of her ancestors, the Swains of Nantucket, who came thither from New- 
 buryport when the island was purchased. Her father married Eleanor 
 Folger, the sister of Abiah, the mother of Dr. Franklin. Her "father was 
 a ship-master, and commanded a whaling vessel in the South -Seas." 
 
 1803. In the month of January I made a jaunt to Milton Hill and 
 Boston, and, with my cousin John .Swift of the former place, visited the 
 graves of our ancestors in the "old burying ground of Milton," and thence 
 to the former residence of Thomas Swift, our immediate ancestor, as before 
 mentioned in this diary; where, suspended over the mantel is an emblazonry 
 of the arms* of the Swifts of Yorkshire, that had been brought over by our 
 ancestor Thomas. In Boston I met ni)' friend Mr. Gardner and Colonel 
 Samuel Bradford. To the latter I had a letter of introduction from his 
 brother-in-law, Colonel Williams. I also met Colonel Joseph May of 
 Boston, who gave me many particulars of the "Mohawk Indians," who had 
 destroyed the tea in Boston Harbor — the precursor of the Revolution. 
 Colonel May had been a friend of my grandfather, Samuel Swift, who he 
 said had been active in promoting that event of destroying the tea. 
 
 • The lame from which Ihc eoat-of-arms in this work is taken. — //. E. 
 
GENERAL JOSEPH GARDNER SWIFT. 39 
 
 In the month of February I returned to my father's in Taunton. My 
 sister Nancy was now "in company," and one of the most beautiful women 
 I ever saw ; my brother WilHam Henr)-, an active and noisy boy not yet in 
 jacket and trowsers. My father's house, that had been rebuilt on the ruins 
 of the one lost by fire, was a very commodious and pleasant residence. The 
 acquaintances of my boyhood received me with much kindness, and my 
 father's friends with hospitality. My leave expiring in March, I took a packet 
 from "the Ware," the head of navigation on Taunton River, and by Newport 
 through Long Island Sound, in which we encountered a north-west gale 
 and snow storm, and caught a glimpse of Huntington Light at the moment 
 when the main sail split by the wind and weight of snow, in which plicrht 
 the packet was driven ashore upon the beach of Long Island. The next 
 day the crew succeeded in floating the vessel and we had a quick run to 
 New York, and arrived at West Point the day after, just in time to answer 
 to my name at the muster roll-call at the close of the month. 
 
 In the month of April by order of the Secretary of War, Colonel Williams, 
 as chief engineer, left West Point for Wilmington, North Carolina, and 
 Charleston, South Carolina; Major Wadsworth to New London and New- 
 port. The repairs of the fortifications had heretofore been conducted under 
 the direction of officers of the artillerists and engineers, and this movement 
 of the War Department was to commence the action of the new corps of 
 engineers. Lieutenant James Wilson had orders to repair Forts Miflin and 
 Norfolk, and Lieutenant Macomb the works in New York Harbor and Ports- 
 mouth, New Hampshire. Congress authorized the enlistment of twenty-one 
 men as artificers and aids to the engineer service, and also a teacher of 
 French and drawing was authorized at the Militaiy Academy, and $109,000 
 appropriated to repair the forts, the arsenals, and the armories of the 
 United States. 
 
 The excitement in reference to the cession of Louisiana, and consequent 
 prospects of war with Spain, had caused an appropriation of a million and a 
 half, and also of $80,000 for the calling out of the militia, and $25,000 for 
 western arsenals; looking to Baton Rouge as a point for that purpose in 
 case of trouble at New Orleans. 
 
40 THE MEMOIRS OF 
 
 This spring George Bomford was appointed a cadet. My acquaintance 
 with this young gentleman commenced at a country store opposite to West 
 Point, in Warren's Valley, where I had gone to kill trout, and where 
 Bomford had established himself as a dealer, and from the proximity of 
 the marsh he had taken the ague and fever. I invited him to my quarters 
 at the Point, where he regained his health ; and on the strength of my 
 acquaintance with General Dearborn, in the Baron affair, 1 wrote an appli- 
 cation to him for a cadet's warrant for Bomford, and in a short period the 
 warrant was received. Bomford was well informed on many subjects, 
 ingenious and musical. Soon after his appointment he made good progress 
 at his books, and became our principal in the laboratory, in which place 
 Bomford and myself had a narrow escape. A rocket had taken fire while in 
 the mould and driving, the flame from which reached the floor above, upon 
 which, on cartridge paper, was a mass of gun powder. Both of us sprang 
 to the window and became jammed for want of space for both, and there 
 struggled until the rocket was exhausted. Bomford was born on Long 
 Island, the reputed son of a British officer. 
 
 In this month of May Captain George Izard marched his company of 
 artillery to Norfolk. There had been some refusal on his part to obey a 
 requisition of Colonel Williams for a detachment from his company. To 
 avoid future collision this order to march had been given. Soon after this 
 event Colonel Williams returned to West Point from North Carolina, 
 accompanied by Cadet William McRee from Wilmington. The colonel 
 informed the corps of engineers that in consequence of a difference 
 between him.self and the Secretary of War on the subject of the rights of 
 rank and command, he, the colonel, had resigned his commi-ssion. This 
 intelligence was a grief to every one at the Point. The cause of it was the 
 unmilitary and needless obscurity in the terms of the law of i6th March, 
 1802, in reference to rank and command. 
 
 In the month of June Francis Ue Masson was appointed teacher of 
 the I'rcnch Language and Topographical Drawing at the academy, and 
 Lieutenant Levy and myself became his pupils in both branches. 
 
 At the celebration of Independence this year, while superintending the 
 
GENERAL JOSEPH GARDNER SWIFT. 41 
 
 salute at P'ort Clinton, the concussion produced by a twenty-four pounder 
 brought blood from my left ear, and injured permanently my hearing. This 
 was occasioned by negligence in position. 
 
 On the 2 1 St of this month of July, the family of our worthy chief left the 
 Point, breaking up our principal social circle, and depriving the cadets of 
 an important source of instruction. Colonel Williams had been the friend 
 and adviser of every one of us. 
 
 In the following month I was summoned as a member of a court martial, 
 on the trial of Lieutenant Van Rensselaer of the army, at Fort Jay ; at the 
 termination of which, on leave, I visited Colonel Williams at Perth Amboy. 
 where, with Lieutenant A. Macomb, was presented our views of an appeal 
 to Mr. Jefferson to commend to Congress a modification of the law of 
 March, and thus restore the colonel to the corps of engineers. The colonel 
 declined any action, but we wrote a suitable letter to the President and took 
 our leave of our retired chief, and proceeded to Belleville, N. J., the 
 pleasant residence of Macomb's family on the Passaic, and with them made 
 an excursion to the falls of that river. On returning to West Point in 
 September, we found the academic affairs much deranged by the resig- 
 nation of Professor Mansfield, upon whom Mr. Jefferson had conferred the 
 surveyor-generalship of Ohio, upon which service Mr. Mansfield entered 
 in the fall of this year. His nephew. Cadet J. G. Totten, became an 
 assistant in this service. The departure of this family was a serious loss to 
 our society. Mrs. Mansfield was a very' intelligent lady, and her conver- 
 sation not only agreeable but instructive to the young gentlemen who 
 found a welcome at her residence. 
 
 In the month of November a general court martial was convened at 
 Frederick Town, in Maryland, and on the 12th of the month with Lieu- 
 tenant Charles Wolstoncroft of our army (a native of England, and brother 
 of the notorious Mary Wolstoncroft Godwin,) and Lieutenant W. R. Boot, 
 also a native of England, and Lieutenant R. W. Osborne, a native of St. 
 Croix, and Lieutenant William Hossack (the brother of the doctor of that 
 name) and myself, also under orders to attend this court, took the stage 
 at Paulus Hook, and, passing a day in Philadelphia at Frances' hotel in 
 
42 THE MEMOIRS OE 
 
 F'urth street, we arrived in Baltimore at the Indian Queen, and on the 
 1 8th found ourselves at the celebrated tavern of Mr. Kimball, in Frederick. 
 This court was convened for the trial of Colonel Thomas Butler of the 
 army, charged with disobedience of the orders of General Wilkinson, which 
 order was for the army to crop the hair of the head, and the whiskers to be 
 no lower than the line from the ear to the mouth. The colonel denied the 
 power of the general so to deprive a citizen of t!ie United States of that 
 which nature had conferred for use and ornament, and the colonel appeared 
 at the court with a long queue of hair. The court was also to investigate the 
 case of Major George Ingersoll, charged with selling milk in the garrison 
 of Fort Jay while commandant of that post; an accusation made by Lieut. 
 Wolstoncroft, who was himself charged with shooting the ducks of Major 
 Ingersoll while in arrest at the said Fort Jay. For such objects — though 
 connected with points of military discipline — officers were summoned from 
 the extremities of the Union. While these trials were in progress, and 
 pending the recesses of the court, the thirteen members and other attending 
 officers enjoyed the hospitality of the Mar)-landers, especially those of 
 Roger B. Taney, Esq., a counsellor of distinction, and John Hanson 
 Thomas and his father. Dr. Philip Thomas, George Murdock, Capt. William 
 Campbell of Monocacy, Richard Pitts, Baker Johnson and Col. McPherson, 
 all gentlemen of note and distinguished Federalists. .Such an association 
 was the occasion of some slander at Washington City. Among the 
 Democrats there it was said that these officers were too familiar with the 
 opponents of the Government. The truth was, that every officer in attend- 
 ance and of the court were Federalists, save Major James Bruff and Lieut. 
 Wolstoncroft, an English gentleman. The president of the court was 
 Colonel Henry Burbeck. He had been a pupil of Colonel Gridley, the 
 engineer of the American army at Boston in 1 776, wiio said that Washington 
 was his model in politics, Lieutenant Colonel Constant Freeman, an officer 
 of merit who had been employed on the boundar)- line between the Spanish 
 Possessions and the United States, and his lirother. Captain N. Freeman, a 
 man of letters, were members, as also was Colonel Jacob Kingsbury, a 
 veteran of the Revolutionary War. He had been a sergeant in the Con- 
 
GENERAL JOSEPH GARDNER SWIFT. 43 
 
 necticut line at the seige of \'orkto\vn — a fine sample of modest integrity 
 and common sense. At our mess table he recounted the scenes before 
 " York." He was at the storming of the redout on the right, under Colonel 
 Hamilton, October, 1781. Colonel Kingsbury remarked, "I was leading 
 my squad through a small gap in the abbatis, and was coming over the 
 parapet when something struck me a blow on the head, and my first con- 
 sciousness was in finding mjself extended upon the platform inside the 
 redout." My former commander, Major William McRea of Virginia, who 
 used to amuse us with accounts of General Kno.x, the then Secretary of 
 War, his orders and notions for equipping and training the "sub legions" of 
 General Wayne's army ; also Captain Stelle of the artillery, formerly com- 
 manding at West Point — he was from New Jersey ; Captain McClelland 
 from Maryland, and Captain John Saunders, an eccentric gentleman from 
 Virginia ; Lieutenant James House from Baltimore, a native of Connecticut, 
 a gentleman of much taste and an artist ; also my friend Lieutenant Alex- 
 ander Macomb, full of frolic and fun, an accomplished gentleman, and 
 Lieutenant E. Beebee of New York. There was also Major Thomas H. 
 Gushing, the adjutant and inspector of the army, a gentleman of high 
 intelligence and who, under the orders of General Wilkinson prosecuted 
 the trial of Colonel Butler. In December the court terminated its proceed- 
 ings. No other consequence of an historic character has followed this trial 
 save the perpetual knot hole in the coffin that we see in Washington 
 
 o 
 
 Irving's Knickerbocker's History of New York, through which hole still 
 protrudes the queue of Colonel Tom Buder as he there lays in his shroud. 
 The officers reciprocated the courtesy of Frederick by a ball and supper 
 given at .Mrs. Kimball's, arranged with much and peculiar taste by the 
 advice of Lieutenant Macomb. 
 
 On 23d December the members of the court and all the other officers 
 proceeded to Georgetown and to the war office in Washington, and paid 
 their respects to General Dearborn, the Secretary of War. The general 
 mvited me to dine at his residence in Georgetown, where I thanked him 
 for the trouble he had taken in my affair with Baron at West Point in 1801. 
 The secretary said that no injury had resulted to me, although he could not 
 
44 THE MEMOIRS OF 
 
 approve of the disrespect that I had been excited to show to Mr. Baron. 
 On my taking leave, after being presented to Mr. Jefferson, the secretary- 
 said that he should require my services in the ensuing spring to repair the 
 fort on Cape Fear, North Carolina, and also said that' such work had not 
 been previously given to the graduates (three) of the military academy 
 because of their youthfulness and inexperience. 
 
 The subject that had mostly engrossed conversation in the past year, of a 
 public nature, was Mr. Jefferson's purchase of Louisiana. The general idea 
 among thinking men was that the United States, already large enough, 
 would be injured by extension, but the people will hardly be restrained from 
 migrating beyond the Mississippi. It was therefore wise in Mr. Jefferson 
 to settle as far as possible future questions by peaceable purchase, trusting 
 to the countr)' to remedy any constitutional defect in what the Federalists 
 deemed to be a dangerous precedent. The alteration in the Constitution 
 in the mode of electing a President was by the Federalists deemed anything 
 but an improvement, nay, that it was a breach in the unity of that almost 
 sacred instrument, moreover there must ever be more than two men in the 
 countr)' at least equally qualified for the presidential office. The change 
 was deemed a strong measure to sustain the power of party that had 
 already become proscriptive. 
 
 1804. By leave from the Secretary of War the remainder of the winter 
 was passed with my father's only brother, Jonathan Swift, at Alexandria, 
 who had there married the daughter Ann of General Daniel Roberdeaii of 
 the army of the Revolution and of the Congress of 1778 that formed the 
 Confederation. He related to me incidents of his travels in England and 
 Ireland in the years 1786-7 and of his visit to the country of our ancestors 
 at Rotheram in Yorkshire, and to some distant relatives in Dublin. These 
 friends presented him a portrait of Dean Swift and .some relics of that 
 personage. In Alexandria, by the introduction of my uncle, I was received 
 courteously by Mr. William Fitzhugh of Chatham, Mr. William Herbert, 
 Mr. John Potts and his beautiful daughter .Sophia, and also by the Rosins 
 of Notley Hall, and Addisons of Oxen Hill in the \icinit)'. In February 
 my first visit to Congress was made. The jjrominent topics of discussion 
 
GENERAL JOSEPH GARDNER SWIFT. 45 
 
 were the surplus revenue, as to what could be done with it ; and here came 
 up incidentally or accidentally, views of improving the country by roads and 
 canals. The troubles with the Barbary powers had its share in debate, and 
 also a scheme to widen the privileges of naturalization, also the contem- 
 plated impeachment of Samuel Chase, a sound judge and honest, though 
 of violent temper, and which was deemed more an assault upon the perma- 
 nency of the judiciary than from any belief in the malversation of that 
 judge. In exploring the unfinished capitol I found the portraits of Louis 
 XVI. and Marie Antoinette, that had been presented by that king to 
 Congress in 1779. They were fine specimens of art, though not respect- 
 fully treated, for they were suspended in a committee - room of the capitol. 
 I made in Washington the acquaintance of my fellow boarder, Luther 
 Martin, Esquire, and heard from him some of the scenes that occurred in 
 the Maryland Convention, of which he was a member at the time of the 
 adoption of the Constitution ; and also with General William Eaton, the 
 hero of Derne, in Africa, who grave a recital of his efforts in that useless 
 expedition. With the other gentlemen of our mess we partook in the cele- 
 bration of the birth of Washington, at Georgetown. Had also the honor to 
 dine with Mr. Jefferson, and to converse with the Secretar)' of War upon his 
 purpose to send me to North Carolina, as before mentioned. Early in March, 
 in company with Thomas Cadwallader of Philadelphia, proceeded to Frederick 
 Town and passed a day, and thence to Lancaster, in Pennsylvania, where 
 Mr. Cadwallader introduced me to the speaker, and we listened to some 
 debates in the halls of the state, and then we departed for Philadelphia, where 
 we arrived on the 9th. The next day made a jaunt to Germantown to see 
 my father's friend, Isaac Roberdeau, the son of General Roberdeau before 
 mentioned. Found him and his young family at his father-in-law's. Rev. 
 Samuel Blair. Mr. Roberdeau had been employed with Andrew Ellicott in 
 laying out the city of Washington. He mentioned the interest that General 
 Washington took in this work, and of his frequent visits from Mount Vernon 
 on horseback to look at the progress of the work, and also at the plans of 
 Major L'Enfent, who had designed a very extensive elevation for the 
 capitol. It was his purpose to give the building a front of six hundred 
 
46 THE MEMOIRS OF 
 
 feet, enclosed in a collonade of the Corinthian order, the columns to be 
 one hundred and ten feet in altitude. On my return to the city with 
 Lieutenant William Wilson, formerly of West Point, paid our respects to 
 the disbanded veteran Tousard, and also to his lady. 
 
 From Philadelphia on my way to West Point, at Elizabeth Town on the 
 14th of March, had the pleasure to visit my friend Colonel Williams, who 
 resided in that place. He introduced me to Count Reimsowitz, the poet, 
 and also the friend of Kosciusko, and found him a very interesting 
 narrator of the wrongs of Poland. I also met here James Ricketts, Esq., 
 a Jamaica planter. His residence here was a very pleasant and hospitable 
 mansion. I also saw Mr. Bellasis (Viscount Bolinbroke,) in retirement 
 from England for some scandalous cause. He seemed a morose man. I 
 
 o 
 
 was much better pleased with the Rev. Mr. Kellock, to whom the colonel 
 introduced me, and who is an able Presbyterian preacher. From the 
 residence of Colonel Williams, and in company with Lieutenant Macomb, 
 rode to Belleville, and repeated our visit to Passaic Falls, and also to his 
 father, Alexander Macomb, in Broadway, New York. This gentleman had 
 been a very extensive merchant in Detroit. He mentioned seeing the noted 
 Daniel Boone a prisoner in Detroit, captured by some mistake. The 
 governor then was a Colonel Hamilton, who treated Mr. Boone with much 
 kindness, and gave him an order on Mr. Macomb for any merchandise that 
 Mr. Boone chose to take home to his family in Kentucky. Mr. Boone was 
 thankful for the favor, but would only take -a. paper of pins and -d. pound oi 
 tea for his wife — a characteristic evidence of the self respect of Boone. 
 The last of the month, with six hundred and ninety-two dollars received 
 from Lieutenant Charles Wolstoncroft, paymaster, to pay the cadets at the 
 academy, arrived at the Point in season to be reported present on the 
 monthly rolls. The academy was opened on the first of April, under the 
 auspices of Professors Barron and F"rancis De Masson. The latter gen- 
 tleman was an emigrant from PVance and St. Domingo ; lie was of the 
 Royal School, an highly educated man. His father had been president of 
 a provincial parliament; had sufferetl Ijy the Revolution, and also by the 
 insurrection of the slaves of St. Domingo. 
 
GENERAL JOSEPH GARDNER SWIFT. 47 
 
 Congress had appropriated one hundred and nine thousand dollars for the 
 reparation of the forts in the current year, including armories and arsenals. 
 
 At the close of the month of April I received orders from the War 
 Department to repair to North Carolina and examine the harbor of Cape 
 Fear, and to report a plan of defence therefor, and also to direct the 
 execution of a contract with General Benjamin Smith of Belvidere, to 
 construct a battery at the site of old Fort Johnson, in Smithville, of a 
 material called " tapia." Macomb was sent to Rocky Mount in South 
 Carolina, Levy to Fort Jackson, in Georgia, and W. Amistead to Fort 
 Nelson, at Norfolk. 
 
 In taking leave of my ahmx mater. Major Wadsworth being the superin- 
 tendent, I was much annoyed by my liability for the debt of Lieutenant 
 Strong. The paymaster had been authorized to advance me two months' 
 pay, Avhich, with the sale of books and my watch, enabled me to discharge 
 the debt and relieve my endorser. Major George Fleming — and also to 
 retain enough to defray my expenses to Wilmington. The veteran major 
 had been very kind to stand between the law and myself. He had been 
 an officer of artillery, and was at the surrender of Burgoyne in 1777 ; at the 
 present, and for a long time he had been the military store-keeper at West 
 Point, and he abounded in reminiscences of the war of '76, and especiall)- 
 of Saratoga and Yorktown — at both of which surrenders he had been 
 present, a conductor of ordnance. He had been selected by General 
 Knoxwhen, Secretary of War, for his present office and station. 
 
 Among my associates left at West Point was Cadet William Gates. He 
 was recovering from a wound recently received in the hand by a wooden 
 ramrod discharged from a fowling piece. In the absence of our post 
 surgeon I had in vain rowed to Peekskill to seek the aid of Doctor Strang. 
 He declined the trouble, may be from a fear that he might not easilj' 
 recover his fee from the United States, or from the slender means of a 
 cadet. By the time of my return Gates' hand had become extremel)- 
 swollen. He bore well my essay and successful cutting out of numerous 
 splinters, filling the cavity with lint and laudanum from the hospital. The 
 hand was saved, and was considered a fortunate result, though it was 
 
48 THE MEMOIRS OF 
 
 disfigured for want of a more judicious and early surgical treatment. 
 
 On my route to the South had appointed to visit my former chief, Colonel 
 Williams, to learn what had been his views of the works needed in the 
 harbor of Cape Fear. I found him at his country seat. Mount Pleasant, 
 near Philadelphia, on the Schuylkill, in the month of May. The colonel 
 introduced me to the family of Mr. Clement Biddle, formerly quartermaster- 
 general of Washington's army ; the family an intellectual group living in 
 enviable harmony. And I also renewed my acquaintance with Colonel 
 Cadwallader. Colonel Williams gave me letters of introduction to Joshua 
 Grainger Wright, Esq., General Benjamin Smith and Mr. John Lord — 
 gentlemen of Wilmington, North Carolina. The remembrance of the 
 disinterested friendship of Colonel Williams forms one of the brightest 
 reminiscences of my life. 
 
 I made a visit on my way south at the Indian Queen, in Baltimore, to 
 pass a little time with my cousin William Roberdeau Swift, son of Jonathan. 
 He was in the counting-house of William Taylor, for whom this cousin, as 
 supercargo of the Orozimbo (" India-man,") made a large amount of money. 
 William and myself revived the bygone days on Taunton Green, and 
 among our schoolmates there. His memory was very minute and 
 redundant. At the Indian Queen I was the fellow boarder of General 
 Arthur St. Clair, who honored me with his acquaintance, and gave me the 
 story of his unfortunate battle with the Indians in Ohio, 1791. An 
 impressive dignity distinguished the deportment of this soldier, and 
 once president of the congress of the United States. I accompanied the 
 veteran to Washington, whither, he went to revive a claim for money 
 expended by him in the war of the Revolution, to meet the now pressing 
 necessities of age and poverty. 
 
 The last of May I reported myself to General Dearborn, at the war office 
 in Washington, who again pre.sented me to Mr. Jefferson, and I met at his 
 table the Secretary of State, Mr. Madison, and other public officers. The 
 President is remarkable for his urbanity to young men. An observation 
 of his is that " Young and not old men are the most instructive associates." 
 True, no doubt, in reference to political future purposes. At this (1806) 
 
GENERAL JOSEPH GARDNER SWIFF. 
 
 49 
 
 dinner, among the subjects of conversation was that of gun boats. The 
 President complacently gave me an opportunity to express my thoughts 
 thereon, and with, it may be, the vanity and candour of youth, my notions 
 were given adversely to the system. This uncourtly opposition to a favorite 
 project was received by Mr. Jefferson in a kind manner, and he replied: 
 "My young friend, your opinion may be popular, but remember that in 
 time our navy may cause us to become as arrogant upon the ocean as ever 
 Britain has been. True, the commercial necessities of a maritime people 
 make a navy popular, but its success will encourage us to depart from the 
 simplicity of our institutions." Mr. Jefferson jocosely asked me, "To which 
 of the political creeds do you adhere ?" My reply was, that as yet I had 
 done no political act, but that my family were Federalists. Mr. Jefferson 
 rejoined: "There are many men of high talent and integrity in that party, 
 but it is not the rising power" : a hint that was lost on me, though General 
 Dearborn reminded me of it in a short period thereafter. The style of Mr. 
 Jefferson's dinners is truly tasteful, and the conversation as free as is con- 
 sistent with the respect due to a chief magistrate. 
 
 By leave of General Dearborn I sojourned a few days on my route at 
 Alexandria, where, meeting Mrs. Lewis at Mr. Potts', I was invited by that 
 lady to make a pilgrimage to the tomb of her deceased connection, General 
 Washington. Mrs. Lewis presented me a relic of the general, and gave 
 me many anecdotes of his life, and presented me a button from the coat 
 that he wore in " Braddock's defeat" in 1755. It was embossed yellow 
 metal marked "56th Reg'." I long used this as a letter seal. The Medi- 
 terranean squadron, consisting of the frigates Congress, Essex, and other 
 vessels, was at this time at anchor in the Potomac opposite Alexandria, 
 under orders to coerce Tripoli to justice. The officers of the squadron 
 enjoyed the hospitable coutesy of the Alexandrians, and at the adjacent 
 seats of Notley Hall and Oxen Hill. On this occasion I made the 
 acquaintance of Mr. Tunis Craven at these parties — a remarkably 
 handsome man. He was an agent in the navy department. 1 also 
 met here Captain John Heth of Richmond, and of the United States 
 army. On the 12th June proceeded with him to that capital of Virginia. 
 
50 THE MEMOIRS OF 
 
 where he introduced me to his relative, Chief Justice Marshall, commonly 
 called General Marshall in Richmond. His manner is among the most 
 bland, unaffected, and conciliating of any that I have met. Knowing that 
 he had been a captain in the Virginia line at' the battle of Monmouth, I 
 asked him of the conduct of General Charles Lee on that day. General 
 Marshall replied that Lee's conduct on that oppressively hot day was not 
 failing in intrepedity, nor in external personal respect to General Wash- 
 ington. His vanity had led him into error, and he was too proud to 
 acknowledge it. I inquired of the rumor of profane language used on 
 that occasion. General Marshall said the rumor was not true, though 
 severe language was used — not disrespectful. General Marshall said he 
 was an accomplice of Miflin, Gates, Lovel, Rust, Conway and others in the 
 celebrated conspiracy, but was not a secret but open foe. Gates left a 
 record of his infamy which, with Washington's original scathing letter to 
 Gates, I saw in the hands of the worthy John Pintard, secretary of an 
 insurance company in Wall Street, New York — who had a view of all 
 the MSS. left by Gates. 
 
 In prosecuting my journey to North Carolina 1 had the pleasure to 
 accompany General Marshall to Raleigh, where the United States Supreme 
 Court was to hold a session. The chief justice is sometimes an "absent 
 man." As an instance, he came-on this occasion from home in a dark blue 
 silk dress without an overcoat. It gave me pleasure to take from my trunk 
 and lend him a new blue cloth cloak, that my father had given me, the 
 stage ride being on a chilly morning. On our arrival at High Towers 
 Tavern, near the borders of the State, the general made a mint julep for 
 our refreshment, the first of those drams that I ever saw. The jaunt to 
 Raleigh was to me agreeable and instructive, the affability of the general 
 favoring me with many items of the close of Mr. Adams' administration, 
 of whom the general spoke in high personal respect; but he disapproved 
 of the rupture in the Cabinet to which Mr. Adams had assented, debilitating 
 the power of those who had elected him and strengthening the influence of 
 Mr. Jefferson's partisans. In taking leave of this gentleman he gave me a 
 warm invitation to visit him in Richmond, and which I hope to do. 
 
GENERAL JOSEPH GARDNER SWIFT. 5 I 
 
 Arriving in the middle of June at Fayetteville, I met there Nicholas 
 Tillinghast of Taunton Green, my schoolmate. He had come from the 
 manufactories in Pawtucket, R. I., as their agent, and we revived the 
 memory of our school days. Proceeding by the right bank of the Cape 
 Fear River to Negro Head Point ferry, opposite Wilmington, I arrived at 
 Mrs. Meek's boarding house in that town on the anniversary of the battle 
 of Bunker Hill, and on that day reported myself by letter to my chief. 
 Major Wadsworth at West Point, using the day and 1775 as the figurative 
 date of my letter by way of friendly memento. After presenting my letter 
 of introduction I took the packet for Fort Johnston, and there paid my 
 respects to the commandant of the post. Lieutenant John Fergus, an uncle 
 of Cadet McRee, and commenced a happy acquaintance with the surgeon 
 of the post, John Lightfoot Griffin, and with whom established our quarters 
 at Mrs. Ann McDonald's. Here I also met General Benjamin Smith, and 
 to the last of the month had conferences with him as to the best mode of 
 executing his contract with the war department in the construction of a 
 battery on the site of the old Fort Johnston, Smithville. 
 
 Early in July I employed Mr. Wilson Davis, one of the most intelligent 
 of the pilots, and with his aid I sounded the entrance over the main bar 
 of shifting sand into the harbor of Cape Fear, and also the entrance at the 
 new inlet, and then viewed the capacity of the anchorage within, together 
 with the relative position of the several points of land near the entrances, 
 of which I made a plot, and upon which I based my report of 26th July to 
 the Secretary of War. The substance of this report was that the main objects 
 to be secured were those that had been set forth by my late chief. Colonel 
 Williams, to wit: to cover an anchorage in the harbor and to command its 
 entrance by a small enclosed work on Oak Island, and an enclosed battery 
 at Federal Point, at the new inlet, and also to complete the battery of 
 tapia at the site of old Fort Johnston, the last being contracted for by 
 General B. Smith. Pending the decision of the war department upon this 
 report, much of the summer was a leisure among agreeable families from 
 Wilmington, that passed the warm season in slight frame houses at "The 
 Fort," as the village of Smithville is called. Among these was the family 
 
52 THE MEMOIRS OF 
 
 of Captain James Walker, to whose daughter Louisa and her cousin Eliza 
 Younger, I was introduced at a dinner given to Dr. Griffin and myself by 
 Captain Walker. There were the families of Mr. John Lord and of the 
 founder of the place, Mr. John Potts, and of General Benjamin Smith, who 
 was to construct the public work under a contract, and of Captain Callender, 
 the surveyor of the port, who had been an officer of the army in the war of 
 the Revolution, etc. General Smith became the governor of the State. 
 He owned a large extent of jjroperty on Cape Fear River, and was of the 
 family of Landgrave Thomas Smith, the colonial governor of South 
 Carolina in the preceding centur)'. He had become security for the 
 collector of the port of Wilmington, who was a defaulter to the govern- 
 ment, and it was to discharge this liability that General Smith had 
 contracted to l)uild the "tapia" work at "The Fort." His lady, Mrs. 
 Sarah Y>ry Smith, was highly accomplished, and was an hospitable 
 friend to Dr. Griffin and myself, and one of the finest characters in the 
 country. She was the daughter and heiress of Colonel William Dry, 
 the former collector in the colonial time, and was also of the king's council. 
 This lady was also a direct descendant from Cromwell's admiral, Robert 
 Blake. There was also residing at "The Fort" the family of Benjamin 
 Blaney. A native he was of Ro.xbury. near Boston. He had migrated 
 to Carolina as a carpenter, and had by industry acquired a competence 
 to enable him to dispense aid to the sick and needy and other charities, 
 in the performance of which he was an example of usefulness and charity, 
 and unostentation. Most of the families at the fort were Federalists, and 
 though all deplored the event, they were the more sensibly impressed with 
 the news of the death of Alexander Hamilton, who in this month of July 
 had been slain in a duel with Colonel Burr, the account of which had been 
 written to me by Colonel Williams. The whole Union was in a measure 
 moved to grief by this sad event. Colonel Hamilton occupied a large 
 space in the public mind. He had been the able leader of Federalism — a 
 class of men who may in truth be said to have been actuated by far higher 
 motives than those of mere party. 
 
 My advices from West Point were that Major Wadsworth, Captain W. A. 
 
GENERAL JOSEPH GARDNER SWIFT. 53 
 
 Barron and Mr. De Masson formed the academic corps ; that Lieutenant 
 Wilson was on duty at Fort Miflin, Lieutenant Macomb in South Carolina, 
 and Lieutenant Armistead in New York. 
 
 In my excursions on the waters of Cape Fear I was aided by Captain 
 Walker, Dr. Griffin and Mr. Blaney, who as sportsmen were familiar with 
 the numerous shoals and channels and anchorages thereof, so that the 
 returns were not only in game, but also in giving me knowledge of the 
 capacity of this harbor, situate as it is on one of the most shallow and 
 troublesome coasts to navigators. The anchorage, covered from the ocean 
 by Bald Head, or Smith's Island, extending from the main bar to the new 
 inlet, and upon which island there is a growth of live oak and palmetto, 
 and abounding with fallow deer. 
 
 Intimacy with Mr. Walker furnished me with many items of the war in 
 Carolina, with which he was familiar, although not partaking of the battles, 
 for he had been a moderate Tory, adverse to taking arms against the 
 mother country, in which his friend and brother-in-law, Louis De Rosset, 
 had influenced him. Mr. De Rosset was of the king's council. Mr. Walker 
 had been the executor of General James Moor, the planner and director of 
 the American force at the battle of Moor's Creek, fought by Lillington and 
 Shingsley. From the -papers of that officer he had gathered many an 
 anecdote of the march of Cornwallis. Mr. Walker had been in the reo-u- 
 lating war of 1770, and then commanded a company in the battle of 
 Allamance, in the western part of the state. He was cured of much of 
 his Toryism by the tyrannical conduct of Major J. H. Craig, the British 
 governor at Wilmington, afterwards governor-general of Canada. The 
 conduct of this man had been oppressive and needlessly cruel to the people 
 of Wilmington, and Capt. Walker had been able to influence some relief 
 to those who were in arrest, etc. He with his brother-in-law, John Du Bois, 
 had been appointed commissioners to arrange the cartel of prisoners, and 
 to negotiate for the families who were to leave Wilmington therein when 
 Cornwallis marched to Virginia, thus showing the confidence that both 
 Whig and Tory had reposed in those gentlemen. Mr. Walker's family were 
 of the settlers called " Retainers," coming from Ireland under the auspices 
 
54 THE MEMOIRS OF 
 
 of Colonel Sampson, and of his father, Robert Walker. Among the 
 families of these "Retainers" were those of the Holmes, Owens, and 
 Kernans, etc., now become independent planters and distinguished citizens. 
 The father of Capt. Walker, the above Robert, was of the same family with 
 that of the Protestant hero, the Rev. George Walker of Londonderry. The 
 mother of Capt. Walker was Ann, of the family of Montgomery, of Mount 
 Alexander in Ireland, and had made a runaway match with Robert Walker. 
 Capt. James Walker married Magdalen M. Du Bois, the daughter of John 
 Du Bois and Gabriella De Rosset, his wife. 
 
 In the month of September, in reply to my report of 26th July, I 
 received orders from the war department to proceed with so much of the 
 work therein contemplated as was embraced by General Smith's contract 
 upon the tapia work at the site of old Fort Johnston, that had been there 
 constructed by the then colonial Governor Johnston from South Carolina, 
 Anno 1740. In clearing away the sand I found much of the tapia walls 
 then erected finer in their whole length, on a front of the ordinary half 
 bastian flanks and curtain of two hundred and forty feet extent, far superior 
 to our contemplated plan for the battery of tapia. 
 
 Soon after this the slaves of General Smith commenced the burning of 
 lime in pens, called kilns, formed of sapling pines formed in squares con- 
 taining from one thousand to one thousand two hundred bushels of oyster 
 shells (alive) collected in scows from the shoals in the harbor — there 
 abundant. These pens were filled with alternate layers of shells and 
 "light wood" from pitch pine, and thus were burned in about one day — 
 very much to the annoyance of the neighborhood by the smoke and vapor 
 of burning shellfish, wlien the wind was strong enough to spread the fumes 
 of the kilns. In the succeeding month of November I commenced the 
 battery by constructing boxes of the dimensions of the parapet, six feet 
 high by seven in thickness, into which boxes was poured the tapia compo- 
 sition, consisting of ecjual parts of lime, raw shells and sand, and water 
 sufficient to form a species of paste, or batter, as the negroes term it. 
 
 At the close of this month of November a large Spanish ship called the 
 "Bilboa" was cast away on Cape Fear in a storm. It was alleged by the 
 
GENERAL JOSEPH GARDNER SWIFT. 55 
 
 crew, who were brought by pilot Davis to my quarters, that the ship was 
 laden with sugar, and that there was much specie in "the run;" that the 
 captain and mate had died at sea, and that having no navigator on board 
 they had put the ship before the wind and run her on shore near the Cape. 
 There were twenty-one in this crew, a villainous looking set of rascals, that 
 I had no doubt they were. Lieutenant Fergus detained them in the block- 
 house at the fort until the collector sent inspectors to conduct the crew to 
 Charleston, where the ship was known to some merchant. These men all had 
 more or less of dollars in their red woolen sashes tied around their waists. 
 On their arrival in Charleston they were detained .some time, but no proof 
 could be found against them, and they went free. The pilots and others 
 were for some time after this exploring the remains of the wreck, but there 
 was no valuable found among the drift save spars and rigging. 
 
 In the previous month of September Alexander C^Hzance Miller was 
 introduced to Mrs. General Smith, Dr. Griffin and myself and others by 
 John Bradley. Esquire, of Wilmington. Mr. Miller was an accomplished 
 gentleman -especially so in music and drawing. He interested us much 
 m his history. He stated to us that he had escaped from France in the 
 year 1797 ; was a cadet in the family of De la Marche; had been a mere 
 boy in the corps of Conde at the battle of Dusseldorf ; made his escape to 
 America from Rotterdam by the aid of the master of the ship. Captain 
 Miller, whose name he bore, and arrived in Philadelphia, where he earned 
 his bread by teaching the piano and violin, and drawing. He is of remark- 
 able personal beauty and elegance of manner, and Dr. Griffin and myself 
 became very intimate with him. This friend of mine, Dr. Griffin, was from 
 Virginia, near Yorktown. His mother was of the Lightfoot family, and his 
 uncle was Cyrus Griffin, the United States district judge. His father and 
 mother both died in his infancy, and his cousin Thomas, a member of 
 Congress, had procured for him the appointment of surgeon in the army, 
 the duties of which office he was now discharging at Fort Johnston. 
 
 1805. In January, by order of General Wilkinson, I relieved Lieutenant 
 Fergus in the command of Fort Johnston. There having been a contra- 
 riety in opinion at the war department whether the commander of the army. 
 
56 Tim ^MEMOIRS OF 
 
 had authority to place an engineer ofificer in command of a post and troops, 
 except by the especial order of the president. This act of General Wilkin- 
 son's was as well a convenience to the service as a test to decide, so far, the 
 question of his authority under the law of March, 1802. To which arrange- 
 ment the Secretary of War consented, and the function of my command, with 
 a detachment of a company of artillery, remained until the following year, 
 when, by my request I was relieved from that command. A memorial 
 in reference to this question was presented to the President of the United 
 States, and a request to have the opinion settled by law in December, 1804, 
 by the officers of engineers then for the time at West Point, viz. : Major 
 Wadsworth, Captain Barron, Lieutenants Wilson, Macomb and Armistead, 
 of which Macomb sent me a transcript. The question was so far settled in 
 the following year, 1805, and Colonel Williams was recommissioned then, 
 and resumed command of the corps of engineers. 
 
 This winter I became engaged to Miss Walker. The season raif by 
 charmingly at "The Barn," Mr. Walker's residence in Wilmington, and 
 at Belvidere, the residence of General and Mrs. Smith, and at Fort 
 Johnston. This engagement gave, of course, new prospects of life, and as 
 is usual, my wishes gave them many agreeable hues. I had stated to Mr. 
 and Mrs. Walker that my chief dependence was my profession. Mr. 
 Walker .said he could not subdivide his property during his life ; that he 
 approved of the marriage, and should do all he could to promote the 
 interests of his children. 
 
 In the month of March Colonel Tathem, of Virginia, arrived at the fort, 
 bringing a collection of surveying and levelling instruments, and an highly 
 finished sextant, to commence by determining the longitude of the fort. 
 He presented himself to me, and described his services in Virginia as a 
 partizan officer in the Revolutionary war. His demeanor evinced an erratic 
 mind; I, however, promoted his wishes, and he commenced to establish the 
 elevation of the block-house above the level of tide water, and extended a 
 line of levels toward the ponds near Brun.swick. At this juncture Captain 
 Coles and party arrived to prosecute a survey of the coast of North 
 Carolina by order of the United States navy department, and commenced 
 
GENERAL JOSEPH GARDNER SWIFT. 57 
 
 observations to determine the longitude of the light-house on Bald Head. 
 This operation disturbed Colonel Tathem, who "boxed his instruments" 
 and departed. Probably the colonel had learned at Washington City of the 
 purposes of the navy department, and had come to the coast with some 
 vague ambition for precedence of knowledge. 
 
 A recent law of Congress having reference to the interdicting the ports 
 on our coast to any vessels that had been sailed with predatory purposes, 
 had awakened some inquiry about the condition of the fortifications. Con- 
 gress added twenty-four thousand dollars to the previous appropriation of 
 one hundred and nine thousand, and also sixty thousand dollars for Mr. 
 Jefferson's gun boat project. Little, however, was attempted beyond the 
 ordinary duty of "garrison fatigues" to dress the parapets of the decaying 
 works of defense in the harbors along the coast of the Atlantic. On the 
 20th of March I received a package of books that I had left with Lieu- 
 tenant Wolstoncroft at Fort Jay, N. Y. They came through J. S. Bee, 
 Esquire, of Charleston, S. C. Wolstoncroft had, however, returned my 
 Works of Hogarth, contrary to my request. 
 
 In April the Secretary of War sent me a modified contract that had been 
 proposed to him by General Smith, for his more convenient discharge of 
 the bond of Colonel Reed, to which my reply was that it would delay the 
 construction of the tapia walls, and so it proved, for there was a suspension 
 of the collection of shells and lime-burning, and the workmen departed 
 with their implements, leaving me to await the conclusion of the nego- 
 tiation between the War Department and the contractor. 
 
 On 5th May, to test the capacity of the channel-way into the harbor, I 
 went to sea over the main bar in the Swedish ship " Louisa," Captain 
 Asmus, loaded with ton timber, and drawing eighteen and one-third feet of 
 water; thus establishing the facts set forth in my report of 26th July in the 
 preceding year to the Secretary of War on that subject — returning to 
 the Fort in the revenue cutter that had, at my request, accompanied 
 the ship to sea. 
 
 On 3d June Dr. Griffin, Mr. Miller and myself went to Wilmington in the 
 revenue cutter, and on Thursday, 6th June, 1805, Miss Walker and myself 
 
58 THE MEMOIRS OF 
 
 were married at her father's residence, "The Barn," by the Hon. John Hill, 
 he using the Episcopal service, and was selected by me for that office 
 because of his friendly relations to my father — they having been class- 
 mates at Master Lovel's school in Boston in 1775. This resort to a 
 magistrate was made in consequence of the low estimate by Mr. Walker 
 of the character of the then Rector of St. James, in Wilmington. The 
 bride's attendants on this occasion were Eliza Younger, Cecilia Osborne, 
 and Maria Swann; mine were Dr. Griffin, Mr. Miller, George Burgwin, in 
 lieu of his brother, John Fanning, accidentally absent. 
 
 In the following week Mrs. General .Smith gave an entertainment in 
 honor of the marriage, at the town residence of the general. The hilarity 
 of this party was temporarily intercepted by a letter and challenge from 
 Captain Maurice Moor to General Smith, who called me to his office to 
 arrange the affair with the friend of Mr. Moor — Captain Grange. On 22d 
 of the month John Fanning Burgwin, Esquire, gave us a wedding fete at 
 the Hermitage, in a party of about one hundred persons, that continued for 
 two days. On that same day I received my notice of promotion to the rank 
 of first lieutenant of engineers, and also advices from Colonel Williams of 
 the promotion of others of my brother officers, and of the appointment of 
 several cadets at the Military Academy, and that there was some prospect 
 of his return to the corps. 
 
 On the anniversary of the battle of Fort Moultrie, in South Carolina, 28th 
 June, the meeting of General Smith and Captain Moor took place in South 
 Carolina, not far from the .sea side, where stands the Boundary House of the 
 two states, the line running through the centre of the hall of entrance, where 
 was held a parley with some North Carolina officers sent in pursuit — our 
 party occupying the south side of the line in the hall, and thus beyond their 
 jurisdiction. Captain Moor was attended now by his cousin. Major Duncan 
 Moor; General Smith by my.self and Dr. Andrew Scott, the surgeon of 
 both. At the st.'cond fire General Smith received his antagonist's ball in 
 his side and fell. The surgeons, Drs. Scott and Griffin, conveyed the 
 general to Smithville by water, while I hastened to Belvidere, and, in a chair 
 conveyed Mrs. Smith in the night to the Fort, through one of those storms 
 
GENERAL JOSEPH GARDNER SWIFT. 59 
 
 of lightning and rain that often rage in Carolina summers. On this 
 occasion the lightning destroyed two trees, one on either side of the road, 
 apparently at one flash, and for a moment blinding us; but the anxiety of 
 the wife was superior to the alarm, and the lady found her husband quite 
 cheerful at the Fort, with the ball lodged near the left shoulder blade. The 
 party proceeded to Wilmington, where the General recovered after a few 
 weeks' confinement. Family rancour between these cousins was the cause 
 of the duel. 
 
 The 4th of July was celebrated this year at "The Barn" by Mr. Walker's 
 inviting my friends to a dinner given by him for the occasion, and where I 
 formed the acquaintance of William Gaston, Esquire, of Newbern, and 
 John Haj^ard of Raleigh. In the following week, on 8th, the family 
 moved to the summer residence at the Fort, and renewed our fishing and 
 other sports of the season. On 12th of the month I was summoned to the 
 death-bed of our surgeon. Dr. Griffin, at Wilmington, where he had been 
 attending the wound of General Smith. The doctor died of yellow fever, 
 and in the act of repeating the death scene of Shakspeare's Julius Caesar. 
 In his lucid moments he pronounced his case mortal, and asked to be 
 buried in Mrs. General Smith's flower garden at Smithville. This lady had 
 been as kindly attentive to both the doctor and myself as if she had been 
 our parent. To Mrs. Smith the doctor bequeathed his portrait that had 
 been drawn by our friend Mr. Miller. Mrs. Smith adopted a daughter of 
 the doctor's, and educated the child until its early death — a daughter 
 named Mary Ann. Her remains were placed beside those of her father 
 in Mrs. Smith's garden at Smithville. The doctor left me his horse, sword, 
 pistols, watch and librar)-. He was a young man of genius and a faithful 
 friend. In a few days after this mournful scene in Wilmington I was 
 assailed by the same type of fever, and by the care of Dr. De Rosset was 
 conveyed to sea air at the Fort, but did not regain my health until the 
 following September, when, by authority of the Secretary of War, I 
 employed Doctor R. Everett as surgeon for the port at Fort Johnston, 
 and by the same authority a hospital was commenced there, which not only 
 served for the garrison but also received many a sailor from the European 
 
6o THE MEMOIRS OF 
 
 ships that carried the ton timber of North Carohna to the dock yards 
 of England. 
 
 Before leaving West Point in 1804 I had in casual conversation with 
 my brother officers, mentioned my having seen Colonel Burr at Mr. 
 Denning's, at Beverly, in 1803, and of his conversation with Mr. Denning 
 about the American provinces of Spain — Mexico, Florida, etc. — and that 
 probably Mr. Jefferson's purchase of Louisiana might be extended over 
 these provinces. By some means, unknown to me, this occasioned a query 
 to be put to me from Washington, whether Colonel Burr had at any time 
 remarked to me anything in reference to colonizing or other movement 
 to the West. My reply was that he had not ; and I said that at my only 
 interview with him at Beverly, in 1803, the only remark made to me was of 
 the season and weather. In the current summer and fall it was common 
 to hear speculations about Colonel Burr and his friends having objects 
 in the West — that were known to Mr. Jefferson — reminding me of the 
 foregoing facts. 
 
 In November moved from my post quarters to the Bay Street house of 
 Captain Walker — that had been prepared for his family residence at the 
 Fort — for my winter quarters. In December I received a request from the 
 Secretary of War to examine the live oak and other growths on Bald Head 
 Island, to ascertain the expense of delivering the timber to the government 
 by contract. Lieutenant Botts of the revenue cutter and myself explored 
 the whole Island, east and west of "Flora's Blufl," and estimated that there 
 were.then standing at least twenty thousand live oak, sixteen thousand cedar 
 and twelve thousand palmetto trees; and we found that the expense for 
 furnishing live oak by contract would be one dollar per cubic foot delivered 
 on board of a United States vessel in Cape Fear River, and reported the 
 same to the Secretary of War: palmetto and cedar at half that price. 
 
 1806. This winter, at the Fort, we received . much company from Wil- 
 mington and Charleston, S. C. by the packet of Captain McYlhenny, a 
 favorite ship-master of that name. We were sometimes obliged to borrow 
 bedding from my friend Benjamin Blaney, and sometimes borrowed sheep- 
 skins from the public stores, for the gentlemen's beds, while veni.son and 
 
GENERAL JOSEPH GARDNER SWIFT. 6 1 
 
 wild turkeys were abundant from the woods in the vicinity, and my waiter, 
 Riley, was an expert gatherer of oysters from the shoals, and we had 
 abundance of sweet potatoes and corn bread from the plantations. 
 
 As the spring approached I began to conclude that the tapia contract to 
 build the battery would not be fulfilled ; indeed I had letters from Wash- 
 ington informing me that General Smith had extended his negotiations with 
 the Secretary of War to the Treasury Department, and to secure the "Reed 
 bond" had mortgaged rice lands on the Cape Fear river. Thus I was 
 left with but slight duty in my small command of troops at the post. I 
 wrote the Secretar)' of War for such leave as would allow me to look after 
 some domestic affairs up the river a few miles, that might be done consist- 
 ently with my responsibility as commandant at the post of the fort. The 
 request was granted in a three months' leave under the conditions proposed, 
 and thus I left Sergeant Fowler in charge of the troops and public stores. 
 Dr. Everett in charge of the hospital, and moved my family to Barnard's 
 Creek, on the Cape Fear, four miles below Wilmington, in the month of 
 February, 1806. The one-half of this place, including a tract of pine land 
 of four thousand acres, Mr. Walker had given to Mrs. Swift. My object 
 was to essay in planting and milling. The plan was commenced by 
 widening and deepening a canal from the mill pond to a rice mill, and by 
 constructing a set of conduits at the tail of the mill-race to run the water 
 used on the wheel into the rice field below the mill, extending to the maro-in 
 of the river — for the water-culture of rice. I also constructed several 
 of Evan's elevators, and brought the rice machine into useful and 
 profitable service. 
 
 On 15th May my first child, James Foster, was born at the residence of 
 his grandfather Walker, and in walking to see the mother and son, from the 
 mills, overheated and injured myself By the middle of June the unhealthy 
 residence at the mills had convinced me that rice planting and milling were 
 not suitable pursuits for me in that climate. My good servant Erickson, a 
 Swede, had died of the fever, and I buried him under the live oaks at the 
 margin of the creek. The honest man gave me his silver sleeve-buttons as 
 a memento of his regard. This exposure to ill health caused me to return 
 
62 THE MEMOIRS OF 
 
 to the fort in May, and to move my family tliither tlie last of June, 1806; 
 and with the usual monthly report to the War Department I sent an appli- 
 cation to be sent to any northern port that might be deemed proper for me, 
 and was replied to, that such should be done as soon as the good of the 
 service might indicate a station. 
 
 Congress had this year remodeled the Articles of War, and in the 63d 
 article provided for the service of engineers in an incongruous and 
 invidious form of comparison. The aspect of our affairs with Spain had 
 caused a law to call out one hundred thousand of the militia in case of 
 need, and appropriated for fortifications one hundred and fifty thousand 
 dollars, and two hundred and eighteen thousand dollars for arsenals, arms, 
 etc. From the commencement of the government the harbor defences had 
 ever been tolerated only by some vague ideas that England — ever hoping 
 for some fatal mistake on our part to give them foothold in some part of the 
 Union — might come suddenly from Halifax or Bermuda and seize on 
 Rhode Island, or some point in Chesapeake Bay, etc., to prevent which, 
 the wisdom of Congress had imagined that some one hundred thousand 
 dollars a year, expended on these harbors, would "keep the foe at bay." 
 This pittance, however, was not found sufficient to afford the nation one 
 single fort in complete order for defence, even on the smallest scale. 
 
 On 14th July Lieutenant William Cox, of the United States artillery, 
 arrived at Fort Johnston, to relieve me from that command, but found me 
 too ill of fever to proceed to make up the returns and receipts of and for 
 public property, and so continued until 26th of August, at which time a 
 storm swept all the craft in the harbor into the marshes, save the revenue 
 cutter. On 28th I received the account of the destruction of my rice crop, 
 mill dam and flood gates at Barnard's, from what source I cannot say, but 
 from that day I began to recover my health, and by 8th September was able 
 to travel to Wilmington, and, with my family, to sojourn at Mr. James W. 
 Walker's place at the Sound. On 15th October returned to the fort, and 
 took receipts from Lieutenant Cox for all the public property at the fort, 
 and transmitted the one part of the duplicates to the war department. 
 
 First of November proceeded to Raleigh, and passed a few days of my 
 
GENERAL JOSEPH GARDNER SWIFT. 63 
 
 convalescence there in company with tlie Governor of the State, Evan 
 Alexander, Esq., and the Secretary of State, Mr. John Guion. By loth 
 of the month had arrived at my uncle Jonathan Swift's, in Alexandria, 
 and on 13th at the War office in Washington, where I received from the 
 Secretary my commission as captain of engineers. Had the honor to 
 dine with President Jefferson. Among the guests were Mr. Madison the 
 Secretary of State, and General Tureau the ambassador from France, who, 
 in the conversation after dinner gave an interesting account of Bonaparte 
 passing the Alps into Italy and overwhelming the Austrians, and was warm 
 in an eulogium of the venerable Wurmsur. The Secretary of War said 
 that arrangements would be made by Colonel Williams (my beloved chief) 
 for giving me a northern station in the ensuing spring. On my return to 
 Carolina I passed a few days among my friends in Alexandria, and was 
 there assailed by ague and fever, and after the kind nursing of my good 
 aunt Swift was enabled to renew my journey on 20th November, and 
 reached my family in Wilmington, North Carolina, on 12th December, 
 resting on my way at the Bowling Green, Richmond, Fayetteville, and by 
 Christmas reported myself to Colonel Williams by letter, that I was fit for 
 duty. During my absence Major Bruff, of the army, had written a sarcastic 
 letter to his connection in Wilmington, upon such a youth as myself having 
 been selected to relieve his brother-in-law. Captain John Fergus, in the 
 command of Fort Johnston. I asked the major to explain this imperti- 
 nence. He apologized for the error that he had committed, as he called 
 it, and we were restored to as much eood humor with each other as need 
 be, or, as seemed to me, could be, with his unfortunate temper. He was 
 a fault-finder with everybody and everything not influenced by his com- 
 placency ; he was, however, a gentleman of some ability, and esteemed to 
 be a good administrative officer. 
 
 1807. The holidays and January were passed among my acquaintances 
 in and near Wilmington and Fort Johnston, and with an association at the 
 head of which was Archibald F. McNeill, Esq., the object of which was to 
 raise means to aid the poor of Wilmington. The mode was by representing 
 some of the plays of Shakspeare and others of the English drama. The 
 
64 THE MEMOIRS OF 
 
 price of the tickets was a dollar, and a considerable fund was realized, and 
 Mr. McNeill was esteemed (and in reality was) a good Hamlet. Mr. 
 McNeill was an accomplished gentleman of the same family as Dr. Daniel 
 McNeill of the Scottish emigrants, after the battle of Culloden, among 
 whom was Flora McDonald, the friend of Charles Eduard "the Pretender." 
 Mr. McNeill's mother was a daughter of Sir James Wright, the colonial 
 Governor of Georgia, and he married Miss Quince, an heiress of Wil- 
 mington and cousin of Mrs. Swift. Dr. Daniel McNeill is an intimate 
 friend of mine. His wife, the beautiful Miss Martha Kingsley, is one of 
 the most interesting persons of Wilmington. Among my other intimates 
 is our family physician and friend, and cousin of Mrs. Swift, Dr. Armand J. 
 De Rosset. He is of an old Huguenot family expelled from France. The 
 brothers Louis and John had been early settlers in Carolina, and officers of 
 the royal government, and steady supporters of the Episcopal church. Mr. 
 George Hooper was also a friend of mine. His family came from Boston 
 with his brother William, the member of Congress from North Carolina in 
 1776. Mr. George Hooper settled as a merchant in Wilmington and 
 married the daughter of the distinguished counsellor, Archibald MacLean, 
 and is a gentleman of inborn hospitality and of fine literary taste, and 
 writes well and with facility on various subjects. The Hon. John Hill, 
 whose family came also from Boston. He was among the prosperous rice 
 planters of Cape Fear. His brother William was a member of Congress. 
 The family of Swann (formerly Jones) of Virginia, were among the oldest 
 and most respectable families of the neighborhood of Wilmington. The 
 ancient family of Moor, descended from Governor James Moor of South 
 Carolina, were residing on the banks of the Cape Fear. Alfred, recently a 
 judge in the United States Supreme Court, and his sons Alfred and Captain 
 Maurice, informed me that this family was of that of Drogheda in Ireland, 
 and that the rebel, Roger Moor, celebrated as the defender of Irish indepen- 
 dence in the century before the last, was of the same family.* The 
 family of Ashe was also living here. Colonel Samuel, an accomplished 
 
 •Major Alexander Duncan Moor, the son of the Revolutionary general, James Moor, was of the same family. 
 
GENERAL JOSEPH GARDNER SWIFT. 65 
 
 gentleman and son of the governor of that name. They had given 
 several officers to the army of the Revolution, such as John Baptist 
 and Captain Samuel. 
 
 My groomsmen, John Fanning and George Burgwin, were the sons of 
 an opulent merchant of Wilmington. The family came from Bristol in 
 England, where these sons were educated. They introduced at their 
 residence, the Hermitage, the modern social habits of the English gentry, 
 and which the elder people of Wilmington said was not an improvement 
 upon the days when the Tories (Dr. Robert Tucker, Francis Cobham and 
 Colonel John Fanning) had given the gentry of Cape Fear a sample of 
 English manners, as practiced in New York when that was a British 
 garrison in the Revolution. Be that as it may, the Hermitage was a 
 delightful visiting place. The sister of the Burgwins was a beautiful 
 woman, and had also been educated in England, and had married Dr. 
 Cletherall of South Carolina. 
 
 I had now been nearly three years a resident of North Carolina, and had 
 experienced the kindness and hospitality of many of its good citizens, and 
 become attached to them, and had also in a measure become identified with 
 their institutions; was a master of a few slaves, and had a little experience 
 of their ways and knowledge of their condition. The relation of master 
 and slave in that part of North Carolina is of a kindly character in general 
 on the part of the masters. But with my essays to operate with this class 
 of laborers I could not be reconciled to their perpetual retention in a 
 condition forbidding their mental improvement ; and as far as my obser- 
 vation extended a sentiment similar to this was entertained by most of the 
 educated gentlemen. That which seemed to me the worst consequence of 
 slavery was its influence upon the minds and habits of the white children. 
 The natural disposition to rule, that is inherent in the human mind, is nour- 
 ished in the "young master" and mistress. They become impatient and 
 domineering, and vent their angry passions upon the negro children. 
 These passions grow and strengthen with the years of both white and 
 negro child until both approach their "teens." It is of the nature of 
 human qualities that it should be so with both parties. 
 
66 THE MEMOIRS OF 
 
 [Boston Harbor, 1809. At West Point two years ago I had collated and 
 transcribed from my diary to the period of ni)- approaching departure from 
 North Carolina, and at the present time — as my public works are drawing 
 to a close, and having sent my family by packet to Wilmington under the 
 escort of my friend Benjamin Blaney, who had been visiting his relations at 
 Roxbury, preparatory' to my own return to Fort Johnston on official duty — 
 I proceed to occupy leisure moments in a further collation ol my journals.] 
 
 1807. In the month of P^ebruary I received orders from Colonel 
 Williams, who was then at the war office in Washington, to repair to 
 West Point early in the ensuing April, and receive the command of that 
 post from Captain William A. Barron. 
 
 I negotiated a loan at the Bank of Cape Fear for four hundred dollars, 
 and received one hundred and fifty dollars from the United States, and on 
 20th March was on board the packet Venus, Captain Oliver, with Mrs. 
 Swift's mother and niece Margaret as our companions, and, with Mrs. Swift 
 and our son James and servant Nancy, proceeded before a fair wind by the 
 New Inlet to sea, and on 28th arrived at Mrs. Tilford's boarding house in 
 Courtlandt street, city of New York. The ne.xt day gave Mr. George 
 Gibbs two hundred dollars that I had received for him from Carleton 
 Walker, Esq., of Wilmington, and on 6th April arrived by a Newburgh 
 packet at old West Point, and received the command of the same from 
 Captain Barron, who went to the city. Mrs. Swift, mother, and niece, 
 took the barge and made a visit to her uncle and Aunt Du Bois at New- 
 burgh, where I joined them in a few days thereafter, and found Mr. Du Bois 
 (John) an intelligent old gentleman, full of reminiscences of the .scenes 
 of the war of 1781 in Carolina, and of the iron rule of Major Craig, 
 Governor at Wilmington in those days, and familiar with the events of the 
 De Rosset and Du Bois families, then prominent people in North Carolina. 
 The former he described as refugees to Holland after the St. Bartholomew's 
 massacre, and the latter as refugees to the colonies after the revocation of 
 the Edict of Nantes. 
 
 On 14th April received orders from Colonel Williams (he then being, 
 with Major Macomb, on duty in Charleston, S. C.,) to serve an arrest on 
 
GENERAL JOSEPH GARDNER SWIFT. 67 
 
 Captain Barron, who had recently returned from New York, and who with 
 readiness obeyed the order. 
 
 The academy was opened under my superintendence, Professor F. R. 
 Hassler being at the head of the mathematical department, and F. De 
 Masson the teacher of French and drawing. 
 
 Among the cadets who joined the academy this spring were Sylvanus 
 Thayer and Alpheus Roberts, graduates from Dartmouth College, and 
 Miles Mason and James Gibson, who were among the most prominent 
 in Mr. Hassler's classes. 
 
 By the approbation of the Secretary of War, through Colonel Williams, 
 I commenced the formation of a library for the Academy, and employed 
 Samuel Campbell, of New York, to import the books, and sent Lieutenant 
 George Bumford to New York to aid in this business. In June, while 
 in New York, I was enabled to transmit to my friend John Bradley, Esq., 
 of Wilmington, two hundred dollars, the one-half of my debt to the bank 
 at that place. In this month the family of Colonel Williams arrived at the 
 Point, the colonel being employed on the fortifications in New York 
 harbor, while, by order of the War Department he was held responsible 
 for the superintendence of the Academy, and consequently made, in his 
 visits to his family, frequent inspections at the Academy. The colonel had 
 become pleased with the perpendicular system of defence of Montalembert, 
 and was permitted by the President to apply so much thereof as could 
 be in round towers on Governor's Island, etc. 
 
 On 13th June Lieutenant E. D. W^ood and myself proceeded to Fort Jay 
 as members of a court martial there, for the trial of Professor William A. 
 Barron. The court adjourned on 19th in consequence of the resignation of 
 the major, and Lieutenant Wood and myself returned to West Point on 24th, 
 where I had the pleasure to find my father, who in my absence had arrived 
 on a visit to us. He became amused in walks among the highlands and 
 redouts of the Revolution, and in the public stores where were the trophies 
 of the war, and also the ponderous chain that had been extended from the 
 rocks of the Point to the opposite shore at Constitution Island, to impede 
 the passage of Sir Henry Clinton's expedition. In these explorations I was 
 
68 THE MEMOIRS OF 
 
 his companion, and was inquisitive about the early Hfe of my father, and 
 his marriage and travels. Among his details he said that the death of his 
 father had occurred under the tyranny of General Gage when he was in his 
 sixteenth year, and had been prepared at Mother Lovel's school to enter 
 Cambridge College, but being the oldest child it was necessar)- for him 
 to remain with his mother, sisters and brother. His father had been an 
 active Whig, and his moderate property in Boston had suffered injury 
 while the town was a garrison ; that in returning to Boston with the family 
 after the evacuation by the British troops they found their residence sadly 
 dilapidated, as was also the similar case of many a neighbor; that the 
 residence in town and a small country place on Dorchester Point formed 
 nearly all the means of support to the family, aided by the needles of his 
 mother and sisters ; that his brother Jonathan was apprenticed to Mr. May, 
 a merchant, and that himself commenced in 1779 the study of medicine 
 with Doctor Joseph Gardner, after the completion of which he had the 
 appointment of surgeon in the navy, and in the squadron sent in 1781 to 
 Holland, on board the Portsmouth, commanded by that "dare devil" Daniel 
 McNeill, when that sloop of war was captured by the Culloden — seventy- 
 four guns — commanded by Lord Robert Manners of Rodney's fleet; that 
 he had difficulty in dissuading Captain McNeill from firing into the 
 Culloden for, as he said, "the honor of the American flag." They were 
 carried to the Island of St. Lucia as prisoners of war, where, from having 
 been professionally serviceable to Captain Manners he was permitted to 
 practice on shore on parole, and there received fees that enabled him to 
 assist his fellow prisoners, and where he declined the kind offer of Captain 
 Manners to rate him a surgeon in the English navy. Such of his fellow- 
 prisoners as could swim executed a daring project long contemplated, in a 
 night attempt to get silently into the water and swim and capture a brig 
 laying at anchor, and which was effected by twelve of them, expert swim- 
 mers, who boarded the brig by the cable, and cutting the same, and 
 fastening down the hatches on the small crew (their number being eight,) 
 they brought that ves.sel into Chatham Harbor on Cape Cod, with Captain 
 Daniel McNeill as their leader, and sold the brig, and all reached their 
 
GENERAL JOSEPH GARDNER SWIFT. 69 
 
 homes in safety; that from Boston my father went to Nantucket, with an 
 introduction from Dr. Gardner, and then made an essay to estabHsh himself 
 in Virginia, where he received the friendly aid of General Washington, to 
 whom he had carried a package and introduction from General Benjamin 
 Lincoln, and also his business references of General Roberdeau and Colonel 
 Hove of Alexandria, but that health failing him he had abandoned the 
 project and returned to Nantucket, etc. 
 
 In this month of June the Secretary of War sent me the appointment of 
 military agent for the post of West Point. On loth of the following 
 month of July I accompanied my father to the city on his return home 
 to Taunton. While descending the river we witnessed the fish hawk's 
 surrender of his prey to the eagle, in company with John Garnet, Esquire, 
 the distinguished mathematician and philosopher of New Brunswick in 
 New Jersey, who had been to West Point on a visit to the family of Colonel 
 Williams and to Mr. Hassler. The latter gentleman had been sent to West 
 Point by Mr. Jefferson, at the instance of Mr. Hassler's countryman and 
 friend, Mr. Gallatin. Mr. Hassler was established in the former Rivardi 
 quarters. Mr. Hassler had an high repute for scientific attainments, and 
 he had brought to West Point an extensive library. He was from the 
 Canton of Berne in Switzerland, and had been the attorney-general of that 
 canton, and had also been at the head of the great survey of Switzerland. 
 The cause that he stated to me of his coming to the United States was the 
 conduct of his countrymen in submitting to the interference of France in 
 the affairs of Switzerland. He exhibited a curious union of love of science 
 and politics ; his standard of excellence in the latter being the republican 
 views that he entertained for the government of his native land. One of 
 the prominent tones of his mind was a hatred of England. He had been 
 unfortunate in his first investments of property in the United States, and 
 therefore the professorate at West Point was convenient to him. He was 
 an excellent teacher. 
 
 On the arrival of my father and myself at the City Hotel, in New York, 
 we found there collections of people in excited conversatian about the 
 outrage committed on 2 2d ultimo on the United States frigate Chesapeake. 
 
70 THE MEMOIRS OF 
 
 Commodore Barron, by the British frigate Leopard, Captain Humphrey; an 
 act that added contemptuous insult to injuries of impressment of our seamen 
 under an arbitrary rule of 1756. This event excited a war feeling, but Mr. 
 Jefferson's wisdom was of a peaceful nature, and he assuaged the public 
 fever. Congress sustained his views, and looked to placing our harbors in 
 a better condition to resist attack. Appropriations of one hundred and 
 fifty thousand dollars for fortifications from Maine to Georgia — not enough 
 for any one of the larger harbors ; the law also providing two hundred and 
 eighteen thousand dollars for armament and arsenals, and five hundred 
 thousand dollars to call out volunteers in case of need; also, fifty thousand 
 dollars for the survey of the coast, including the publication of Thomas 
 Cole's and Jonathan Price's survey of the coast of North Carolina ; the latter 
 gentleman having published an interesting map of the whole of that 
 State, one of the best specimens of maps yet published in the Union, 
 fully equal to Mr. Madison's map of Virginia, though both have many 
 errors in them. 
 
 The general feeling of resentment through the country, that made the 
 prospect of war with England popular, may have been induced to a sedative 
 condition by a double excitement, one of the consequences of the efforts 
 of Mr. Jefferson to bring Colonel Burr to trial for treason. The zeal 
 exhibited in this effort, and the rigor pursued toward two of Colonel Burr's 
 friends — Bollman and Swartwont — began to give a taste of personal and 
 party rancor against Burr. Although the general impression was adverse to 
 Burr, his intriguing character was feared, and perhaps a greater importance 
 was attached to this propensity than it deserved, for, though Colonel Burr 
 may have been full of designs, he executed none of them, save to destroy 
 General Hamilton — and this an accident of the duel. It was the great 
 position occupied by Hamilton that made Burr the object of public odium. 
 The merits of the duel are to be measured by those of giving and 
 accepting a challenge. 
 
 I returned to West Point, taking with me by the request of the pay- 
 master, Lieutenant N. Pinckney, three thousand five hundred and fifty- 
 seven dollars due to the officers, etc., at the Point. 
 
GENERAL JOSEPH GARDNER SWIFT. 7 1 
 
 On the last evening of July a meeting of the United States Military 
 Philosophical Society was convened at West Point, in the Academy, at 
 which a member, the traveler Lewis Simond, and also Count Mimeenitz 
 were present — visitors of Colonel Williams. They made some pertinent 
 remarks on military biography, the object before the meeting being some 
 MSS. of the life and acts of Kosciusko, Pulaski and De Kalb. Colonel 
 Williams also presented a MS. on the Field Exercises of Artiller)-, and 
 Professor Hassler read a paper on his views of forming a general map of 
 the United States, and stated some points of his correspondence with Mr. 
 Gallatin on the subject of a survey of the coast of the United States. Mr. 
 Hassler's mind was of a desultory cast, in fact it seemed to be crowded with 
 ideas. At the black-board he would occasionally branch off into notions of 
 extending the use of the lecture then giving to surveys of the mountains 
 of the country, and referring to the map of the United States would point 
 out the geographical form that nature had inade of its mountains and 
 valleys, and water courses, in a sort of opposition to the artificial boundaries 
 of the states. In experiments in the field he gave the cadets clear ideas of 
 the use of instruments for measuring angles and lines, and from the summit 
 of the Crow's Nest measured angles of depression of objects on the plain 
 and river bank by the excess above ninety degrees, using a basin of 
 mercury and the reflected image of the pupil of the eye, that being the 
 vertex, etc. During the month of September a comet gave him occasion 
 to measure its angular relation to Lyra and others of the stars, to determine 
 the orbit of the comet, while Mr. Garnet, of New Jersey, was making there 
 similar measurements for the same object. 
 
 On 26th October I accompanied Mrs. Swift's mother and niece to New- 
 York, and saw them well accommodated on board the packet, and under 
 way for Wilmington, N. C. On the last day of the month received from 
 the paymaster. Lieutenant Pinckney, two thousand one hundred and ninety- 
 four dollars, which, with a /ormer amount received from him, I fully 
 disbursed in paying the garrison at West Point, and closed accounts 
 with that officer. I also received from Peter Gainsevort, at Albany, one 
 thousand four hundred and ninety-one dollars, which sum was also fully 
 
72 THE MEMOIRS OF 
 
 disbursed in my military agency at the Point, and accounts closed with him. 
 
 On 1 8th of November went with Mr. Hassler over the Highlands on 
 foot to Newburgh in a very dry and boisterous day. On reaching New 
 Windsor we discovered the dwelling of Mr. Thos. Ellison to be on fire, and 
 a remarkable apathy on the part of the people in efforts to extinguish the 
 flames, that were in the roof; the ladies of the family in great dismay, and 
 at work bringing large quantities of plate and other valuables into the 
 street. Mr. Hassler and myself carried water to the roof, and, not without 
 scorching ourselves, succeeded in quenching the fire, and also succeeded in 
 aiding the ladies to secure and restore their valuables to the house without 
 loss to them. The father, Mr. Ellison, seemed an unconcerned spectator of 
 the scene. 
 
 On 23d of this month closed the Academy, and on leave embarked my 
 family on board a packet that had come to the dock by appointment, and, 
 with an early acquaintance from Taunton, Mr. Ingalls, proceeded to New 
 York, leaving the command of West Point with Lieutenant E. D. Wood of 
 the engineers. The next day we arrived at the city, and visited our Beverly 
 friends, the Dennings, and those of the family of George Gibbs, Brooklyn 
 Heights. Found that the family of Dr. McNeill had departed for Wil- 
 mington, in Carolina. Our packet sailed on 5th December, and passing 
 through Long Island Sound and Newport Harbor we ascended Taunton 
 River, and arrived at my father's house in that town with Louisa and my son 
 James, and our servant. This was the first interview between my father's 
 and my own family. I had not been at home since 20th March, 1803 ; 
 found a sad vacancy in the family circle which the death of my sister Nancy 
 had made, and with pain observed its effects upon the countenance of my 
 mother, though my sister had been now two years dead ; my brother 
 William Henry absent at school. 
 
 My father's neighbors, who had known me from boyhood, received my 
 family with kind attentions, and some half dozen of them, with my early 
 friend, Charles Leonard, Esq., and my teacher, the Rev. Simeon Dogget, 
 honored my twenty-fourth birthday at a party given by my father, a very 
 gratifying scene to me, and which was increased by an invitation from 
 
GENERAL JOSEPH GARDNER SWIFT. -j^ 
 
 Mr. Doggett to partake in an examination of the pupils of the academy, 
 where he had prepared me to enter Harvard College, and where I had 
 undergone a similar ordeal to that now visited upon the younger brothers 
 of my then class mates. 
 
 1808. In the spring of the year past Congress had commenced in earnest 
 to unfold its views, and a general improvement of the means of intercourse 
 between the widespread States of the Union. Members from those parts 
 thereof, which by nature did not admit of many improvements beyond 
 those of the rivers in the interior, took objections to any action by the 
 United States, on the ground that useful action would be unconstitutional, 
 while those members from the more easily improved parts of the Union 
 were as earnestly in favor of entering upon a general system of improve- 
 ments, under the clause of the constitution that contemplates the promotion 
 of commerce between the States. The Cumberland Road was so palpably 
 of this tendency that its construction by the United States was authorized. 
 
 The early assembling of Congress in October was in accordanee with the 
 feeling of the countr>', that had become more and more hostile to the 
 exclusive and arrogant maratime pretensions of England. This feelino- was 
 embittered by the gross act of the naval commander of England, in 
 assaulting a national ship, the defenceless condition of which (whether 
 justifiable on our part or not,) was well known to the British commander; 
 the insult, therefore, of "pouring in a broadside" into the Chesapeake 
 frigate, thus circumstanced, was an act of weak policy in England, and also 
 an act of perfidy made while pretending to desire peace, and while enjoying 
 our hospitality. Yet, although the feeling of the country was warlike, and 
 the treasury of the nation overflowing, Mr. Jefterson preferred non-inter- 
 course to war, for France had also become as arrogant as England. The 
 grasping power of Napoleon contemplated to make us subservient to his 
 views, and what with orders in the British council and the decrees of Bona- 
 parte our commerce with Europe was nearly extinguished. Under these 
 pressures, the influence of Mr. Jefferson with Congress was able to induce 
 the interdict by a general embargo, an act that lost sight of the predominant 
 habits of the North, and by consequence putting a stop to the carrying 
 
74 THE MExMOIRS OF 
 
 trade from the South. The measure was deemed by Congress to be of a 
 peaceful tendency, while in January that body appropriated a miUion for 
 fortifying the harbors, and making promotions in the corps of engineers to 
 the extent of the law, in order to construct the requisite works in those 
 harbors ; also granting two hundred and eighteen thousand dollars for 
 magazines of ammunition, three hundred thousand dollars for arms, two 
 hundred thousand dollars annually thereafter to arm the militia, and also 
 provided for adding five regiments of infantry, one of riflemen, one of 
 light artillery and one of dragoons, to the existing army. 
 
 This winter we received the sad account of the sudden illness and death 
 of Mrs. Swift's father, Captain Walker, in Wilmington, North Carolina, on 
 1 8th January, at the age of sixty-six years. He sent me a message through 
 Dr. De Rosset of his hopes that I would approve of his will. I did not, 
 however, see the justice by which his son James received the greater 
 portion of the estate. This will diminished my prospects of settling my 
 family, as was contemplated to be done, near Boston, in accordance with 
 arrangements to be made under the orders of my official chief, with whom I 
 was exchanging thoughts in reference to his purpose to assign me to duty 
 in that quarter. The Secretary of War had directed Colonel Williams to 
 divide the Atlantic coast into departments, and to assign the officers of 
 engineers to the various harbors where defensive works were to be con- 
 structed. On loth March, with my new commission, as major of engineers, 
 came the orders of Colonel Williams that assigned me to the Eastern 
 Department, comprised of the states of Rhode Island, Massachusetts and 
 Maine, with Lieutenants S. Thayer, P. Willard, and J. G. Totten as my 
 assistants, and with orders to correspond directly with the Secretar)- of War 
 on the subject of plans of forts, etc. Without surveys it seemed to me 
 impracticable to commence the duty assigned to me, beyond repairing the 
 already existing redouts. I knew nothing of the capabilities of Boston 
 Harbor. Of Newport Harbor I had some clear ideas from my services 
 there upon the fortifications in 1801. Upon inquiry' at the War Department 
 I learned that there had not been any surveys made by the Department 
 since the projections in General Washington's time, made by Rochefontaine 
 
GENERAL JOSEPH GARDiVER SWIFT. 75 
 
 and Rivardi, and in Mr. Adams' time by Tousard, which last embraced 
 repairs upon Castle Williams (thereafter called Fort Independence,) and 
 upon an ill-contrived redout at Fort Constitution at the mouth of the 
 Piscataqua, New Hampshire, and upon the block-houses and magazines at 
 Portland and some minor points, as at Marblehead, etc. 
 
 These works had been commenced by Colonel Rochefontaine, of the 
 pontoon train in the Army of France in the Revolution, and at Newport by 
 Colonel Tousard, an officer of distinction in the same army. 
 
 The plans of Bureau de Pazzy for the harbors of New York and Boston, 
 that had been devised in President Adams' time, were deemed to be far too 
 extensive, and expensive, to be embraced by the appropriations. In this 
 view the main error may have been in omitting to adopt such of the views 
 as were contemplated by those plans that were in fact appropriate to the 
 proper sites, and within our means to accomplish. 
 
 It is to be admitted, that whatever may have been the talents of Colonel 
 Rochefontaine, he had occupied many good positions with his narrow 
 redouts, and also that such works were more commensurate with the views 
 of Congress at the time than in accordance with those of the Colonel. My 
 replies from the War Department also informed me that plans for "new 
 positions" were then maturing at Washington, while my idea was that they 
 should be designed on the spot where they were required. 
 
 On 1 6th March, 1808, I proceeded to my duties at Boston, and with 
 boats and other instruments e.xplored the harbor, and reported to the 
 Secretary of War that George's Island and Long Island Head commanded 
 the entrance to the main channels, and that whatever mieht be determined 
 upon, those points should be embraced by the works of defence for the 
 harbor, knowing that Governor's Island had become the most important 
 point in the estimate of the advisers of the Department at Washington. 
 
 In the ensuing month of April made an excursion to the east, and 
 selected Naugus Head at Salem, Black Point on the Merrimack, Kittery 
 opposite Fort Constitution, New Hampshire, Spring Point and House 
 Island at Portland, for new positions for defensive works. I did not 
 proceed further east, being advised by the Secretary of War that Colonel 
 
76 THE MEMOIRS OF 
 
 Moses Porter had been charged with the defenses further east in Maine, 
 Henry A. S. Dearborn, Esq., of Portland, Captain Walbach and D. 
 Langdon of Portsmouth, Mr. Hartshorn of Salem, Mr. Kittredge at 
 Gloucester, Mr. Eustis at Boston, and Captain Lloyd Beale at Newport, 
 R. I., had been appointed the agents of fortifications, to all of whom I 
 gave requisition for materials to be collected at the respective points. It 
 was determined to repair the Rochefontaine work at Marblehead, and at 
 Gloucester Point. On commencing the latter I found the salt marsh sod 
 firm and compact as it had been laid in the parapets in 1775. 
 
 On my return to Boston made a flying visit to my father's, in Taunton, 
 where I found a son born 30th March, both his mother and self doing 
 well. I named him Jonathan Williams, in honor of my patron, the chief of 
 the corps of engineers. Early in May moved my family from Taunton to 
 Fort Independence (Castle Williams,) where my aunt Mary Swift joined 
 my family. 
 
 On loth May Lieutenant S. Thayer reported himself for duty at Fort 
 Independence. On the same day I received from the War Department 
 several plans of a species of Star Fort, contrived at Washington, too small 
 for any flank defense, and too complicated for a mere battery, unsuited to 
 the position for which they had been devised. The only resort left to me 
 was to turn these plans on their centre until they might suit the sites as 
 best they might, in Boston, Portland, and other harbors. 
 
 I have now (1809) been nearly two years conducting the constructions 
 of these works, and presume these plans to have emanated from some 
 Revolutionary worthy near the War Department — probably Col. Burbeck. 
 Evidently they were adopted in preference to the plans of us young officers 
 who had given our opinion in favor of a more appropriate form and extent. 
 We were indeed very young and inexperienced, save our chief and Major 
 Wadsworth, who.se opinion in the matter was avoided in consequence of the 
 Secretary of War not approving the round towers in New York Harbor. 
 It was not unreasonable to doubt the "constructing ability" of young men, 
 though they knew far more of the theor)' of defense than any of those who 
 were advisers at the War Department; ami it seemed to be forgotten that 
 
GENERAL JOSEPH GARDNER SWIFT. 77 
 
 the experience now to be attained by these young men was the only way 
 by which they could be improved. 
 
 In the month of June Dr. Eustis, of Boston, was requested by the 
 Secretary of War to counsel with me on the subject of a plan to enforce 
 the embargo law of December last. At the rooms of the doctor I met 
 Mr. Benjamin Austin, and other warm supporters of Mr. Jefferson's views, 
 but it was evident that embargo was a severe test of their party views. I 
 stated to them that there would be no difficulty in planting a battery that 
 would ensure an obedience to the law, and that they would find that political 
 sentiment would have no influence with any officer in the harbor. There 
 had been meetings of the citizens, and much talk of resisting this embargo 
 law, but the battery was constructed under my direction, and vessels were 
 brought to anchor under its guns, and no other disagreeable consequence 
 than an interruption to some social intercourse in Boston. It was not until 
 the middle of the month of June that I was enabled to proceed to New 
 Bedford and Plymouth to apply the "Washington Stars," to suit the 
 commanding points in those harbors. On my return to Boston Governor 
 Sullivan requested me to meet the Council of the State at his rooms, (he 
 was ill and lame,) to consult in reference to any calling out of the militia 
 to occupy, in case of need, the works that were in progress of construction 
 on the coast of the State. This meeting was held on 23d June, and I 
 presented to it the maratime condition of the coast, and found Governor 
 Sullivan full of intelligence on the subject. On i8th of the following 
 month of July the Secretary of War arrived in Boston upon an inspecting 
 tour. He consented to examine Long Island Head and George's Island, in 
 which excursion I gave him my thoughts upon the inutility of expending 
 money upon Governor's Island and the Upper Harbor. His reply was that 
 the appropriations did not allow of any change of plan at this time, and that 
 an impartial distribution of the amount must be made on the whole frontier 
 of the Atlantic. The Secretary directed me to meet him at Portsmouth in 
 September, and also at Portland, to which places he would return from a 
 visit to his farm, and other private concerns at Kennebeck, that had been 
 long neglected. 
 
78 , THE MEMOIRS OF 
 
 On 26th July proceeded by Taunton to Newport, to examine the points 
 of defense in that harbor, and recommended to the War Department that 
 an enclosed work on the Dumplin Rocks and at Coasters' Harbor would be 
 a better expenditure of money than to repair the masonry of Forts Wolcott 
 and Adams, and then returned to Boston Harbor to await the decision 
 of the Secretary. 
 
 In the first week of August, General Brooks and General David Cobb, 
 Governor Gore and J. C. Jones, George Cabot, H. G. Otis, William Tudor, 
 Josiah Quincy and James Lloyd, Esquires, and Rev. Jno. T. Kirkland made 
 a visit of inspection to the various points in Boston Harbor, by my 
 invitation. Received them under a marquee on Governor's Island, and on 
 25th of the same month these gentlemen, and others of my Boston friends, 
 dined with me under the same marquee pitched on the rampart of Fort 
 Independence ; the chief object being to witness some experiments in 
 throwing shot and shells, to indicate the range and extent of the fire, etc. 
 
 On 8th September met the Secretary of War on the works at Portland, 
 and proceeded thence with him to Portsmouth, and in company with 
 Governor Langdon and Captain J. B. Walbach, agent of fortifications, laid 
 off a battery at Kittery, to cooperate with the fire of Fort Constitution. 
 On 20th September returned with the Secretary to Boston on his way to 
 Washington, and mine to New Bedford, with Lieutenant S. Thayer, to the 
 fort there. 
 
 Early in October the Secretary of War, in reply to my report on the 
 subject of occupying Connanicut and Coasters' Harbor in Narragansett Bay, 
 made in July, directed that the repairs on the old works must first be 
 finished, which of course was obeyed, and Captain Lloyd Bealc, the 
 commandant of the harbor, the agent of fortifications, was instructed 
 accordingly. 
 
 On loth of this month of October, with a view to arming the new forts, 
 and ijy orders from the Secretary of War, I proceeded to the furnaces in 
 Taunton, and directed the casting of 24-pounder shot at eighty-two dollars 
 per ton. My early friend, Benjamin Dearborn, made the gauges at his 
 balance factory in Boston, using a copy of the English tower measure for 
 
GENERAL JOSEPH GARDNER SWIFT. 79 
 
 dimensions. On ist November, under similar orders established workshops 
 in Boston, for the construction of gun carriages and other military appurte- 
 nances for all the forts in my department. These ordnance orders emanated 
 from Colonel Burbeck at Washing-ton, and the grun carriages were the 
 three-wheeled sea coast carriages, using the same standard of measure. 
 
 On 19th November made an excursion with Dr. Eustis of Boston, to 
 Portsmouth, on an inspection tour. On our way we discussed a new 
 formation of the army, to include a staff corps instead of detailing company 
 officers to that service, and also an enlargement of the Military Academy, 
 introducing a school of practice by a corps of sappers and miners. The 
 two latter Dr. Eustis did not approve. This gentleman had been a hospital 
 surgeon in the Revolutionary War, and had had much intercourse with all 
 the departments of the army at that period, and at the present time may 
 have had some expectations of going into the War Department under Mr. 
 Madison. The doctor had many reminiscences of the war, and among 
 them of the manner in which the committee was formed at Newburgh that 
 produced the celebrated letters of General Armstrong. It was done by a 
 general meeting of the officers and an open election of three to select a 
 writer. Colonel Timothy Pickering was a member of that committee of 
 three, and they appointed Major John Armstrong to be the composer and 
 writer, etc. In reference to the treason of Arnold, his escape from Beverly, 
 near West Point, was by the energy of the coxswain of his barge, Corporal 
 Levy, who supposed they v.ere going upon an interview with the British ; 
 that on their arrival on board the sloop of war Vulture General Arnold 
 offered to make Levy a sergeant-major in the British service, with some 
 remark on the cause of abandoning the American cause. Levy replied 
 that one coat was enough to wear, and said to Dr. Eustis, this reply 
 made Arnold look like a dog- with his tail between his legs ; that the 
 commander of the Wilture commended Levy for sticking to his country, 
 and treated the barge crew with good fare, and allowed them to return 
 to West Point. 
 
 In this fall I commenced, by approval of General Dearborn, a water 
 battery at my request, on the head of Governor's Island, to command, 
 
8o THE MEMOIRS OF 
 
 or rather to secure a raking fire in the channel way in two directions, and 
 completed the work by Christmas, using large blocks of Quincy granite, and 
 without mortar. 
 
 On 8th of the previous October I accompanied my father's eldest sister, 
 Elizabeth, to Long Meadow on the Connecticut River, to witness her 
 marriage with Colonel Gideon Burt, the service being read by Rev. R. S. B. 
 
 On 28th November removed my family from Fort Independence to 
 No. 3 Leveret Street, West Boston, my father and sister Sarah joining 
 us soon after. 
 
 1809. On 2d of January commenced an inspection of the shot at the 
 Taunton foundries. Found the work novel to the founders, who had much 
 difficulty in making the moulds to cast a true sphere, and a solid. The 
 shot were improved in a lathe. Also I inspected and proved the carriages, 
 rammers, sponges, etc., at the Boston workshops. 
 
 In this month I commenced a well in Fort Warren, on Governor's Island, 
 and on 20th had attained a depth of one hundred and thirty-three feet — a 
 point forty feet below the level of the sea. Stoned the well sides, and in a 
 short time it had forty feet of water in it, by filtration no doubt. 
 
 At the request of J. W. Walker and S. R. Jocelyn of Wilmington, N. C, 
 I examined the salt works at Dorchester, and employed Thomas Mayo of 
 Cape Cod to proceed to the Sound, near Wilmington, where he constructed 
 similar vats for evaporation. The plan was very successful. 
 
 February ist attended, as pall bearer, at the funeral of my friend John 
 Gardner's wife, the daughter of Jonathan Jackson, Esq. Mr. Gardner's 
 health failed rapidly after this event, antl he declined to death in a few 
 months. He was of a warm heart, and a true friend. He had Ixen a 
 distinguished I'^ederalist and autlior of "Helvetius" and other arguments 
 in defence of the Washington system of conducting the government. 
 
 In the first week of this month I attended, by invitation, several meetings 
 of the Massachusetts Legislative Committee on Roads and Bridges, to 
 consult on the mode of executing their purpose to build an e.xperimental 
 road from Boston to Salem, on the English model. 
 
 March ist the Secretary of War, General Dearborn, resigned, and 
 
GENERAL JOSEPH GARDNER SWIFT. 8 1 
 
 accepted the collectorship of Boston. This was the commencement of 
 breakuig up Mr. Jefferson's administration. The officers of the army near 
 Boston paid their respects to this indefatigable pubHc servant, and also 
 gave him a dinner at the New Exchange. 
 
 During the first fortnight in March the condition of the public works 
 permitted my serving as president of a general court martial at the Castle, 
 with officers of the newly organized army, and (save Lieutenant-Colonel 
 James Miller) they gave me more trouble than they did service to the 
 United States. Lieutenant Selleck Osborne Judge-Advocate, a much better 
 poet than soldier, very eccentric, and of utter indifference to discipline. 
 
 In March Dr. William Eustis was appointed Secretary of War. He 
 invited me to accompany him to the War Office, which I of course accepted, 
 and on 23d of the month arrived with him at Patrick Jeffry's on Milton 
 Hill, formerly Madam Haley's, thence the next day proceeded to Taunton 
 and lodged at my father's, and there met General David Cobb, the former 
 aid-de-camp of General Washington, and camp companion of Dr. Eustis; 
 thence to Newport, R. L, to inspect the forts in that harbor, and by packet 
 to New York ; by stress of weather driven into New London Harbor, and 
 there met Colonel David Humphrey of the Revolutionary Army, and also 
 formerly aid to Washington and an ambassador to Spain. The three dined 
 with George Hallam, Esq. ; thence by land to New Haven in company with 
 Colonel Humphrey, who gave us an account of the flocks of Merino sheep 
 in Spain, and of his importation of a number with the hope of spreading 
 the breed in the United States and improving the manufactories of the 
 country. He gave many anecdotes of Washington. At New Haven we 
 met Hon. Pierrepont Edwards, and visited the graves of the regicides Goff, 
 Whalley and Dixwell — amusingly emendated account of them by Dr. Styles. 
 
 We arrived in New York on the last day of the month, and took lodgings 
 at Mrs. Loring's, (the friend of Sir William Howe, who is immortalized by 
 Trumbull the poet,) a lady of commanding deportment, who said she 
 recognized me from a likeness to her schoolmate in Boston of fifty years 
 gone by — Ann Foster, my grandmother. 
 
 The next clay, with Colonel Marinus Willett and others inspected Colonel 
 
82 THE MEMOIRS OF 
 
 Williams' tower on Governor's Island ; the colonel absent. Colonel Willet 
 was communicative of the early scenes of the Revolution, and of his own 
 experience ; said that in the expedition on the Mohawk he had never met 
 an Indian who could aim and fire a rifle as quick, or run as fast as he could 
 himself. He is a fine specimen of the men of '76. On 2d April the 
 Secretary of War arrived at Philadelphia, and was waited on by Hon. Pierce 
 Butler of South Carolina, on the subject of some military claims. He is a 
 gentleman of as much personal formality as any one of the house of 
 Ormond can be. We also met the celebrated Dr. Logan — quite a contrast 
 in personal deportment. Here Colonel Williams joined the Secretary, and 
 exchanged some opinion on the inutiltiy of star forts, etc., and with Colonel 
 William Duane, an officer of the new army, inspected Fort Miflin. Thence 
 proceeded to Newcastle and to Gadsby's in Baltimore, on 5th April, and 
 dined with General Samuel Smith, Madam Jerome Bonaparte and Miss 
 Nancy Spear, a female politician and very intelligent lady. On 7th arrived 
 at Washington, after inspecting Fort McHenry early in the day. On the 
 following day to the War Ofiice, to meet the officers and subordinates of 
 that Department, and presented Isaac Roberdeau to the Secretary of 
 War, and recommended him to be employed in the engineer department. 
 Dined that day with Mr. Madison and the Secretary of the Navy, when the 
 conversation turned upon the defences of Chesapeake Bay and of River 
 Potomac, which resulted in my examining the site at Warburton, opposite 
 Mt. Vernon, as a point for defensive works. My report was that it was too 
 far up the Potomac unless the mouth of the Patuxeut be fortified. The 
 plan of building at Warburton was pursued, however, and Captain George 
 Bumford the engineer thereof. 
 
 Visited my uncle Jonathan Swift and other friends in Alexandria, and on 
 my return to the city of Washington dined at Mr. Madison's, and was 
 presented by Mr. Madison to Mr. Erskine, the British minister, and 
 General Stewart of Maryland. Mr. Madison is a very instructive person in 
 conversation, and fond of story telling. He gave us reminiscences of the 
 progress of the government after the peace of 1783, and especially of 
 scenes in convention in forming the Constitution in 17S7. On 19th April 
 
GENERAL JOSEPH GARDNER SWIFT. 83 
 
 I returned to New York, and with my chief, Colonel Williams, examined 
 his towers, and I gave him my views of the inefficiency of the star defenses 
 of the New England coast, allowing them some moral influence as indicating 
 the occupation of many points, and that therefore I should prefer the 
 colonel's towers as serving an equal purpose and superadding safety from 
 surprise; and a capability to resist attack until the militia of the country 
 could be arrayed. Had pleasant meetings of officers at the colonel's 
 quarters at Mrs. Wilkinson's, No. 40 Broadway, and made the acquaintance 
 there of General Jacob Moreton, distinguished for his hospitality and for 
 general intelligence. Thence through the sound to Newport, and to 
 Taunton at my father's, where I renewed my acquaintance with my early 
 and true friend, Charles Leonard, Esq., of Bermuda, and could but 
 regret that so much talent as he possessed should be wasted in a listless 
 life. On 27th April moved my father's family to School Street Court, 
 Boston, my brother William H. having been sent to school in New Hamp- 
 shire, at Charleston, the residence of my uncles Delano and Fitch. 
 
 Early in May reported all the works in my department in good progress, 
 Lieutenant J. G. Totten at Portsmouth soon to come from New Haven, 
 Lieutenant P. Willard in Rhode Island, and Lieutenant S. Thayer at New 
 Bedford; and on ist June the gun carriages were ready to be placed on 
 the platforms, and the cannon balls were in process of delivery. The 
 appropriations by Congress were, for new works, four hundred and fifty 
 thousand dollars, to finish those commenced, seven hundred and fifty 
 thousand dollars, and two hundred and nineteen thousand dollars for 
 arsenals, magazines and ammunition. While I was in Washington the 
 conversation there upon the non-intercourse indicated the continuance of a 
 warlike feeling against England. Mr. Madison's opinion was that no faith 
 could be placed in the pretensions of either England or France, both of 
 whom desired to involve us in the war with their respective antagonists. 
 Thus the appropriations looked to an early finishing of the coast defenses. 
 
 The 4th July was quite a distinguished and marked celebration under a 
 canopy at the base of Bunker Hill in Charlestown. Among the guests 
 were ex-President Adams, Robert Treat Paine, Elbridge Gerry, Charles 
 
84 THE MEMOIRS OF 
 
 Gore, Lieutenant-Governor David Cobb, General H. Dearborn and others, 
 of whom several had been in the battle on the hill over us ; where were 
 recounted many of the events of that day in 1775 on the neighboring 
 Breed's Hill, especially from General Dearborn, who commanded a company 
 in that battle, and described the manner in which a private in his company 
 had singled out Major Pitcairn as he rode at the head of his battalion, and 
 "brought the major to the earth over the crupper of his saddle" by an aim 
 and shot from a long duck gun, the man remarking: "I wait until that 
 officer reaches a small mound in front," and then gave fire. 
 
 On 5th July an express came before day to me from Captain J. B. 
 Walbach, with an account of an explosion of an ammunition chest on the 
 rampart of Fort Constitution, by which eight persons were killed and others 
 wounded, at the salute on 4th. The concussion had shattered the barrack, 
 old magazine, etc., requiring my directions for repair, etc., and wishing my 
 counsel in other matters. Accordingly I proceeded 7th to Portsmouth, and 
 arrived at Fort Constitution in eight hours from Boston. The repairs were 
 completed by Captain Walbach in a few days thereafter. On examination 
 there was no blame to be attached to any one save the poor corporal who 
 was among" the killed, and who had permitted a too close proximity of the 
 chest, and the slow match. 
 
 Captain A. Eustis, of the army, accompanied me to the east on a visit of 
 inspection of the forts on the 7th, I having attended to witness his marriage 
 on 6th to Rebecca Sprague, a beautiful creature, in the Episcopal church 
 at Dedham. 
 
 July loth at Portsmouth, at Governor Langdon's met Mr. Ogilvie, a 
 remarkable elocutionist and improvisator when under the iniluence of 
 opium; Shakspeare, Dryden, and Massinger his favorite authors. 
 
 On 29th July, with my father and Julius H. Walker, and my brother 
 William H. and some others who were desirous to see the works in the 
 harbor of Boston, went on an inspection of the forts, and the next day 
 they and my mother, sisters and other friends attended the baptism of my 
 son Jonathan Williams by Rev. John Thornton Kirkland, named for my 
 
GENERAL JOSEPH GARDNER SWIFT. 85 
 
 patron, the colonel of that name, and also my father's brother, and The 
 Dean, our cousin of many rumors. 
 
 On 5th August the army officers waited on Hon. John O. Adams, to 
 take leave on his departure on the embassy to St. Petersburg in the ship 
 Horace. He was also saluted by all the forts on his way down the harbor. 
 
 August 8th Colonel Burbeck arrived on ordnance duty to inspect the 
 armament of the new forts, especially the three-wheeled carriages that bear 
 his name, and appointed to visit the other works at the East. 
 
 Having in contemplation to go to North Carolina after my duties in the 
 eastern department are terminated, Mrs. Swift gave a meeting of leave- 
 taking to our list of friends in Boston, and on 14th of August, with our sons 
 James and Willie, she sailed in brig " Short Staple," Captain Ingersoll, for 
 Wilmington, under the escort of my friend Benjamin Blaney. Accompanied 
 them to George's Island, and there, meeting the frigate Essex, Captain 
 John Smith, coming in, boarded her and sailed up the ship channel by 
 Captain Smith's invitation, to see the bearing that the forts would have to a 
 ship under way, etc. 
 
 September ist, the Secretary of War and Colonel Burbeck on a tour of 
 inspection of the forts in the harbor of Boston ; on which occasion I had 
 an opportunity to acknowledge General David Cobb's kindness to nje in 
 my early life, by introducing his grandson, David Cobb Hodges to the 
 Secretary of War, and requesting for him an appointment in the army. 
 The Secretary engaged to see that the wishes of his Revolutionary comrade 
 should be accomplished. On this occasion the Secretary handed me a letter 
 to him from the governor of North Carolina, urging that the plan of 
 defense for Oak Island, on Cape Fear River, should be constructed as I 
 had advised in 1804, and I stated to the Secretary that it could be 
 executed for the amount then estimated, seventy-five thousand dollars. 
 
 During the summer, in my excusions to the east, and by invitation from 
 Nathaniel Bowditch, Esq., made my resting place at his residence in Salem, 
 at whi^h times I have found him at breakfast time at work upon the trans- 
 lation of La Place's Mechanique Celeste. I brought him and Professor F. R. 
 
86 THE MEMOIRS OF 
 
 Hassler to the acquaintance of each other, and interchange of their 
 respective notes and observations. 
 
 September 5th, in presence of the Secretary of War and Colonel Burbeck, 
 at the request of the Secretary of the Navy, laid off upon the ground at 
 Charleston Point a magazine for that department, to contain three thousand 
 barrels of gun powder, and gave the masons plans and instructions to 
 construct the same. Arranged with Mr. Penniman to receive my brother- 
 in-law, Julius H. Walker, to complete his preparation to enter Harvard 
 College ; have appointed with the president to that effect at the com- 
 mencement on 30th August, at which time John F. Burgwin and 
 others with me dined with the masters in the old hall — and according 
 to ancient usage. 
 
 Cape Fear River, Fort Johnston, North Carolina,' 
 January, 1812. 
 
 My last dates were at Boston in the month of September, 1809, soon after 
 which time, with the Secretary of War, I went to the eastern part of my 
 department upon a tour of inspection of the closing work upon the new 
 forts on the coast, and making a call upon the Secretarj^'s army companion 
 of the days of '76, Doctor Clement March, at Greenland, we arrived 
 at Portsmouth. I proceeded to Fort Constitution, leaving Dr. Eustis to 
 pursue his suit with Miss Caroline Langdon, the beautiful and accom- 
 plished daughter of Woodbury Langdon, which lady the doctor married. 
 
 The Secretary made his examination of the fort with Captain Walbach 
 while I repaired to the works at Portland. The following week he returned 
 with me to Boston. On our route the Secretary renewed the conversation 
 about my contemplated departure for Cape Fear, and he mentioned another 
 petition that he had received from North Carolina for the erection of the 
 works that had been planned for Oak Island by me in 1804 as a subject 
 that would be embraced in the estimates for 18 10. While the works were 
 drawing to a close in Boston Harbor both the present Secretary and 
 ex-Secretary Dearborn made excursions to view these forts, and the 
 
GENEARL JOSEPH GARDNER SWIFT. 87 
 
 magazines for the Navy Department that were in progress at Charlestown ; 
 and with both of these gentlemen, at General Dearborn's residence at 
 Brinley Place in Roxbury, we had several meetings on the prospects of 
 the country, and with a view to defense of the harbors in case of war. 
 By the ist of October the works in the eastern department were closed, 
 and on 9th reported my engineer's functions in the department to be also 
 terminated, and placed the works in Boston Harbor under the control 
 of Captain N. Freeman. 
 
 On 14th October gave orders to Lieutenant S. Thayer to proceed to 
 West Point for the winter. My brother-in-law, Julius "H. Walker nearly 
 prepared to enter Cambridge College, and a member of my father's 
 family in School Street Court, in Boston, and in whose charge I left my 
 furniture, when, with my books and baggage on 31st October was on board 
 the brig "Short Staple" at sea on my passage to Carolina, and on ist 
 November passed near to Nantucket, my native place, not seen before by 
 me in nineteen years. The day was clear and my reflections not easily 
 described. At night we put into Martha's Vineyard, and in the rest of the 
 sail along the coast amused myself by keeping the ship's reckoning, and 
 in observations for time, etc., having with me a circle of Borda's belonging 
 to the United States. On 6th November we were at the New Inlet of Cape 
 Fear, and landed on Federal Point, the proposed site for a work recom- 
 mended to the War Department in 1804, in my report made at that 
 time. Thence proceeded to Wilmington and found my family in health at 
 "The Sound," and remained there until loth November, at which time 
 made a temporary residence at Mrs. Swift's mother's, Mrs. Walker, in 
 Wilmington, preparatory to going to Fort Johnston. After an absence of 
 two-and-a-half years find North Carolina but little changed in aspect of 
 country. The best of North Carolina is constituted of warm hearts and an 
 early flowering spring. My intimacy with the people of North Carolina, 
 and some acquaintance with the interests of the State have grown with me, 
 and attached me to both. 
 
 In December, 1809, the Legislature of North Carolina re-ceded the site 
 of Fort Johnston to the United States. 
 
88 THE MEMOIRS OF 
 
 On iith of the month I received orders from the chief engineer consti- 
 tuting me the engineer for the State coast. 
 
 1810. In January, previous to my professional excursion to the Harbor 
 of Cape Fear, I renewed, at Judge Wright's, Mr. John Lord's, the Hills and 
 other families my social relations with increased pleasure. At one of these 
 re-unions, a numerous party, Dr. Caldwell, from the University of Chapel 
 Hill, exhibited the declininsf condition of that colleo^e, and the whole 
 company joined in a subscription to improve the condition of that 
 institution, the alma mater of several of the younger persons of the party. 
 
 In the course of this month I visited Fort Johnston with Joshua Pitts, 
 General Smith and Mr. John Lord, and examined the boundaries of the 
 public land at that place, and the dilapidated condition of the work, and 
 reported on the same to the War Department. Lieutenant Robert Roberts 
 was in this Board of Examination, and was also the commandant of the 
 post. The reply from the department is that no more would be done at 
 that post than occasional repairs and the construction of permanent barracks. 
 With my friend Blaney visited the grave of our departed companion. Dr. 
 Griffin, in the flower garden of Mrs. General Smith. 
 
 In February, at a deer hunt with a party at Major Duncan Moore's, in 
 the forks of the north-west and north-east branches of Cape Fear River, 
 got up some sixteen fine deer. On this occasion Major Moore offered me 
 one hundred acres of rice land on terms so liberal, (if I would settle my 
 family in his neighborhood,) that I could not accept them without incurring 
 too deep an obligation, but the liberality is not forgotten. 
 
 March iSth, in company with many gentlemen from Wilmington on a 
 search for the son of our friend, Samuel R. Jocelyn, on the second day 
 the body was found in Holly Shelter Swamp, he having wandered thither 
 in a demented state, and was chilled to death lying in some four inches of 
 water. His name, Samuel, and recently married to a daughter of Coun- 
 sellor Sampson, of the county of that name. 
 
 In April I accompanied John R. London and others to the Sound, on an 
 excursion to see its adaptation to salt-making. I gave these gentlemen the 
 plan of the works on Cape Cod that I had received from Mr. Thayer of 
 
GENERAL JOSEPH GARDNER SWIFT. 89 
 
 that place. No doubt that the ocean water in this shallow sound, not 
 being freshened by rivers, and constantly receiving the tide from the sea, 
 must afford a good surface for evaporation. 
 
 On 15th of the month I received orders from the War Department to 
 construct permanent barracks at Fort Johnston, with funds to defray the 
 expenses thereof, and also orders to relieve Lieutenant Roberts in the 
 command of that post. 
 
 The appropriations for the military service of the United States contem- 
 plated two hundred and eighty-three thousand dollars for fortifications. 
 The previous construction of forts had been deemed sufficient to meet 
 any maritime aggression. Little, therefore, was to be done beyond 
 some repairs and the construction of permanent barracks at the various 
 posts in the year 18 10. 
 
 Whatever might be the ultimatum growing out of the relations with 
 England and France, all were satisfied, save Congress, that it would be wise 
 to prepare for the worst. Due preparation cannot be made by such an 
 amount of money. Parties in and out of Congress are more engaged with 
 small distinctions in the merits of the question of war than by a just 
 estimate of the objects that France and England have in reference to the 
 United States. The former can have no maratime views averse to those of 
 the United States that cannot be successfully opposed on the ocean ; while 
 England has a powerful navy, and claims the persumptuous and prescriptive 
 right to rule on the seas, that, the United States can never admit "while the 
 stormy winds do blow." 
 
 During the past season I had attended the Masonic Lodge in Wilmington, 
 having been admitted to that fraternity while at West Point in the year 1802. 
 Observing an abuse of the test for admission, and considering the objects of 
 the society, as a secret society, not agreeable to the spirit of our political 
 institutions, I ceased to be a member of any Lodge, though having no 
 doubt that the conduct of the society had ever been respectful of law, and 
 with benevolent purposes. 
 
 I am now preparing my family to go to my post at the fort, increased 
 in number by a third son, Alexander Joseph, born in the house of his 
 
90 THE MEMOIRS OF 
 
 grandmother Walker, 4th March, 18 10; but disappointed in means by the 
 will of Mrs. Swift's father, who, though intending to do justice, had so left 
 his estate that, instead of receiving five thousand dollars, I was glad to 
 compound with the son, James W. Walker, for one thousand two hundred 
 dollars, payable in three years. 
 
 April 20th, renewed my official visits to the fort while the commandant is 
 preparing his returns to obey the orders of the War Department ; examined 
 at the workshops the gun carriages made on Colonel Burbeck's plans, and 
 condemned them. They are of pitch pine, but not strong enough to resist 
 the concussion of a proof charge of powder. I had reported these facts to 
 the War Department, and also that the works at Beaufort, in my command, 
 required seven cannon and carriages and a barrack magazine, that would 
 call for an expenditure of fifteen thousand dollars. 
 
 May 1st, received the command of Fort Johnston from Lieutenant R. 
 Roberts, and gave him receipts for the public stores. The next day, with 
 the collector of the port, examined the beach at Bald Head, and the 
 encroachments of the sea at that place, and advised the placing of facines 
 confined by piles of thirty feet in length, as a protection against the action 
 of the waves. 
 
 May 15th, moved my family to the fort, and at housekeeping in the 
 " Blaney Place," near the fort. June ist, deposited the United States 
 funds in the Bank of Cape Fear, and commenced the collection of materials 
 for barracks, etc. 
 
 On 15th June, with the commissioners of the town of Smithville, 
 marked out the lines of the United States land, and set red cedar 
 posts for landmarks. 
 
 During this month of June was employed with the collector in arranging 
 to execute the law of the United States in reference to French and English 
 vessels entering our ports. The first armed vessel that came in was the 
 British schooner "Eliza," Captain Bradshaw, who landed his guns at 
 the battery. 
 
 June 28th, a riot among the pilots and the sailors of European ships, and 
 was obliged to place some of the most turbulent in the block-house. This 
 
GENERAL JOSEPH GARDNER SWIFT. 91 
 
 occasioned a legal question as to my authority. The necessity was made 
 apparent, and the court sustained my conduct, having a constable with me 
 whom I had accidentally met on the occasion, and invited to my aid. 
 
 From the great mobility of the sand on the coast the storms had produced 
 a variety of changes in the form of the large shoal near the entrance of 
 the harbor, called the " Middle Ground." I employed the pilots early, and 
 at several times, in the month of July, to sound out and buoy the Oak 
 Island channel, and found thereby several changes in the course of the 
 channel that had been made since my survey in the year 1804. During 
 these operations the pilots employed, (two of them, Davis and Cope,) left 
 the survey to board a vessel then coming in. They had some dispute, 
 when Cope struck Davis in the bowels with a knife. The citizens of 
 Smithville requested me to confine Cope until the civil authority could 
 take charge of him. He was thereupon confined in the block-house, which, 
 with all the United States works, is situate in the centre, and extending to 
 the water front of the town. This occasioned some disturbance about the 
 interpolation of military authority, and I was "excused" on the ground that 
 I had done the "service due from a citizen." 
 
 The 4th of July this year was celebrated with the usual essays, though on 
 a very limited scale. The town honored me with the appointment of orator 
 of the day. 
 
 On 3d of August, in the presence of the collector of the port, Robert 
 Cochran, Esq., and General Smith, the proprietor of the island of Bald 
 Head, and others, Mr. S. Spring, the keeper of the light-house, etc., surveyed 
 and marked with a theodolite, ten (10) acres, including the site of the 
 light-house, and having reference to the abrasion of the shore of the sea, 
 as examined last May, I included a wide sea-beach margin on Bald Head. 
 
 August 9th, with a theodolite, above mentioned, received from Jones of 
 London, made observations that proved the magnetic variation at Fort 
 Johnston at this time to be fifty-five minutes west from the true meridian. 
 
 The August election of State officers came on this year on 9th of the 
 month. I gave the troops a fishing excursion to Oak Island for that day, 
 with a view to prevent any question of " interference of troops at the polls," 
 
92 THE MEMOIRS OF 
 
 in reference to which, as an abuse of the franchise, much had been said, 
 but, as far as my experience extended, had never witnessed any such 
 interpolation. 
 
 On 1 2th August the United States brig "Nautilus," Captain Arthur 
 Sinclair, came into port in a storm that had wrecked an English brig on the 
 " Middle Ground " shoal. Received the officers at my quarters. 
 
 On 25th September accompanied Captain Sinclair to sea for the purpose 
 of examining the "slew" through the Frying Pan Shoal, which we found, 
 at a distance of thirteen miles south of the lighthouse, a four-fathom channel 
 directly through the Pan, bearing east-by-south. After a cruise of a few 
 days the "Nautilus" returned to anchor off Fort Johnston, and finally 
 resumed the cruise along the coast on 7th October. 
 
 During the months of October and November the weather was excellent 
 for labor, and by ist December had completed the brick barracks and 
 -guard-house, and discharged the workmen. Moved the troops into the 
 new barracks, much to their comfort. 
 
 December 12th, by order of the vSecretary of War, transported the 
 military stores from Wilmington to the block-house at the fort. These 
 appurtenances had been in the use of 12th United States Regiment of 
 Infantry in 1799, and were stored in Wilmington in 1800. 
 
 Passed our Christmas at the wedding of our fair cousin, Mary Vance, 
 ■with Mr. James Orme, and with my friends Alexander C. Miller and General 
 and Mrs. Smith at Belvidere, and at General Brown's seat at Ashwood, on 
 the Cape Fear, and returned to the fort on the last day of 18 10. 
 
 181 1. January 5th, the governor of the State and suite inspected the 
 post of Fort Johnston, and was received with military honors. 
 
 Judging from the debates in Congress that a more enlarged plan of 
 defensive works would be constructed on the coast, on 17th of this month, 
 with my reports to the War Department expressed a hope that I should be 
 employed at some other point, as very little could be expected to be done 
 on the Cape Fear, and also wrote my chief. Colonel Williams, and 
 Lieutenant-Colonel Macomb, soon after, on that subject. 
 
 In February I employed Dr. Egbert Haywood Bell as surgeon of the 
 
GENERAL JOSEPH GARDNER SWIFT. 93 
 
 post, which was confirmed by the Secretary of War. The doctor is 
 distinguished in his profession. The family of which he is a member are 
 generally noted for talents; they reside in the upper country of North 
 Carolina. During the winter Mrs. Swift's sister Harriet and husband, 
 Colonel Osborne, had been members of our family, and in the spring they 
 moved to Salsbury, when Mrs. Swift's mother joined our family. Mrs. 
 Osborne Is not only amiable but has also an highly cultivated mind, that 
 has contributed much to our enjoyment. With Mrs. Osborne we had 
 the pleasure to receive as guests the father and daughter. Colonel John 
 De Bernler. They were from England ; and from Edward Jones, Esquire, 
 I learned that this gentleman, with his brother Henry, had (both) been 
 lieutenant-colonels in the army of England, and in command in Canada, 
 where they had been suddenly relieved from command, and chagrined by 
 the order, they had both sold out their commissions, which act was soon 
 succeeded by orders giving both of them more distinguished commands in 
 India. The mortification resulting from those occurrences may be imagined. 
 In the case of Colonel De B. melancholy was marked on his face. Mr. 
 Jones, who gave me this information, is an Irish gentleman, and has filled 
 the office of attorney-general of North Carolina with high repute. The 
 Colonel Osborne before mentioned is the son of Audly Osborne, Esquire, 
 of Iredell County, North Carolina, reputed to be a son of the family of 
 Leeds, in England. The colonel is a lawyer of much ability, and who, 
 with four of his brothers, had received the first honors of Chapel Hill 
 College. 
 
 During the months of February and March flocks of pigeons were daily 
 passing over the fort, with a sound resepibling a gust of wind. Several 
 of these flocks were more than a mile in extent, and vast numbers of 
 them were destroyed. Their roost was on Bald Head Island, where they 
 found an abundance of acorns, and from whence sportsmen brought many 
 thousands of these birds. 
 
 On 1 2th May while at Wilmington dining with George Hooper, Esquire, 
 was summoned to the bed of his son-in-law, Mr. James Fleming, who had 
 a few moments previous left us at table, and had been thrown against the 
 
94 
 
 THE MEMOIRS OF 
 
 corner of the brick market house in town by an unruly horse. Mr. 
 Fleming's brains were forced through the ears by the concussion, and I 
 found him breathing with some violence, but he was dead within an hour. 
 
 The 4th July was passed at the seat of General Brown at Ashwood, with 
 a purpose to attend the marriage of my friend, Alexander C. Miller, and the 
 general's daughter, Miss Mary Brown. The general asked me of the 
 orio-in, etc., of Mr. Miller ; my reply was that all that I knew of him had 
 been received of him, and to judge from his uniform deportment it left me 
 no reason to doubt that he had been highly educated, etc. Before leaving 
 the fort, Lieutenant Roberts and myself had set our watches together and 
 arranged to have the salute at the fort commenced at noon, and to fire at 
 intervals of fifteen seconds. I placed myself alone at the margin of the 
 Cape Fear River at Ashwood, sixty miles distant from the fort, in due 
 season to listen, and heard the sound of distant cannon, but not at precise 
 intervals. The sound was that of a puffing, continuous sort, and I counted 
 only fourteen of them. My ear was not more than three inches above the 
 surface of the water ; the day was quiet, and the air from the south-west ; 
 my position in a direction a little west of north from the fort. In the banks 
 of the Cape Fear at this place, some seventy feet below the general surface 
 of the country, I found an abundance of shark's teeth and other organic 
 remains in the earth, washed by every successive rise of the river. 
 
 I returned to the fort on 6th, and on loth July, having received the long 
 expected 24-pounder new cannon, carriages, and six hundred round shot, 
 replaced the old guns by mounting the battery with the eight new ones. 
 
 The appropriations this year for fortifications are four hundred and seven 
 thousand dollars. These and preceding preparations may show both France 
 and England that our endurance of their decrees and orders may find a 
 limit. Both nations seem, from our own dissensions, or contempt for us and 
 for our form of government, to consider our ability or purpose to sustain a 
 war as of small importance to them. Both parties in our country greatly 
 mistake their policy ; the Democrats in their evasive palliations of the 
 cause of France ; the Federalists by their efforts to prove that the decrees 
 and orders are equally insulting and therefore deserving equal resistance. 
 
GENERAL JOSEPH GARDNER SWIFT. 
 
 95 
 
 They lose sight of the hope of England that we may make some error to 
 favor her pretentions, and that her superiority on the ocean gives her power 
 to annoy, and they lose sight of the fact that if we ever are to assert our 
 rights on the seas, we must commence to do it while England is practicing 
 her arrogant power of impressment. 
 
 A letter from my mother informs me of the death of my' grandmother 
 Delano, at the residence of her son in the State of New Hampshire, at 
 Charlestown, on 3 ist May, at the age of eighty-three years. The letter also 
 informs of the disposition of her property, and of the end of my e.xpecta- 
 tions of receiving something that had been willed to me by my grandfather 
 Delano. 
 
 July I ith received at the fort, Treasurer Haywood and other o-uests from 
 Raleigh, who came to look at the ocean, and to be informed of what plan 
 of defense might secure the entrance to the most important harbor on 
 the coast of North Carolina, in which the Legislature of the State had 
 taken a deep interest, and here were several of her prominent members to 
 prepare themselves to give that body such account of their observations as 
 they could collect. It was very evident that these gentlemen had no respect 
 for the moderate use of naval power of England in case we should have a 
 war with them. 
 
 In my memorandum of my visit to Ashwood I omitted to state that there 
 stands a tree whose bark has been marked, indented in the year 1780, with 
 a figure representing the Revolutionary general, Robert Howe. These 
 marks had been spread by the growth of the tree, and now exhibits a 
 gigantic rude figure of a man in military costume. This is a result of a 
 slight engraving on the bark of any tree, especially the beech, but if the 
 indentation be deep the growth of the bark covers the work and so 
 obliterates the desiofn. 
 
 July 15th sent to Mr. F. R. Hassler, then in England, or going thither, to 
 direct the construction of instruments for the United States coast survey, to 
 cause a telescope to be made for me with one eye-piece for astronomical 
 use, with a power of one hundred and seventy-five. 
 
96 THE MEMOIRS OF 
 
 July 20th received orders to repair to Fredericktown, Maryland, as a 
 member of a general court marshal to be there assembled in September, for 
 the trial of General Wilkinson. 
 
 August 1st delivered the command of Fort Johnston to Lieutenant 
 Roberts, United States Artillerj', and reported the same to Lieutenant- 
 Colonel C. Freeman, commanding at Norfolk, Virginia. On 4th August 
 proceeded to Raleigh and Richmond, and passed some days there with 
 Major Gibbon, the hero of Stony Point, 1776, and kept my appointment 
 with General Marshall in accepting an invitation to visit him while I was 
 the guest of the major, and found at the general's a delightful assemblage 
 of talent in Mr. Wickham, Colonel Gamble, Colonel Mayo and others, 
 that was very tempting to prolong my stay among the hospitalities of 
 Richmond. I soon after arrived at my uncle Jonathan Swift's, in Alex- 
 andria, and then to call on the Secretary of War in Washington. In 
 company with Colonel Williams, Lieutenant-Colonel Macomb, T. C. Smith 
 and others, arrived at Fredericktown the last of August. 
 
 On first day of September the general court marshal assembled. General 
 Wilkinson came into court with his counsel, Mr. Taney and Mr. Thomas, 
 and with eloquent address said to General Gansevoort : " Mr. President, this 
 sword (unclasping it from his side) has been the untarnished companion of 
 my thigh for forty years, with a resolution never to surrender it dishonorably 
 to an enemy, I am now by the order of the government of my country, 
 ordered to place it in your hands, etc.," and stepping forward, handed the 
 sword to General Gansevoort, who with much simplicity and dign ity, and 
 uncommon brevity, replied, " General, I receive your sword. These officers 
 are assembled to try you, and will doubtless do you justice. Are you ready. 
 General?" "I am," said Wilkinson. "Mr. Advocate, General Walter 
 Jones of Virginia, please to proceed with the trial." 
 
 The charges against General Wilkinson were numerous, and extended 
 from the year 1789 to 18 10 — treason, conspiracy with Colonel Burr, 
 corruption with the Spanish governor of Louisiana, Manuel Gayozo de 
 Lemos and Baron Carondelet, disobedience of orders, neglect of duty, etc. 
 General Wilkinson waived the act of limitation. The court was several 
 
GENERAL JOSEPH GARDNER SWIFT. 97 
 
 days employed in an argument whether the waiver of the accused would 
 justify the court in trying for offences charged beyond the limit, etc. The 
 court continued on this trial nearly four months. The court acquitted 
 General Wilkinson of all the charges. Many very queer transactions of a 
 political and mercantile character were exposed, but neither military offence 
 nor official or personal corruption, nor any act of treason or conspiracy 
 thereto, or with Colonel Burr, were proved. In reference to Colonel Burr, 
 no fact of a treasonable character was established against him in his trial 
 before Chief-Justice Marshall at Richmond in 1807. It was testified before 
 the general court marshal that the expedition of Colonel Burr had for its 
 object the conquest of Mexico, in which no doubt General Wilkinson, 
 General Jackson and many other prominent men of the United States would 
 have been engaged ; in fact, the purpose of such a conquest, to proceed 
 from the United States was known to General Hamilton and Colonel 
 Pickering, and to William Pitt and others in England. 
 
 During the trial Colonel Williams, Macomb and myself and other officers 
 renewed our pleasant intercourse with the social and hospitable residents 
 of Fredericktown, and in the course of which many ill-natured and silly 
 rumors were circulated of an unbecoming intimacy with the ultra- Federalists 
 of that place, on the part of the officers, and especially was it censured that 
 General Wilkinson should have been invited to the same parties where 
 were found officers who were daily on his trial. 
 
 On 1 6th September Colonel Williams and others observed the comet 
 that was brilliantly seen in the north in this season, which observations were 
 sent to Mr. Garnet in New Jersey, together with others made upon the 
 annular eclipse the next day, 17th. The day was clear and the observations 
 satisfactory. 
 
 October 4th, I received from Colonel Williams an account of the 
 barometrical measurement of the height of Catskill Round Top, three 
 thousand five hundred and sixty-six feet, and White Hills in New Hamp- 
 shire, six thousand two hundred and thirty-four feet, and other minor 
 points, by Captain A. Partridge, United States engineers. 
 
 October loth made a report of the ordnance and of the defences that 
 
98 THE MEMOIRS OF 
 
 had been completed in Smithville, Fort Johnston, to Colonel Burbeck, as 
 the chief of artillery, United States. 
 
 November 14th. To Harper's Ferry to examine the workshops of the 
 United States arms, and to explore Jefferson's Rock there with Lieutenant- 
 Colonel Macomb, and the next day to measure the barometrical height of 
 the Colocton Mountain ; broke our instrument ; the view admirable ; counted 
 some two hundred and seventeen cultivated fields. These excursions were 
 pending adjournments of the court. Among Macomb's and my excursions 
 we several times visited Monsieur Payer, or Vaneaudier, an emigrant from 
 France, who with his family had erected a chateau, of style similar to such 
 buildings in France. They were living in genteel elegance, but maintained 
 a species of incognito that no one was allowed to question — a sort of 
 nonsense that is very striking and romantic to young people. 
 
 November 17th, Colonel Williams, Lieutenant-Colonel Macomb, Major 
 Armistead and myself sent our opinion of the bill for the improvement of 
 the corps of engineers to the Secretary of War. It embraced a corps of 
 sappers and miners. 
 
 The general court martial brought its proceedings to a close on 24th 
 December, and every member signed the same, and they were sent by 
 an officer to the Secretary of War at Washington. The members of the 
 court soon dispersed, and on 26th December I paid my respects to the 
 Secretary of War, Washington, and found myself not as graciously received 
 as was the wont of that gentleman, who had favored me with his intimacy. 
 I also found in this place of large gossip, especially so in the time of the 
 session of Congress, that the acquittal of General Wilkinson was received 
 with disappointment by the executive, and it was rumored that some 
 charges had been made by an underling of the War Department adverse to 
 the impartiality of some of the older officers on the court, but that Mr. 
 Madison would not consent to any such mode of impugning the right of 
 opinion, and thus the charges were suppressed. 
 
 The sentiment among congressmen was of a conflicting nature on what 
 were to be the results of debates upon the orders and decrees of England 
 and France. Receiving from the War Department no especial orders for 
 
GENEARL JOSEPH GARDNER SWIET. 99 
 
 duty, I returned to my family, then in Wilmington, North Carolina. I still 
 retained my quarters at Fort Johnston, where I found the family of 
 Lieutenant Roberts in deep distress, he having died in the previous month 
 of November. I had written to the Secretary of War to have his accounts 
 settled, in order to pay off his debts and afford some relief to his family, 
 and this was accomplished. On my return to North Carolina from Wash- 
 ington I was informed that the daughters of my friend Major Gibbon, of 
 Richmond, were at their uncle Duvale's, in Washington, and had just 
 received the mournful account of the destruction of the theatre in Rich- 
 mond on 26th December, in which their brother, Lieutenant Gibbon of the 
 navy, had been one among the seventy burned to death in that fire. I waited 
 on these ladies, and escorted them to their father's in Richmond, and met a 
 scene of distress that cannot easily be described ; and early in January 
 reached my family in Wilmington. 
 
 Wilmington, North Carolina, 
 February, 18 ij. 
 
 18 1 2. At the close of January arrived at the fort with my family, and 
 found there Lieutenant J. Ewing of the United States Artillery, with orders 
 to report to me for duty. Received from him a box of public papers, being 
 the unsettled accounts of Lieutenant Roberts with the United States, with 
 good and imperfect vouchers amounting to fourteen thousand eight hundred 
 dollars. Sent these papers to the account office in Washington, claiming as 
 balance due on them eight hundred and twenty-eight dollars and twenty- 
 seven cents, and one hundred and forty dollars on a recruiting account. 
 The auditor replied that the claim cannot be allowed until further vouchers 
 be found. 
 
 February ist, gave orders to Lieutenant Ewing to detail a party to work 
 daily m the block-house, cleaning the arms, etc., received there in the 
 previous year. This was in pursuance of orders received from the War 
 Department, together with the appointment of myself as military agent for 
 the coast of North Carolina, and was the first intimation in orders of haste, 
 in preparation for war ! 
 
lOO THE MEMOIRS OF 
 
 Februar)- 21st, the United States brig" Vixen," commanded by Lieutenant 
 Charles Gadsden, arrived at Fort Johnston on public business with me. 
 
 In March I received orders from the Secretary of War that the state of 
 public affairs required an inspection of the fortifications on the coast of 
 Virginia, the two Carolinas and Georgia, and requiring me to make the 
 same as soon as my present duty permitted. 
 
 On 1st April proceeded on this inspection in the packet to Charleston, 
 South Carolina, (at the same time escorting the daughter of Colonel 
 De Bernier on a visit to her friends in South Carolina. This lady is the wife 
 of Harper Harper, Esquire, of Wilmington,) leaving the command of Fort 
 Johnston to Lieutenant Ewing. Bad weather delayed my arrival at 
 Charleston to 6th April. 
 
 The next day, 7th, inspected Fort Johnson on James Island, and the day 
 following, the Palmetto Fort of 1780, now called, for its brave defender 
 then, " Fort Moultrie," and heard from General Pinckney the storj- of 
 Sergeant Jasper's heroism in that defense and repulse of Admiral Parker. 
 By invitation, the day after, met the two Generals Pinckney on the subject 
 of the defenseless state of the coast, from the Chesapeake to Tybee. The 
 elder general, C. C. Pinckney, commented on the recent laws appropriating 
 seven hundred and ninety-six thousand dollars for fortifications, and pro- 
 viding for calling out one hundred thousand militia, and the organization 
 of a quartermaster-general's department as convincing to him, though not 
 in the secret of the cabinet, that war was at hand. 
 
 On I ith examined Castle Pinckney, and on 13th proceeded to Savannah, 
 and with Captain William McRee, United States engineer, examined Forts 
 Jackson and Tybee on 15th. On i6th returned through the Sound, and on 
 17th examined Beaufort, South Carolina; arrived on 20th at Charleston; on 
 24th at Fort Johnston, North Carolina, and found letters with Lieutenant 
 Ewing from the War Department advising my postponing a visit to the 
 fort at Beaufort, North Carolina, imtil after my inspection at Norfolk, in 
 Virginia. After inspecting Oak Island and the New Inlet with Lieutenant 
 Ewing, I proceeded to Wilmington, on ni)- way to Washington, with A. F. 
 McNeill, Esq., as far as Warrenton, where his daughter Mary was at Mr. 
 
GENERAL JOSEPH GARDNER SWIFT. loi 
 
 Mordecal's school. Leaving Wilmington on ist May, on 7th arrived at 
 Petersburg, and viewed the Appomattox River below the town, also the 
 "Punch Bowl of Pocahontas," and by the Isle of Wight county arrived at 
 Norfolk on loth. The following day, with Colonel Freeman, the com- 
 mandant of the post. Commodore S. Decatur and L. W. Tazuell, Esquire, 
 examined the harbor of Norfolk, having reference to the expected war with 
 England ; wrote to my chief. Colonel Williams, my views of defending this 
 harbor, and by a packet from Norfolk to England wrote F. R. Hassler to 
 procure for me one of Troughton's circles of reflection. The following day, 
 13th, examined the navy yard and Hospital Point with Lieutenant Thomas 
 R. Swift of the United States marines, and found him to be a far-removed 
 cousin; consulted also with Captain Evans, of the navy, on Norfolk 
 defenses, and found him a very highly informed person, whose opinions 
 I respect. 
 
 On 15th proceeded up the bay by packet, to Baltimore, and, after an 
 inspection of Fort McHenry on 20th took the stao-e for Washino-ton. A 
 fellow-passenger observing me reading a work of Dr. Doddredge expressed 
 his good opinion of the book. He was Hon. James Millman, on his way 
 to Congress from Philadelphia. That has commenced a pleasant acquaint- 
 ance. Arrived in Washington the same day in season to attend the levee 
 of Mr. Madison, and to arrange joining the mess of the Hon. Samuel 
 Smith of Maryland, Nicholas Gilmore of New Hampshire, and Charles 
 Goldsborough of Maryland, at O'Neal's. At breakfast the followino- 
 morning the conversation was upon the effect of the embargo law recently 
 passed. A majority of the mess, including John Polk, Esq., of Kentucky, 
 were adverse to war, but in favor of ample preparations, as for instance, 
 the fortifications, the corps of engineers, and the ordnance department. 
 
 On 2 1 St made my report to the War Department upon my inspections in 
 Georgia, South and North Carolina, Virginia and Maryland, and dined with 
 the President at a private dinner on 23d, when he expressed the highest 
 respect for the patriotism of General Pinckney, and for his eminent ability. 
 I commended to the President Major Duncan Moore and A. F. McNeill, 
 Esq., as in every way worthy of the attention of the government for military 
 
I02 THE MEMOIRS OF 
 
 service. A regiment was at my command if I so desired. I preferred the 
 prospect in my own corps, and mentioned the chief of my corps as in 
 every point of view worthy an elevated command in the new organization 
 of the army, etc. ; with the Secretary of War, and met there the notorious 
 Jacob Lewis, making pretensions to mihtary and naval command combined ; 
 a man of many words, and of no consequence. The Secretary gave me 
 orders to return to South Carolina and report for duty to General Thomas 
 Pinckney via Norfolk. On 26th dined with Hon. William Lowndes and 
 Colonel George Izard, my former captain at West Point, and discussed the 
 probability of a campaign into Canada, and the mode and route. The 
 Colonel was for Quebec, Mr. Lowndes was for not going into Canada at all, 
 and my idea was to organize a campaign in Lake Champlain and divide the 
 two Canadas, etc. 
 
 On 3d June took leave of the mess at O'Neal's, where I left Mr. Curtis 
 and Colonel Lloyd Halsey of Rhode Island, and his daughter, and via 
 Baltimore and the Bay arrived at Norfolk on 8th. There gave Colonel 
 Freeman a requisition on the War Department for the quartermaster- 
 general to supply intrenching tools, etc. From Fort Nelson I sent orders 
 to Captain William McRee in Savannah, and Captain John Niex at 
 Beaufort, in North Carolina, to prosecute the works at those places with all 
 the means in their control. Wrote to Major W. H. Armistead at West Point 
 to advise me, through Colonel Williams, of the condition of the Military 
 Academy. This was done in consequence of letters from the colonel that 
 evinced some disgust at the neglect of the War Department. 
 
 On 1 2th June by Petersburg, and, meeting Mr. Miller at Mr. Mordecai's, 
 in Warrenton, arrived at Fort Johnston, Cape Fear, on 19th, having with 
 me the amount as exhibited on the auditor's statement of differences, and I 
 disbursed the same (one thousand three hundred dollars,) among the 
 creditors of Lieutenant Roberts, saving the amount due to Benjamin Blaney 
 and myself. Loss of, and imperfect vouchers, and want of books, have 
 deprived Lieutenant Roberts' family of much of his claim. 
 
 The day after my arrival at the fort was joined by Captain Dent of the 
 United States navy, and employed in arranging to proceeed to South 
 
GENERAL JOSEPH GARDNER SWIFT. 1 03 
 
 Carolina. On 26th June, with orders from both Navy and War Depart- 
 ment, Captain Dent and myself proceeded to sea in a whale-boat ; overtaken 
 by a gale of wind and driven into Little River through the surf on the bar, 
 and thence on horseback to Georgetown, where we met the eccentric 
 Colonel Peter Harney in his cottage, formed after the fashion of a 
 ship's cabin. He was full of patriotic feeling on reading the declaration of 
 war that Captain Dent and myself had received at Fort Johnston, North 
 Carolina, and the colonel expedited our journey to Charleston on 29th. 
 On the 30th June reported myself to General T. Pinckney, as chief 
 engineer of his department of the army. 
 
 July 1st, commenced tours of inspection with General Pinckney, in which 
 he associated his brother, C. C. Pinckney, and the governor, Henry 
 Middleton, and at my request Captain William McRee. The subject at 
 first was the association of the militia under Colonel John Rutledge for 
 coast defense, with the Eighteenth Regiment of United States Infantry, 
 Colonel William Drayton, and Lieutenant J. Hamilton, adjutant. Several 
 of these consultations were held at Mrs. Horry's, the sister of the Generals 
 Pinckney ; a lady of extensive knowledge with great simplicity of manner ; 
 and I observed that both of her brothers paid great respect to that lady's 
 opinion on every public subject discussed in her presence. 
 
 At this time a singular occurrence gave the character of some of our 
 newly-appointed officers. By the general's order, I sent an order to 
 Colonel Welborn and Colonel Pickens, then at Salsbury, North Carolina. 
 These gentlemen acknowledged the receipt of the order, but, from some 
 view they had taken, said "they had concluded not to obey the order, and 
 to divide the responsibility between them." They were arrested, but on 
 explaining restored. 
 
 The last of the month of July made an excursion to Fort Johnston, 
 North Carolina, and returned to Fort Moultrie loth August jwith Lieutenant 
 Ewing, and also my man Jack and my horses. Since 20th July had been 
 performing the combined duties of chief engineer and of aid-de-camp to 
 General Pinckney, having in the same period received my promotion to 
 lieutenant-colonel of engineers, on the promotion of Lieutenant-Colonel 
 
I04 THE MEMOIRS OF 
 
 Macomb to the command of a regiment of artillery. I found on my table 
 at headquarters letters from Washington, advising of the resignation of 
 Colonel Williams, but no order signifying my consequent advancement. 
 This resignation of Colonel Williams was Induced by the neglect of the 
 War Department In selecting general officers for the new army. A subor- 
 dinate position of brigadier was mentioned for the colonel — he did not 
 choose to accept. I notified the corps of engineers of the great loss we 
 had sustained In the retirement of our friend and commander, and accom- 
 panied the same with my views of a suitable arrangement of the respective 
 officers to various posts of duty, which would be Issued In orders as soon 
 as the War Department sent me official notice of the event ; which notice 
 was received on 19th August, on which day I notified Captain William 
 McRee to report himself to General PInckney on 28th of that month, and 
 assume the chief englneership of the southern department, and also orders 
 to Lieutenant-Colonel Armistead to report to me In season to meet me in 
 Washington before the last of October. 
 
 Was necessarily detained in General PInckney's department, to close up 
 the public business in my two departments, until the last of September, 
 when I took my leave of General PInckney, in whom I had found a wise 
 and discreet commander, a gentleman of moderate and firm mind, and of 
 all those qualities that constitute an accomplished gentleman ; and of whom 
 it is also said that In character and manner he resembles General 
 Washington more than any man at this time living. His brother. Coats- 
 worth, a most delightful companion and Intimate with Washington, said 
 he was his brother Tom's model. Neither of them credited the story of 
 Washington swearing at Lee at Monmouth. 
 
 On 4th October arrived at Fort Johnston, North Carolina, on my route to 
 the city of Washington, and there, by appointment, met General Thomas 
 Brown of Ashwood, to arrange with him the mode of calling out the militia 
 of the State, under the order of the governor, to guard the coast on the 
 plan adopted by General PInckney. Reported the result of this Interview 
 to the last-named gentleman; occupied a few days in arranging my official 
 affairs at the fort, and on 10th October left Lieutenant Ewing In command. 
 
GENERAL JOSEPH GARDNER SWIFT. 105 
 
 and, having arranged for my family to move to Wilmington at the close of 
 the season, proceeded with my man Jack to Fayetteville on the 14th. The 
 next day wrote General Pinckney my views of the mode in which General 
 Thomas Brown would, under the governor of the State, execute his plan 
 (General Pinckney's) to embody the militia at the coast. In the night at 
 nine o'clock proceeded in the stage to the north. At midnight, while cross- 
 ing the Cape Fear near Averysborough, our heedless driver discovered that 
 the water had risen during the day, and we found the stage floating and the 
 horses swimming. Fortunately the stage wheels caught in the branches of 
 a tree called a planter. I took off my upper garments and succeeded in 
 cutting clear from the harness one of the wheel horses, and with the aid of 
 my man Jack and this horse we saved the passengers and United States 
 mail and part of the baggage, when the stage swung clear of the planter 
 and was swept down the river, drowning the three other horses. The 
 distance from the stage to the bank of the river was about twenty yards. 
 The passengers arrived at Averysborough about daylight, and there dried, 
 their clothing and such baggage as had been saved, and thankful to God 
 for deliverance from peril. At this place the succeeding stage from the 
 south brought Langdon Cheeves and John Galliard, Esquires, from South 
 Carolina, on their way to Congress ; the former a native of Ireland, came a 
 boy to Pennsylvania, and by his own powers became a very distinguished 
 counsellor, and moved to South Carolina. As a traveling companion, 
 sociable and full of wit, he gave us recitations pathetic and ludicrous, 
 to make the lumbering way short. This meeting commenced a very agree- 
 able acquaintance with him. Mr. Galliard is from an old Huguenot family, 
 not brilliant nor strong but of unassuming good sense, a gentleman of bland 
 and kind deportment. I found him to be a relative of the wife of Professor 
 Hassler of the coast survey. Our party arrived at Washington on 21st 
 October. The War and Navy Departments much employed in reference to 
 the supplies called for by law, the former department especially in procuring 
 the ordnance stores with the one million dollars appropriated therefor, and 
 with a very capable officer at the head — Major D. Wadsworth, aided by Cap- 
 tain Bumford ; and also in filling vacancies in the thirteen newly appointed 
 
lo6 THE MEMOIRS OF 
 
 regiments, and fifty thousand volunteers. In my department, estimates for 
 the coming year, in addition to five hundred thousand dollars recently appro- 
 priated are needed, to which work I immediately went by examining the 
 reports of my late chief, Colonel Williams, and Lieutenant-Colonel Macomb, 
 and gave the estimate to the Secretary of War amounting to four hundred 
 and ninety-seven thousand dollars, exclusive of any field works which might 
 be called for in any campaign, referable to the quartermaster-general 
 department. 
 
 At the request of General W. H. Harrison, sent an order to Captain E. 
 D. Wood to join the general as an aid-de-camp at Cincinnati as well as his 
 engineer. From the time of my leaving West Point in November, 1807, 
 I had been without account of the progress of the Military Academy 
 save the cursory views given in the letters of Colonel Williams and Major 
 Armistead, accordingly I wrote to Captain Partridge for a full report thereof. 
 My name was now before the United States Senate to fill the vacancy of 
 chief engineer. On loth November General Samuel Smith and Governor 
 Gilman of the Senate informed me that Dr. Eustis was privy to a plan to 
 supercede me in that office, by appointing, under the provisions of the law 
 to promote without regard to rank, and that Robert Fulton, the distinguished 
 civil engineer, was the candidate that he preferred. This sacrifice of the 
 continued intimacy between the doctor and myself may have been just in 
 estimating the relative ability of Mr. Fulton and myself, but it met no 
 support from Mr. Madison, and both General Smith and Governor Gilman 
 state that my nomination passed unanimously 4th December, 1812, ami with 
 expressions from senators commending nomination, etc. Whether the dis- 
 appointment that the acquittal of General Wilkinson produced had any inllu- 
 ence in this matter I have not the means of knowing with certainty, but it is 
 certain that from the date of that acquittal the deportment of Dr. Eustis was 
 less friendly than previously. Early in December the doctor resigned the 
 War Department of his administration, for the foregoing causes. I omit 
 remarks upon his official course. The slanders at Washington about an 
 undue partiality on the part of four members of the court that tried General 
 Wilkinson had been traced to Mr. Simmons of the War Department, and 
 
GENERAL JOSEPH GARDNER SWIFT. 107 
 
 referred to parties and feuds in the army that commenced between General 
 Wayne and General Wilkinson. In the consultations of the court such 
 gossip had very properly no influence. At Washington, however, now, in 
 December, 181 2, more rational views of the matter had commenced in the 
 cabinet, where all but one said that " if General Wilkinson had been indis- 
 creet, the testimony before the court was not of a character to justify a 
 verdict of guilty." The war was commenced and it was needful to make 
 the best use of our few officers of any experience, and it is observable at 
 Washington that as trouble presses, military men have become more 
 important than previously in the estimation of members of Congress, to 
 judge from their speeches and personal deportment to officers on the floor 
 and in the lobbies of the hall. 
 
 In this month of November Commodore Stewart gave a gala on board 
 the frigate Constellation, then lying before Washington. The President 
 and heads of departments and many others witnessed this exhibition of that 
 fine frigate. Many members of Congress had never before seen a " man of 
 war." This is a very sensible piece of tact on the part of Stewart to over- 
 come the influence of Mr. Gallatin, who was of the opinion in the cabinet 
 that our ships should be laid up in safety. Thanks to Stewart, Bainbridge 
 and Mr. Madison, such counsel, however patriotic, was neglected, and Hull 
 captured the Guerrier, and now on 8th December I had the pleasure to be 
 present at a ball given in honor of Hull, where we had a second trophy 
 scene. Lieutenant Hamilton in the name of Commodore Decatur laid the 
 flag of the Macedonian at the feet of Mrs. Madison. With characteristic 
 delicacy this lady said, " raise the flag; such a humiliation is not due to a 
 conquered foe." 
 
 At the close of the month received letters from my family informing of 
 the birth of my son Thomas Delano, at the residence of his grandmother 
 Walker in Wilmington, 23d November, 1S12. 
 
 November 2 2d sent to Major Gibbon and General Marshall at Richmond, 
 and to General Pinckney in South Carolina, maps and descriptions of the 
 points of opening war on the lakes, etc., etc. 
 
 Wrote to Colonel Williams iSth December of my having orders to return 
 
loS THE MEMOIRS OF 
 
 to Carolina for the winter, and enclosed his son's (Alex. I.'s) commission in 
 the army. On i "th December sent orders to Captain Partridge in reference 
 to opening the Militar}- Academy next spring, and with orders to Lieuten- 
 ant-Colonel Armistead, Major McRee and Major Bumford, Captains Willard, 
 J. G. Totten and S. Babcock, Lieutenants Thayer, De Russy, Cutbush, Lewis 
 and Findley to be ready to take the field early in the spring, and also sent 
 them their commissions. The same evening waited on the President to 
 introduce Colonel Wadsv.-orth and to consult on the services of our respec- 
 tive departments. A very interesting conversation, Mr. Madison being in 
 favor of a total change in militar)- operations for the next campaign. 
 
 Received a present from Colonel Oilman of New Hampshire of a silver 
 drinking tube for the wounded. 
 
 December 2 2d wrote Governor Turner of North Carolina on the defenses 
 of Cape Fear, at his request, to be laid before the Legislature of that State, 
 Proceeded to Wilmington and Fort Johnston, North Carolina, and arrived 
 there on 30th December, 1812. 
 
 Before leaving Washington I observed that great difference in opinion 
 prevailed among the prominent men there, the President being in favor of 
 a change in our plans of operation upon Canada, while others thought the 
 Detroit system the preferable direction of attack. A species of apathy that 
 it was hoped would be changed for action if General Armstrong accepted 
 the War Department. 
 
 Definite orders to the engineer department were deferred for the present, 
 and I pursued my way to my family, stopping in Raleigh, North Carolina, 
 to confer with the military committee of the Legislature in reference to the 
 subject of the coast defences, contained in my late letter to their senator. 
 Governor Turner. 
 
 HE.\DQUAkTERS EnGINKKK DkI'.\R TMENT, BkoOKI-VN, N. Y. 
 
 lotli March, 1S14. 
 
 1813. On my arrival in January at the residence of my family in North 
 Carolina, and by the approbation of the President of the United States, I 
 
GENERAL JOSEPH GARDNER SWIFT. 109 
 
 submitted a memoir to the militan' committee of tlie State, throuo-h their 
 chairman, General W. W. Jones, embracing views of the defence of the two 
 entrances into Cape Fear Harbor, and a plan of organization of the militia 
 to guard the sea coast against predatory assault from Bermuda, etc. In the 
 middle of the month went to Ashwood to confer with General Thomas 
 Brown upon this plan. I was accompanied by my friend. Dr. Daniel 
 McNeill, who visited my companion, Major Alexander C. Miller, to reduce 
 an imposthume in his thigh, and succeeded in the operation. 
 
 In the month of February visited the sound, inlets and Smithville anchor- 
 age with Lieutenant T. N. Gautiere, United States navy, in reference to the 
 cooperation of gunboats for the protection of the coast, etc. 
 
 On I St March the expected orders came from the War Department to 
 take charge of the defence of New York Harbor as chief eneineer. On 
 2d, with my man Jack, proceeded to Raleigh and on to Fredericksburg, Va., 
 where Lieutenant-Colonel Armistead joined and accompanied me to the 
 city of Washington, from whence I sent him to conduct the works at 
 Norfolk. 
 
 On 1 2th, consulting with General Armstrong, the successor of Dr. Eustis 
 in the War Department, in reference to my future functions in New York 
 and at the Military Academy, and upon the application of the four hundred 
 and ninety-seven thousand dollars that had been appropriated for fortifica- 
 tions on my estimates made last fall ; which, with the twenty new regiments 
 of infantry, two hundred and fifty thousand dollars for barges for harbor 
 protection, two hundred and fifty thousand dollars for hulks to obstruct the 
 harbor channels at points where the defences were insufficient, ten compa- 
 nies of sea fencibles and ten companies of rangers, with also a newly 
 organized staff and a commissariat of purchase and supplies, evinced the 
 influence of our new secretary and promised vigorous operations. 
 
 On 24th arrived at Baltimore and consulted with General Samuel Smith 
 upon militia and other defences of the Petapsco, and we inspected Fort 
 McHenry and gave directions for repairs of the same. 
 
 On 26th to Philadelphia, and passed a day with my late chief, Colonel 
 Williams, at Mount Pleasant on the Schuylkill, who though retired was 
 
no THE MEMOIRS OF 
 
 deeply interested in plans for protecting the Delaware, in reference to 
 which, and my own views for New York, I remained a few days for the 
 benefit of the counsel of this patriot. April ist at Mrs. Wilkinson's, No. 
 40 Broadway, in New York, that had been for years the city quarters of 
 Colonel Williams and other engineer officers. 
 
 On 6th April reported myself for duty to General George Izard, the 
 commandant of the department, and by an especial order of the President, 
 received the command of Staten Island with a brigade composed of Colonel 
 Samuel Hawkins and Colonel Alexander Deniston's regiments of infantry, 
 the 3 2d and 41st, in addition to my duties as engineer, and also such 
 occasional visits to the Military Academy as my duties may permit, and for 
 which purpose I required Captain Partridge at West Point to man the 
 engineer yacht and send the same to me, which was done, and the yacht 
 used for the double purpose of exploring the waters adjacent to New York, 
 and making occasional inspections of the Academy at West Point. April 
 15th I commenced repairing all the forts in the harbor, and also a system of 
 block houses at Utrecht Bay, west end of Long Island, Princess Bay on 
 Staten Island, at Sandy Hook and Jamaica Bay, to prevent surprise from 
 the English squadron of three " seventy-fours," two frigates and a sloop of 
 war then laying off the Hook. Employed Mr. Cropsy of Utrecht, a very 
 industrious and intelligent mechanic, to construct these buildings, and also 
 Mr. John Tisdale as clerk to the engineer department. He had been simi- 
 larly employed by Colonel Williams. To aid this protection we had a fleet 
 of gun boats in the Sandy Hook cove. Despatched the yacht with orders 
 to Captain Partridge at West Point to call on Colonel Snowden, the military 
 store-keeper, with my requisition for the wall pieces in the United States 
 stores, which on their receipt were distributed to the several block houses 
 before mentioned, each block-house having a guard formed by detachments 
 made by General John Swartwout from his brigade of militia quartered at 
 Perth Amboy. We had discovered that from the Romilles, seventy-four, a 
 nightly intercourse was maintained with spies in the city. I had arranged 
 with Cjeneral Swartwout to transport his forces at short notice to the Hook 
 or L(Mig Island, having also an understanding with the commander of the 
 
GENERAL JOSEPH GARDNER SWIFT. 1 1 i 
 
 flotilla of gun boats and barges, Captain Jacob Lewis, to furnish barges, 
 relying, however, for efificiency on his second officer. Captain J. B. Cooper, 
 in Armand's corps, and who though never a sailor, had been a cavalry office 
 at the age of seventeen in the War of Independence ; a man of mind and 
 great activity. 
 
 On 25th May reported to the Secretary of War that all these temporary 
 defences of New York Harbor were defensible, having cannon mounted 
 in all of them, and supplies, etc., etc. Also reported to the Secretary that 
 I had ordered Major McRee to the northern frontier as chief engineer there 
 and Lieutenant S. Thayer to General Bloomfield for similar duty on the 
 Delaware river and bay. I also sent the Secretary my plans for new build- 
 ings at West Point, regretting that the appropriations did not permit 
 architectural taste, space of rooms and despatch in building being essential 
 to the increasing wants of the Academy. 
 
 At the close of the month of May the governor of the State and the 
 commandant of the department accompanied me on an inspection of the 
 forts in the harbor and of the temporary works before mentioned. These 
 various employments had postponed my visit to West Point into June, when 
 I went thither in the yacht and inspected the Academy. Among the exper- 
 iments, found the magnetic variation to be four degrees and fifteen minutes 
 west, and traced on the ground the foundation for the new buildings. 
 Finding some impediment to the execution of my orders at the Academy, 
 arising from my absence and Captain Partridge's idea of his own responsi- 
 bility in my absence, by the permission of the Secretary of War I remodelled 
 the functions of the Academic staff, assuming to myself the inspectorship 
 of the institution, at the same time providing for the functions of a professor 
 of ethics, histor>' and geography combined with the duty of chaplain, that 
 had long been wanted at the Academy, and for which the Secretary of War 
 permitted me to employ a divine of the Episcopal church. On my return 
 to the city I found my son, James Foster, at No. 40 Broadway, brought 
 from Wilmington, North Carolina, by my friend John Fanning Burgwin, 
 with letters from my wife that the rest of my family would soon come on 
 by land also, under escort of my friend Major Alexander C. Miller. 
 
112 THE MEMOIRS OF 
 
 On the occasion of arranging for the celebration of 4th July on Staten 
 Island, General Izard deemed my views as interfering with his command. 
 In referring him to the orders of the President and the 63d article of war, I 
 also stated that my arrangements were of detail, and that I should adhere to 
 them unless he chose to assume the command by his presence on the Island, 
 or by general orders, and that it offered me an opportunity to gratify any 
 wish he might have in reference to those details, if he would signify the 
 wish. No farther discussion or action on this point of command arose 
 while General Izard was in command of the department. 
 
 On 17th July Mrs. Swift and my sons William, Alexander and Thomas, 
 and my servant Nancy, arrived from North Carolina under the care of Mr. 
 Miller, in twenty-one days' travel from Wilmington. They found Julius H. 
 Walker, James Foster Swift and myself at housekeeping in Washington 
 Street, Brooklyn, in quarters fitted by my friend George Gibbs, and by the 
 aid of another friend, Major Fanning C. Tucker, found an e.xcellent school for 
 my sons James and Willy, taught by a Welch scholar, Evan Brynon. Soon 
 after my family vv'as established in Brooklyn, the Society for Manumitting 
 Slaves called (by their deputy, a Quaker gentleman,) in my absence, on 
 Mrs. Swift, and informed her and my servants Jack and Nancy, that the two 
 latter could not be held in bondage. The servants replied that they wished 
 not their interference. I, however, found that the doctrines of these philan- 
 thropists had disturbed the quiet of both Jack and Nancy, and I told them 
 that I would give them their freedom as soon as they chose to require it. 
 
 The principal object for which I had been on duty in New York Harbor, 
 (to repair the forts, and to construct such temporary works as the time 
 permitted,) having been accomplished, I wrote the Secretary of War that 
 I was ready for duty on the frontier, knowing that an army was to be 
 concentrated at Sackett's Harbor for some movement on the St. Lawrence. 
 
 On 9th August I received orders to report myself for duty to General 
 Wilkinson as the chief engineer of the 9th military department. On 14th 
 General Wilkinson arrived in the city, and the same day I had an 
 interview with him, and received instructions in relation to the contem- 
 plated campaign. 
 
GENERAL JOSEPH GARDNER SWIFT. 1 13 
 
 On 17th I accompanied him and General Armstrong, the Secretary of 
 War, Governor Tompkins and Colonel Gilman of New Hampshire, to 
 Albany, landing my brother, William H. Swift, at West Point, a cadet for 
 the Academy, and giving him letters to Captain Partridge. At Albany I 
 found Major George Bumford industriously and usefully engaged in prepar- 
 ing ordnance stores for the Ontario frontier. The transportation of these 
 ordnance stores and cannon to the lakes had become an exhorbitant 
 expense, frequently in amount exceeding the value. The roads were 
 bad, and the Mohawk at so low a stage of water that flat boats could not 
 be used ; all indicating the neglect of preparation for war previously to 
 its declaration, and also the need of those improvements which the growth 
 of the country demanded, and which had been ably presented to Congress 
 six years ago, and which also had become in New York the theme of 
 conversation among such men as Gouverneur Morris, Thomas Eddy, Gideon 
 Hawley, John Swartwout, De Witt Clinton, Elkanah Watson, etc. From 
 the first movement of military stores to the lakes, for naval as well as army 
 purposes, transportation has been the heaviest item of expense. 
 
 At Albany were at this time assembled numerous army officers eti route for 
 Sackett's Harbor. On 25th August the adjutant-general, J. B. Walbach, 
 General L. Covington with other officers, including myself, en rotite, for the 
 harbor, and arrived there on 31st, and found the army much distressed by 
 disease from using bad bread ; one of the great evils that arise from the 
 contract system in furnishing supplies for an army, especially bread and 
 pork. Renewed my acquaintance with Commodore J. Chauncy, now the 
 naval commander on the lakes, and made the acquaintance of Brigadier 
 Jacob Brown, a self-taught, active, and highly intelligent officer ; also found 
 the marquee of Colonel Alexander Macomb, graced by his accomplished 
 and exemplary wife, the only lady in camp, General Brown's family being 
 at Brownville. I had left my own family at Brooklyn, having arranged with 
 my friend John F. Burgwin to supply Mrs. Swift with money in case of 
 interruption in my sending supplies, and commending my family to the 
 courtesies of my friend Fanning C. Tucker and his family, and that of his 
 father-in-law, Joshua Sands, Esq., and also the family of George Gibbs, 
 
114 THE MEMOIRS OF 
 
 Esq., all of Brooklyn, and in the city the family of Captain James Farquhar, 
 whose hospitable lady and daughters made Green Hill (the " Sailors' Snug 
 Harbor" estate left by Captain Randall,) one of the most agreeable circles 
 of domestic happiness that I have ever found. 
 
 On 6th September my assistants, Lieutenant James Gadsden and Lieu- 
 tenant R. E. De Russy arrived, and commenced a reconnoitre of the waters 
 of the bays and the approach to the St. Lawrence. 
 
 General Wilkinson's headquarters was the daily point of assembling the 
 staff, and of conference on the duties that were opening the campaign at 
 this time. On 5th September General Armstrong was escorted, as 
 Secretary of War, into the cantonment, the interview at headquarters 
 being too formal for that ease which is desirable for the interchange of 
 opinion among chieftains. I was invited by the Secretary of War to 
 accompany himself and General Brown, mounted, to the battle ground 
 where Colonel Backus fell in the moment of victory, and where General 
 Brown won the commission he now wears by his timely arrival in the action 
 at the head of a band of militia. A line of our troops extending from the 
 block-house at the harbor toward the lake shore, south-east of Horse 
 Island, the point where the British troops landed and made the assault, 
 General Brown's militia arriving through the woods in the rear of Colonel 
 Backus' left flank and thus assailing the enemy on his right flank, which 
 caused the halt and precipitate retreat of the enemy, and thus the winning 
 of the day by Brown. 
 
 I was now joined by Brevet-Major Totten as my first assistant engineer, 
 and, with General R. Swartwout, examined the stores of the quartermaster- 
 general's department. At headquarters I observed an inactivity that, as it 
 seemed to me, arose from some doubts as to who was in command. General 
 Armstrong or General Wilkinson. In my occasional excursions with these 
 gentlemen I observed that they did not ride at the same time. In my 
 interviews with General Wilkinson his expressions implied a strong dislike 
 of the interference of the War Department, and in fact the presence of the 
 Secretary did lessen the influence of General Wilkinson. The contem- 
 plated junction with Hampton was a subject of discourse, and General 
 
GENERAL JOSEPH GARDNER SWIFT. 115 
 
 Wilkinson indulged in a too public expression of his dislike to General 
 Hampton, which, on one occasion gave me a fair opportunity of saying to 
 General Wilkinson that his remarks tended to revive the feuds and party 
 feelings of the army that had been described before the court martial at 
 Fredericktown in 181 1. 
 
 Whatever may have been the influence of General Armstrong's presence 
 there was no increase in the activity of preparation to move the army, 
 which condition of things continued until the 8th October, when a sudden 
 council of war was called and I was questioned as to my opinion of 
 attacking Kingston. My reply was that I would not attack that place at all 
 if the army was ready to move down the St. Lawrence, but if not ready, 
 that Kingston might be surprised and the public stores burned in a couple 
 of days by one thousand men, if my intelligence was to be relied on, as I 
 believed it was. 
 
 On the same day I presented Mr. D. B. Douglass with letters from the 
 War Department, informing him that the Secretary of War had acceded to 
 my request to appoint him second lieutenant of engineers, and that he 
 would repair to West Point for duty at the Military Academy, and by him I 
 sent supplies to my family at Brooklyn. 
 
 Up to 19th October heard no more of an assault upon Kingston, on 
 which day General Wilkinson directed me, with Brevet-Major Totten, to 
 reconnoitre the St. Lawrence river in the vicinity of Prescott, and plan an 
 attack upon that post, and to sound the river with a view to a rapid passage 
 down the river. On 20th Major Totten and myself were on our way as far 
 as Brownsville, leaving my military cloak in the care of Lieutenant Beverly 
 Randolph, aid-de-camp to General Lewis, and also some books. On 23d, 
 near Oswagatchie, met Colonel Sackett of the United States dragoons at 
 the Bend, and with him arranged to be furnished with escort, and thence 
 we proceeded to Ogdensburg and Morristown, opposite Brockville, in 
 Canada. We here met Arnold Smith, who, with Mr. York of Ogdensburg, 
 gave us much assistance. By 31st October I had procured a plan of Fort 
 Prescott and sounded the channel of the river, and sent my plan of attack 
 to General Wilkinson by express, whose reply was that he should enter the 
 
Il6 THE MEMOIRS OF 
 
 river with his force by 3d November. On 4th instructed Colonel Sackett 
 and Major Woodford to collect the boats that were near Hamilton for the 
 use of the army. 
 
 Our reconnoitering was much annoyed by a party of Glengary Fencibles 
 under Ruben Sherwood, a very active and shrewd refugee from Connecticut, 
 so that our movements had to be made at early dawn, and our passage from 
 place to place effected by night. At the close of this day (4th) Major 
 Charles Nourse met me at Ogdensburg with advices from General 
 Wilkinson, then at Grenadier Island, the army on the river. On 5th I met 
 General Wilkinson in his boat on the river near Morristown, and he deter- 
 mined to pass Prescott at night. We were here joined by Colonel W. 
 Scott and Colonel E. P. Gaines as volunteers. On 6th the main body of 
 the army landed to march through Ogdensburg, and at night General 
 Wilkinson directed me to conduct him in his boat past Prescott, which was 
 done, the baggage following, the cannonade from the fort commencing as 
 soon as our boat was under way. Little damage was sustained by the 
 boats owing to the random fire from the fort, and, as I presume, from 
 neglect of ranging their guns by daylight. Many of our officers and 
 men, particularly the aged, were suffering from disordered bowels from 
 the use of bad bread, especially General Wilkinson and General Lewis. 
 The former sought relief in the use of opium, and soon after passing 
 Prescott it was necessary to land, which was done at Sharp's farm, in 
 whose house under the influence of laudanum the general became 
 very merry, and sung and repeated stories, the only evil of which was 
 that it was not of the dignified deportment to be expected from the com- 
 mander-in-chief. At early dawn on 7th we reached the Indian village on 
 the American shore, followed on the opposite bank of the river by light 
 artillery from Prescott that annoyed our march somewhat. Our force, 
 seven thousand rank and file. General Wilkinson here informed me that 
 he expected soon to meet General Hampton and his four thousand 
 troops. In the evening of 7th we arrived at the Narrows and remained till 
 9th, sending Colonel Alexander Macomb in advance, and crossing the 
 dragoons from the American shore, our videts informing us that twenty- 
 
GENERAL JOSEPH GARDNER SWIFT. 1 1 7 
 
 three boats loaded with troops, protected by two gun boats, commanded by 
 Captain Mulcaster, were following us at a distance of four miles. The 
 evening of 9th we passed the Rapid Platte opposite Hamilton, and put to 
 at Williamsburgh near Chrysler's farm. On the morning of the nth 
 November detachments were debarked from Boyd's, Swartwout's and 
 Covington's brigades to lighten the boats, and to pass the dangers of the 
 Long Sault. As these detachments were about to move down the margin 
 of the river the enemy was seen advancing in column, their advance guard 
 opening a light fire on us. Orders were given to face about and advance on 
 the enemy in three columns, outflank them, and capture their artillery, each 
 of our columns five hundred men. The enemy retired and formed behind 
 a ravine at Chrysler's farm with their right wing forward, as our movement 
 was to turn the left flank, their force about one thousand six hundred, their 
 right supported by four pieces of artillery aided by eight gun boats in the 
 river, that maintained a constant fire, though ill-directed. Our columns 
 drove the enemy back across a ravine west of the first, and formed line on 
 the brink of the ravine opposite the enemy, our left supported by four pieces 
 of artillery and a reserve of one hundred and fifty dragoons. Both lines 
 opened a fire on each other, and no attempt was made by our generals to 
 charge until Colonel Walbach put the dragoons in motion. They were 
 arrested by the fire of grape from the gun boats, killing some eight men 
 and wounding many at the head of this charge. Both sides ceased firing 
 at the same moment for no apparent cause, as neither side made any 
 forward movement to charge further. Our columns, after having every fifth 
 man killed or wounded, (one hundred and two of the former and two 
 hundred and thirty-eight of the latter,) leaving our dead on the field, 
 marched deliberately to our boats, pushed off and descended the river and 
 the Long Sault, arriving on the morning of 12th at Barnhard's Bay, and 
 were there joined by Colonel Macomb and General Brown of the advance, 
 who had had an affair with the enemy at an adjacent bridge. During the 
 action of the i ith November my duties were two-fold, that of engineer and 
 aid to the commander-in-chief, therefore, being at various points in the 
 field with orders, saw ever>' movement and every neglect of movement that 
 
I 1 8 . THE MEMOIRS OF 
 
 I have noted. On this same day (12th) Colonel H. Atkinson, General 
 Hampton's inspector-general, arrived at Barnhard's Bay with a letter from 
 his chief declining a junction of his army at St. Regis. This declension 
 put an end to the campaign. Our army left Barnhard's Bay 13th Novem- 
 ber, crossed the St. Lawrence and ascended the Salmon River six miles, to 
 the French Mills. On 14th we buried with military honors General 
 Leonard Covington, who had been mortally wounded on nth November 
 at Chrysler's farm. The general died on 12th. He requested me to send 
 his sword to his son, and to give his horses to his servant, both of which 
 were done. 
 
 After making proper arrangements in my department I received the 
 following order in a letter from General Wilkinson : 
 
 "French Mills, 17th November, 1813. 
 "Col. Swift: Sir, — You will please to proceed to General Hampton 
 with the general order now delivered to you under seal, and having 
 delivered it will communicate to me the result, to which you will be pleased 
 to add freely and confidentially every observation material to the service 
 which you may have made. You will employ an express to bear this 
 communication to this place. You will then proceed to Washington, having 
 leave to call on your family, and deliver to the Secretary of War the letter 
 you have ; and should he encourage it give him a detail of the affair of the 
 nth, and also of all our measures and movements. At Washington you 
 will be able to learn what may be my destiny. Any communication you 
 may make to me on this subject will be gratefully received. I shall also be 
 glad to hear from you on your route through the great towns. 
 "With unfeigned friendship, 
 
 "Your obliged and faithful 
 
 "James Wilkinson." 
 
 1 proceeded to Plattsburgh with caution, having to evade the vidcts of 
 the enemy, and arrived at General Hampton's headquarters on 19th 
 November, and on 20th I wrote to General Wilkinson by express, as 
 follows : 
 
GENERAL JOSEPH GARDNER SWIFT. 1 19 
 
 " Platts BURGH, 20th November, 1813. 
 
 ''Dear Sir: I enclose an official report of my progress. I found 
 General Hampton in bed, who said he was ready to obey your orders, with 
 an army out of spirits, not more than one thousand six hundred effectives. 
 I learn from the general that it was not his intention to disobey any order 
 of yours, and that his non-junction was in consequence of the opinion that 
 he was required to act upon your letter of 6th ; and from General 
 Armstrong's letter to him, which he showed me, there was no intimation of 
 joining you above Chataugay. General Hampton pledges his sacred honor 
 to me that it was his desire to have formed a junction with you. The last 
 letter of General Armstrong to General Hampton has this expression in it: 
 'The enemy have been able to overtake General Wilkinson and detain him 
 as high up the river as Cornwall ; it is evident that the movement below 
 cannot safely be more than a feint.' 
 
 " On passing through Chataugay Four Corners I find all consumed by fire. 
 From General Hampton I learn that all below has been burned by the 
 English. All your supplies, then, must come from this point, Plattsburgh, 
 and unless a force be left here to guard this pass and depot the enemy can 
 come upon General Hampton's rear and cut off future supply. I therefore 
 think that General Hampton had better remain here. General Hampton is 
 of opinion that the enemy cannot get up to you. He gives me a copy of his 
 order for the march, (enclosed,) and entreats of you to allow a few days' 
 delay. He furnishes relays of express horses to get my letter to you, in 
 order that you may be acquainted with the nature of the country through 
 which the enemy must march to make an attack on you. The roads are so 
 bad on the Chataugay that the English cannot transport their artillery and 
 necessary provisions. Captain McDonough Is superior to the enemy on 
 this lake in broad water with a working wind, and Inferior under all other 
 circumstances. The enemy could be In this place In twelve hours after 
 General Hampton moves for Chataugay Four Corners. I am fully of the 
 opinion that the government will make the best of our affairs, and I have 
 been thinking of the plan, to wit: Sink all the boats In Salmon River, take 
 sleds and move .your army and stores to this place, ordering General 
 
120 . THE MEMOIRS OF 
 
 Hampton to build huts for your troops. Make from this an attack over the 
 ice upon Isle au Noix, carry it and St. Johns, and determine in the spring 
 to transport boats overland fourteen miles and make a descent on Montreal, 
 or wait, with the command of these passes till our army be renovated for 
 an efficient assault. This plan may be varied. The main reasons that 
 influence my mind in this are : the necessity of doing something before 
 spring, and of being in the best possible position for action then. General 
 Hampton has sent his sick and convalescent into quarters at Burlington, 
 Vermont." 
 
 The next day I again wrote to General Wilkinson as follows : 
 
 " Pi. ATTS BURGH, 2 1 St November, 1813. 
 
 ''Dear General : Yesterday I wrote you a hasty memorandum, wishing 
 to get off the express without delay. Though hasty, the more I reflect on 
 the plan of your army moving to this place for winter quarters, and more 
 especially as a new line of operations — the line that, in the end, must be 
 adopted — the more am I impressed with its importance. From the French 
 Mills the campaign of 18 14 will be difficult in operation, and may be, if 
 the enemy manage well with gun boats, defeated; difficult from the 
 distance of army supplies, etc. Suppose in the spring that our usual 
 tardy supply of recruits prevent any certain operation against the enemy. 
 In such case this position on Lake Champlain would be preferable far 
 to French Mills. Hold Sackett's Harbor, Fort George, and Plattsburgh 
 with strong garrisons till our army has time to be reformed." 
 
 General Wilkinson's letter to the Secretary of War, mentioned in his 
 order to me, is as follows : 
 
 "Headquarters French Mills, 17th November, 18 13. 
 
 To GeneR/\l Armstrong. Dear General : This will be delivered to you 
 by Colonel Swift, who took the boldest and most active part in the action 
 of iith instant of any individual engaged except Adjutant-General 
 Walbach, who is now ill in consequence of his exertions and fatigue. Colonel 
 
GENERAL JOSEPH GARDNER SWIFT. 12 1 
 
 Swift, from his personal observations on the ground, is able to give you 
 many details which I deem improper to commit to paper, and for this 
 purpose I have directed him to wait on you at Washington after he has 
 seen Hampton with the order of which I yesterday transmitted you a copy. 
 Your military system requires thorough revision, and your military estab- 
 lishment great reform, before we can put to the best advantage the natural 
 force and courage of our countrymen. Since the action of nth, British 
 officers have acknowledged our dauntless courage, but observed we were 
 undisciplined and fought without order, and indeed the scenes of that day 
 justify these observations. Give Colonel Swift your confidence, and I 
 pledge myself to you that he will not abuse it. God bless you my dear 
 general. 
 
 " James Wilkinson." 
 
 On the day of the date of my letter to General Wilkinson, 21st Novem- 
 ber, after ordering Major William McRee and Captain S. Thayer of the 
 engineers, then at Pittsburgh, to meet me in New York as soon as General 
 Hampton could spare them, I left Plattsburgh and crossed the lake to 
 Vermont and arrived in Albany on 25th, and by invitation at Governor 
 Tompkins' as his guest, and where I found General Armstrong, Secretary 
 of War, and also General William H. Harrison from our western army. The 
 Secretary of War was in his chamber and on perusing the despatches he 
 enquired into the condition of the forces, etc. I gave him in detail the 
 condition in which I had left them, and of the movements on the St. 
 Lawrence. He attributed the result to the negligence of both the generals. 
 I gave him the substance of my letters to General Wilkinson from Platts- 
 burgh and my reason for changing the course of our error that had been 
 existing from the first year of the war, namely, inviting the enemy to the 
 west instead of keeping him to the east by our operations on the natural 
 line through Lake Champlain, and thereby compelling him to pass to and 
 from Upper Canada by the Ottawa River, etc. These views could not have 
 been novel in such a mind as General Armstrong's, and when at table the 
 conversation was between him and the Governor and General Harrison, and 
 
122 THE MEMOIRS OF 
 
 it was jocosely remarked that western war did not occasion John Bull to 
 bring over veterans, as he would do if the war was pressed to the east, the 
 Secretary turned the subject. General Harrison had been a pupil of Gen- 
 eral Wayne and though not of equal genius or reading with General 
 Armstrong, he had sound military views, and he sustained the point of 
 Governor Tompkins' waggery. The latter never spared a joke because it 
 was true, save when it might injure feeling. There are few of larger gen- 
 erosity of feeling than Governor Tompkins. The power of calling out the 
 militia was also a topic at table after dinner, and United States authority 
 denied, by all, to make the call save through the action of the governor of 
 the State, whose right and duty it would also be to designate the general 
 and other officers until the body joined the army of the United States in 
 the field. As to the causes of failure of the campaign on the St. Lawrence, 
 the sojourn of General Armstrong on the frontier in the autumn had 
 excited the jealousy of General Wilkinson. As the event is, both of the 
 generals and Secretary would gladly attribute the failure to any other cause 
 than their respective errors. The immediate cause of the failure is the 
 delay on the river; overtaking our army by the British on i ith November 
 ended the campaign. My impression is that a junction of Wilkinson and 
 Hampton was not intended, and by consequence an assault on Montreal 
 was not purposed after October, if previously. One of the main causes of 
 delay is bad bread, and its consequent bad health. Our chiefs were old, 
 and from the date of the movement from Sackett's Harbor the two oldest, 
 Wilkinson and Lewis, had not a day of sound health until winter. If the 
 army had been led by General Brown the end had been better than it is. 
 
 The evening of 25th, agreeably to his request I wrote to General 
 Wilkinson my idea of his prospects, ami mentioned my main views of 20th 
 and 2 1st on his movements. As I could not with propriety mention the 
 Secretary of War's conversation about himself and Hampton, I briefly said 
 I found him dissatisfied with both. 
 
 At the same time I wrote Sheriff T. J. Davies on Black Lake that the 
 Secretary of War had acceded to my rccjuest to send his son Charl(>s to 
 West Point as a cadet. I had given the Secretary an account of the /cal 
 
GENERAL JOSEPH GARDNER SWIFT. i 23 
 
 that this youth had exhibited in the campaign on the St. Lawrence, and also 
 of the service that the father had rendered to the march of the army 
 between Ogdensburgh and the rapids below, in foraging, etc. The same 
 evening I wrote Mr. Arnold Smith, who had been a very able guide on the 
 St. Lawrence, that the Secretary of War offered him the post of assistant 
 deputy quartermaster-general. 
 
 I found in Albany a letter from Professor Mansfield at West Point on the 
 subject of his going to Ohio, and sent him leave to be from the Academy 
 through the vacation of course, and also to loth April, 18 14. 
 
 On 26th my faithful and fearless man Jack arrived from Plattsburgh with 
 my horses Scott and Flim Nap ; placed them at livery with a cavalry soldier 
 of the Revolutionary War, Mr. Gregory, to await orders for my return to 
 the north, in case that my ideas of a campaign should be adopted. 
 
 On 27th November, with General Armstrong and General W. H. Harrison 
 and other officers, taking a steamboat to ourselves and stopping at West 
 Point to make an inspection, and on 28th found my family all in health at 
 Brooklyn, in Washington Street. Thanks be to God ! 
 
 On 30th November General Dearborn, the commander of the depart- 
 ment, and General Harrison, dined and passed the evening at my quarters, 
 and with my cousin, W^ R. Swift. General Armstrong could not stay to 
 dinner. The conversation was upon the mode of conducting the campaign 
 of 1 8 14. 
 
 We had that morning inspected the forts on Staten Island and west end 
 of Long Island — a British squadron cruising off Sandy Hook. 
 
 On 9th December, with Bishop Hobart consulting on the subject of 
 inviting the Rev. Adam Empie to take the chaplaincy of the Military 
 Academy, the Secretary of War having in the previous summer given his 
 consent to offer that appointment to Mr. Empie, and having learned that he 
 (Mr. Empie) had determined to leave Wilmington, North Carolina, I now 
 wrote to Mr. Empie that the Bishop highly approved the plan, and that the 
 selection of an Episcopalian had been made because, aside from my own 
 views, the service of that church was deemed to be the most appropriate 
 to the discipline of a military academy. 
 
124 THE MEMOIRS OF 
 
 December 1 1, the Secretary of War invited me to accompany him to the 
 War Office at Washington, and on 15th with Mrs. Armstrong and her 
 daughter, Miss Margaret, the journey was commenced. At Princeton, with 
 the general, looked over the battle ground where General Mercer fell in the 
 Revolution, and to whom the Secretary had been an aid-de-camp on that 
 day, the Secretary marking the positions and movements of the American 
 and British forces in that conflict. 
 
 We occupied until 24th in looking at the Delaware and Patapsco with 
 military views, and in reaching Washington I found Mrs. Armstrong an 
 amiable lady, and her daughter handsome and intelligent. The general has 
 a fine mind, though personally of very inert habits, abounding in knowledge 
 of the past and strong views of the future operations on the frontier. He 
 spoke of General Washington in highest terms of respect for his integrity 
 and patriotism, but not respectfully of his genius. We discoursed on the 
 " Newburgh Letters." The general said that had he been one year older 
 he would not have written them ; that they had been a mill-stone hung about 
 his neck through his life. He corroborated Dr. Eustis' saying that Colonel 
 Pickering was on the committee which appointed him (General Armstrong) 
 to write, and that Dr. Townsend had also been on that committee. 
 
 At Washington, on the presentation of my reports and estimates for 
 fortifications and the Academy for 1814, I recommended that the chief 
 engineer should have his office in the city of Washington. The objection 
 was that the station of the corps of engineers was, by law, to be at W^est 
 Point. My reply to this was that Congress could remedy that by a very brief 
 resolution ; that the necessity was apparent in the fact that the adjutant and 
 paymaster-general's departments were established there for easy communi- 
 cation with the War Office; and that the functions of both of those offices 
 were very simple, while those of the engineer department involved frequent 
 elucidations to the Secretary of War upon expensive plans of construction, 
 etc. There seemed to me to be an impression that having a military 
 staff at Washington would be placing a personal influence there not 
 congenial with our institutions. The wise and worthy I'resitlent Madison, 
 able to conduct the affairs of the country in times of jicace \ery success- 
 
GENERAL JOSEPH GARDNER SWIFT. 125 
 
 fully, found himself oppressed by the disappointments that resulted from 
 the imperfect composition of our army, and of operations concocted by 
 his inexperienced counsellors, which were evinced by failures of cam- 
 paigns. Neither himself nor his congressional intimates, nor his cabinet, 
 fancied the proximity of a military staff as advisers in a war that had been 
 commenced without preparation, a neglect that had much of its origin in a 
 just though misdirected dread of a standing army; which error had also been 
 accompanied by an omission of competent provision for the construction 
 and keeping in good condition the machinery of war. That is, providing 
 and classifying arms and munitions under the care of competent and 
 responsible officers to conserve the same, and including in said provision a 
 corps of instructed administrative officers with a comparative small number 
 of men as a nucleus upon which may be predicated any force that a war 
 may make needful. 
 
 The habits of the nation, for more than a quarter of a century previously 
 to this war, had been that of peaceful commerce; now disturbed by the 
 aggression of foreign powers that had made retaliation necessary, these 
 habits in peace had become so moulded by demagogues that the people 
 were more influenced by personal objects and small party politics than by 
 views for the public good; a course of conduct that had thronged the halls 
 of Congress with representatives, a large majority of whom had but slender 
 mental endowments. In the progress of the war a better state of things 
 was dawning. The pressure of the war had turned quiet and intelligent 
 minds of men at home to reflect gravely on the lack of talent in Congress, 
 and in the cabinet also. The elections began now to return better informed 
 citizens to Congress. The experience of Mr. Madison had been compara- 
 tively great, but it had been altogether of a civil character. In appointing 
 military officers, resort was had to those who had survived, and who had 
 held subordinate offices in the great struggle for independence ; even these 
 were too aged for prolonged activity in the field. The subject of change 
 in the selection of officers for the army as leaders had become a common 
 topic at Washington, and it was admitted that too much favor to party had 
 been exercised in making army appointments. Such men as General John 
 
126 THE MEMOIRS OF 
 
 Brooks in Massachusetts, and Colonel Jonathan Williams of Philadelphia 
 were now thought of, as of the youngest on the Revolutionary list who 
 were competent to lead. 
 
 West Point, December 31st, 181 6. 
 
 18 14. Januar)'. On 3d of this month, at the request of Governor 
 Worthington of Ohio, I gave him a plan to form a military academy in 
 that growing State. My view of the use of such institutions in the several 
 States is that it is the best mode to interest militia officers to train no larger 
 body of militia than a battalion ; that no larger force of militia could be 
 usefully assembled, and consequently no higher grade of rank should be 
 conferred in the militia than that of major. The duty of a freeman to 
 defend his country could be best initiated at such schools. But by no 
 means to interfere with the Military Academy at West Point. 
 
 The appropriations for 18 14 were to raise three regiments of riflemen 
 and ten companies of rangers, also five hundred thousand dollars for 
 floating batteries — contemplating the steam frigate plan of Mr. Fulton — 
 and five hundred thousand dollars for fortifications. 
 
 In this month of January, at Washington several highly talented gentle- 
 men of Congress, together with some citizens sojourning there, and 
 including .some officers of the army, held meeetings to consult upon 
 measures to be recommended to the country through the gazettes and by 
 correspondence with citizens in all the States of the Union, to commend 
 General John Armstrong for the next presidency, under the conviction that 
 to carry on the war with success to attain peace the President should be a 
 military man. Jeremiah Mason of New Hampshire, then in the Senate, 
 was the leader of this plan, and I was myself an humble agent to promote 
 the purpo.se. The "Newburgh Letters" were the chief obstacle to our 
 essay. But General Armstrong was the strongest mind of the party in 
 power, and it had been useless to have wasted our efforts on General 
 Pinckney; he had the curse of Federalism attached to his most honored 
 name. The subject subsided. It was impracticable from the lowness of 
 motive that had to be addressed to a misguided public. Popularity of a 
 
GENERAL JOSEPH GARDNER SWIFT. 127 
 
 mean species was needed to sustain a fresh candidate. But the essay had 
 one good influence upon the cabinet, to spur it on to make new and 
 suitable appointments, and to adopt a plan of campaign that promised 
 useful success, namely, by concentrating our forces upon Lower Canada. 
 
 On 20th January my orders sent Colonel Armistead to inspect and repair 
 the fortifications south of Maryland, and Major William McRee to Sackett's 
 Harbor to construct defences there, taking upon myself the direction of 
 the repairs on the Delaware, and thence eastward to Maine. On 28th 
 January arrived at headquarters at Brooklyn, and until 24th February 
 engaged with General Moses Porter, the officer of ordnance, in com- 
 mencing the repairs at Fort Miflin and in New York Harbor. On 24th 
 February my father, Dr. Foster Swift, received the appointment of surgeon 
 in the army, through the efforts of his former schoolmate in Boston, Hon. 
 H. G. Otis. 
 
 On 25th February received my commission from Adjutant John B. 
 Walbach, as brevet brigadier-general in the army. Its date, instead of 
 14th February should have been nth November, 1813. This omission I 
 have attributed to General Armstrong's dislike of my friendly regard for 
 General Wilkinson. 
 
 On 28th February to Philadelphia, to meet the committee of defence 
 there, my former chief. Colonel Williams, its principal counsellor, and by 
 order of the Secretary of War, and with Colonel Williams' advice, formed a 
 plan for the Delaware, and to defend the approaches by land. On the 
 2d of March proceeded with the committee down the Delaware in the 
 revenue cutter to Fort Miflin, and to the Pea Patch, accompanied by the 
 veteran Colonel Allen McLean and Commodore Stewart, and selected the 
 Pea Patch and a point opposite on the Delaware as sites for works of 
 defence, to be occupied at once. Commodore Stewart's views are of a true 
 military character, both for land and sea. Reported the result of this 
 examination to the War Department on my return to Philadelphia, where, 
 in consequence of letters from Washington, on 4th March I wrote Mr. 
 Ferdinand R. Hassler, then in London, under cover of Hon. Jonathan 
 Russell, and also through Mr. Gallatin, that his long absence from the 
 
128 THE MEMOIRS OF 
 
 United States was commented upon, and that I hoped he would return to 
 the United States to resume the coast survey as soon as possible. Among 
 the rumors was one that he was dabbling in politics, and corresponding 
 with the enemies of England on the subject of the oppression that his 
 native land (Switzerland) was sustaining. Mr. Hassler was conducting the 
 construction of mathematical instruments for the survey with Mr. Edward 
 Troughton. 
 
 On 6th March 1 went to Germantown to consult with Major Roberdeau 
 on the topography of the Delaware shore, and there met Mr. Stephen H. 
 Long, and examined his successful hydraulic machinery ; gave him my aid 
 to enter the corps of engineers as a second lieutenant, and employed him 
 to join me at Brooklyn as an assistant engineer. Returned to Delaware 
 River, and on 9th of March, after consulting with General Bloomfield on 
 the military defences, returned to my family at Brooklyn. On 19th pro- 
 ceeded to West Point to examine the cadets and other matters about the 
 Academy, that employed me there for one week. On 3d April Mrs. Swift and 
 myself were confirmed at St. Ann's by Bishop Hobart, at Brooklyn, L. I. 
 
 On 4th April received from Major John J. Abert a letter, enclosing a pres- 
 ent from Robert Carey Jennings, of an original letter of three pages, fool's- 
 cap paper, blue, and English make, from General (then Major) Washington 
 to Governor Dinwiddle, dated 3d June, 1754, speaking of an expected battle 
 with Jumonville, and having a remarkable expression in it as coming from 
 Washington to ^. governor, to wit: " If Jumonville behave no better than he 
 did last week I shall have little difficulty in driving him to the devil." Which 
 letter may not have been copied by General Washington in his then 
 position, and which therefore may serve to elucidate the slander cast on 
 Wa.shington by the French governor, of cruelty, etc. This letter R. C. 
 Jennings received from his father-in-law, the Rev. Neidler Robinson, living 
 not far from Peter.sburgh, Va., and who had been a personal friend of 
 Washington's. I, for safety, deposited this letter, by the hands of John 
 Pintard, in the archives of the Historical Society of New York. Of the 
 authenticity of the letter, from the hand-writing, .some carele.ss orthography 
 and its whole aspect, not a doubt existed. 
 
GENERAL JOSEPH GARDNER SWIFT. i 29 
 
 April 9th, with my cousin William Roberdeau Swift, and my brother-in-law, 
 Julius H. Walker, proceeded on a tour of inspection to direct the repair of 
 all the fortifications east of New York to Maine. 
 
 April 13th we arrived at Boston ; met there my father at his post as 
 United States surgeon, the family residing in Sudbury Street; my mother 
 in excellent health. I had not seen my parents for four years and five 
 months. The time had been gentle in its effects on my parents. Exam- 
 ined the works at the Castle and on Governor's Island, and the waters to 
 the lower anchorage. 
 
 April 1 6th, to General Brooks in Medford, to consult about obstructino- 
 the channel of Boston Harbor by hulks sunk with care. My cousin W. R. 
 Swift was with me, and after dining with the general we were returnino- to 
 Boston in our hired chaise, and driving at good speed encountered a 
 country wagon and broke its fore axle, capsized our chaise into a hollow, 
 which instantly killed our horse. The expense of this drive was one 
 hundred and sixty dollars, and we both escaped with very slight contusions. 
 
 April 19th, leaving Mr. Swift and Mr. Walker to visit the alvia mater of 
 the latter at Cambridge, I proceeded with Commodore Hull, United States 
 navy, to Portsmouth, N. H., and on board the frigate Congress there met 
 my cousin John Lovering, a fine scholar, but by dissipation reduced to a 
 clerkship on board this vessel ; made arrangements for his discharge, and 
 to return to his excellent mother in Boston. Examined the new seventy- 
 four on the stocks ; renewed my acquaintance at the Langdon's and 
 Sheafe's, and with Commodore Hull examined the harbor to plan means of 
 protection against sudden incursion from the British cruisers; gave orders 
 for suitable repairs on Fort Constitution, and a covered battery at Kittery 
 on the Maine shore. The works at Portland being deemed by General M. 
 Porter in as good condition as they could be placed, I went no farther east. 
 
 April 2ist returned to Boston, and on 23d with General John Brooks, T. 
 H. Gushing and Colonel Sullivan attended an experiment at the navy 
 yard, where one hundred and seventy-five balls of lead, of two ounces 
 weight each, were discharged from seven gun barrels hooped together, 
 each barrel containing twenty-five balls, and the whole discharged at a 
 
130 THE MEMOIRS OF 
 
 target two hundred and fifty yards off, the balls penetrating to various 
 depths out of sight into the target. Chamber's repeating gun. Three 
 days after, with Governor Brooks, General Gushing and Colonel Sullivan I 
 inspected the channel-way down the harbor, with a view to planning a 
 system of hulks to obstruct the same. Found Colonel George Sullivan an 
 active and intelligent aid in this matter, giving the subject his whole time. 
 
 April 27th, with my mother and sister, Sarah Adams, cousin W. R. Swift 
 and Mr. Adams, on my way to Rhode Island Harbor. Passed a couple of 
 days at Taunton Green, at the academy and other nooks of William R. 
 and my boyhood scenes, meeting Dr. Doggett and the Leonards, and 
 Crockers, and Tillinghasts, Cobbs and other early friends, greatly to the 
 pleasure of my mother, and to all of us. I here finished my plan for so 
 sinking the hulks in Boston Harbor as by aid of pumps to float each vessel 
 at will, and sent the same to Colonel Sullivan to be laid before the gentle- 
 men before mentioned, by the hands of Justice Parker, on the last day of 
 April ; the same day saw my mother, etc., off for Boston, and, with W. R. 
 Swift left for Newport, R. I. After examining the forts, gave to Captain 
 Julian F. Heileman directions for the repair thereof, which occupied me to 
 the 3d May, when, with W. R. Swift, proceeded over to Connanicut, and by 
 the ferry and road thence to New London, where, with General H. Burbeck 
 arranged for the best that could there be done to repel any sudden assault 
 of the enemy, then laying off in Gardner's Bay. 
 
 Found Colonel Roswell Lee an excellent volunteer officer, abounding in 
 military resources for plans of defence, and an indefatigable and able 
 executor of the field works to enclose old Fort Griswold — the key of the 
 position. To the work done here I have attributed safety from marauding 
 parties, such as succeeded at the mouth of the Connecticut River. 
 
 On 7th May, via Fort Hale in New Haven Harbor, arrived at ni)- head- 
 quarters, Brooklyn, where the Rev. Adam Empie reported himself for duty 
 at the Military Academy. I found on my desk letters from the War 
 Department in reply to my request to be assigned to duty on the lake 
 frontier, which in my opinion could now be done, as every arrangement had 
 been made to repair and arm the fortifications on the seaboard. My 
 
GENERAL JOSEPH GARDNER SWIFT. 13 I 
 
 request was declined, though General Brown had asked that I might be 
 sent to Niagara; the reason assigned — the need of my services on the 
 seaboard — may be sufficient, they were not so deemed by me. However, 
 General Dearborn proposed examining all the defences of New York 
 Harbor, in which I accompanied him. The spirit of the war of '76, and his 
 experience therein, gave a zest to the reconnoitre, and interest to the 
 opinion of this veteran. We were a week employed in this service, to 17th 
 of May. On 20th of which month I accompanied Rev. Mr. Empie to West 
 Point, and inducted him to his office, that of chaplain and professor of 
 ethics, and also treasurer of the Academy; a novel junction of functions, 
 but rendered needful by the want of officers. 
 
 My cousin, William R. Swift, was with me, and with a corps of cadets we 
 ascended to the summit of Crows' Nest Hill, and measured its distance 
 from Fort Clinton by the sound of its cannon, having with us a time 
 chronometer. At one thousand one hundred and forty-two feet the second 
 for the passage of sound, the distance is eight thousand two hundred 
 and seventy-nine feet. 
 
 On my return to headquarters, Brooklyn, 29th, was called on by Colonel 
 Nicholas Fish, formerly the adjutant-general of the United States army, 
 who informed me of the apprehension of the citizens of New York, and 
 his wish to consult with me on the mode of communication with the 
 War Department on measures needful to defending the city. 
 
 This conference resulted in the appointment of a committee of defence by 
 the city corporation. At this time a British squadron was cruising off the 
 harbor. On loth I met Governor Tompkins and the mayor, De Witt 
 Clinton. By their advice funds were furnished by the corporation and 
 spies were employed by me to visit the squadron off the Hook, who brought 
 me a sketch from the cabins of Sir John B. Warren and Sir Thomas Hardy, 
 which, whether real or speculative, contemplated a descent at some point 
 on the coast between Rhode Island and Chesapeake Bay, and which I 
 reported to General Armstrong at Washington. Upon this I invited the 
 governor and mayor to examine with me the East River to Throg's Point, and 
 the main channel to sea by Sandy Hook, giving them my opinion that the 
 
132 THE MEMOIRS OF 
 
 citizens miaht be invited to construct a line of defence in the rear of 
 
 o 
 
 Brooklyn, and another from Hallet's Point in Hell Gate across York Island 
 to Mount Alto. These gentlemen approved the idea, and at their instance 
 six thousand dollars were placed at my disposal to commence the plan. I 
 was at this time joined by Lieutenant James Gadsden as my aid-de-camp. 
 
 General Morg-an Lewis was ordered to relieve General Dearborn in the 
 command of the third department at New York. 
 
 On 2 2d June Robert Fulton, Esq., Commodore Decatur, Hon. Oliver 
 Wolcott, General Lewis and myself witnessed an experiment made by Mr. 
 Fulton at Governor's Island, to show the effect of discharging a cannon 
 under water. Mr. Fulton placed a thirty-two pounder five feet below the 
 surface of the water, and the muzzle five feet from a target composed of 
 oak plank five feet thick, the passage to the vent being secured from damp- 
 ness and nealed powder packed in a box leading to the vent, the piece 
 charged with twelve pounds of powder and one thirty-two pound shot 
 secured with plenty of wadding. On giving fire no sound was produced, 
 and no violent action of the water. Numerous air bubbles came to the 
 surface. The shot went through the five feet of water and through the 
 target, tearing it in many pieces. In the open air on Governor's Island the 
 same day, a thirt)'-two pounder cannon was charged with twelve pounds of 
 powder and one shot, and fired at a target of the material and dimensions 
 just mentioned, at two hundred and fifty yards distance. The shot pene- 
 trated four and a half feet, and much shattered the frame of the target. 
 This experiment was made to show what could be done by su.spending 
 cannon over the side of a ship and running close alongside an enemy's ship. 
 
 The last of this month of June my cousin William R. Swift left us to 
 proceed to the South, and I proceeded to West Point to inspect the 
 Academy, and my family accompanied me. We returned ist July, when, on 
 n;p(irting to the Secretary of War the condition of the Academy, I also 
 stated the incipient measures of the corporation of New York, and received 
 orders from the Secretary to render every aid in my power to such plan 
 of protection as the city might adopt. On 15th sent Lieutenant James 
 Gadsden to commence the works of Hallet's Point, a block-house on Mile 
 
GENERAL JOSEPH GARDNER SWIFT. 133 
 
 Rock, and a tower in the rear of the Point to cover the right of our line of 
 defence. On the same day the mayor and my late chief, Colonel Jonathan 
 Williams, Major Fairley, General Morton, (an industrious and most useful 
 public officer and patriot,) were, with my father. Dr. Swift and General 
 Stevens, assembled at the Point, and there named the position Fort 
 Stevens in honor of the general, our companion, a patriot of the Revo- 
 lution, and a prominent officer of artillery at Saratoga in 1777; who 
 gave the party a dinner at Mt. Napoleon, his country seat, in honor of 
 the occasion. 
 
 On 17th July commenced the works on Harlem Heights at Mt. Alto on 
 the Hudson, extending thence by McGowan's Pass and the elevated ground 
 that overlooks Harlem Flat to Hell Gate. The trenches were opened by a 
 detachment of volunteers, citizens from the city, under Major Horn, a 
 Revolutionary worthy. This line is taken in preference to an advanced one, 
 because money and men are not yet at command. 
 
 On 26th July, with the committee of defence, urging the call upon the citi- 
 zens to turn out and occupy Brooklyn Heights. A party of one thousand 
 paraded at my quarters on August 6th, and broke ground on Fort Green. 
 By 8th of the month the details became regular of citizen volunteers, each 
 party working one day from sun to sun, yielding a force ranging from one 
 thousand two hundred to two thousand per day, at Brooklyn and Harlem. 
 
 On 29th August Governor Tompkins and the mayor (Mr. Clinton,) with 
 the committee of defence, adopted my organization of forces to man the 
 works now constructing; General Armstrong assuring that one thousand 
 six hundred regular troops would be at our command in a few days. We 
 had an encampment of three thousand militia, a gun boat, and sea fencible 
 force of five hundred men; Commodore Decatur had seven hundred sailors 
 at command, General Morton had one thousand five hundred and General 
 Mapes one thousand five hundred enrolled, at one hour's call. The 
 exempts of the city enrolled themselves, one thousand five hundred ; two 
 corps under Samuel Swartwout and J. B. Murray, Esquires, were also 
 formed. The steamboats were put in requisition to bring three thousand 
 from Orange and Duchess Counties ; General Jeremiah Johnston, of Long 
 
134 THE MEMOIRS OF 
 
 Island, had one thousand men under his very prompt and able command ; 
 Newark offered three thousand and lower Jersey three thousand. Thus we 
 had at call twenty thousand three hundred citizen soldiers. They were 
 habitually under arms, and taught the ordinar)' marching and firing. I had 
 the temporary office of inspector-general, and visited all these corps and 
 examined their arms, flints, and ball cartridges, and established expresses. 
 Addressed the citizens at the city hall, and counselled that no citizen should 
 leave New York but on urgent necessity. In reference to the sick and 
 disabled, caused the "Ten," and other public houses out of the city to be 
 put in order with wards, nurses, stores and surgeons. The mode of defence 
 was thus arranged in case the enemy landed. It was my part to lead to 
 the shore, and Commodore Decatur to cover the flanks. The whole force 
 encamped on Harlem Heights and at Brooklyn at any one time did not 
 exceed twelve thousand rank and file. My functions in the busy scene 
 were various. The committee of defence gave little heed to the regular 
 functions of staff officers, and expected from me not only my own profes- 
 sional statement to them of the progress upon what they termed my lines 
 of defence, but also an account of the progress of the ordnance construc- 
 tions, the state of the artillery, the quartermaster-general's department and 
 of the hospitals; in accomplishing which the aid of the officers of all depart- 
 ments was freely given, all of them estimating justly the exigency of the 
 times, and waiving the observance of the ordinary routine of accountability 
 to the committee, passed through my hands all the facts that were essential 
 to enable the committee to estimate and acquire from the city corporate 
 authorities the pecuniary means to execute our plan of defence. I had fine 
 health and an excellent saddle horse, to whom the wags gave the name of 
 "Flim Nap," after one of the heroes of the Dean, who carried me at half 
 speed from and to Harlem and Brooklyn with ease, twice, and sometimes 
 three and four times in a day, thus enabling me to forward the working 
 parties of citizens. My principal aid-de-camp was Lieutenant James 
 Gadsden of the United States engineers, who was of efficient and untiring 
 ability. General Jacob Morton and General John Mapes ; the comptroller 
 of the city, Thomas R. Mcrcein, and most especially General Nicholas 
 
GENERAL JOSEPH GARDNER SWIFT. 135 
 
 Fish, chairman of the committee of defence, and Major Horn were constant 
 aids to my labors, and many others of the citizens of both New York and 
 Brooklyn ; in the latter, Joshua Sands, Esq., was prominent. My extra aids- 
 de-camp were Messrs. James Renwick, John K. Berg^vin, William Proctor, 
 and William Kemble — the first and third topographers. Mr. Holland, 
 the artist, volunteered his graphic services to avoid duty in the line of 
 troops, and gave us more than twenty sketches of various parts of the line 
 of works and adjacent scenery. The zeal of the citizens, led on by the 
 most respectable gentlemen of the city in daily labor with the pick and 
 shovel, had in a few weeks accomplished an incredible amount of work upon 
 the lines. To these efforts the eloquence of the city, the patriotic song 
 and thrilling story lent their aid and natural influence. Hawkins' sono-s. 
 and the apt and facetious sallies of Maxwell were not among the least 
 incentives to labor. The display of valor of our navy, and the heroism of 
 our troops on the frontier gave vigor to the army of youth and age in our 
 trenches, and finally the vandalic folly of Britain in burning the national 
 archives at Washington in the month of September, topped the climax of 
 feeling that kept our citizens with entrenching tools in their hands until 
 the parapets across York and Long Island were bristling with ordnance, 
 that gave token of our readiness for defence. This desirable state of our 
 armament was attained by the close of the month of November, and the 
 lines occupied by the troops fcom the several encampments of Brooklyn 
 and Harlem. 
 
 On 27th December I received orders from the War Department to 
 proceed in the ensuing January to Baltimore, as a member of a military 
 board to revise the present, and form a new system of infantry tactics for 
 the United States army. 
 
 In the two years past I have endeavored to promote the interests of the 
 Military Academy by selecting the intellectual sons of my most respectable 
 acquaintance, and inviting them to apply to the Secretary of War for cadet's 
 warrants. Among the number is William McNeill, the son of my friend Dr. 
 Daniel McNeill of Wilmington, N. C. ; whom, meeting on my way to 
 West Point, and he on his way to commence theological study with Rev. Mr. 
 
136 THE MEMOIRS OF 
 
 Wyatt of Newtown, L. I., he (William) found my purpose suitable to his 
 propensities, and so took him with me to the Point. He has been there 
 now several months, and gives evidence of being suited to the place. 
 
 1815. In pursuance of the orders of 27th ultimo I proceeded from head- 
 quarters, Brooklyn, to Baltimore on 5th of January, where on 9th the board 
 to revise, etc., assembled. Its composition was General W. Scott, Brevet- 
 General J. G. Swift, Colonel J. R. Fenwick, Colonel William Gumming and 
 Colonel William Drayton, with Captain John M. Glassell as secretary. 
 This board continued in sessions until the 25th February, when it completed 
 its duties and reported the same to the Secretary of War, by whom I was 
 directed to have the plates executed and engraved, and six thousand copies 
 of the new book printed at New York. While on this duty at Baltimore I 
 received a summons from Judge-Advocate Martin Van Buren, Esq., to 
 appear at the trial of General Wilkinson at Troy, N. Y., as a witness. I 
 wrote the Secretary of War of my receipt of this order, to know whether 
 I was to leave the board in obedience to the summons. No reply was made 
 to my letter, and I pursued my duties at the board. I knew that the trial 
 had no object of a national character in view. I did not feel inclined to 
 recount at that trial the weakness exhibited by Wilkinson at Thorp's House 
 on the margin of the St. Lawrence in November, 18 13, because Wilkinson 
 was no more in fault than Hampton for the failure of the campaign, and 
 because Wilkinson had written to General Armstrong a favorable account 
 of my conduct on the field at Chrysler's farm, and because I knew that the 
 campaign was in no wise influenced by the scene at Thorp's, and I had so 
 stated the facts of the day and night to General Armstrong. Mr. Monroe 
 at this time discharged the double duty of minister of war and state. 
 Between himself and General Armstrong there did not exist any amicable 
 relations. The scenes at Bladensburg and Washington in the last year had 
 embittered the feelings of each to the other, and General Armstrong had, 
 by resigning the War Department, given strength to his opponents. On 
 my way to Baltimore I had met him in Philadelphia, and said to him on 
 perusing his memorandum of a letter of resignation, that "in my opinion 
 that letter would place a cudgel in the hands of Mr. Madison." 
 
GENERAL JOSEPH GARDNER SWIFT. 137 
 
 However, a choice of duties being left to me by the War Department, I 
 preferred the duty on the board at Baltimore. It is true that a summons to 
 a court martial is imperative, and to neglect the mandate may expose one 
 to arrest and trial ; but knowing of the animosity subsisting between the 
 parties to this trial at Troy, I had no inclination to appear for or against 
 either as a witness, and heard no more of the summons. 
 
 The assembling of the military board at Baltimore had brought thither 
 several prominent officers of the army in addition to the board, and to 
 those who formed the general staff of the military command of the United 
 States district in that city. The probable campaign in the ensuing spring 
 was a general theme of conversation among us, in the midst of which, on 
 13th of February, came the news of a treaty of peace having been signed at 
 Ghent. On the same day arrived the account of the defeat of the British 
 army before New Orleans by General Jackson. The consequent illum- 
 ination of the city, combining a double celebration of events, in a calm 
 night when everything was covered with snow, formed a very impressive 
 scene. In the centre of a window in Market Street I observed a bril- 
 liant star embracing the whole window, in the centre of which was a 
 quotation from Shakspeare's Henry VI.: "Relieved is Orleans from the 
 British wolves." 
 
 On 1 7th of the month I was called to Washington to consult with the 
 Secretary of War upon a plan to reduce the army to a peace establishment. 
 The board had also been called upon to report its opinion on that subject. 
 On waiting upon the President I found him greatly improved in health, and 
 overjoyed at the conclusion of the war. 
 
 The general idea of Congress seemed to be to reduce the army to a 
 standard upon which an army of fifty thousand men might be engrafted, 
 which the provisions of the law fell far below the proper scale to sustain. 
 The old theme of competency of militia became rife, and Congress provided 
 to resume the services of forty thousand thereof in case of need. An 
 appropriation of the sums of four hundred thousand dollars, and two 
 hundred thousand dollars, was made to carry on the fortifications. An 
 extended organization of the Military Academy was proposed, and to that 
 
138 THE MEMOIRS OF 
 
 effect I recommended that two of our best officers, to wit, Colonel 
 INIcRee and Major Thayer, should be sent to Europe to examine the 
 works of France, etc., and on the Rhine and low countries, and to form 
 a librar)- for the Academy. 
 
 After sending to the various officers of the engineers orders to inspect 
 the condition of the works on the fortifications, in order to repair through- 
 out the Atlantic ports, I returned on 3d March to my family in Brooklyn, 
 with whom the Rev. Mr. Empie had passed the winter, and where Mrs. 
 Swift had received the account of the death of her only sister, Harriet, Mrs. 
 Osborne, in North Carolina. On my way, at Philadelphia, with my former 
 chief. Colonel Williams, and examined the arrangements made to resist any 
 land attempts that the British might have made, and gave him a description 
 of the works erected around Baltimore for similar purposes; and also gave 
 him a sketch of what had been done on York and Long Islands — positions 
 well known to him — and the plans had his professional approbation. 
 
 On 7th of March, at Brooklyn, received from the committee of defence 
 of the city the proceedings of the corporation in reference to my services 
 in the past year. They had requested my portrait, to be executed by the 
 executive John Wesley Jarvis, to be placed in the city hall as a memorial; 
 and they resolved that I was a benefactor to the city. They also sent to 
 Mrs. Swift my half-length portrait, also done by Jarvis, together with forty- 
 three pieces of silver, and also presented me a case of silver drawing instru- 
 ments, and a very handsome pleasure barge, by which to amuse my family 
 and friends in excursions over the bay of New York. 
 
 On 15th of the month I presented to the committee of defence a general 
 view of the system of defence, and the plans of all the works that had been 
 constructed by citizen labor; the whole comprised in a folio atlas, with my 
 report, containing also my acknowledgements of the aid that I had received 
 from Lieutenant James Gadsden, my aid-dc-camp. He was of the corps of 
 engineers, and grand-son of the patriot General Christopher Gadsden of 
 South Carolina; and also acknowledging the services of Messrs. Renwick, 
 Proctor, Kemble and others, including the artist Holland. The artist Jarvis, 
 before mc;ntioned, is the grantl-son of the great John Wesley, the leader of 
 
GENERAL JOSEPH GARDNER SWIFT. 139 
 
 Methodism. Mr. Jarvis has many fine quaHties as an artist, and great 
 social ablhty. 
 
 On 1 2th April gave instructions to Colonel McRee and Major Thayer to 
 proceed to France as recommended to the Secretary of War and President 
 in February last, and those gentlemen sailed from Boston on loth June in 
 the United States frigate "Congress." 
 
 On 20th June, returning from an inspecting tour to West Point, I met 
 Captain John M. Glassel, the secretary of the board, and arranged with 
 him to aid me in consulting the printer and engraver to print the work 
 done in Baltimore upon infantry tactics. The work was immediately com- 
 menced by Mr. Mercein and others. 
 
 On nth July, in pursuance of orders from the War and Navy Depart- 
 ments, proceeded to Newport, R. I., and met Commodores Bainbridge and 
 O. H. Perry, the three forming a commission with instructions to explore 
 Narragansett Bay and its tributary waters, with a view to the selection of a 
 position for a navy depot, which order was laboriously executed, including 
 Providence and Taunton Rivers, Fall River and the Watupper Ponds. Our 
 report to the department at Washington agreed in opinion that Newport 
 Harbor was the most important post for navy refuge on the coast of the 
 United States. The report also embraces a system for the defence of the 
 depot, including the various approaches by land and water, and also com- 
 mending the closing of the passage between Conanicut Island and the main 
 land by a dyke of large stone, that might afterwards be removed if found 
 desirable to do so. On 24th July the commission returned to my office in 
 Brooklyn, and thence forwarded our report to the War and Navy Departments. 
 
 On 15th August I proceeded to an inspection at West Point, and found 
 much difficulty in keeping the place furnished with needful supplies, and 
 was obliged to incur many debts to sustain the Academy. Returned to the 
 city early in September, and in correspondence with the War Department 
 found that funds could not be sent from the treasury. By the authority of 
 the Secretary of War I attempted to negotiate a loan from the banks of the 
 city, which every one of them declined as unsuited to their mode of doino- 
 business. In fact they did not like the security — the pledge of the depart- 
 
 \ 
 
I40 THE MEMOIRS OF 
 
 ment to pay the loan as soon as Congress supplied the means — a far-off 
 event in the opinion of the banks in the then reduced value of treasury notes. 
 In this dilemma I met Jacob Barker, who liked the security on the condition 
 that I would draw upon him for not more than ten thousand dollars per 
 week, and thus in the course of six weeks I received sixty-five thousand 
 dollars from him in bank paper, and thereby prevented a disbandment of 
 the Military Academy and a suspension of the repairs on the fortifications 
 in New York Harbor. Taking the then condition of "public credit" into 
 view I deem this act of Mr. Barker to be in a high degree patriotic. 
 He is to receive seven per cent, per annum until the loan be paid. 
 
 On 5th September invited to a dinner given to Hon. Mr. Clay, Rufus 
 King and Albert Gallatin. 
 
 In October sent my views to the Secretary of War for securing the 
 fortifications of the United States from dilapidation pending the scarcity of 
 money, and also in case of relief from the pressure, what new works might 
 be commenced in 18 16 if the view given met his approbation, and was 
 sustained by Congress ; the whole amount contemplated being eight 
 hundred and thirty-eight thousand dollars. 
 
 At the close of the month of October my father and mother came from 
 Boston, to pass the winter in my family in Washington Street, Brooklyn. 
 My sister Sarah and her son Julius also arrived in the month of November, 
 leaving her daughter Louisa at nurse in Boston. My sister was confined 
 at my house with her daughter Delia. My brother-in-law, Mr. Eli W. 
 Adams, and my cousin, William R. Swift, were then establishing themselves 
 in business in Baltimore. I gave them letters to Robert Oliver, Esquire, 
 who aided them with loans. This course of Air. Oliver was habitual with 
 him toward young men of business. Adams and Swift were much bene- 
 fitted thereby, and Mr. Oliver, on my thanking him for his volunteer aid in 
 this matter, informed me that Adams and Smith had punctually refunded 
 the loan. 
 
 On 2 1 St December Lieutenant Gadsden and myself, accompanied by my 
 sister Sarah and her children, took a private carriage to Philadelphia, where 
 we were joined by Professor F. R. Hassler, and arrived in Baltimore on 
 
GENERAL JOSEPH GARDNER SWIFT. 141 
 
 28th. Gadsden, my aid-de-camp, and myself proceeded to Washington, 
 and by order of the Secretary of War established the headquarters of the 
 corps of engineers in a part of the house of Mrs. King, the widow of 
 Nicholas King, long a draughtsman to the War Department; and after 
 preparing the reports for commencing the works upon the fortifications I 
 sent Lieutenant Gadsden to General Andrew Jackson, who had written me a 
 request to select a suitable officer to serve as his aid-de-camp. Having 
 entire confidence in the ability and character of Gadsden I thus deprived 
 myself of his services, believing that the measure would promote the 
 interests of a very deserving man, in a field of larger scope than his aidship 
 to me could offer. 
 
 1816. In addition to the ordinary duties of my office in Washino-ton I 
 had many communications with the President and Secretary of War during 
 the month of January', upon improvements and extension of the Military 
 Academy, with a view to inviting to that institution some officers from the 
 military schools of France. The question was whether to place these 
 officers as professors at the Academy, or to attach them to the corps of 
 engineers in a bill about to be prepared by the military committee of 
 Congress. 
 
 In February I proceeded down the Potomac with Lieutenant Colonel 
 Armistead and Major Roberdeau, to examine Cedar Point as a site for a fort. 
 On our return to Washington in the sloop that had been chartered for this 
 service, the ice cut the bottom of the vessel so that she sunk on a shoal 
 below Alexandria, and we escaped to the shore, with some difficulty, with 
 our instruments and papers. 
 
 While in conversation with the President on the subject of this defence 
 of the approach to Washington, he expressed an opinion that Captain 
 Partridge might be detailed on the duty connected with this contemplated 
 work, or on some other duty that would relieve him from West Point. My 
 reply to this was that to displace Captain Partridge suddenly, and without 
 assigning the cause, could not be just to his official rights. The President 
 assented to the correctness of this, but said : Captain Partridge is not 
 deemed by the Secretary of War the most suitable officer of engineers for 
 
142 THE MEMOIRS OF 
 
 duty at the Academy. I called immediately on the Secretary of War and 
 stated these circumstances. He said the matter would be considered 
 further, and that though he should not interfere with any order in reference 
 thereto he would prefer that I should send some officer of engineers to 
 relieve Captain Partridge. I then stated to Mr. Crawford that the service 
 of superintending at West Point was not desirable to any officer of the 
 corps. The subject was deferred until I had made my visit of inspection. 
 I then departed for an inspection of Fort McHenry, at Baltimore, where, 
 on my arrival, I took lodgings with my brother-in-law Adams, in St. Paul's 
 Lane, and after visiting Fort McHenry proceeded to Fort MiBin in the 
 Delaware, and thence to my quarters in Brooklyn on the last day of 
 February. Early in March found me at West Point with Captain Partridge, 
 to whom I was not at liberty to communicate what had passed between Mr. 
 Madison, Mr. Crawford and myself. I however said that he had enemies 
 at Washington. I was at this time taken ill with ague, and detained at the 
 hospitable quarters of Mrs. Mansfield, and was relieved by the extraction 
 of my front tooth, and did not reach my family in Brooklyn until early in 
 April ; finding there our first daughter, Sarah Delano, born in my absence 
 on 30th March. 
 
 On 2 2d April I was apprised by letter from Lieutenant S. H. Long, that 
 the purpose of the President was to so conform to the new bill before Con- 
 gress, by introducing a skillful engineer from France into the corps of engi- 
 neers, and that it was rumored that the plan had received my approbation. 
 By the return mail, on 23d April, I wrote to the Hon. Jeremiah Mason, and 
 to the Hon. William Lowndes, an inquiry what was the actual purpose of the 
 President, for I had received no intimation from the War Department in 
 relation to this matter since the conversation before mentioned in January. 
 Their replies show, that to expedite the passage of the bill before alluded to 
 in January, members of Congress were informed that the bill was in accord- 
 ance with my opinions. Without delay I wrote to the Secretary of War 
 that the only accordance on my part in this matter was e.xpressed in the 
 conversation that I had with him and the President in January. 
 
 On 2d May the Secretary of War wrote me to assign the appropriation, 
 
GENERAL JOSEPH GARDNER SWIFT. 1 43 
 
 eight hundred and thirty-eight thousand dollars, to the different works in 
 the United States, "to facilitate operations," etc. 
 
 On the 8th of that month I returned to the Secretary of War my 
 opinion on the subject of his letter, designating one hundred and seventy 
 thousand dollars for repairs of fortifications and two hundred and three 
 thousand dollars for finishing the works that had been commenced, leaving 
 four hundred and sixty-five thousand dollars for newly projected works. A 
 letter Irom the Secretary of War was now on its way to me, dated on the 
 same 8th May, stating that at the close of the late session of Congress the 
 President had been authorized to employ General Bernard, or some other 
 " skillful engineer," through the agency of Hon. Albert Gallatin, and that 
 until the arrival of that engineer the commencement of new works would 
 be postponed. (See my files, A.) On 2 ist May I replied to the Secretary of 
 War, (see B,) to which he rejoined on i ith June, (as in C,) and to which I 
 replied on ist July, (as in D,) which documents I requested my friends, 
 Hon. Rufus King and Hon. Oliver Wolcott, to examine and favor me with 
 their opinions. Mr. King invited Mr. Wolcott and myself to dine with him 
 at Jamaica for the purpose of that examination; both of these gentlenjen 
 having been long conversant with governmental affairs, and both of them, 
 by their conduct in the late war, not unduly influenced by party politics. 
 They gave me the opinion that my views, as expressed in D, were sound 
 and just. To this letter D, Mr. Crawford replied as in E; all of which are 
 of record in the engineer department at the war office at Washington. 
 
 Pending these discussions the works on the fortifications of the United 
 States were in no other way progressing than in the ordinary repairs. 
 
 In July a large meeting in the city to form the American and Foreign 
 Bible Society; Joshua Sands and J. G. Swift members from Long Island. 
 
 The French engineer, selected by the Marquis de La Fayette and Mr. 
 Gallatin, was General Bernard, who this summer arrived in New York, and 
 had his interviews with the Secretary of War and the President, without my 
 being informed of the nature of that intercourse. The general, however, 
 when he came to the city, was, with his family, received by mine with hospi- 
 tality, and by myself and the corps at large was treated with every personal 
 
144 ^^^ MEMOIRS OF 
 
 respect ; and every facility in my power was offered to him, by a view of 
 all our plans and reports, to enable him to acquire a knowledge of the 
 military defences of the country, in order that so skillful an engineer — and 
 one in whom Napoleon had reposed much confidence — might suggest the 
 correction of any error that our young corps of officers might have 
 committed. 
 
 This humiliating act of my country made me very unhappy, added to 
 which the War Department made an essay to place me in a position where 
 my sentiments might least influence my brother officers of engineers. 
 Accordingly on 9th September the Secretary of War wrote me that Captain 
 Partridge did not conduct the Military Academy satisfactorily to the Presi- 
 dent ; that it was necessary for me to repair to West Point as soon as my 
 official duties elsewhere would permit, and there to establish the headquar- 
 ters of the corps of engineers, and to assume in person the superintend- 
 ence of the Academy, in conformity with the laws that had been in a species 
 of abeyance during and since the wai", by reason of my absence in various 
 parts of the Union, on duty. In obedience of which order, on i6th Novem- 
 ber, I went to West Point, and relieved Captain Partridge, and assumed the 
 superintendence, etc., on 25th of that month. 
 
 Soon after this I received from the Secretary of War a letter of 19th 
 November, informing me that a board of engineers had been formed by 
 order of the President, and that General Bernard had been appointed a 
 bricradier-general by brevet, as second in command, and that the general 
 had been ordered to report himself to me at West Point, to receive my 
 views of his functions on said board. 
 
 On 2d December, General Bernard reported himself to me at the Point, 
 and became my guest. At my instance we discussed the propriety of intro- 
 ducing foreign officers into the engineer department of any country ; General 
 Bernard maintaining that it had been the common practice of France and 
 Russia. On my part it was deemed impolitic, at least, to place in the hands 
 of any foreign nation a knowledge of all our assailable points of defence, 
 and means to occupy them, however high and honorable might be the 
 character of the individuals of any foreign nation so employed. This 
 
GENERAL JOSEPH GARDNER SWIFT. 145 
 
 argument was maintained in mutual good temper. I said to General 
 Bernard that, lest he might misunderstand the principle upon which I 
 acted, or be misinformed by rumor or otherwise, I placed in his hands the 
 correspondence with the Secretary of War, A, B, C, D, E, before mentioned, 
 and advised him to peruse them at his leisure before his return to West 
 Point from Rouse's Point, where he was going to meet Lieutenant Colonel 
 Totten to inspect the work in progress at that place. I gave him a letter 
 of introduction to Lieutenant Colonel Totten, and the general departed on 
 6th December. 
 
 My reflections upon the course of the government in this matter are 
 that my talents as chief engineer are assumed to be inferior to those of 
 General Bernard, which may be a correct opinion, for I have not had the 
 experience of that distinguished man ; in reference to which I had stated 
 to the government that the benefit of that experience could, with some 
 deference to the pride of a corps that had been created at the Military 
 Academy, be secured to the country by placing General Bernard at the 
 head of an engineer professorship at West Point. To be sure the corps of 
 engineers is composed of young men, nevertheless, during the late war 
 they had been found respectable in their vocation, and all of the corps who 
 had been in the field had been honored by brevets. Whether the forts on 
 the Atlantic coast had been judiciously located and constructed, it was a 
 fact that all the principal forts had kept the enemy at bay during the late 
 war. On the whole I come to the conclusion that it is due to my country', 
 and to the corps, that I command, so to cooperate with General Bernard, 
 under the law of i6th February last, as to prove to the country that I am 
 influenced by a sense of duty and not by mere selfishness. 
 
 On 2 1 St December I wrote to the Secretary of War what had passed 
 between General Bernard and myself, and also gave him my opinion that 
 in reference to the commission given to General Bernard I doubted the 
 power of the President to confer on him the rank expressed, which com- 
 mands all inferior in rank to obey him. To this letter I received from the 
 Secretary of War his reply of 30th December, which made it evident that 
 the executive had purposed to place me in a position to make it difficult to 
 
146 THE MEMOIRS OF 
 
 interfere with the professional functions of General Bernard as his superior 
 officer. This determined me to adopt a mild and steady course of duty as 
 chief engineer, to avert the tendency of the course of the executive so far as 
 the law would sustain me, and if not successful to resign my commission. My 
 purpose was not to retard or impede the public service, and therefore I sent 
 to every officer of the corps, on fortification duty, my orders to receive and 
 obey any instruction or order for the progress of the ivorks that might 
 emanate from General Bernard, as if coming direct from myself. 
 
 The establishing of my family at West Point, to wit, Mrs. Swift, my sons 
 James and Williams, and my daughter Sarah, had occasioned me much 
 additional expense ; leaving my sons Alexander and Julius with my aunt 
 Lucretia Lovering, at housekeeping in my quarters in Washington Street, 
 Brooklyn, and taking the Rev. Leverett Bush into my family at the Point as 
 a teacher to my sons. He also performed the functions of chaplain to 
 the Military Academy, the Rev. Mr. Empie having returned to his former 
 residence in Wilmington, N. C. My son Thomas D. was residing with his 
 grand-father. Dr. Swift, the United States surgeon on Governor's Island. 
 The winter a severe season, the Hudson closed by ice, thus rendering 
 intercourse between the divided portions of my family tedious and very 
 troublesome. The last day of the year, while a party of cadets were dining 
 with me a fire broke out in my quarters, that soon assembled other cadets, 
 who in a few minutes removed the furniture and books from the house, and 
 on extinguishing the fire replaced the same, so that our dinner party 
 enjoyed their feast in the hall where many a social party had assembled in 
 the previous days of our then chief. Colonel Williams. These quarters 
 were known as "The Colonel's Quarters." 
 
 18 1 7. The new year was ushered in by a salute of twenty-four, eighteen 
 and twelve-pounder cannon, in which, from the negligence of the gunner 
 in tending the vent, fire was given the cartridge while in the act of "ram- 
 ming home," which killed cadet Vincent M. Lowe, a promising youth of 
 eighteen years, the only son of a widowed mother. His death was occa- 
 sioned by concussion, and without any bruise. The funeral procession was 
 one of the most impressive scenes in its march across the plain to the 
 
GENERAL JOSEPH GARDNER SWIFT. 147 
 
 burial ground on the extremity of the German Flat, in a gusty snow storm, 
 which alternately concealed and exposed the party in its route. 
 
 On 6th closed contracts with John Forsyth, of Newburgh, to construct 
 several brick quarters at the Point. On my return from Newburgh found 
 "the Hills on fire" by the careless conduct of some boys, my sons James 
 and Williams being the principals in the mischief; and which was extin- 
 guished with much delay. 
 
 On 7th January Lieutenant-Colonel Totten and General Bernard arrived 
 at West Point from Rouse's Point, on Lake Champlain, to consult upon the 
 further duties of inspection by the board of engineers. General Bernard 
 . returned to me the documents before mentioned, and declined any further 
 discussion in reference to their subject ; upon which I informed him that no 
 change would be made by me in the course I had determined to pursue, the 
 first act of which would be to attach myself to the board of engineers, 
 unless forcibly prevented by the executive. In the pursuance of which 
 purpose I wrote the Secretary of War that business of importance to the corps 
 of engineers would require my presence in Washington as soon as the 
 examination then in progress was completed at the Academy. 
 
 On loth January General Bernard and Lieutenant-Colonel Totten left 
 West Point to proceed to the Pea Patch in the Delaware River, to discuss a 
 plan for a fortress for that place. 
 
 On 13th of the month, with my aid, Lieutenant George Blaney, left 
 West Point, and proceeded by land to the city of New York, and visited 
 my children in Brooklyn, and my parents and son Thomas on Governor's 
 Island, and thence to Washington. Knowing that the administration of 
 Mr. Madison would soon expire, I called on him and made known to him 
 my views in a request that the functions of the board of engineers should 
 be conducted under my orders, and not those of the acting Secretary of 
 War, Mr. Graham, who had given instructions to the board, merely sending 
 me copies thereof for my government. To this, my proposal, Mr. Madison 
 consented, and I was relieved from personal superintendence of the Military 
 Academy, and therefore sent my orders to Captain Partridge to resume his 
 functions as superintendent; and to give attention to the progress of the 
 
148 THE MEMOIRS OF 
 
 new Academy and the new brick quarters then constructing, under the 
 appropriation by Congress of one hundred and fifteen thousand dollars. 
 The library was enlarged, for which, and contingencies, Congress had 
 appropriated twenty-two thousand dollars. 
 
 On 4th of March, at the accession to the presidency of Colonel Monroe, 
 I went to pay my respects to Mr. and Mrs. Madison, from both of whom I 
 had, for eight years, received kind attentions. Mrs. Madison, from respect- 
 able humble life had become not only an ornament to her husband's family, 
 but also a beneficent dispenser of his bounty. This lady has a generous 
 spirit, with bland and courteous manners, rather above the middle size, and 
 very expressive blue eyes. Many an asperity of party, and its threatened 
 personal consequences, have been averted by Mrs. Madison's timely and 
 judicious interposition. Mr. Madison is below the middle stature of man, 
 has a quiet, dignified deportment, and the aspect of one who had been long 
 experienced in public affairs. His manner is easy and his language refined, 
 of social qualities and fond of story-telling. The part he performed in the 
 great constitutional convention, and in the convention of Virginia at the 
 adoption of that instrument, and his papers in the Federalist, evince great 
 wisdom. But one act of his life has marred the purity of his character, 
 though that act elevated him to the presidency, namely, his abandonment 
 of Federalism and adopting the Utopian democracy of Thomas Jefferson, 
 which has so precipitated democratic influence as to give public measures a 
 stand too far in advance of the intelligence of the people. 
 
 Mr. Madison's mind and disposition are averse to military pursuits. 
 During the war he had conceived no plan for its military conduct, evinced 
 little talent in selecting commanders, and was far too exclusive in a party 
 sense in those selections. The only exception among the generals was that 
 of Thomas Pinckney, the force of whose national character could not easily 
 be resisted. 
 
 It is, however, due to Mr. Madison to say that on the urgent views of 
 Commodores Stewart and Bainbridge he opposed a major voice in his 
 cabinet, and sent the navy to seek the enemy on the ocean. This was done 
 
GENERAL JOSEPH GARDNER SWIFT. 1 49 
 
 adversely to the steady advice of Mr. Gallatin not to expose our little fleet 
 to the powerful navy of England. 
 
 On nth March, by appointment with President Monroe, presented my 
 views of a suitable position for General Bernard, namely, at the Military 
 Academy as a professor of engineering. Mr. Monroe replied that under 
 the resolve of i6th February such could not be done until the gentleman 
 had examined our defences, but that he had determined that General 
 Bernard should not exercise command in any case, and that he considered 
 me to be the head of the board of engineers ; therefore I gave the board 
 instructions to proceed to the Gulf of Mexico, and there be joined by 
 Captain Gadsden, the engineer in that department. On the return of this 
 board to my office in Washington I exercised my function of supervision, 
 and preferred Captain Gadsden's system of defence of the main passes into 
 Louisiana. But the Secretary of War, Mr. Calhoun, who could know but 
 little of the science of the subject, rejected Gadsden's plans, which then 
 and now are justly suited to the localities for which they are planned, and 
 Mr. Calhoun adopted General Bernard's pentagons, that have since been 
 found to be inappropriate in a military sense. In fact this error of Mr. 
 Calhoun aided to infect members of Congress with an idea that General 
 Bernard had a transcendent genius, and therefore he must be consulted 
 upon all public works ; as if he had been possessed of intuitive knowledge 
 of a subject that could only be acquired by actual residence in our country 
 a suitable period of time. 
 
 March 15th, by direction from the President, I surveyed the ruins in the 
 capitol — the vandalic ruin of 18 14. In this duty Colonel Bomford and 
 myself formed a board. The question to be decided was whether the 
 capitol should be rebuilt entire, or the existing walls retained and the 
 interior repaired. We commended the latter, and on receiving from Mr. 
 Latrobe the requisite plans and elevations for the senate chamber, I took 
 them with me to New York, and employed Francis Kain to complete the 
 marble colonade and other parts of that chamber, and shipped the same to 
 Colonel Lane, the superintendent at Washington. 
 
 On 25th March, Bomford and myself accompanied the President to 
 
150 THE MEMOIRS OF 
 
 explore the Bresica Quarries on the Potomac, and it was therefore decided 
 to use the same for the colonade of the house of representatives. This 
 excursion was made on horseback, and on the way back to the city tlie 
 President informed me that he purposed making a tour of inspection of 
 the fortifications and navy yards in the Union, and that he should require 
 my services to aid him in that excursion. I am of course gratified by such 
 an evidence of the President's purpose. But I on this occasion, and on 
 several others, stated to him that my official relations had been much invaded 
 by the resolution of i6th February, and that it would better comport with 
 my own wishes and the interests of my family to seek civil life, if the 
 President could place me in a suitable office with that view. His reply 
 was kind. He said he hoped I would not leave the army, and that at any 
 rate I would be patient and await events. I stated to him that I had already 
 made some incipient arrangements to improve my fortune, with Gouverneur 
 Kemble, to establish a foundry on the Hudson. 
 
 On 4th April arranged with the President to join him in Baltimore early 
 in June, to proceed there and elsewhere on his contemplated tour, and after 
 making all official dispositions of orders to the officers of the corps for the 
 few works, as at Rouse's Point, etc., and small repairs upon the existing 
 works pending the action and duty of the board, I proceeded to Philadel- 
 phia on 9th and arranged with an old friend of the President, James Gard, 
 Esquire, to secure as quiet a sojourn in that city as his official station could 
 permit, and on 14th April joined my family at Brooklyn, where Mrs. Swift, 
 James, Willy and Sally had two days previously rejoined my aunt Lovering 
 and my sons Alexander and Julius in Washington Street, having been 
 separated all the winter by the closing of the Hudson. My son Thomas 
 still with his grand-father on Governor's Island, in New York Harbor. 
 
 April 2 1 St to West Point, and examined the Academy ; thence with 
 Gouverneur Kemble to Captain Philipse, who resided on the opposite bank 
 of the river, and proposed to this worthy gentleman (the proprietor of the 
 once manor of his name, and whose honor this gentleman maintained with 
 steady hospitality,) that he should unite with us in establishing a foundry, 
 and to which end we proposed to take about two hundred of his acres on 
 
GENERAL JOSEPH GARDNER SWIFT. 15 I 
 
 Margaret Brook as so much of his share of stock, and to which he assented, 
 and agreed that I should survey and plot the tract. Accordingly, with my 
 compass, I paced around a tract enclosing full two hundred acres, and to 
 which hasty survey Captain Philipse agreed, and set to his hand and seal. 
 Mr. Kemble and myself had formed a conditional agreement with the War 
 and Navy Departments of the United States to supply the government with 
 one-third of their ordnance castings; and subsequently he and myself 
 visited the large iron works of Mr. Coleman in Pennsylvania, and the 
 Salisbury works in Connecticut, to inform ourselves in iron making; and I 
 imported from England through Mr. Hassler, a standard of measure, and 
 from Paris the best works on iron and steel making-. 
 
 On 24th April I laid out on the ground the new north and south stone 
 barrack that had been planned by Professor C. Crozet, and contracted with 
 T. J. Woodruff and John Morse, of the city of New York, to construct that 
 building, and returned to Brooklyn early in May. 
 
 On 24th of which month went to Governor's Island, and thence with my 
 mother and sister Mary departed for Baltimore ; the latter on a visit to my 
 sister, Mrs. Adams and cousin W. R. Swift, in St. Paul's Lane. 
 
 On 1st June the President arrived in Baltimore with his suite, to 
 commence a tour of inspection. 
 
TOUR OF PRESIDENT MONROE 
 
 IN THE NORTHERN UNITED STATES, IN THE YEAR 1817, 
 
 IN WHICH HE WAS ACCOMPANIED BY THE WRITER OF THIS DIARY, 
 
 J. G. SWIFT. 
 
 I was in Washington in March and April of this year in company with 
 Colonel George Bomford of the ordnance, examining the ruins of the 
 capitol in order to its repair, in which we were assisted by Mr. Latrobe, the 
 architect. This capitol, and other public and private edifices had been 
 destroyed by the British army under command of General Ross and 
 Admiral Cockburn in 18 14. 
 
 President Monroe invited me to accompany him in an horseback excur- 
 sion to the Bresica Quarries on the Potomac, from which it had been 
 proposed to take materials to repair and ornament the hall of representa- 
 tives and senate chamber of the capitol. This visit had decided the matter, 
 and the material was used for those purposes. During this excursion Mr. 
 Monroe mentioned his intention to make the tour of the Union, to examine 
 its defences, navy yards, etc., and to see the people. He wished me to 
 so arrange my official affairs as to accompany him in the examination, in 
 order to do which I proceeded to New York to direct the continuance of 
 the fortifications in that harbor, and visited West Point to direct the opera- 
 tions of the Military Academy for an inspection of the President, and 
 returning to Baltimore on ist June, met Mr. Monroe there, accompanied by 
 a son of General Mason, of Georgetown, and Mr. Monroe and suite called 
 to see Charles Carrol of Carrolton, the venerable patriot. He and Mr. 
 
154 THE MEMOIRS OF 
 
 Monroe exchanged several remarks on the scenes of the Revolution. Then, 
 with General Samuel Smith and N. G. Harper, etc., visited the battle ground 
 of North Point, where, in September, 1814, General Ross lost his life by 
 an accidental rifle shot. From the account given by General Striker to Mr. 
 Monroe one would suppose both parties had been surprised. Returning, 
 we viewed the misplaced lines of Baltimore, that should have occupied the 
 passes of North Point, etc. The President passed on to review the militia, 
 and to examine Fort McHenry with General Samuel Steritt — (very gentle- 
 manly and accomplished in manner) — and also with Colonel Paul Bentalon, 
 an officer of the army of Rochambeau, his aspect that of the old French 
 politesse of 1780; full of memory of the scenes of Yorktown. 
 
 On 3d June the President went to Head of Elk by steamer, and was there 
 received by the Philadelphia and Delaware delegations, and especially by 
 Colonel Allen McLean, full of anecdotes of the movements of Washington 
 to beleaguer Cornwallis. The colonel had been a distinguished and 
 most useful officer, having still the fire of youth in his manner. Also 
 General Moses Porter, whose giant person still wore a fresh aspect. He 
 had been distinguished as an artillery officer in the discomfiture of Lord 
 Sterling on Long Island, August, '76, and who had by merit and long 
 service risen from a sergeant. Here also we met Commodores Murray and 
 Stewart of the navy, and General Thomas Cadwallader, of Philadelphia — 
 the thorough gentleman. At Newcastle we found Captain Babcock, of my 
 corps, with all things ready to take barge to the Pea Patch, down the Dela- 
 ware; a site which the Hon. Mr. Rodney informed the President had been 
 taken up by Chief Justice Booth of Delaware in 1780. A useful position 
 to defend the double channels of the river. Thence the President ascended 
 the Delaware to the Brandywine, and with Colonel Allen McLean rode over 
 the grounds where Washington incurred the censure of some congressmen 
 for " extending his wing." Colonel McLean pointed out the ground and 
 the need of that extension, a just military movement. 
 
 The party visited Du Pont's powder mills, and General Cadwallader and 
 myself tested the drying rooms for four minutes at a temperature of one 
 hundred and forty-five degrees Farenheit. We were here joined by the 
 
GENERAL JOSEPH GARDNER SWIFT. 155 
 
 venerable Mr. Logan, of Pennsylvania, and passing the rich meadows of the 
 Delaware, came by boats to Fort Miflin, that had been well defended by 
 Colonel Samuel Smith in the Revolution. From Fort Miflin the party 
 proceeded in barges to the mouth of the Schuylkill, at Gray's Ferry, and 
 with a large militia escort, and the city committee, to the mansion house of 
 Mr. James Head, there meeting the Society of Cincinnati, with addresses 
 and reply and entertainment. The next morning — 6tli June — made an 
 excursion to Red Bank, where the farmers met the President, some of whom 
 were of the assailing party against Count Donop ; and they mentioned that 
 the timber felled at that time (In August) had endured many years, proving 
 that to be a better felling season than the winter. The next day took a 
 horseback ride with several prominent citizens to Germantown and Chew 
 House, where General Howe should have conquered our army, and cut off 
 their retreat. The interchange of courtesy of the President and the country 
 people was very pleasant. He found the arsenal and navy yard in as good 
 order as expected ; aided by General C. Irvine and Commodore Stewart in 
 the examination. 
 
 At the instance of the President I called on Messrs. Dachkoff, Ten Gate, 
 Redemker, Peduson and other foreign officers, to say that it would be more 
 convenient to receive them when he was not engaged with his fellow 
 citizens. Mr. Monroe observed that for less causes he had been denied 
 access to foreign courts when he was minister to England, France, and 
 Spain. 
 
 Hon. Pierce Butler, General Cadwallader, Secretary Long, Commodore 
 Stewart, Ingersoll, Bache and Todd dined with the President. One would 
 have imagined the " blood of the Ormonds" had concentrated in Mr. Butler. 
 
 On 7th June the party was received at the Bridge at Trenton by the 
 New Jersey delegation, congratulating Colonel Monroe " on the ground 
 where Washington achieved an important turn in our affairs in the winter 
 of '76; where Mr. Munroe, the second officer of the vanguard, and Captain 
 William Washington, were both wounded in the shoulder." Mr. Monroe 
 replied: "I feel sensibly this attention in this place from the citizens of 
 Trenton ; on the spot where the hopes of the country were revived by a 
 
156 . THE MEMOIRS OF 
 
 prompt expedition planned by Washington." The press of time prevented 
 the President from visiting Commodore Stewart at his farm. Mr. Monroe 
 remarking to say to the Commodore: "The country owed him much for 
 encouraging Mr. Madison to send our ships to sea in the war with England 
 in 18 1 2, against the advice of Mr. Gallatin to keep them in safe harbor. 
 The country owed both him and Bainbridge much for their zealous counsel 
 before the cabinet on that momentous occasion." I bore this nice message 
 to Stewart and dined with him. 
 
 The party made a call on Joseph Bonaparte en route to lunch. Joseph 
 seemed an unpretending common sense gentleman, thoughtful face, and 
 like his brother's busts. The President and Joseph were old acquaintances. 
 Return to Trenton and Princeton, where Mr. Monroe was inducted to the 
 Cliosophia, and from my relations to Mr. Monroe I was also inducted, after 
 examining the Halls of Nassau. There with Governor Williamson and 
 ex-Governor Aaron Ogden to Elizabethtown on the 9th June, and met the 
 widow of Neursewitz, the friend of Kosciusko. The lady is the daughter 
 of Governor William Livingston, and sister of Mrs. John Gay. At the 
 Point took steam to Staten Island, and became the guests of Vice-President 
 Tompkins for a part of two days, to rest, and on iith landed at the 
 Battery, meeting General Scott, General Morton, and the city authorities; 
 then explored the lines of Brooklyn, refreshing with Mrs. Switt, who had 
 Joshua Sands, Major Tucker and Mr. March to meet the President; and 
 then to the city to encounter numerous entertainments. One at the Philo- 
 sophical Society, when Hon. De Witt Clinton made an eloquent address, 
 occupying 13th and 14th. The following day the party at West Point, and 
 Mr. Monroe met the officials in the garden of Kosciusko, and there he related 
 the following story of that Pole : When Kosciusko came from Europe 
 wounded he seemed unable to move when applying to Congress, and 
 received a grant of land. It was said lameness was assumed to excite 
 sympathy among cool-blooded members. Mr. Monroe said it was not 
 feigned, but to impress a Russian spy that he was no longer able to wield a 
 sword, who was so impressed; and Kosciusko resumed his health lost in a 
 Russian prison. Mr. Monroe said Kosciusko had been a faithful friend to 
 
GENERAL JOSEPH GARDNER SWIFT. 157 
 
 ' the American cause, and that he had recently remitted him several hundred 
 dollars to sustain him in his retreat in Switzerland. This sojourn at West 
 Point, and the examination of the cadets, was very refreshing after city 
 fatigues. It was at this visit determined that Captain Partridge should be 
 brought before a court martial in reference to his disagreement with the 
 professors. My opinion of the captain was more favorable than Mr. 
 Monroe's, but the Chief Magistrate was to be obeyed, and I accordingly 
 proposed a substitute in Major Thayer, who was the officer named lo me 
 by Mr. Monroe ; and I gave Captain Partridge choice of any duty or leave 
 until the court could be convened. He preferred leave, and the matter 
 rested for the present. 
 
 On 17th June the party returned to the city to inspect fortifications, 
 navy yard, and the steamer " Fulton." At the west end of Lone Island Mr. 
 Monroe met Hon. Rufus King, and they witnessed the experiments of 
 elongated shell at a target four hundred yards distant, on Robert L. 
 Stevens's place. The shells penetrated the target but did not explode. 
 On 20th June to Hell Gate and the entrance of the Sound, in reference to 
 the location of a navy depot at Barr Island; then by steam to New Haven. 
 Visited the colleges and the "Groves of the Judges." Mr. Monroe was 
 taken by surprise by a sermon from Rev. Dr. Taylor, an extreme Calvinist, 
 much to the chagrin of the Rev. Horace Holly, a high Unitarian. One of 
 the most interesting scenes we met at Hartford in the exhibition of the 
 deaf and dumb, by Le Clerc and Gallaudet. Mr. Monroe had seen a similar 
 exhibition in France. At Middletown the address of the citizens was 
 emphatic, and national in every sense. A delegation from Massachusetts 
 waited on the President at Hartford to escort him to Springfield, where, on 
 arriving 24th June, an exhibition of five hundred school children met the 
 President on the parade as a token of their respect for the Chief Magistrate, 
 and evidence of adhesion to the Puritan law in favor of town schools. Thence 
 Colonel Roswell Lee led the way to the well-arranged armory of the United 
 States, of which he was superintendent, and had been my assistant engineer 
 in fortifying New London when the British fleet were anchored in Gardner's 
 Ba)'. Thence retracing his steps the President descended the left bank of 
 
158 THE MEMOIRS OF 
 
 the Connecticut River to New London, at the residence of General Jedediah 
 Huntington, of Revolutionary times, who addressed the President in touching 
 allusion to " the war in their youth, and the happy results we were enjoying 
 after surviving a second contest with the power of England." Here the 
 party was joined by Commodores O. H. Perry and Bainbridge, and my 
 father, the surgeon of the post at Fort Trumbull. Taking the revenue 
 cutters at the fort the President visited the Sound and Gardner's Bay, where 
 the navy officers explained to the President the importance of an armed 
 vessel at Gardner's Bay by a view from the headland of the island. 
 Returned up the Thames, and landed at the foot of Fort Griswold. At the 
 old fort the President met Mr. Avery and others who had been among the 
 defenders of that post when assailed by the British under then Major, now 
 General Bloomfield, and explaining the scene that occurred when Colonel 
 Ledyard surrendered his sword, and Bloomfield turned it and thrust it 
 through Colonel Ledyard's body — a dastardly act — after all resistance had 
 ceased ; followed by the cruelty of trundling the wounded down the hill in 
 carts, inflicting torture. Mr. Avery had lost an eye in the contest ; the 
 remaining one twinkled with rage as he described the scene. Here the 
 celebrated Mrs. Baily came forward and recounted her well-remembered 
 exploits, vouched for by the surrounding veterans, and of her disrobing her 
 flannel to furnish cartridge to the artillery men. 
 
 On the following day the United States brig " Enterprise," attended by 
 the cutters, (among them the aged Captain Cahoon, of privateer heroism in 
 the Revolution,) took on board the President and suite, and by Gardner's 
 Bay on 27th June crossed the Sound to Stonington, which the President 
 especially visited to compliment the brave Captain Palmer for his towns- 
 men — led by himself — in repelling the assault of the " Ramillies," seventy- 
 four. Sir Thomas Hardy. My own interview with Mr. Palmer was inter- 
 esting. 1 had succeeded in sending him some cannon and ammunition in 
 1 8 14 from New York, by a cunning master of a sloop, which succeeded in 
 escaping the enemy. The captain had ornamented the front of his hou.se 
 with a thirteen-inch shell from the " Ramillies," which had fallen through his 
 roof to the cellar, fortunately without exploding, though it had shattered 
 
GENERAL JOSEPH GARDNER SWIFT. 159 
 
 mucli in its descent. On the following day the little squadron entered 
 Newport Harbor, where most hearty feeling was shown without a shade of 
 party. The President had a charming evening with the venerable William 
 Ellery at the age of ninety. He remarked: " Ah, Mr. Monroe, we all had 
 prospects of the death of rebels, especially such as myself, who had little 
 of this world's goods to lose, but Hancock and Charles Carroll had launched 
 both character and large estates in the cause." The patriot was reading 
 Horace when Mr. Monroe called. He took a seat by Mr. Monroe in an 
 excursion to the scene of Quaker Hill in Sullivan's campaign, and seemed 
 familiar with the events of the day. 
 
 On 30th we proceeded to Fall River and the Watupper Lakes, as a source 
 to serve machinery for a navy depot, and thence crossed Taunton River to 
 Mount Hope Bay, refreshing and lodging with Lieutenant-Governor 
 Collins and Mr. De Wolf, and thence onward to Providence. Here, Hon. H. 
 G. Otis, Colonel Gray, General Blake, Colonel Sumner, Messrs. Thorndike 
 and Oliver, (the colonel as aid of Governor Brooks,) came to lead the 
 escort. Mr. Otis, in an eloquent address, alluded and compared the visit 
 with its only precedent, that of Washington ; accompanying the President 
 to Brown University, and on ist July to the manufactories of Pawtucket ; 
 meeting there General Dearborn and Justice Story — a rival committee of 
 
 welcome coming expressly from the Democracy, giving me some trouble 
 
 but all that was said : "Gentlemen, be pleased to fall in and form a part of 
 the cortege," which arrived at Dedham, and took lodgings opposite the 
 residence of the great Fisher Ames. The next day ceremonial consulta- 
 tions as to the two committees at an old redout on Roxbury Neck, both 
 committees desiring to take charge of the President. I took on myself to say 
 to both : " Gentlemen, the care and conduct of this movement has been o-iven 
 to me, and I cannot surrender it without the President's order." Pendino- this 
 interchange the salute opened from the old redout and the Boston mar- 
 shals, and the committee, without further delay, moved on with the cavalcade 
 to Boston Common, and the President was received by four thousand boys 
 and girls and their instructors ; a scene of courtesy well conducted, that the 
 children will remember, and which served to occupy committees and all 
 
l6o THE MEMOIRS OF 
 
 until joined by ex-President Adams, Governor Brooks, Lieutenant-Governor 
 David Cobb, Governor Phillips and General James Miller (the modest hero,) 
 Rev. Dr. Kirkland, Daniel Webster, Isaac P. Davis and Rev. Dr. Freeman. 
 The Governor opened with a word in his peculiar graceful style, followed 
 by the address of the authorities in the area of the Exchange, which was 
 followed by one of Boston's sumptuous entertainments in rooms orna- 
 mented with the works of Boston artists and citizens. The next day the 
 President and Governor Brooks, etc., visited the fortifications of the 
 harbor. The President was highly gratified by his reception in several 
 families of Boston, and especially at Governor Brooks' in Medford, 
 and his neighbor cousin. They rode over the scenes of Washington in 
 his early command of the army, when Brooks was his youthful attendant. 
 The ensuing day was Independence, commencing with a fine breakfast of 
 some hundreds at Commodore Bainbridge's, in Roxbury, in this abundant 
 season of strawberries and cream. Thence a sojourn to the gardens of 
 Colonel T. H. Perkins ; to Waltham, on a visit to Governor Gore ; to the 
 United States arsenal, and in the evening a pleasant meeting with the 
 Society of Cincinnati. But the distinctive character of the Democracy 
 revived, and the committee called for a reply to the separate address. Mr. 
 Monroe calmly said: "Gentlemen, I will reply amply to your address, and 
 in writing, at my earliest leisure." This was said while the procession was 
 moving to the Old South with the Cincinnati, to hear the eloquence of Dr. 
 Channing — a happy allusion to the visit of the President, not to a party, 
 but to the whole people. Now came on a general meeting at the State 
 House, where the influence of fruit and champaigne seemed to quiet for a 
 time the ground swell of party. This indicated a fear lest the Chief 
 Magistrate should compromise his Democratic duty. Hence to the "Cradle 
 of Liberty," Faneuil Hall, and a display of arms. The next day to the 
 navy yard and "Independence," seventy-four; entertained by the com- 
 mandant, the gallant Hull, and thence to Bunker's Hill, where Governor 
 Brooks explained with simple clearness the progress of the day and 
 Warren's fall, that lighted a flame through all the colonies. In this scene 
 several veterans of the Revolution were received and welcomed by the 
 
GENERAL JOSEPH GARDAER SWIFT. l6l 
 
 President, and with him enjoyed the tasty Hght dinner and fruits of 
 Governor Broolcs, with ex-President Adams and Dr. Osgood. Monday, 
 7th, an early ride on Iiorseback with Mr. Monroe to a sitting to the artist, 
 Gilbert Stewart, who exhibited his original head of Washington. Thence 
 to Harvard, where President Kirkland conferred the honor of LL. D. on 
 Mr. Monroe, and then to a review of two thousand militia on Boston 
 Common. 
 
 On 8th the President visited the venerable John Adams at Ouincy. The 
 ex-President said to Mr. Monroe: "Sir, I am happy to welcome you and 
 your friends, and to acknowledge my high appreciation of the distinction 
 which you propose to confer on my son as Secretary of State." But the 
 gust of feeling that naturally flowed from the mother was thrilling. It 
 overpowered Mr. Monroe, and every one present. His reply was simple : " I 
 have but performed an act of justice to high ability and merit." Mr. Adams 
 at first mistook me for the son of his brother lawyer, Samuel Swift, and 
 poured out his commendation, saying: "I have written to Mr. Wirt my 
 opinion of the merits of that Whig, who fell a martyr to the fury of Gage." 
 I replied: "It was my grandfather, and you gave me my cadet's warrant 
 eighteen years ago," upon which he was pleased to subjoin some civil com- 
 mendation. The conversation naturally attracted the attention of the 
 whole dinner party ; and it was a scene of deep interest to hear the old 
 man scan the days of his life in Congress, when he nominated Washington, 
 etc. This closed the Boston reception — one of sleepless fatigue to me, in 
 hearing and arranging with delegations and committees. 
 
 On the route east the President stopped to rest at Salem until the loth, 
 occupied in correspondence with the departments at Washington. The 
 aged Timothy Pickering, and the mathematician, Nathaniel Bowditch, were 
 among those who addressed Mr. Monroe, and much display of arches 
 and festoons, with throngs of fine children, on whom such pageantry makes 
 a long-lasting impression. Here the reply in writing was made to the 
 Democratic committee of Boston, in substance saying that it was the 
 President's design by this tour to avoid all party distinctions. With similar 
 displays of good feeling at Newburyport and Portsmouth, Mr. Monroe was 
 
l62 THE MEMOIRS OF 
 
 met by the authorities at the latter place by Jeremiah Mason, in a powerful 
 address of national sentiment, and on the following Monday (14th,) In 
 barges to visit the navy yard and forts at the entrance of the harbor, accom- 
 panied by the patriot John Langdon, who had built the "America," seventy- 
 four, that was a gift to France. The next day the octogenarian, Sewell, 
 of York, in Maine, received Mr. Monroe in a fine address of reminiscences 
 of their mutual services and anxieties of the war of '76 ; and so on to the 
 bridge of Strandwater, Portland, across which was extended twenty arches, 
 as insignia of our States, the centre for Louisiana crowned by a living eagle, 
 and lined on either wayside by some one thousand five hundred school chil- 
 dren with wreaths and scrolls — "Welcome to the chief of our choice " — about 
 the most impressive display seen by the President. Here, after a sail in the 
 harbor and a visit to the fortifications, the President concluded his eastern 
 tour, and determined to cross the country through Vermont, of which I had 
 only notified Colonel Totten at Rouse's Point to meet Mr. Monroe at Bur- 
 lington. Before separating from Mr. Munroe he expressed his gratification 
 with my services, and certainly no man can be easier to associate with in a 
 similar capacity than Colonel Monroe. Here it was determined by the 
 President that Commodores Bainbridge, O. H. Perry and Evans, with 
 Colonel McRee of the engineers, and myself, should proceed to Penobscot 
 Bay with the " Lynx," Lieutenant .Stone, and " Enterprise," Lieutenant 
 Kearney, and "Prometheus," Wadsworth, which was commenced on 17th 
 June for the purpose of examining for a site to locate a navy depot. We 
 paid our respects and took leave of the Chief Magistrate. 
 
 During various evening conversations with Mr. Monroe I received from 
 him, and noted down at the time, the subjoined facts of his origin and life : 
 
 His progenitors were from Scotland. His immediate ancestor was Captain 
 Andrew Monroe, an officer in the army of Charles L, at whose overthrow he 
 fled to America, anno 1650, and purchased a tract of land in Westmoreland, 
 Virginia, of Lord Barclay, situate on Monroe Creek. The Colonel is the fifth 
 in direct descent from Captain Andrew aforesaid. The Colonel was born 
 1759, and educat(;d at William and i\Lary College. In 1776 he joined 
 Colonel Weeden's regiment in the Virginia line, as a lieutenant. At the 
 
GENERAL JOSEPH GARDNER SWIFT. 163 
 
 battle of Trenton he seconded Captain William Washington in carrying the 
 artillery of the enemy at the head of the street leading to the bridge, in 
 which conflict both were wounded in the shoulder. On recovering from his 
 wound in Trenton he entered the family of Lord Stirling as aid-de-camp, 
 and in that capacity, and that of major, served in the battles of Brandywine, 
 Germantown and Monmouth. General Washington advised him to apply 
 to the legislature of Virginia for authority to raise a regiment, but failing 
 in his effort to do this, he resigned his colonelcy in 1780, and became a 
 student at law in the office of Thomas Jefferson. In the following year sold 
 his paternal seven hundred acres in Westmoreland, and with the proceeds 
 purchased his, estate in Albemarle called " Atamusquee," or The Lilly, and 
 in company with his uncle Jones bought the London farm at Oak Hill, to 
 which, on the death of that uncle he became heir, and commenced the 
 practice of law in Fredericksburg. He was then elected to the Virginia 
 legislature, and became a member of the council. In 1783 he was elected 
 to Congress at Annapolis, and was at the session in New York when he and 
 Rufus King were married. Mr. King married Miss Alsop and he married 
 Miss Kortright. Soon after he made the tour of Lake Champlain, River 
 St. Lawrence and Lake Ontario, Big Sodus Bay and Niagara, purposing to 
 go to Detroit, but his guide being killed by the Indians, he, from advice of 
 Colonel De Peyster, abandoned the journey and returned south to Virginia, 
 until the adoption of the Federal Constitution, which he opposed. 
 
 Soon after the establishment of the government. General Washington 
 nominated him to the embassy to France, from whence he was recalled, as 
 it was alleged he exhibited too strong favor to French politics. Mr. Monroe 
 stated that the slander commenced thus: Some letters of General Wash- 
 ington had been wrecked on the coast of France ; these letters indicated 
 Washington's dislike of the French revolution, and Mr. Monroe was accused 
 to Washington as. having referred unfavorably to those letters. In the 
 pending time Mr. Monroe was searching for the letters, and succeeded In 
 learning their fate. This fact he immediately wrote to General Washington, 
 but before his letter reached the General, an impression had been made on 
 Washington's mind that Monroe had misused his letters, and his recall was 
 
1 64 THE MEMOIRS OF 
 
 forwarded before his letter to Washington was received. Indignant at the 
 injustice, he did not call on Washington on his return home. When 
 Washington had read Monroe's letters he said he was convinced Mr. Monroe 
 had done his duty. But Mr. Monroe's dislike of Mr. Jay's treaty with Spain 
 about the navigation of the Mississippi seemed to sustain a coolness on the 
 part of Washington. Mr. Monroe said his treaty with Mr. Fox for recip- 
 rocal commerce was interfered with, by Mr. Jefferson's sending William 
 Pinckney of Maryland, which suspended the treaty ; and that the treaty then 
 made, was revoked by the omission of Jefferson to send the treaty to the 
 Senate. This implication of Mr. Monroe was a sort of second presidential 
 frown, and it caused Mr. Monroe to again set forth a defense of his 
 embassy. His fellow citizens set their opinion upon his treatment by electing 
 him governor of Virginia, which prevented Mr. Monroe from competing the 
 presidency with Mr. Madison. "So far from that," said Mr. Monroe, "I 
 publicly declined the competition, and also the Department of State." But 
 these events in no way disturbed his friendly intimacy with Jefferson. Mr. 
 Monroe said that during the presidency of Congress of N. Gorham, that 
 gentleman wrote Prince Henry, of Prussia, his fears that America could 
 not sustain her independence, and asked the prince if he could be induced 
 to accept regal power on the failure of our free institutions. The prince 
 replied that he regretted deeply the probability of the failure, and that he 
 would do no act to promote such failure, and was too old to commence new 
 labors in life. The residue of Colonel Monroe's life is in the history of his 
 country. In stature Mr. Monroe is above the ordinary height, well formed, 
 though his shoulders are somewhat high, fleshy, but in no wise corpulent, 
 his complexion without muddiness, his demeanor grave, his eye blue, 
 rather dull unless excited, his features strong, high cheek bone of Scotland, 
 nose straight, li]) rather thick, his gait quick and erect, deportment gentle 
 and affable, his temper high but good, his judgment sound though slow 
 and not quick of perception. Such are my observations of Colonel Monroe 
 in an intimacy uninterrupted for ten years. 
 
 The little squadron before mentioned, arrived in Penobscot Bay on i8th 
 July, at dark, and made a harbor at Owl's Head, and the next morning 
 
GENERAL JOSEPH GARDNER SWIFT. 1 65 
 
 commenced an examination of the shore, inlets and landings made, having 
 our rallying point at Castine. Here I was entertained by Job Nelson and 
 Mason Shaw, Esquires, who had known me a boy on Taunton Green ; and 
 they were intimate friends of my father. They received me with a warm 
 welcome, and recurred to scenes of 1796, etc. 
 
 At the military post here, I found Captain Luther Leonard, of the artillery, 
 in command. He had been a distinguished officer in the war of 181 2 in 
 the battle of Plattsburgh. Also met my protege. Lieutenant Bonneville, 
 on duty at the fort, to whom the celebrated Thomas Paine had bequeathed 
 some estate. From the fort we received barges to explore the river and 
 narrows to Bucksport. It was soon ascertained that the several anchorages 
 were very deep, and from the openness of the bay would require extensive 
 fortifications to protect them, and a depot, and that the bay was, as yet, too 
 remote from artisans and material for a depot, etc. 
 
 Our party returned to Portland on a similar survey, and then proceeded 
 to Portsmouth. Of the Lieutenant Bonneville above mentioned, I had, in 
 18 1 4, procured for him a cadet's warrant, and sent him to the Military 
 Academy at West Point. The commission found the Piscataqua a very 
 rapid tidal river, with many easily defensible localities, and water for any 
 machinery easily drawn from Lake Winnepiseogee, but concluded the post 
 not to be suitable for a depot, and the same result, from different causes, of 
 Salem and Marblehead. In the survey of these two last, we had the 
 company and counsel of Nathaniel Bowditch, Esq., who had made minute 
 surveys of both harbors, and had often sailed into and out of them when he 
 was a ship-master. We found him continuing his scientific translation of 
 the great work of La Place, which few ever read and fewer comprehend. 
 A gentleman of the most simple habits and most unaffected deportment, 
 and very cheerful as a companion is Mr. Bowditch. 
 
 Our squadron proceeded to inspect Boston Harbor, and concluded that 
 the present navy yard would be a valuable adjunct for repairs, but not for 
 a principal depot. We observed that the seaward side of all the islands in 
 this harbor had been long sustaining an abrasion from the action of storms 
 and water. The time when these islands had a complete form correspond- 
 
1 66 THE MEMOIRS OF 
 
 ing to the slopes of the existing land and pastures, must have been very 
 remote. 
 
 Governor Brooks and the Bostonians were very hospitably attentive to 
 this commission. Among the amusements of the day, and which the 
 President had also enjoyed, was the reading of Voltaire, and revelations 
 by an admirable artist — M. Artiguenave. 
 
 The commission proceeded to Rhode Island, where I was to join them 
 over a route of my own by Taunton Green, where, accompanied by my aunt 
 Lucretia, we were received with great civility. An invitation to a public 
 dinner, which, however flattering, I declined, in consequence of the illness 
 of my early instructress, Miss Sally Cady. 
 
 My friend Marcus Morton, who had married my schoolmate, Miss 
 Charlotte Hodges, conveyed me in his carriage to the commission, then 
 assembling at Fall River on 8th August, and a survey was made of the 
 Watuppa Ponds and their outlet, and fall, into Taunton River ; ait ample 
 source to drive any desirable extent of depot machinery. Thence we made 
 an exploration of Mount Hope Bay. At Newport the commission divided, 
 one part to complete the survey of Gardner's Bay, while Colonel McRee 
 and myself explored the waters east from Sakonnet to Buzzard's Bay. 
 Arriving at the river Pasquemonsett, McRee was astonished to see a miller 
 run into the assemblage at the bridge, and in his mealy clothes clasp me in 
 his arms, covering my military dress with meal, and excusing his joy to see 
 me, whose life he had saved from drowning under the bridge on which we 
 stood ; I having fallen in and cut my head on a rock at the bottom, the scar 
 of which remained for the twenty-six years that had intervened. There 
 were present also the Tuckers and Macombs, friends of my father at that 
 period. Hence McRee and I proceeded to Clark's Cove and the Acushnet 
 River, and Elizabeth Islands, and rejoined the board at New London, 
 exploring the Thames. These surveys had reference to the law of Con- 
 gress on the subject of depots, and we agreed to meet at my quarters in 
 Brooklyn to complete a report to the Navy Department. On 26th August I 
 found my family in health at Brooklyn. Thanks to God. 
 
GENERAL JOSEPH GARDNER SWIFT. 167 
 
 On 31st August, 18 1 7, Colonel McRee reported to me that Captain 
 Partridge had returned to West Point, and in defiance of my orders, had 
 assumed the command over Major Thayer, the alleged purpose being to 
 recover the quarters he had occupied, and which Major Thayer declined to 
 assign to him. The next day I sent my aid. Lieutenant Blaney, to West Point 
 with an order to Captain Partridge to deliver the command of that post to 
 Major Thayer without delay, and to consider himself in arrest for disobe- 
 dience. A few days previously to this, on 2Sth August, Captain Partridge 
 had called and breakfasted with me in Brooklyn, and requested my 
 authority to extend his leave so as to allow him to visit West Point for 
 study. I declined any such consent, and said to him that such a movement 
 would not only contravene the order of the President of the United States 
 to me, but would also injure and defeat at once any purpose he might con- 
 template of restoration hereafter. The conversation dropped there, and I 
 had not a thought that Captain Partridge would act in opposition to such 
 purpose on my part. 
 
 On 2d September, Colonel McRee, Professor Mansfield and myself went 
 to West Point, where, on meeting Partridge, I said to him that he had placed 
 himself beyond the pale of my long-tried friendship to him. At his request 
 I extended his arrest to New York, to allow him every facility to prepare 
 for trial. I reported the case to the Secretary of War and returned to 
 Brooklyn, to meet at my office navy officers on the subject of depots. 
 From 20th September to 6th October I was confined to my bedroom with 
 fever. While thus confined General Benjamin Smith of Wilmington, North 
 Carolina, called on me, and awaited my convalescence. My brother-in-law, 
 Juliu^ H. Walker, being my amanuensis, I dictated a letter of introduction 
 of General Smith to the Secretary of the Navy, and recommended the 
 purchase of Bald Head, North Carolina, because of the extensive growth 
 there of live oak and cedar, and thus to enable General Smith to liquidate 
 
1 68 THE MEMOIRS OF 
 
 the old bond of Colonel Read, late collector, for whom General Smith had 
 become security. 
 
 October 13th Mrs. Swift, with her mother and brother Julius, and my son 
 Julius and daughter Sarah left me, and by packet sailed for Wilmington ; 
 Mrs. John London and children occupying my house in Washington Street, 
 and in lieu of rent boarded my sons Williams and Alexander, and my 
 servant and slave Nancy until the ensuing spring. My worthy aunt 
 Lovering having returned to Boston, and my son Thomas remaining with 
 his grandfather, the United States surgeon on Governor's Island. 
 
 October 20th, the general court martial of thirteen members. General W. 
 Scott, president, assembled at West Point for the trial of Captain Partridge. 
 I went thither on 24th, with my aid, Lieutenant Blaney, and my son James. 
 Hither Commodores Evans and Perry joined me to consult upon and report 
 in reference to depots and defences that we had explored from New York 
 to Casco Bay inclusive, and we returned together to New York, and there 
 met Commodore Bainbridge and Colonel W. McRee, and from thence 
 on 30th sent our report to the Secretary of both the Navy and War 
 Departments. 
 
 November ist I returned to West Point, and on iith the court martial 
 terminated its proceedings. The court sentenced Captain Partridge to be 
 dismissed from the army. On 14th November I returned to my office in 
 Brooklyn, and commenced to remove the headquarters of the corps to the 
 City of Washington. On 17th, my aid, Lieutenant Blaney, proceeded to 
 that place with the books, plans, papers and instruments. I followed him 
 on 20th, leaving my son James with Rev. Mr. Rudd at Elizabethtown 
 school. I arrived at Washington on 25th November, and established the 
 office in Pennsylvania Avenue and Eighteenth Street, east side. I called 
 on the President in reference to the subject of Captain Partridge, and 
 advised a remission of the sentence of the court, provided Captain Partridge 
 would resign. The remission was noted in the gazettes. This case of 
 Partridge is an incident in the history of the Academy at West Point, in which 
 my official conduct was deemed to be a species of favoritism toward the 
 captain. From the day I took comniand of the corps in 1812, to the spring 
 
GENERAL JOSEPH GARDNER SWIET. 169 
 
 of 18 13 I had had no opportunity to meet Captain Partridge. 1 then found 
 him at the Academy, where he had been placed by Colonel Williams ; an 
 appointment that every officer in the corps would be disposed to respect, 
 from respect to their chief. I made no hesitation to sustain him, and 
 returned to my especial command of Staten Island by order of the President, 
 at that time garrisoned by the 3 2d and 41st Regiments of infantry, when 
 the harbor was blockaded by the enemy. In the month of August the 
 Secretary of War sent me to the frontier as chief engineer to the army of 
 General Wilkinson, and from thence to Washington. The following 
 year, 18 14, I was engaged in the defences of Long and York Islands. 
 The year 18 15 much engaged on the board for depots. So that until 18 16 
 it was not in my power to be much at West Point ; and it was early in this 
 year, as elsewhere noted, that the first intimation was made to me by the 
 President that it would be satisfactory to have Captain Partridge super- 
 ceded. I had no idea of doing that; and if I had purposed any such 
 measure, there was not an officer in the corps of engineers competent to 
 be superintendent who did not dislike that service, and none more than the 
 gentleman who so ably succeeded Captain Partridge. 
 
 As soon as I knew that the captain had become unacceptable to the 
 executive, it was my duty to seek the first opportunity to place him upon 
 other duty; and this was done, as my journal with the President evinces. 
 Ultimately I was forced to a conviction that I had misplaced my confidence 
 in reference to Partridge, and finally his insane act of disobedience made it 
 my duty to arrest him. The sentence of the court caused the captain to 
 forget the long-tried confidence that I had reposed in him; he turned his 
 pen against me and others, and one of his first acts was to accuse me of 
 waste and peculation in the erection of the public buildings at West Point. 
 These accusations the President and the Secretary of War deemed to be 
 malicious and false, and all proceedings in reference thereto was denied. 
 The vouchers, however, of the disbursements at West Point are among my 
 files, and they were deemed by the accounting officers of the government 
 to be just. I have received them from those officers, and have placed 
 them on my files in case any one might be disposed to examine them — and 
 
170 THE MEMOIRS OF 
 
 this unusual displacement of vouchers was made by the permission of the 
 President. The circumstance that induced the Secretary of War to desire 
 a superceding of Captain Partridge, was not his want of ability, for he was 
 a good teacher of mathematics, and a good infantry and artillery drill officer; 
 it was because his aspect was uncouth, a want of what is called genteel 
 carriage, and awkwardness of manner that gave a repulsive first impression. 
 But Captain Partridge had good qualities as well as good sense. He was 
 said to be a graduate of Dartmouth College, and was there deemed a good 
 scholar ; and it cannot be denied that many of the youthful officers of the 
 army in the war of 18 12 owed much of their success in the field, to the 
 patient training which they received from "Old Pewter" — Captain 
 Partridge's soubriquet among the cadets. 
 
 December 6th, the President and the Secretary of War commended to 
 Congress, then in session, the raising a corps of sappers and miners for the 
 corps of engineers. On the same day was discussed and settled to estab- 
 lish a bureau of every department of the army at Washington. 
 
 December 7th, Colonel W. McRee joined me at Washington to consult on 
 the duties of the board. We agreed in opinion that it was too late to 
 explore northern positions. 
 
 On 19th we two proceeded to Baltimore to explore the harbor, and we 
 selected Soller's Point for the site of the main work. Our board was here 
 joined by Lieutenant-Colonel Armistead, Majors Roberdeau and Kearney, 
 and my aid. Lieutenant Blaney. On 26th December we proceeded to 
 reconnoitre Annapolis Harbor, and on 29th we went to Norfolk, to meet 
 Captains Warrington and Elliot, of the navy, in reference to exploring the 
 James and other rivers of the bay, for a depot for the navy, and on 30th 
 commenced the survey of Old Point Comfort, and the bay towards 
 Lynhaven. 
 
 1818. January 12th, the board of engineers, at the instance of the 
 Secretary of War, postponed the examination of the Chesapeake waters 
 until I St May, for the purpose of then having llic assistance of General 
 Bernard, then employed on liie Mexico Gulf reconnoitre. The board 
 having thus far agreed to commend the occupancy of OV\ Point, ami the 
 
GENERAL JOSEPH GARDNER SWIFT. 1 7 1 
 
 Rip Rap shoal opposite thereto. On 26th January the board met at 
 Norfolk, and I reported this result to the War, and Captain Warrington did 
 the same to the Navy Department. 
 
 Being thus released from pressing duty, I sent my aid to the office at 
 Washington, and, by leave of the Secretary of War, made an excursion to 
 North Carolina, with a view to meeting commissioners at Edenton, and to 
 inspect the harbor of Cape Fear, and at the same time renew a long- 
 suspended intercourse with friends at Wilmington. On 30th January I 
 commenced my journey with a pair of horses, and at Edenton, North Car- 
 olina, met Messrs. Little and Treadwell, the State commissioners, on the 
 subject of improving the navigation of the sound. Compared the maps 
 of Morley's date, 1733, with that of Wimble's of 173S, with the recent 
 surveys of Cole, etc., and appointed to examine the Old Roanoke Inlet in 
 the coming spring, with a view to opening a channel from the Sound to the 
 Atlantic. At a dinner given on this occasion I met my neighbor. Captain 
 Henry Waring, of Brooklyn, whom I found to be a popular intimate of the 
 gentility of Edenton, and who entertained the company with a history of 
 his entering the United States navy in '98 as a lieutenant, and compeer of 
 the now Commodore Chauncy, whom he then "outranked;" but finding 
 that his "trade with North Carolina" was more profitable than his navy 
 commission, he resigned its honors to his friend Chauncy, and contented 
 himself with accumulating money as a merchant. 
 
 On 5th February crossed the Albemarle Sound to Plymouth, where the 
 citizens received me under a salute of cannon, and which I acknowledged 
 in a brief speech ; and at Mr. Armistead's met the great farmer of that part 
 ■of the State, Mr. Collins, who gave me a minute account of the culture of 
 the " Scuppernong grape," so famous for its wine. This grape is described 
 by Lawson, in his history of Carolina, early in the last century. 
 
 On 7th I proceeded to Newbern, where I met William Gaston, Esquire, 
 whose very agreeable acquaintance I had made in the family of my father- 
 in-law in Wilmington, 1806, when Gaston practiced in the courts there. At 
 dinner I also met my friend John Guion, Esquire, and William Graham, and 
 Mr. Donnel, and passed a few hours with John Stanly, Esq., one of the 
 
172 THE MEMOIRS OP 
 
 brightest minds of the State. On 9th February arrived at Wilmington, 
 finding Mrs. Swift and my son and daughter in health. Thanks be 
 to God. 
 
 On 2 1st Februar)- the citizens of Wilmington gave me a dinner — a 
 flattering token of the remembrance of earlier days. I attempted no 
 speech in response to a complimentarj' remark, and gave this toast: — 
 
 " North Carolina and her liberal spirit, as evinced in her carte blanche 
 order to Canova for a sculpture of Washington, at an expense limited only 
 by the artist's decision." 
 
 February 26th, to Fort Johnson, Oak Island and Bald Head, and reported 
 from Smithville my views to the War Department. Visited the grave of 
 my friend John Lightfoot Griffin, in the garden that had been the care of 
 its owner in 1805, Mrs. Sarah Drj' Smith. I could find no stone in the 
 public gravejard to mark the resting place of my early friend Benjamin 
 Blaney, the friend also of the poor, and that especially of the sick sailor 
 and stranger. 
 
 February 28th to Orton, the plantation of General Smith on the banks 
 of the Cape Fear, and passed a day with Mrs. S. D. Smith and himself. 
 The pleasures of our reminiscences of that spot, and of Belvldere, were 
 clouded by the aspect of the failing fortunes of the general. Mrs. Smith 
 presented us at the board, a bottle of the nearly consumed stock of old 
 sherry, with which, and blue perch from the adjacent pond, we were used 
 to regale in more prosperous days; Mrs. Smith evincing a well-balanced 
 serenity, to cheer the gloom of her husband. On ist of March returned to 
 Wilmington, and found it a fruitless essay to liquidate the large claims of 
 the general's creditors. 
 
 Mrs. Swift and myself renewed our associations with the Lords, Mrs. 
 Vance, Mr. Miller and the Browns, Wrights, Toomers, Londons, Hoopers, 
 and other of the friends of our more early days. On 7th visited my corres- 
 pondent, Alfred Moore, Esq., at Buchoi, and enjoyed a retrospect of our 
 deer hunts with Duncan Moore, now laid low, and the Swanns, Hills and 
 Burgwins, Richard Eagle, efc. 
 
 The recurrence among friends to the scenes of early life, when visiting. 
 
GENERAL JOSEPH GARDNER SWIFT. 1 73 
 
 form some of the finest enjoyments of mind that can be recounted, and 
 probably one among the best of this world's good. 
 
 On nth March, I purchased carriage and horses, and, with my wife, son 
 and daughter, and maid Peggy, commenced a jaunt to Norfolk, leaving of 
 our family in Wilmington, Mr. J. W. Walker and Julius, and their mother, 
 Mrs. Walker — an exemplary parent, and true lady of the old school — and 
 her sister, Mrs. Ann Quince, of equal virtues, and our semper cadem 
 friend and cousin, and family physician. Dr. A. J. De Rosset. Mrs. Vance 
 and daughters Marj' and Jane took the road to Newbern by the Sound 
 to Sage's, and to Colonel Shine's by Holly Shelter and Trenton. Detained 
 some days by storm in Newbern, entertained by friends there already 
 named, and by the Edwards ; employed the rainy hours In reading to Mrs. 
 Swift, whose piety enjoyed the " Rise and Progress of Religion in the 
 Soul of Man," by Doddridge, more than her less pious husband, who, 
 however, found it among the best books he ever perused — thanks be to 
 God. We arrived at the hospitable mansion of John Armistead, Esquire, 
 In Plymouth, on 2 2d, thence sent my horses and carriage back to Wilming- 
 ton to be sold, and crossed the Sound to Edenton in company with a very 
 enlightened gentleman. Dr. Norcomb, whose knowledge of the Roanoke 
 country, and its liberal planters, gave Mrs. Swift and myself cause to be 
 thankful for his conversation in a long: row in a barg-e that landed us 
 at Edenton, from whence we took an extra Stage to Norfolk, arriving there 
 on 25th, and by packet thence to Baltimore. On 30th at my sister's, Mrs. 
 Adams, and on the ist April I to my office in Washington City, accompanied 
 by my father. Found good quarters by renting a house in Colonel Cox's row. 
 In Georgetown, where on 26th my aid. Lieutenant Blaney, arrived with my 
 son James, wounded in the head by a blow received from his inconsiderate 
 teacher, Dr. Rudd, in Ellzabethtown ; also my sons William, Alexander 
 and Thomas, and with Mrs. Swift, Julius and Sally, and maid Peggy, and my 
 faithful man Jack, whose bravery and care In the St. Lawrence campaign of 
 18 13 deserves my remembrance, and whose features Jarvis has preserved in 
 the portrait that the corporation placed in the City Hall in commemoration 
 of the Long Island and Harlem scenes of 1814. My man Jack brought 
 
I 74 THE MEMOIRS OF 
 
 with him my well-kept horses "Fox," "Ned," and "Yorick." On 28th my 
 friend. Captain John L. Smith, welcomed the family to our new quarters 
 in Georgetown. Early in May my brother-in-law Adams and myself, with 
 some of my brother officers, commenced to purchase military' land warrants, 
 with a view on my part to form some future settlement for my sons in 
 Illinois, on some fine tracts, and to re-sell the balance. 
 
 On 26th May, with the engineer of that department, Lieutenant-Colonel 
 Armistead, proceeded to Fort McHenry, Baltimore, and laid off a sea wall 
 to protect the site from the waves of the bay that had been some time 
 abrading the shore ; Armistead commenced the work. The next day 
 General Bernard, and Captain Elliot of the navy and myself proceeded to 
 Old Point Comfort, and recommenced our examinations that had been 
 commenced last winter at Gosport. Colonel Armistead joined the board, 
 and we extended our explorations to York River, and from thence 
 despatched Lieutenant Smoot of the navy, in the schooner, to meet 
 President Monroe up the bay, and to signal the meeting by five discharges 
 of cannon. The President and Secretaries of War and Navy having 
 determined to see the several positions that the board had surveyed with 
 reference to a navy depot and the defence of Chesapeake Bay. Ad interim 
 the board proceeded to explore the vicinity of Norfolk and Lynhaven Bay, 
 Elizabeth River, etc. At a place called Cormick, on Trading Point, and 
 also the settlement of Captain John Smith, of Pocahontas memory, we found 
 moss-covered grave stones, one inscribed "Cookings, 1657," another 
 "Hodges, 1687." Detailed Major James Kearney and Captain William T. 
 Poussin to form a topographical map of these regions, by a compass 
 reconnoitre. 
 
 On 30th May the board proceeded by a navy schooner and barges to the 
 clay banks on York River ; a point commended to examination for a depot. 
 
 On 2d June we went in several boats up Queen's Creek to Williams- 
 burgh, and thence explored Archer's Hope to James River. We visited 
 William and Mary, and viewed the fine marble statue of Norbon, Lord 
 Botetout, in the college land. Also a couple of large live oak trees 
 standing in the corner of the land, the most northerly growth of this tree 
 
GENERAL JOSEPH GARDNER SWIFT. ' 175 
 
 that I have seen. Returned to Yorktown, and traversed the old hnes of 
 October, 1781. On passing the redout stormed by St. Simon and Viomenil, 
 General Bernard, with quite an imposing air, took off his hat and made a 
 profound reverence. While at the redout carried by Colonel Hamilton, we 
 laughed at the fact that it was conquered by the loss of half a dozen lives 
 in a very rapid movement, while Viomenil, more formal in his march, but 
 with success, mastered his redout, leaving some sixty men dead in the 
 trenches. We also looked at the old stone church of York, and found the 
 tomb of Thomas Nelson, son of Hugo, of Penrith, inscribed "Vitcs bene 
 gestae finejn implevity The stone of the church and the old mill of 
 limestone taken from the banks of York River. 
 
 On 5th June the approach of the President was signaled by Lieutenant 
 Smoot, who, with the Secretary of War, Mr. Calhoun, and of the Navy, Mr. 
 Crowninshield, and private secretary, Mr. Samuel L. Gouverneur, joined the 
 board at Yorktown, and visited the site of the marquees of Washington and 
 Rochambeau on the field of 1781, and the next day looked over the posi- 
 tions that the board had surveyed near York, and on 7th sailed to Old Point 
 Comfort, and the next day the President and suite made a ceremonial 
 entrance at Norfolk, as the commencement of the President's southern tour 
 of inspection. He examined the navy yard and forts, and on 9th, with the 
 board as part of his suite, took barges to Drummond's Lake via the Dismal 
 Swamp Canal ; in which excursion Captain Elliot of the navy amused 
 himself and Gouverneur by upsetting the barge of the board in the outlet, 
 sending Bernard and McRee to the bottom for a moment. The freak was, 
 of course, taken in good part, and we hastened to Parages, on the canal, to 
 dry our garments, and to partake of the fine cane-fed beef of the swamp, 
 and to mix our brandy with the light juniper-colored water of the outlet — 
 deemed especially wholesome. 
 
 On loth the President, etc., visited Elizabeth City on the Pasquotank, 
 and also became guests of Mr. Sawyer in the vicinity, whose accomplished 
 daughter entertained the party with music on the harp. On 12th the 
 President and suite returned to a public dinner given at Norfolk in honor 
 of Mr. Monroe. 
 
176 THE MEMOIRS OF 
 
 On 13th to Hampton and Old Point, examining the topographical maps 
 and plans of the board, from whence, a further extension of the tour being 
 postponed for a season, (Secretary' Calhoun having gone to South Carolina,) 
 the President, on receiving despatches from Washington, returned at once 
 with the Secretary- of the Navy and Mr. Gouverneur to that city. 
 
 On 1 8th the board proceeded to St. Mary's River on Potomac, where 
 McRee and myself relieved the subalterns, and made in one day a triangu- 
 lation of that estuary called a river, and extended the same to the banks of 
 the Patuxent at Point Sewell. 
 
 On 2 1 St the board examined the Patuxent, where Bernard met, for the 
 first time in his life, the American black snake, a bold fellow of full six feet 
 in length, that raised himself over a bush, and, with his brilliant eye, shook 
 his forked tongue at the general. 
 
 On 2 1 St the board arrived in Annapolis, and proceeded to examine that 
 harbor and the Round Bay. From thence sent orders (24th) to Major J. J. 
 Abert and Captain J. Le Conte, to make a topographical survey of Throg's 
 Neck and Hell Gate, with a view to the action of the board. 
 
 On 27th we proceeded to Baltimore, and held our meetings at the Indian 
 Queen, in Market Street. The whole board in favor of York River as a 
 navy depot except Captain L. Warrington, who preferred the present site, 
 Gosport, in case that the Horse Shoe Channel should be found 'by the 
 engineers to be defensible ; but if the line of defence had to fall back to 
 Old Point Comfort, then the whole board would probably select a site for 
 the depot on Burrell's Bay, or some other point on James River. The board 
 here adjourned, to meet in Washington on 30th September next. 
 
 On my arrival in Baltimore I found my sister Sarah and my brother 
 William arrived from New York. I had written Major Thayer to send my 
 brother to me, that I might direct him as to his future pursuits. His 
 fondness for sport had made him popular among the young cadets at West 
 Point, and of course such a standing was accompanied by a low grade in 
 the merit roll, which annoyed his father and myself, and gave the superin- 
 tendent of the Academy trouble. It had become habitual at the Point in all 
 doubtful cases of mischief, to attribute it to my brother, who, among other 
 
GENERAL JOSEPH GARDNER SIVJFT. 177 
 
 freaks had commenced " messing by himself," as he termed his retiring to a 
 lone room with a box of pies that he had purchased of one of the servants 
 at that post. 
 
 On 30th June I took WilHam with me to Georgetown, where, after a few days 
 I advised him to return to West Point and apply himself to a better course, 
 and by study to get ready to meet me there on my next visit of inspection ; 
 which he promised to do, and then returned to Governor's Island and to the 
 Pomt. He has no lack of capacity, and will succeed if he apply himself to 
 his books. 
 
 The months of July and August were busy days in the office on Pennsyl- 
 vania Avenue, about one hundred yards west of the war office, in makino- 
 contracts for the new works on the Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic frontiers. 
 We had a multitude of proposals from Messrs. Farrar, Goldsborouo-h Mix 
 and others. 
 
 During the time I made official arrangements to place the engineer 
 department in the hands of a successor, for I had made up my mind to 
 seek civil service. I also, early in September, made a visit of inspection to 
 West Point, and consulted my friend Thayer in reference to my brother 
 William, who I found would not so pursue his studies as to secure him the 
 proper grade as graduate, and determined to detach him on some duty that 
 would promise improvement, and secure, if practicable, his commission in the 
 artillery; for which object I had been also consulting the Secretary of War, 
 in reference to examining the western rivers, recently commenced by my 
 protege, Captain S. H. Long, who had made a verj^ interesting map of the 
 Illinois and its tributaries. 
 
 In this visit to West Point I was accompanied by General John Mason, 
 the proprietor of the Georgetown iron works, who came on to see Mr. 
 Gouv. Kemble and our rising establishment opposite the Point at Margaret 
 Brook. This was on 17th of the month. Frcm thence to the city, where I 
 met Mrs. Swift's cousin, Mrs. Mary Orme, who returned with me on 26th 
 to my family in Georgetown ; finding there my old friend General B. Smith, 
 from Belvidere, on his way to Kentucky, to examine his lands near Hen- 
 derson. My brother-in-law, James W. Walker, from Wilmington, had been 
 
178 THE MEMOIRS OF 
 
 sojourning in my family on his way to seek a new residence on the Lime- 
 stone River in Alabama, and to examine some lands in West Tennessee to 
 which his father had claims for military service. 
 
 On 30th September the board of engineer and navy officers met at the 
 department to finish the plans for Chesapeake Bay, that they might be 
 redrawn by the officers engaged in the surveys. 
 
 The President returned to Washington on nth October from his resi- 
 dence at Oak Hill, in Loudon, Virginia. On 15th October met him and 
 the Secretaries of War and Treasury to consult upon my retiring from the 
 army to civil service. I presenteded them my views in reference to General 
 Bernard, and said that under the resolution of Congress, i6th February, 
 I did not see how the executive could remedy the case. It was concluded 
 to confer upon me the surveyorship of New York, the onl)' place that 
 would be vacant, and on 23d October Mr. Crawford informed me that I 
 might take charge of that office as soon as I had made up my mind to leave 
 the corps of engineers. Mr. Secretary of State J. O. Adams gave his 
 approval to this measure of my appointment. 
 
 Our friend Mrs. Orme returned home to Wilmington under the escort of 
 
 Mr. . I wrote by her to Julius H. Walker, advising him of all the 
 
 facts that had come to me from Lawyer Shight of Newburg, and from uncle 
 John Du Bois of the same town, to wit : That all the children of John 
 Du Bois (Mrs. Swift's grandfather,) were entitled to the said grandfather's 
 rights in the " Minnesink land," and that under the will of Mrs. Swift's 
 mother, Julius H. and Louisa M. Walker (my wife) were entitled to all the 
 said lands that had belonged to Isaac Du Bois, the brother of the said 
 grandfather John ; which land had descended to the only child (Margaret) 
 of the said Isaac and wife of the aforesaid John Du Bois of Newburgh, to 
 whom was born one son, Isaac, who, dying before his father and after his 
 mother, the said father, John, had conveyed by his will all the rights of said 
 Isaac, his father-in-law, to his sister, the aforesaid M. M. Walker, mother of 
 said Julius H. and Louisa M. : i. e., all said Dr. Lsaac Du Bois' rights in the 
 patent of land called the "Minnesink Patent" aforesaid, which said Dr. 
 Du Bois died in October, 1745, and was then seized with his brother, the 
 aforesaid grandfather John, (wIvd died December, 1767,) of all the Du Bois 
 
GENERAL JOSEPH GARDNER SWIFT. 1 79 
 
 right to the said " Minnesink lands," they, two brothers, being the only 
 heirs and sons of the Rev. Gualthemus Du Bois, deceased in October, 
 1 75 1. S&Q family Bible of the aforesaid Louisa M. Swift, Avhere these 
 deaths are recorded. 
 
 I employed the latter days of October in removing my family from 
 Georgetown to Mrs. Marvin's, number sixty-one in Broadway, where we 
 had a comfortable suite of rooms, and in placing my sons James and 
 Williams with Mr. Craig at Erasmus Hall in Flatbush, and depositing my 
 funds of one thousand five hundred dollars in the United States Bank. 
 
 Early in November, on the 2d, I returned to Baltimore to meet General 
 Bernard and Colonel McRee, to pursue the board duty; thence we three 
 proceeded to Old Point in the schooner " Hornet," Lieutenant Ramage, 
 United States navy, and also to Barnwell's Bay on James River, and Pargan 
 Creek in continuance of our former incomplete surveys for a navy depot, 
 returning via Baltimore to Georgetown on i ith November, on which day I 
 resigned my colonelcy of engineers, reserving all the rights of my brevet 
 brigadiership, by understanding with Colonel Monroe (the President) that 
 in case of war he would restore me to the line, as one of the rights of the 
 brevet rank conferred by the United States. 
 
 In 'reference to my resignation it was said that I should have apprised my 
 brother officers, that such of them as may have agreed in opinion with me 
 might have united with me in leaving the corps. I avoided this to prevent 
 the aspect of concert to interfere with the public service. It may also be 
 noted that up to the day of my resignation General Bernard had not in a 
 single instance objected to the selection of any site for defensive works, 
 that had been occupied by any officer of engineers. He did deem all the 
 works too small, and though they had thus far served the purposes for which 
 they had been constructed, he was generally correct in that opinion. The 
 chief merit of a military engineer is, first, selecting the proper position ; 
 next in order is the adopting a suitable plan to the position ; and next, the 
 ability to direct workmen to make the enduring walls. 
 
 On 13th November I notified the Secretary of the Treasury of my 
 acceptance of the surveyorship, it having been required by the Secretary of 
 
l8o THE MEMOIRS OF 
 
 War that I should complete in the ensuing winter, the duty that had been 
 assigned me on the board of engineer and navy officers. 
 
 The next day I proceeded to New York and appointed a very worthy man 
 (Samuel Terry) my deputy, and on 19th of the month commenced my 
 new official duty. 
 
 On 30th December, having arranged with the collector for my deputy to 
 perform all the functions of office in my absence, proceeded to join the 
 board of engineers at Washington; to Philadelphia in company with the 
 Vice-President, Tompkins, and Commodore Chauncey, where I passed my 
 birthday in company with the son-in-law of my former chief, and others 
 of the families of Biddle and Cadwallader. 
 
 1 8 19. Early in January arrived at Washington, and arranged an office 
 for the engineer board at Hysonimon's in Georgetown, where were 
 assembled General Bernard, Colonels McRee and Armistead, (my successor 
 in the engineer department,) and Captain Elliot of the navy, and closed 
 our work on 24th February, and laid the plans before the Secretary of War. 
 On this board McRee and myself found Bernard rather shy in giving his 
 reasons for the preference of any part of the plan that was his own ; a glar- 
 ing case was that of Sailer's Point, below Baltimore, where Bernard preferred 
 a front of much more exposure to enfilade fire than McRee and myself had 
 commended. His uniform reply was "Gentlemen, your plan is very good, 
 ■mais, I prefer my idea." We both said we had a right to his reasons in the 
 spirit of his employment. McRee and myself also preferred a smaller 
 emicute to the work at Old Point. I had so stated to Mr. Secretary 
 Calhoun, bu twe deferred to Bernard's preference and popularity, and yet 
 we did not receive his reason for so large an enclosure. The service on 
 this board at Georgetown left an impression on the minds of McRee and 
 myself that Bernard was not the genius he had been reputed, and that he 
 was not candid or frank in his exchange of thought with us. I suppose he 
 remembered my letters of objection to his service ; but McRee was not as 
 liberal in his views of that gentleman's course on the board. My opinion 
 of Bernard is that he is an excellent bureau officer, a cold-hearted man ; not 
 in any sense a man of genius. 
 
GENERAL JOSEPH GARDNER SWIFT. l8l 
 
 The 27th February I returned to my duties at the Custom House, New 
 York, where the facetious Major Noah said in his Advocate that I had trans- 
 ferred my name from the army register to a hogshead of rum. He did not 
 estimate the causes that drove me out of the army. 
 
 I passed the winter, or rather March, in applying myself to becoming 
 acquainted with the theory of commerce and its relations to my vocations ; 
 purchased the six musty 8-vos. of Anderson, and read on revenue laws. 
 
 On 1st April commenced housekeeping at two hundred and thirteen in 
 Duane Street, and made an agreeable associate in my neighbor, Henry 
 Cruger, Esq., who had formerly been a member from Bristol in Parliament. 
 He gave me a corrected reading of the story of his being on the hustings 
 with Edmund Burke, whose declamation so dumbfounded his mercantile 
 ideas that he did not presume to follow the speech of that great man by any 
 effusions of his own, and said to the audience: "Your Mayor can do no 
 more than say ditto to Mr. Burke." Mr. Cruger appeared to be a verj- 
 highly informed person, and a thorough gentleman. 
 
 On 15th April my son McRee was born, and named for my friend Colonel 
 McRee ; and which son and the daughter Louisa of my friend Thomas 
 March, and the son John Ireland of my friend Fanning C. Tucker, were 
 baptized at my house in Duane Street, by Rev. H. G. Feltus, on 28th day 
 of the following month of June. In the month of May Colonel McRee 
 visited me, and to see his namesake, and on 15th of that month he left us 
 to seek a farm in Indiana, having resigned his commission in the engineers 
 in consequence of the course pursued by the executive, in giving General 
 Bernard rank and employment not by any means contemplated by the 
 resolution of i6th February. In the month of May I visited the West 
 Point foundry', and witnessed the first delivery of ordnance castings to the 
 United States agent. On my return loth May placed James, Willy, 
 Alexander and Tom at Mr. Pickett's school. In the month of April my 
 brother William at Pittsburgh with Major Long, on Yellow Stone expe- 
 dition. In the following month of June, by invitation of the Secretarj' of 
 War, John Garnet of New Jersey, James Renwick of New York, Richard 
 Patterson of Pennsvlvania, Colonel Fenwick, Colonel Totten, Colonel 
 
1 82 THE MEMOIRS OF 
 
 Archer and myself formed the board of visitors at the MiHtary Academy, 
 and made our report on igth June. 
 
 The 4th of July was celebrated this year with much ixlat by the Society 
 of Cincinnati in New York, to which my father and myself were invited, and 
 on which occasion it was agreed that my father had a just claim to a mem- 
 bership of that society, by reason of his naval services as surgeon on board 
 the "Portsmouth" ship of war that was captured by the " Culloden," 
 seventy-four, of Rodney's fleet, 17S1. 
 
 On 19th of July the Rev. Thomas C. Brownwell went with me to my 
 father's quarters on Governor's Island, and baptized my sister Sarah 
 Adams' two daughters, Deborah Delano and Mary Harper, both born there 
 in my father's house. 
 
 July 29th, the families of my friends Fanning C. Tucker, Thomas March 
 and my own, twenty-six in all, on board the revenue cutter, Captain Cahoon, 
 to Oyster Bay, and with Captain George Rogers we passed some pleasant 
 weeks at this watering place ; where my son James encountered a hornet's 
 nest, and after much battling, with the aid of Captain Rogers, the nest was 
 conquered after receiving several severe stings. 
 
 August 2d, on a visit to Captain James Farquhar at Green Hill — "Sailor's 
 Snug Harbor." I used his telescope to observe the balloon ascent of M. 
 Guilles, and his descent in a parachute to Bushwick on Long Island, 
 landing near Newtown. I estimated the height ascended in a brief space 
 of time at six thousand feet. The whole time occupied in ascent and 
 descent was about three-fourths of one hour. 
 
 Although my functions in the army had ceased, I could not become 
 indifferent to the action of the government in reference to fortifying our 
 harbors, and other national improvements, and was glad to find that half 
 a million of dollars had been appropriated for harbor defence for the 
 current year. 
 
 From Oyster Bay I had placed my family to board with Mrs. Ross of 
 Jamaica. She is the daughter of the former friend of Colonel Williams 
 and myself, Mrs. Wilkinson, at number forty, Broadway — the headquarters 
 of our engineers in the city. At Jamaica I was within easy ride of my 
 
GENERAL JOSEPH GARDNER SIVIFT. 1 83 
 
 city duties, and early in September established my family on Brooklyn 
 Heights at the house of a friend, George Gibbs, Esq., and placed my sons 
 James, Williams and Alexander at Mr. Armour's school ; my son Thomas 
 with his grandfather, the surgeon at Governor's Island. 
 
 On 4th September the mayor of the city, Mr. Golden, invited me to aid 
 the corporation in examining sources of a supply of water for the city. 
 Accordingly on this day, accompanied by Dr. Samuel L. Mitchell and 
 Robert Macomb, Esq., we proceeded to the Rye Ponds, and by the usual 
 mode I determined the flow of water from the upper pond to be two thou- 
 sand one hundred and twenty-eight gallons per minute into the lower pond, 
 and thence into the Bronx two thousand four hundred and eio-hty-four 
 gallons per minute were discharged. I gave Mr. Golden a report of a plan 
 to convey this water to the Harlem River, and across the same to a reser- 
 voir of deposit on the Heights, deeming them to be far below the point 
 where the acqueduct should cross the Bronx not far below the pond ; and 
 that as the season was ordinary in its character, calculated that three 
 millions of gallons of water might be daily received into said reservoir of 
 deposit, at an expense of about two millions of dollars. The amount of 
 the estimate was deemed to be too large by the wise men of the corporation, 
 and the report soon went to sleep in the pigeon-holes of the mayor's office. 
 I neither charged nor received any fee for this service. 
 
 Early in October John and Robert Swartwout, two enterprising o-entlemen 
 of the city, consulted me on a plan to bank and ditch the Newark meadows, 
 and we explored them, and the meadows near Hackensack bridge and 
 Hoboken. Those gendemen offered me an interest in these low lands, and 
 I went with them to Philadelphia to consult Langdon Gheeves, Pierce 
 Butler, Thomas Gadwallader, Thomas Biddle and Stephen Girard to form a 
 company to complete this work, and thereby supply the market of New 
 York with beef and a dairy. Those gentlemen were not prepared for the 
 enterprise, but took time to consider the matter, and I proceeded no further, 
 and thus one of the best plans for public and private utility was suspended 
 on 7th October, 18 19. 
 
 On 14th of this month I purchased from George Gibbs the place where 1 
 
1 84 THE MEMOIRS OF 
 
 was living with him on the Heights, for ten thousand dollars — sixteen lots, 
 forming a square overlooking the East River and the city harbor — and on 
 1st November took possession, and commenced housekeeping there with 
 my family, and commenced trimming a large grape vine that Mrs. Gibbs had 
 transplanted from General Smith's garden in Smithville, North Carolina, 
 and I eave the cuttings of the vine to William Prince, the florist and 
 gardener at Flushing, who wished to name the grape " The Louisa," for 
 my wife, but both she and myself deemed Mrs. Isabella Gibbs entitled 
 thereto, and accordingly the vine was named " The Isabella," and I gave the 
 cuttings to many of my neighbors in Brooklyn. Thus originated the 
 Isabella Grape, 1824. 
 
 November 5th wrote the Secretary of War, J. C. Calhoun, Esq., that 
 Robert Tillotson and Colonel Samuel Hawkins had purchased of Roswell 
 Hopkins the contract to build forts at Mobile Point, that had been con- 
 tracted for while I was chief engineer; and that I had agreed to furnish 
 professional advice to execute these works on condition of receiving one- 
 fourth of the net profits. 
 
 November 13th my aunt, Lucretia Lovering, became a member of my 
 family at Brooklyn. She is of Boston, and my father's favorite sister. 
 
 December 14th, wrote Colonel McRee at Natchez that five hundred 
 dollars had been deposited for him in the Bank of New York, and that 
 eight hundred dollars had been sent to him from the War Department, the 
 proceeds of the sale of his library. 
 
 During the months of November and December much of my time 
 had been employed in comparing the weights and measures, and in the 
 Revenue Department. My report thereon in my files, and in Congres- 
 sional Document. 
 
 In 1820 eight hundred thousand dollars appropriated for United States 
 fortifications. 
 
 1820. January, Charles Snowden of Philadelphia proposed to sell to me a 
 large tract of Schuylkill coal lands, and with Professor Hassler and his large 
 carriage, and Mr. Charles Loss, a miner, Mr. Snowden and myself, proceeded 
 on 8th January to Orwicksburgh in Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania, and 
 
GENERAL JOSEPH GARDNER SWIFT. 185 
 
 found the mines very promising, and in presence of Mr. Hassler and Mr. Loss, 
 Mr. Snowden sold me twenty thousand acres of coal land for twenty thousand 
 dollars. We returned by Philadelphia, and there met Samuel Miflin and 
 Cadwallader Evans, Esq., and consulted on a mode of transporting this 
 coal to market b)- improving the canal ; and on our arrival at Elizabethtown, 
 New Jersey, met Governor Williamson, who agreed to present to the legis- 
 lature of New Jersey my plan of a canal from the Delaware River to New 
 York Harbor, to transport anthracite. On arriving in New York, the first 
 fire in that city made of this coal was made in my office. The next day 
 Snowden declined to execute the sale he had made to me, and made a 
 bargain with a new association at two dollars the acre, owing me two 
 hundred and sixty dollars, cash lent to him 17th January. 
 
 February ist, Alexander Macomb, Esq., father of the general, mentioned 
 to me that while he was a merchant in Detroit in 1778, Captain Bard of the 
 8th British infantry captured Daniel Boon of Kentucky, and marched him 
 to Detroit, where the governor (Hamilton) treated Boon kindly, and gave 
 him liberty to return to his family, and to aid him gave an order on Mr. 
 Macomb's store for such supplies as he might require on his march. Boon 
 said : " I cannot accept more than is absolutely necessary, and will take but 
 twelve shillings for myself, and a pound of tea for my wife." What 
 moderation and self respect ! 
 
 In this year, Mr. March, Major Tucker and myself employed Mr. Samuel 
 Seabury to teach our boys. He is a well informed young man, the son of 
 a clergyman and grand-son of Bishop Seabury. I gave him the range of 
 my library, and found him an interesting companion. He was spoken of as 
 a suitable assistant in the newly projected theological seminary advocated 
 by Bishop Hobart, O. B. Ogden and others, and in which I was a trustee, 
 but opposed to the location of such an institution in such associations as 
 the city of New York must yield to youth. 
 
 February 6th, an interesting meeting with many, including Captain E. 
 Trenchard, United States navy, on the subject of the colonization of free 
 colored people in Africa. The captain was on the eve of sailing in the 
 United States ship "Cyane" for Africa with the ship "Elizabeth," having 
 
1 86 THE MEMOIRS OF 
 
 the first gang of such people set free to commence this great project. 
 
 February 8th. In reply to an enquiry from Hon. John C. Calhoun on 
 the subject of our relations with Spain, having reference to the island of 
 Cuba, I wrote as may be seen in the Appendix. 
 
 March 7th, attended a large political meeting at Flatbush, Long Island, with 
 Lefferts Lefferts, Jeremiah Johnston, Jehiel Jaggar, etc., and addressed the 
 meeting on the inexpediency of moving in the presidential question that 
 had been commenced by Mr. Crawford's friends in Washington, where the 
 Radicals had assailed Mr. Calhoun, charging the war department with mal- 
 versation on the part of Mr. Calhoun and General Swift in reference to 
 contracts with Elijah Mix, which contracts had been made by me before 
 leaving the army, and approved by Mr. Calhoun. 
 
 On 2 2d April I proceeded to Washington, and notified the committee of 
 Congress of my readiness to show that the engineer department had done 
 its duty in reference to that contract. The committee did not report, and I 
 returned to New York, escorting Mrs. Grace Magruder and -Miss Mary 
 E. Roberdeau to Brooklyn as guests of Mrs. Swift, and found there my 
 worthy mother-in-law, Mrs. M. M. Walker, and my aunts Lucretia and 
 Philomela, sisters of my father, on a visit ; the former from Wilmington, 
 North Carolina, the two latter from Boston. 
 
 May 1 2th. By direction of the Secretary of the Treasury, commenced a 
 chemical examination of the sugars from Cuba and the teas from China, to 
 decide on their respective qualities to regulate the duty, and the qualities 
 and proper names of all the wines imported, and made my report on the 
 same to the treasury department. 
 
 June 7th, as president of the Handel and Haydn Society, with F. C. 
 Tucker, Dr. Oakey, B. Armitage and S. Taylor, got up the first oratorio in 
 the United States at St. Paul's Church, and raised eleven thousand dollars 
 for the Orphan Asylum and rebuilding Zion Church. This was a great 
 improvement to the musical taste of our country. 
 
 June 8th, Nathaniel Prime and myself were appointed by the legislature 
 of New Jersey to superintend the plan to open the Morris Canal improve- 
 ment. This was delayed. 
 
GENERAL JOSEPH GARDNER SWIFT. 1 87 
 
 June loth to 28th, at West Point by invitation of Mr. Secretary Calhoun, 
 with Generals Brown and Jessup, Dr. S. L. Mitchell, James Renwick and 
 Captain Le Compte, to examine the Military Academy. 
 
 July 1 8th, Rev. Dr. Ireland, Colonel Totten, Mr. March, Major Tucker 
 and myself had a fine excursion to the Fire Place, on Long Island, where 
 a trout, or more probably a salmon, came up to the mill race of the river, 
 and was captured, weighing thirteen pounds. 
 
 August 20th, reported to the Secretary of the Treasury on a plan to 
 modify the tariff on wines, sugars and teas ; that a reduction of duty 
 would tend to increase the quantum of importation, and consequently the 
 revenue; and that in reference to spirits, the proof should be high to insure 
 a good quality, and to injure less the public health. It was at this time that 
 Major Noah published a diatribe on my " transferring my name from the 
 army register to hogsheads of rum and boxes of champagne," in allusion to 
 my custom house functions, and in ignorance of the causes that had induced 
 me to leave the army, but in reality to assail me as a political friend of 
 Mr. Calhoun. 
 
 October 7th, received from the United States Comptroller a deed of 
 trust of Bald Head, Mallory and Blue Banks lands on Cape Fear River, 
 North Carolina — several thousands of acres — with the directions to have 
 the same acknowledged before the mayor of the city, and which was done 
 as agent of the United States Treasury, to aid in suing a debt of General 
 B. Smith as security for Colonel Read a defaulter, and late collector of the 
 port of Wilmington, North Carolina. 
 
 This matter involved many difficulties, and final loss by false records. 
 
 October 17th, my venerable mother-in-law, Mrs. Walker, returned to 
 Wilmington to live with her son, Julius H. Walker. 
 
 November ist, commenced our Brooklyn meetings of a Social Club: 
 Commodore Evans and Captain Rogers, United States navy, Colonel 
 Totten, F. C. Tucker, Thomas March, Thomas J. Chew, J. Jaggar, G. S. 
 Wise. My brother William returned on Long's expedition to the Missis- 
 sippi, and laid up the steam engine at the mouth of the Cumberland. 
 
 182 1. January 23d, my sister, Mary Roberdeau, married to Lieutenant G. 
 
1 88 THE MEMOIRS OF 
 
 % 
 
 W. Whistler, United States army, by Rev. Dr. J. B. Romeyn, giving my 
 father great uneasiness, as they were without adequate means of house- 
 keeping. However, my mother and m)se]f had a favorable estimate of the 
 w^orth and ability of Mr. Whistler. 
 
 In the previous December, and in this month, a political accusation was 
 made on the part of Governor De W'itt Clinton, charging me, as surveyor 
 of New York, with action under the influence of the general government, 
 especially Mr. Monroe, to "oppose State authorities in the elections." 
 This was termed the "Green Bag Essay," and was signally defeated by the 
 oath of every officer of the department under my official control, as the 
 documents of the State at Albany may evince to any reader. In fact 
 Governor Clinton admitted to me that the whole had been the result of 
 misrepresentation to him, and of which Colonel Ferris Pell was too 
 conversant ; and I was glad of this explanation at a dinner party given by 
 Consul Bogoot, restoring a pleasant personal relation between Governor 
 Clinton and his less important friend ; for friend I had in reality been 
 during the canvass, as also had my deputy, Samuel Terry, Esq. 
 
 February 27th, my brother William arrived in Philadelphia on horseback 
 from mouth of Cumberland. 
 
 March 2 1st, William McRee passed some days with me discussing the 
 cause which had driven both of us from the army ; the very improper 
 relation that the government had established between a foreign officer. 
 General Bernard, and the corps of engineers. The government made him 
 (McRee) surveyor-general of Missouri, and which office he found he could 
 not hold consistently with his ideas of propriety and the habits of land 
 speculation then prevailing in Missouri. I had a profound respect for 
 Colonel McRee ; he had a superior military mind; I named a son for him. 
 
 During this spring a general inspection of the revenue service was made 
 by Mr. Edward Jones of the United States treasury ; a gentleman of high 
 honor and ability. He found, as had been represented by the three 
 branches of the revenue in the United States custom house, that higher 
 moral qualities were needed in the subordinate officers, to secure the revenue. 
 
 Three hundred and two thousand dollars appropriated for United States 
 fortifications for 1821. 
 
GENERAL JOSEPH GARDNER SWIFT. 189 
 
 In the month of June, by invitation of the Secretary of War, I attended 
 as a member of the board of visitors the examination of the Military 
 Academy, and found great improvement made by the judicious adminis- 
 tration of Major Thayer, but not coinciding- in views with a majority of the 
 visitors I made a separate report to the War Department, as the United 
 States documents exhibit, and my own files contain. Brother William 
 mapping in Philadelphia till June, then to my father's at New London. 
 
 In this month I wrote the Hon. Henry Clay my views of the tendency of 
 the importation of a foreign officer, and interpolating him into the corps 
 of engineers, as may be seen in the Appendix. 
 
 In this summer I became interested in some of the stocks of Wall Street, 
 and with Henry Eckford, Esq., the distinguished navy architect, applied to 
 the legislature to incorporate a Life and Fire Insurance Company, to be 
 connected with the coal speculations in Pennsylvania that had caused Prof. 
 Hassler and the miner, Mr. Loss, to explore the anthracite region in 
 the year 1820. 
 
 September, brother William to Maine with Major Abert, surveying. 
 
 1822. In the spring of this year with the Rev. Dr. Ireland, Colonel 
 Totten, Mr. March and Colonel J. T. Jones, had a successful trouting 
 excursion at the Fire Place on Long Island, and for the first time used 
 Limerick hooks from Dublin, furnished by Colonel Jones. Totten and 
 myself, while busily engaged at the sport, our boat "sprung a leak" and 
 sunk from under us, and we were drenched, though our sport was not 
 spoiled. Remember Martin Kelly, Sackville Street, Dublin, for Limerick 
 hooks. 
 
 The last of April I was summoned to Washington on a revival of the 
 allegation of the Radicals of Mr. Calhoun's alleged malversation in the 
 (now become celebrated) Rip Rap contracts with Mix, accusing the 
 minister and the chief engineer. Swift, of partaking. See the congressional 
 documents respecting this infamous calumny, and also my files. 
 
 An attempt was made this season by the economists of the Radicals in 
 Congress to reduce the expenses of the government by the diminution of 
 the personal force of the custom house, in New York especially. It v>'as 
 
I go THE MEMOIRS OF 
 
 found on inspection that the only change which true economy would justify 
 was to substitute inspectors of ability, and who would not spend their 
 time in porter-house politics. 
 
 In this summer I took my family to New London, where my father had 
 been some time stationed as surgeon in the army after leaving Fort 
 Columbus. With him and Captain Rogers of the navy, Captain Way, 
 formerly of the army, and Hon. Lyman and Captain Richard Law, made 
 an excursion to the Rocks in Long Island Sound under the lead of 
 General William North, formerly adjutant-general United States army ; and 
 where the aboriginal mode of cooking blackfish, called " totogue," (taken 
 then in large quantities,) between heated flat stones, wdiich made a very 
 acceptable feast. 
 
 The legislature of New York had, in the April past, made a law to 
 regulate the streets and drainage of the city of New York east of the 
 Bowery and north of North Street, appointing Professor Adrain of 
 Columbia College, James Renwick, Esq., and myself the commissioners for 
 this purpose ; and our essay was to accomplish the same by a minimum of 
 expense to the owners of lots consistently with a thorough attainment of a 
 healthful result — all of which was spoiled by speculating aldermen. 
 
 James Renwick, Esq., and George McCullock of New Jersey and myself 
 explored the country to decide on a route for a canal from Easton, on the 
 Delaware River, to New York by the Hopatcong Lake and Rockaway River, 
 and the Muconectcong River, and deemed the same suitable for canal and 
 inclined planes. This .service was performed while the yellow fever had 
 driven the whole population of the lower city to Greenwich, and the custom 
 house to rooms in the State's prison. 
 
 While in New Jersey I. met Miles Smith, Esq., of New Brunswick, to 
 whom I had given an Isabella grape vine, and visited his residence at Ross 
 1 hill to witness its great growth. Upon his farm I found the ruins of an 
 old fort of Revolutionary times, an outpost of the British army, and at the 
 site of Colonel B. Tarleton's marquee, at a grotto of tree roots, found a 
 barrel set in a fine spring of water that had supplied the troops with water, 
 still flowing in abundance and purity. 
 
GENERAL JOSEPH GARDNER SWIFT. 19 1 
 
 In the month of July, with General Scott, visited Sunswick, the seat of 
 Colonel George Gibbs on Long Island, to compare his Tokay grapes with 
 Isabellas that had been furnished in roots from my garden. Both growing 
 luxuriantly. Concluded it well to engraft the hardy Isabella on the delicate 
 Tokay. We returned to my house at Brooklyn, and found my father and 
 aunt Lucretia, and my brother William arrived. The latter had become a 
 grave, experienced traveller, from Long's expedition among the Pawnee 
 and other Indians, and an expert horseman and rifle shot, having sustained 
 Colonel Long's party some weeks with buffalo and venison by his rifle. 
 My brother had command of the military guard of the party. 
 
 In December met at Mr. Renwick's Captain Sabine of the English 
 engineers, and Captain Chauncy of the navy, and witnessed experiments 
 on magnetic intensity, and on the vibrations of Captain Kater's pendulum- 
 point of suspension and oscillation, practically, as they are in theor}^ 
 convertible points, and gave them the result of my examination of the 
 weights and measures as existing in our revenue offices. 
 
 As a member of St. Ann's in my parish in Brooklyn, gave an estimate 
 to rebuild that church for twelve thousand dollars. Twelve of us loaned 
 each five hundred dollars for the object. One hundred and two pews and 
 seventy In the gallery. On the completion and sale every expense was 
 covered by the price paid for the pews, and leaving the church free 
 from debt. 
 
 Three hundred and seventy thousand dollars appropriated for fortifications 
 in the United States in 1822. 
 
 1823. On the death of my neighbor, Rev. John Ireland, myself and 
 Robert Bach became his executors, and sold his personal estate for five 
 hundred and eighty-two dollars. Sent his library to his step-son, Major 
 Tucker, the plate to the children, and the gold watch of Mr. Ireland to his 
 namesake, John Ireland Tucker. His real estate were lots near the navy 
 yard. With this accomplished gentleman I had enjoyed a very agreeable 
 and friendly intercourse for ten years. 
 
 During this winter the Handel and Haydn Society, i. e., a portion thereof, 
 to wit : Daniel Oaky, F. C. Tucker, Benjamin Armltage, Clement Moor, 
 
192 THE MEMOIRS OF 
 
 Rev. J. M. Wainwright, John Delafield, Walter Phelps, John Chesterman, 
 C. W. Taylor, with a new list of subscribers, formed the Philharmonic 
 Society of the city: Dr. Post, president; J. G. Swift, vice-president; John 
 Delafield, secretary and treasurer. At the opening of its meetings the 
 president and vice-president made each an address. This society did much 
 to improve the public taste in music. 
 
 In June my mother-in-law and grand-daughter Mary Ann, and cousin 
 Mary Orme, John O. McNeill and Mrs. S.'s brother-in-law, Edwin Gay 
 Osborne, returned to North Carolina. Mr. Osborne, a gentleman of fine 
 mind, attempted, by aid of my friend Cadwallader Golden, Esq., to establish 
 himself in the city as a counsellor of law, but did not succeed. 
 
 On loth July I went to Washington to confer with Mr. Calhoun and 
 Virgil Maxey, Esq.; carried with me for him, and set out in his garden, the 
 first Isabella grape of Washington; the next was W. W. Seaton's. The 
 plant flourished there exceeding well, and grew forty feet the first year. 
 
 Here it was agreed that I should collect materials and publish a pamphlet 
 to promote the election of John C. Calhoun to the presidency, and which 
 was publshed by me under the title of "Principles, not Men." Returned 
 to New York after having arranged to correspond with Samuel L. Southard, 
 New Jersey, George M. Dallas, Pennsylvania, Judge Gibson, John Conrad 
 and William Fitzhugh of Virginia, Benjamin Howard of Baltimore, John 
 Devereux, William Gaston and William R. Swift of North Carolina, 
 George McDuffie of South Carolina, and James Hamilton, Colonel Hayne, 
 William R. King and Governor Pickings of Alabama, Henry Le Trevor of 
 Louisiana, John H. Eaton of Tennessee, G. M. Bibb Kent and Governor 
 Edwards of Missouri, R. B. Taney and General Winder of Maryland. 
 
 Made an excursion to West Point with General Scott and lady, W. W. 
 Seaton and lady, Thomas Marsh and lady, Mary Roberdeau and my own 
 family. 
 
 September i6th, my son Jonathan Williams Swift was appointed a mid- 
 shipman in the navy. 
 
 To Morristown to meet Colonel Totten, General Bernard and James 
 Renwick, to consult on the interest the United States may have in the 
 
GENERAL JOSEPH GARDNER SWIFT. 1 93 
 
 construction of the Morris Canal with inclined planes, to overcome the rise 
 and fall of nine hundred feet. Thence proceeded to examine the copper 
 mines at Somerville, as a source of supply to the United States mint; 
 thence returned to the route of the canal at Pompton and Passaic Falls. 
 At the old hotel of General Goodwin found an album containing a record, 
 and some lines on the scene by General (then lieutenant) Macomb and 
 family, with Walker Armistead and J. G. Swift, 13th August, 1803. 
 
 November 2d. Died at Wilmington, North Carolina, my friend Archibald 
 Fotherlngham McNeill, late Lieutenant-Colonel United States Dragoons, 
 and father-in-law of Julius H. Walker. He died in the home where I was 
 married, at "The Barn." 
 
 In the month of December I made an inspection of the works on the 
 Morris Canal, with my brother commissioner, John Scott, and our engineer, 
 Captain Beach; the company having decided to increase the number of 
 workinor hands to unite the Hudson and Delaware. 
 
 Five hundred and eight thousand dollars appropriated for fortifications 
 in the year 1823. 
 
 1824. February 24th, my son J. W. Swift sailed in the United States 
 frigate Cyane for the Mediterranean, with Captain John Orde Creighton. 
 
 In March I purchased from Daniel Griswold one-half the stock of the 
 Williamsburgh ferry, and also the one-half of the Jackson Street ferry, 
 Brooklyn; and sold out the latter to J. B. Clark at a good profit — some one 
 thousand two hundred dollars. 
 
 Went to Albany with Samuel L. Gouverneur and Thomas L. Smith to 
 obtain a charter for the Sun Fire Insurance Company, and succeeded. In 
 this month also, of April, the legislature appointed Edmund Smith, Thomas 
 Hyatt and myself, commissioners to subscribe for the Richmond Turnpike 
 stock ; the object being to aid Governor Tompkins to settle his confused 
 accounts. My ki>owledge of his heedless mode of business had been, that 
 he had in the late war advanced money to me for the United States to 
 prosecute the public works, and to sustain the Military Academy. Of the 
 integrity of Governor Tompkins I had not a shadow of doubt. 
 
 In this month Mr. Jefferson wrote me of his w-ish to complete the cupola 
 
194 THE MEMOIRS OF 
 
 of the University of Virginia, and requested me to loan liim my De Lorme 
 on such architecture, and I sent the work to him by Colonel B. Peyton ; and 
 it was duly returned to my library. 
 
 On 3d June died my dear mother, in fine health. With ni)- father 
 she was on a visit to me. She had gone to the city to her sister Elizabeth 
 Rowland and niece Nancy (the wife of Captain Bennet), and was seized 
 with laryngitis, which Dr. Mott and Dr. Bull pronounced fatal, though an 
 essay was made by an incision into the throat below the glottis to permit 
 breathing. My father and brother William were present with the Rev. Dr. 
 Feltus. She became easy and died calmly, in full trust in the mercy of her 
 Saviour. 
 
 My father's heartfelt prayer at the foot of my mother's bed was for mercy, 
 and her safety in this world, or acceptance in a better, and was a most 
 impressive scene. They had lived in undisturbed harmony and love 
 together forty-one years. 
 
 The funeral was from my house, and the interment in the cemetery of 
 St. Ann's at Brooklyn. Dr. William Swift, United States navy (our cousin,) 
 Dr. Prime (another cousin,) Colonel Trumbull, General Gaines, Joshua 
 Sands, F. C. Tucker, Thomas March, Samuel L. Gouverneur, Daniel Okey, 
 my father and brother, and myself. Rev. Dr. Onderdonk officiating. 
 
 In this month, at the earnest request of his brother James, I took my son 
 Alexander to West Point, where, by permission of the Secretary of War, 
 and by the kind attention of Colonel Thayer, Alexander was to receive 
 tuition from Mr. Davies and Mr. Ross, my two friends. It was the period of 
 the examination, to which. General Jarvis, the patroon Van Renssellaer, 
 General W. H. Sumner and the Romish Priest Levens, (a very able man), 
 and myself, constituted the board of visitors. 
 
 In honor of "independence" this July, the notorious William Cobbet 
 gave a dinner to Governor Tompkins at Tammany Hall. Mr. Cobbet's 
 toast was disrespectful of his sovereign. I declined drinking the toast; 
 Mr. Cobbet asked my reason. I told him not that I had any especial 
 respect for his sovereign, but that I did not approve a subject or citizen's 
 offering a mark of disrespect to the chief magistrate of his native land in 
 
GENERAL JOSEPH GARDNER SWIFT. 195 
 
 SO public a form. The appeal was made to the governor, who said I had 
 uttered his own sentiment. The party became uncomfortable and soon 
 separated. I never met Mr. Cobbet afterwards. 
 
 In this summer much effort was made to promote the cause of the 
 oppressed modern Greeks. The remembrance of the glory of the ancients 
 caused many meetings. I was elected to preside at a meeting in their 
 favor on Long Island, and liberal gifts were bestowed, and Mr. Clay and 
 Mr. Webster made stirring speeches. The signal of their cause was erected 
 on the Heights, in my garden, by William Wood, Esq., in the name of the 
 ladies of Brooklyn, and several orations were pronounced to aid in 
 gathering funds to send a frigate to the aid of Greece as against the Turk. 
 A frigate was built by Mr. Eckford called the " Hellenese," etc. 
 
 As a member of a committee of the American Bible Society, of which I 
 had been a manager from its institution in 1816, the functions of the 
 secretary were presented as deserving remuneration. The person was the 
 Rev. Dr. Woodhull, and until further consideration I ureed that one 
 hundred dollars be presented to the doctor for past services, and the same 
 was adopted. 
 
 In August the Marquis La Fayette arrived in the " Cadmus," Captain 
 Frank Allen. At the reception he mistook me for his comrade. Colonel 
 Fish, who had not yet arrived. On explaining he said: "The opportunity 
 is happy for me to regret my not seeing your son at the Grange with his 
 letter." I had given Willy a letter to the Marquis on his going out in the 
 " Cyane " with our minister, Mr. Brown. He then asked me to accompany 
 him to call on Mrs. Lewis, "Nelly Custis" when he saw her last at Mount 
 Vernon with General Washington. The meeting was quite a scene. The 
 interview between La Fayette and Van Buskirk was touching. La Fayette 
 had met the father in the trenches of Yorktown, and given him a sword for 
 his gallantry. This son was a stout Jersey farmer. He held the sword in 
 his hand, and with tears in his eyes said : " My father is dead ; he left me 
 this sword, and I am come to see you, and to show it to you, and to tell you 
 that we all love you ! " There was not a dry eye in the room. 
 
 The next day we had an excursion to the fort of his name at the 
 
196 THE MEMOIRS OF 
 
 Narrows. The work had been built while I was chief engineer, and I had 
 requested the President to name it for La Fajette. While walking the 
 gallery he said : "Do you think the cannon at Monmouth were heard in the 
 Narrows?" looking over to the Monmouth shore. "O, it was a very hot 
 day." I asked him of the conduct of Lee on that day. He said: "Gen- 
 eral Lee was a brave man, but of bad management on that day." Early in 
 September La Fayette went to West Point, and invited me to accompany 
 him. I was glad to do so, and took with me my son Thomas. On the 
 way up the Hudson he told me Bernard had said to him I had treated him 
 and his family with much kindness, though he knew I was not satisfied with 
 his connection with the corps of engineers. La Fayette mentioned his own 
 and Mr. Gallatin's agency in selecting Bernard, and said : " Your country 
 did not object to my services." My reply was: "O no, general, we are all 
 grateful for your devotion to our cause, but the case is very different, and 
 our necessities also." I craved his pardon for not agreeing with him on 
 this matter. He took my hand in a gracious manner, and hoped I would 
 again enter the army. The meeting at West Point was a burst of boyish 
 and natural feeling. It entirely overcame La Fayette ; he wept, but ate a 
 hearty dinner, and drank Madeira by the tumbler, and a good piece of beef, 
 saying: "If I had not had a good stomach the Austrian jail would have 
 killed me;" and so we drank to the health of Huger and Bollman. 
 
 On my return to Brooklyn I met my brother-in-law, Julius Walker, and 
 his very nice wife, Mary Ann Smith of Beaufort, South Carolina, a very 
 excellent lady. Julius was ill, and they returned to Carolina early in 
 September on horseback, through upper Virginia and North Carolina, into 
 Pendleton in South Carolina. 
 
 In this fall, by correspondence with the members of the United States 
 Military Philosophical Society, the funds of that society were given, by my 
 advice, to the New York Lyceum of Natural History; a large majority 
 consenting, though a few (Colonel Thayer among the number,) thought a 
 better use could have been made of the fund — about two thousand dollars. 
 
 In the month of October Mr. Whistler, who hatl, by my recommendation 
 to General Porter, been attached as draughtsman to the north-west boun- 
 
GENERAL JOSEPH GARDNER SWIFT. 197 
 
 dary commission, -wrote me of the troubles of determining the Hne, and 
 Major Joseph Delafield consulted me with the maps, and I pointed to what 
 he and myself deemed the true point in the Lake of the Woods. 
 
 In November the Schuylkill Coal Company alloted me an interest at par 
 in that company, in some consideration of my services in 1820 in bringing 
 that coal into notice. I sold the stock, and after paying the company the 
 par value had some one thousand four hundred dollars ; which is all the 
 benefit I had from an enterprise which, if Charles Snowden had been true 
 to his bargain, had made my family opulent. 
 
 This fall Joshua Sands was elected to Congress. Remembrance of my 
 services in King's County during the war, and on Staten Island, and 
 through my friend Mr. Pierson, the iron-master of Rockland, Mr. Sands, 
 an old Federalist, received the major vote at my poll in that democratic 
 district. Mr. Sands told President Adams that but for my exertions he 
 could not have been elected. This was a result of actual personal exertion, 
 with a few influential friends in each district. 
 
 At the county court in Flatbush in October, commenced by the grand 
 jury, the first important mov^ement in the improvement of Brooklyn streets. 
 As foreman of the jury I was requested to furnish surveys, which resulted 
 in the opening of Firman Street, the initial act of street opening that led 
 the way to considerable improvement in that place, and market, etc. 
 
 In Novem.ber my father and his old friend and school-mate. General 
 Mattoon, once Adjutant-General of Massachusetts. His object was to get 
 his son Dwight Foster sent to West Point. I made an earnest appeal to 
 that effect to the Secretary of War. F"rom an early day I had advocated 
 sending the sons of the most talented men in the country to that institution, 
 as a better plan than selection by congressional districts, that was beginning 
 to have sway at Washington. 
 
 In the same month there was submitted to Governor De Witt Clinton 
 the plan of the Morris Canal. That gentleman consented to go before the 
 New Jersey legislature to give that body his views of the mutual benefit 
 thereof to both States, and by his invitation, and at the expense of the 
 company, I accompanied Mr. Clinton with my plans, etc. Mr. Clinton 
 
1 98 THE MEMOIRS OF 
 
 urged the benefit of extending banking privileges to the canal, and his 
 views were adopted by the legislature. 
 
 Seven hundred and six thousand dollars for United States fortifications 
 appropriated in 1824. 
 
 1825. In April, as an agent of the Water Company of the city of New 
 York, (of which, by the charter of March I was a commissioner,) an 
 exploration of the Broux was made, and also of the Croton Rivers for a 
 supply of water. The result in reference to the Broux sustained the gauges 
 made by me in 18 19, and of the Croton there remained not a doubt of its 
 abundance ; but the corporation declined acting upon those data. 
 
 In the summer I placed my son Julius at the school of Mr. Clark at Cow 
 Neck, on Long Island, the school in Brooklyn not suiting my views in conse- 
 quence of improper associates, and the peculiar disposition to avoid study 
 which Julius evinced, though a boy of fine temper and most generous 
 disposition. 
 
 Took my family, with Major Tucker, to West Point, where, with General 
 Brown and Colonel Thayer an examination of the Academy was made, and 
 found to have progressed very usefully under the colonel's care. The 
 o-eneral and myself returned to New York with our families and Major 
 Tucker's, and were launched in the Ohio, seventy-four, at the navy yard. 
 This fine ship had been drafted and constructed by our friend Henry 
 Eckford. 
 
 In September my wife accompanied me over the route of the Morris 
 Canal to Hopatcong Lake ; and witnessed the forging of iron from the 
 loup under the hammer, conducted by John Scott and Fay, men of six feet, 
 and of great strength and dexterity, wielding the tongs and loup with 
 graceful ease. 
 
 At this place, by appointment, I met the other commissioner. Colonel 
 Scott, and our engineer. Captain Beach, and arranged with them the 
 location of an inclined plane and acqueduct at Dover, near the Tamarack 
 Swamj), and returncil to IJrooklyn by Passaic P'alls. 
 
 Had a meeting of the Morris Canal Company, in which I held a large 
 interest, and became a director of the Fulton Bank. 
 
GENERAL JOSEPH GARDNER SWIFT. 199 
 
 This fall Mr. Eckforcl purchased, through the negotiation of Mr. 
 Rathbone, the N^atiojial Advocate, and engaged me to superintend the 
 conducting of the same, and for which I employed Mr. Snowden and Mr. 
 Casey. It was Mr. Eckford's purpose to advocate the election of John 
 Quincy Adams to the presidency. Mr. Eckford recommended me for vice- 
 president of the Life and Fire Insurance Company, and thus I became 
 interested in the stocks, and induced my father and my brother William to 
 invest funds in the Life and Fire. My brother William was married this 
 fall to Miss Mary Stuart, the daughter of the British consul at New London. 
 
 I purchased the property on the Seventh Avenue between Thirty-first 
 and Thirty-third Streets, (about one hundred lots,) for seven thousand 
 and odd dollars; borrowed the amount from the Life and Fire Insurance 
 Company, and mortgaged the property to that company as security, and 
 commenced a house and warden thereon. 
 
 This winter my sons James and Williams went to the city of Washington, 
 the first to procure from President Adams a restoration to West Point, from 
 whence he had been dismissed for absence for six hours without leave, and 
 for declining to answer a query that would have implicated his class-mate. 
 Mr. O. B. Ogden and Mr. Daniel Webster had presented the case, with 
 their opinion of its severity of punishment, and Mr. Adams called on Mr. 
 Barbour, the Secretary of War, to know why this youth should not be 
 restored. Mr. Barbour said that the son of one who had been at the head 
 of the Academy was a proper example for discipline. In my opinion the 
 stronger cause was that the father was the political friend of Mr. Calhoun. 
 Mr. Adams acquiesced in Mr. Barbour's view, but directed that James should 
 be employed in the civil engineer department, under William Howard, Esq., 
 of Baltimore. My son William was at Washington to be examined for his 
 naval position. 
 
 In the spring of this year I had been reelected to the common council of 
 Brooklyn, and had presented several plans for the improvement of the 
 village. 
 
 My friends Isaac Pierson, S. L. Gouverneur, and Mr. N. Prime called on 
 me to caution me, in the month of May, in relation to the extent of i\Ir. 
 
200 THE MEMOIRS OF 
 
 Eckford's ship building liabilities, and that too much use was made of bonds 
 of the Life and Fire Insurance Company in purchases for the Brazilian 
 frigates building by Mr. Eckford. Without using names I mentioned these 
 rumors to Mr. Eckford. He stated to me that all such rumors were 
 groundless, and I had an implicit faith in him and his ability. In July a 
 note from Mr. Eckford astonished me with an announcement that the Life 
 and Fire Insurance Company could not meet the demands for cash on the 
 bonds becoming due. The next day I was served with a notice from the 
 district attorney, Hugh Maxwell, Esq., that the whole company of the Life 
 and Fire Insurance were indicted for a conspiracy to defraud the State. 
 The trials progressed ; the great question was whether a company issuing 
 bonds, failing to redeem on demand, could be deemed guilty of a conspiracy 
 or fraud. The court decided that my trial should be separated from that of 
 others, the testimony was brief, and I made all the defence that was made 
 in my case by simply addressing the court and jury in these words: "I 
 know myself not to have been guilty of any fraud, or of any design to 
 defraud, and if this jury can find me guilty on the evidence I shall silently 
 submit as a punishment for my credulity." The jury in a few minutes 
 returned with a verdict of "not guilty — hwt persecuted T The last the judge 
 refused. When the verdict of " not guilty" was alone rendered a cry of 
 approbation rang through a crowded audience, and Peter A. Jay, of counsel 
 adverse to me, came up to me with tears in his eyes, saying: "General, 
 this is a righteous verdict, and I am thankful for your acquittal." But the 
 blows of accusation and trial were of course mortifying, and injurious to my 
 influence as a man of business ; a severe comment on a poor gentleman's 
 essay to become rich in Wall Street. The validity of these indictments 
 came before the supreme court, and the whole proceeding, the attorney, 
 Maxwell, pronounced illegal. But beyond all doubt the failure of the Life 
 and Fire had been occasioned by the losses in the ship-building business of 
 Mr. Eckford, and in his speculations in real estate. My confidence in Mr. 
 Eckford was high ; I had frequently large sums of money at command of 
 his in bank, but I never borrowed a dollar from him. The only charge 
 found (jn his books was the purchase money of the National Advocate, which 
 
GENERAL JOSEPH GARDNER SWIFT. 20 1 
 
 had isassed through my hands. On my trial it was proven that I was not 
 indebted to the Life and Fire Company. I had placed in Mr. Eckford's 
 hands my city property, in trust to secure the purchase money of that 
 property. Pending these trials President Adams had assured Joshua Sands, 
 Esq., and George Sullivan, Esq., that if my trial acquitted me he should 
 renominate me for the office in the customs held by me ; but Mr. Clay's 
 friends wanted place, and Mr. Stagg was nominated on the expiration of 
 my second four years. Probably the President's interest in me had been 
 somewhat blighted by an accidental omission of mine while presiding at 
 the " Ayacucho dinner" at the City Hotel. The toast of President Adams 
 had been misplaced without my privity. I, however, do not intend to say 
 that he purposed me any injustice. He is a man of strong antipathies, and 
 of no strong friendship, and, indeed, I never pretended to enjoy his favor. 
 
 In the summer of the current year the Secretary of War had addressed 
 to several officers in and out of the army — General Cadwallader and Gen- 
 eral Sumner among the latter, and myself also. My views were given on 
 the subject of the secretary's address — the militia, of its classification — 
 and that no higher militia grade should be conferred than that of chief of 
 battalion, and that commissions should be conferred only upon e.xamination 
 of the candidate. My letters on these subjects, and others, may be seen in 
 the Congressional Reports of '26 and '27. 
 
 $735,000 appropriated for fortifications. 
 53,000 wall Boston Harbor. 
 100,000 for arsenals. 
 
 $888,000 for 1825. 
 
 Seven hundred and nineteen thousand dollars for fortifications in 1826. 
 
 In this year was made the first appropriation for constructing and 
 Improving rivers and harbors. 
 
 1827. The commencement of this year found me with a large family and 
 very limited means to support them. I had, by a loan from my brother-in- 
 law, Whistler, the fee he had received for services on the boundary commis- 
 sion ; invested the amount In the purchase of a small estate in Flatbush, 
 
202 THE MEMOIRS OF 
 
 and commenced cultivation. But it was not adequate to our support, and I 
 turned it over to Mr. Whistler, and he sold it for the full amount of the 
 loan, to wit : one thousand five hundred dollars. 
 
 I thought of civil engineering in the West. The estate of Mrs. Swift's 
 father was in the hands of her brother James, and by him assumed as a debt 
 of over five thousand dollars ; said brother James held his father's lands In 
 West Tennessee. I concluded to make a home for my family upon Louisa's 
 portion of these lands. In the midst of my purpose our children were 
 attacked by measles, and one, a daughter Harriet, had died, and was 
 interred in the grave of my mother. Going so far was by some friends 
 deemed doubtful — most movements are so — but I could not find success 
 in a city whose archives recorded me "its benefactor" in the late war. My 
 misfortunes had produced the usual effect, loss of prosperity, loss of influ- 
 ence. I had, however, many instances of confidence among my armv 
 associates, especially Colonel Thayer, Captain J. L. Smith, General Scott, 
 etc.; among the merchants of the city. Fanning Cobham Tucker and 
 Daniel Okey, and a touching one from the negroes, who, during my trial 
 prayed regularly for my "safe deliverance from the great uncertainties of 
 the law." 
 
 Immediate commencement of my journey to Tennessee was delayed 
 by a summons to Washington before a committee of Congress, on a revival 
 of the assault upon John C. Calhoun, now vice-president, and who had 
 vacated the chair pending the investigation of the Rip Rap contract, while 
 Mr. Calhoun was Secretary of War and myself chief engineer. The 
 details of this political struggle, and its failure, are in the documents of 
 Congress, and on my files. 
 
 In February I returned to Brooklyn, and sent my baggage, library, and 
 farming tools to my friend, Gilbert Russell of New Orleans, to be shipped 
 to Memphis. Early in March my wife, Thomas, Sally, Julius, McRee, 
 Josephine and Charlotte, and boy Bill proceeded to Barnum's in Baltimore, 
 and thence by jjrivate carriage over the Allegheny mountains to Wheeling, 
 and down the Ohio (passing our son James in an ascending boat,) to 
 Cincinnati, and thence down the river to the Mississippi, to Memphis, and 
 
GENERAL JOSEPH GARDNER SWIFT. 203 
 
 purchased a ton of bacon and six barrels of flour, and with bao-o-aae in 
 wagons to Haywood County in Tennessee ; meeting with the Misses 
 Wright at Narhota, and at Bohver in the Big Hatchie, thence to the 
 hospitable log cabin of Mrs. Swift's nephew, Henry Walker, who allowed 
 me the use of a portion of his people until his father settled accounts with 
 his aunt Louisa. I placed four hands to felling a tulip tree seven feet in 
 diameter, and sixty-six feet to the forks, yielding three cuts of twenty feet 
 each. That gave boards for a large log cabin of one room that served for 
 bedrooms, library and dining room. But as to the land, I found that I 
 could get no secure title, nevertheless planted corn, potatoes and cotton, 
 with plenty of stock in the woods feeding on cane grass and the sweet 
 pea vine. 
 
 The course of the season developed ill health for my children, though 
 Mrs. Swift and myself were well ; and she, with good courage and affection, 
 encountered our privations, never dreamed of in earlier days. 
 
 My son James, then civil engineer of the United States on the Hiwassee, 
 came to us leading a fine Pacolet colt for my riding. 
 
 I opened a correspondence with General Jackson, at the " Hermitage," 
 on the improvements of the rivers of the State, and explored the country on 
 horseback to Alabama. On my return the ill health of my children 
 determined me to retrace my steps, and seek civil engineering on the 
 Atlantic. 
 
 In November, after the crops were in, I sold my movables, and with my 
 family reembarked at Randolph, and by New Orleans (where I met my 
 friend Russell, who furnished us with the after cabin of the packet 
 "Frances," Captain Ryder,) we returned to New York in thirty days from 
 New Orleans, arriving the last of the year. Here we met the intelligence 
 of the death of the venerable mother of my wife, and of my brother-in-law, 
 Julius H. Walker, and of my own sister Mary, the beautiful wffe of Lieu- 
 tenant George W. Whistler. Her remains were placed by me alongside 
 those of my mother in Brooklyn. 
 
 In my absence had also died the patriot Rufus King, in 1827. I sought 
 his and Mr. Wolcott's advice in reference to my letter to the Secretary of 
 
204 THE MEMOIRS OF 
 
 War adversely to the interpolation of General Bernard into the corj3s of 
 engineers. That letter received the hearty approbation of both Mr. King 
 and Mr. VVolcott, at Mr. King's, in Jamaica, Long Island. 
 
 Four hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars appropriated for fortifica- 
 tions in 1827. 
 
 182S. After a few da)'s' rest from a sea voyage with our friends Tucker 
 and March at Brooklyn, in Januarj', my family was placed at board with 
 Captain Chapman, near my father's, in New London ; my sons Tom and Jule 
 at the select school, Sally with Miss Allen, myself to New York, the guest 
 of my friend S. L. Gouverneur, and opened a correspondence on the 
 subject of civil engineering with various parts of the Union. I returned to 
 New London in March, and caused sfrave-stones to be inscribed to the 
 memory of my father and mother-in-law, James and M. IVL Walker, and 
 sent them to our friend Dr. A. J. De Rosset, Wilmington, North Carolina, 
 who saw them placed at their respective graves in the cemetery of 
 St. James. 
 
 Through my brother-in-law Whistler, and my protege, W. G. McNeill, 1 
 was introduced to George Winchester, the president of the Baltimore and 
 Susquehanna Railroad Company, and was employed as chief engineer of that 
 company, and soon located the route of the road to the Pennsylvania line, 
 consulting with that eminent manager, F. Thomas, and .S. H. Long, also with 
 Whistler and McNeill (all of the United States army), who were engineers 
 of the Baltimore and Ohio railroad. Mr. Long I had met in Gcrmantown, 
 Pennsylvania, at Major Roberdeau's, and engaged him as my extra aid in 
 the year 18 14, and from his merit placed him as instructor of mathematics 
 in the Military Academy at W(?st Point — a gentleman of large mechanical 
 ingenuity. In the month of July, at the instance of the Baltimore and 
 Susquehanna Company, I examined the only railroad then existing in the 
 United States, at Quincy, Mass., via New London, taking Mrs. Swift with 
 me to sec our good aunt Lucretia, of Boston. We proceeded thence to 
 the railroad and measuretl all its parts minutely, thence we called on my 
 cousin Fanny .Swift, on Milton Hill, and visited the graves of our ancestors 
 in the old Milton cemetery. 
 
GENERAL JOSEPH GARDNER SWIFT. 205 
 
 On my return to Baltimore I rented the house of Bishop Eccleston in St. 
 Paul's Lane, and moved my family thither in October, and they were kindly 
 cared for by my friend Robert Barry in my railroad absences ; my son 
 Thomas teaching his younger brothers and sisters at home. He had been 
 well instructed by his friend and uncle, G. W. Whistler. 
 
 Seven hundred and seventeen thousand five hundred dollars appropriated 
 for fortifications in 1828. 
 
 1829. On 15th January died my friend Colonel Isaac Roberdeau, U.S.T. E. 
 
 In the winter of this year Mr. Winchester and myself before the legisla- 
 ture of Pennsylvania, to extend the charter of the Baltimore and Susque- 
 hanna to the river; but the cloudy minds of the legislature deemed a road 
 of much greater length, to Philadelphia, more patriotic as State policy — 
 one of the absurdities of the influence of artificial boundary lines. 
 
 In March with my son Thomas to see President Jackson inaugurated, and 
 to offer my services as a civil engineer through my friend Charles Gratiot, 
 and General Eaton, the Secretary of War. The general said " President 
 Jackson had confidence in my ability," and so gave me charge of the con- 
 struction of harbors on Lake Ontario. Mr. Monroe had asked General 
 Jackson to reappoint me to the surveyorship of New York, but that place 
 was claimed for party, in which I had no claim. While in Washington I 
 had prepared an essay on supplying the city of New York with water' from 
 the Bronx and Croton Rivers, and sent the same to the corporation through 
 George Sullivan, Esq., and referred them to my survey of the Bronx and 
 Rye Ponds made in 18 19. 
 
 In April I returned to the Baltimore and Susquehanna railroad, and from 
 thence with my friend John L. .Smith, United States engineer, to Philadel- 
 phia, and gave Thomas Sully sittings for a portrait for the corps of engineers 
 at their request — see files; thence to West Point, and met my friend Major 
 Thayer and my son Alexander J. Swift, a cadet. So on to Genessee River, 
 and we examined its entrance into Lake Ontario. Major Smith proceeded 
 to Ohio to select a site for an armory, taking my brother-in-law Whistler as 
 his assistant, much depressed by the loss of his wife my beautiful sister, 
 Mary. 
 
206 THE MEAfOIRS OF 
 
 In May I surveyed Big Sodus Bay also, and reported the requisite works 
 for both harbors to the engineer department, and fixed my residence at 
 Geneva by the advice of my friend Major Rees of that place. Returned to 
 Baltimore and closed my relations to and with the Baltimore and Susque- 
 hanna railroad, and removed my family to Geneva, arriving on 6th June, and 
 taking lodgingsi n Mr. Hemminway's hotel, and then a house on the square, 
 belonging to Colonel Bogert, commencing with iron spoons, for we had 
 been robbed of all our plate, and many gold and silver remembrances. My 
 father came to visit us. My daughter Sally commenced school with Miss 
 Jones, Jose with Miss Stone, and Jule and McRee with Mr. Davis. Major 
 Rees had purchased the Clark farm of one hundred and forty acres for me 
 of R. C. Nicholas, who made some difficulty about the title, but took the 
 farm himself. Explored the countr)- about Genessee River and Big Sodus 
 Bay for timber and stone for the harbors, and by the last of June had com- 
 menced the work at Genessee River (Mr. Wilder my assistant there), and 
 on 4th of July commenced the piers at Big Sodus Bay (C. \V. Rees my 
 assistant there), and with John Greig, Esq., Alexander Duncan and Captain 
 Wickham we celebrated our " independence," assisted by Edwards and 
 Dr. Lummis. 
 
 In August my sons James and Alexander were with us at Geneva, and 
 my brother William and his wife and son Charles, a year old. My son 
 Thomas suddenly ill ; Dr. Cutbush deems the danger to be unequal action 
 of the heart and circulation. He died 2d September, the third day after 
 the birth of a son whom, for him, we named Thomas. 
 
 In October my son Williams returned from a three years' cruise in the 
 Pacific, in the " Brandywine," Commodore Jacob Jones. Willy reached 
 home with me in November. I had been summoned to the city in a case 
 between S. L. Gouverneur and the Fulton Bank. 
 
 The corporation of Petersburgh, Virginia, invited me to be their engineer 
 on a railroad there, but my other prospects prevented acceptance; being in 
 that month of November in treaty with Martin Hoffman of New Orleans to 
 become the engineer of the Ponchartrain railroad. He had been referred 
 to me by Whistler and McNeill. On the suspension of the Lake works 
 
GENERAL JOSEPH GARDNER SWIFT. 2,07 
 
 the Secretary of War consented to my sojourn in New Orleans provided I 
 became responsible for the safe-keeping of the United States property at 
 Genessee and Sodus. 
 
 On the last of November my son James, having previously taken leave of 
 us, proceeded with Dr. Howard to the Wisconsin River. I left Geneva via 
 Niagara Falls, Erie, Ohio and Mississippi Rivers to New Orleans, arriving 
 20th December, and soon explored a route through a red cypress swamp, 
 (sinking to my saddle girths, but had sand at bottom,) and gave the com- 
 pany a design for their road. While they were cogitating it, and for means 
 to execute, I was invited to the legislature of Louisiana to consult on a 
 plan to improve a system of leveeing the great river to avoid the evil of 
 elevating its bed, as had been long done on the Po, in Italy. Gave them 
 my ideas — see the document in my files. Returned to New Orleans, and 
 made an agreement with the railroad company to return to New Orleans in 
 the following November with mechanics to construct the road. This 
 occupied me the months of January and February. 
 
 Seven hundred and sixty-five thousand dollars appropriated for fortifi- 
 cations in 1829. 
 
 1830. I had much social intercourse in New Orleans, and very pleasant 
 dinner parties at George Eustis', Mr. Linton's, Mr. Henderson's, Isaac 
 Preston's, etc., where Hon. H. Clay, the patroon of New York, and 
 some foreigners (one who interested me at first, a lineal descendant of 
 Montezuma, a Spanish count, but was disappointed on close view,) were 
 present. The domestic life in New Orleans is charming among the ladies, 
 but the young men are sadly degenerate. 
 
 Leaving the railroad under the care of Lieutenant G. W. Long, "on 
 leave" from the army, I left New Orleans, taking my passage in the month 
 of February in the Helen McGregor. Accident detained me till the next 
 boat and we found the McGregor a wreck at Memphis, and her burnt 
 passengers in the hospital there — twenty killed and forty wounded. By 
 Wheeling I arrived at Baltimore on 20th March, at Barnum's, and on 
 entering the reading-room found the death of my first-born (James) 
 recorded. He had been married to Maria Jephson, the charming grand- 
 
2o8 THE MEMOIRS OF 
 
 daughter of my friend Captain Farquhar, not three months; had recently 
 returned from civil engineer duty with Dr. William Howard on the river 
 Wisconsin ; had fallen through the ice, but kept at his duty, from which 
 a cold settled on his lungs. 
 
 His brother Willy and his aunt jMary Swift did all they could, and my 
 brother W'illiam also, who was there on duty in the general post office. 
 
 I returned home to the distressed mother at Geneva with my son Willy, 
 from his examination as midshipman, early in April. We changed the name 
 of my son, substituting James for Delano. 
 
 During my absence the War Department had been furnished with accu- 
 sations that more material had been paid for at Genessee River than had 
 been furnished. The department ordered Major Maurice to examine into 
 this accusation. He reported to the department that he found no truth 
 whatever in the accusation. The department ordered me to proceed with 
 the works; and he also examined the same subject at Sodus Bay, and 
 reported the same result. In June my father came to see us from New 
 London, his military station as surgeon, and in July Alexander came with 
 his widowed sister, Maria Jephson Swift. In August I surveyed Oak 
 Orchard Creek for a harbor at its entrance into Lake Ontario. At the 
 ensuing session of Congress the committee reported a bill in favor of my 
 plan, and Congress appropriated the means. 
 
 In this month I employed George Barclay and William Sentell, and 
 carpenters and hewers to go with me in November to construct the 
 Pontchartrain railroad. 
 
 I purchased this month the residence of Christopher Campbell and a 
 seven acre lot south of the village, for two thousand one hundred dollars, and 
 moved into the house on loth September, after recovering from a bilious 
 fever taken at Oak Orchard, and was probably, under Providence, saved 
 from death by the skill of Dr. Cutbush. 
 
 The United States funds being exhausted on the Lake works, I closed 
 them for the season 20th September, and then (leaving Alexander with his 
 mother) Willy and I went to West Point and Cold Spring, and to New York, 
 where, with my workmen, we embarked for New Orleans, and by the 
 
GENERAL JOSEPH GARDNER SWIFT. 209 
 
 "Hole in the Wall" and Tortugas, arrived at New Orleans, on ist Novem- 
 ber. Found the city gloomy from yellow fever. 
 
 This fall, Alexander commenced his engineering at Oak Island, in Cape 
 Fear, where I had commenced mine twenty-six years previously. Alexan- 
 der had commenced his first duty, after graduating at West Point, at New- 
 port, R. I., under Colonel Totten, where I had commenced my first duty 
 thirt)' years previously. 
 
 Established my quarters at the Darcoutel Convent and also those of my 
 workmen, and commenced the construction of the Pontchartrain Railroad. 
 Willy returned home in December, my daughter Sally being with Mrs. 
 Chew in Brooklyn, to attend Mr. Van Doren's Seminary in that place. In 
 the progress of the Ponchartrain Railroad I found that dead shells formed a 
 good foundation and hard track. From Tangepaho we transported by 
 steam some millions of bushels across the lake for sill foundation and horse 
 track. This success gave to New Orleans a fine, hard cover to their streets, 
 at my suggestion. 
 
 In the excavation of the vast shell mound of Tangepaho we met the 
 skeleton of a human being of large dimensions, and by comparative 
 anatomy our surgeon and myself measured the bones; they must have 
 been of a being at least nine feet high. I boxed them for the Natural 
 Historical Society of New York. Red cypress from the swamp was used 
 for cross-sills and stringers. Upon the latter was laid the first T rail 
 used in the United States. 
 
 Eight hundred and forty-one thousand dollars for fortifications for the 
 year 1830. 
 
 1 83 1. Early in March, Hon. Henry and Mrs. Clay, of Ashland, break- 
 fasted with me at Darcoutel. To amuse Mrs. Clay I bloomed the buds of 
 the magnolia G. F. by placing the stems in claret bottles of hot water 
 on the breakfast table — a process of from twenty to thirty minutes. 
 
 We gave our guests their first ride on a railroad, using a bao-o-ao-e car 
 and by aid of six men, whom I had drilled for the purpose, with iron-pointed 
 poles, attained a speed of ten miles the hour for a couple of miles. 
 
 In April we opened the road from the Lake to the Mississippi, with the 
 
2IO THE MEMOIRS OF 
 
 governor of the State and General Wade Hampton and other magnates for 
 guests, who gave due commendation to President Martin Hoffman for the 
 original design, and to my master workmen, George Barclay and William 
 Sentell, for the excellent workmanship. The last of April I went to 
 Mobile to escort our niece, Julia Osborne, to visit Mrs. Capt. Spatts in New 
 Orleans — Julia's school-mate at Mrs. Clitherall's, in Smithville, North 
 Carolina. 
 
 In the month of May, designed a harbor for the lake end of the railroad, 
 and after visiting the battle-ground of Gen. Jackson, Julia and myself 
 ascended the Mississippi in the Convoy, Capt. Rudee, j^assing the cut-off 
 of Red River Island, that had been a peninsula when I was there in 
 December, 1829. Delayed by breaking a shaft in straining through this 
 cut, arriving at Laneville 28th May; lost four days; by Wheeling, Wells- 
 burgh, Ashtabula, on Lake Erie, to Buffalo, and arriving at home in Geneva 
 on 8th June, finding all well, thanks to God. In the past spring, my son 
 Willy had re-commenced for me the United States harbors at Genesee and 
 Sodus, and had also added to my house five rooms. 
 
 Find my United States affairs under good way at the lakes, and, with 
 Major Cook, took a horse-back view of Dr. William Campbell's route of 
 a canal from Cayuga Lake to Sodus Bay by the Montezuma Marshes; con- 
 cluded it would be better to commence that canal at Clyde, and cut through 
 the Sandy Ridge to the north to the Bay. 
 
 Seven hundred and sixteen thousand dollars for fortifications for the year 
 1831. 
 
 In the month of July (20th) Gen. Simon Bernard wrote me a farewell letter 
 on his retiring from the service of the United States, and returning to that 
 of I'Vance with much knowledge of every means of defence possessed by 
 my country. He acknowledged my uniform courtesy to him personally, to 
 which I replied as became my position, as may be seen in my files. The cor- 
 respondence between the Secretary of War and myself on the policy of 
 interpolating into- our engineer .service any foreigner ; and see also the 
 records of the engineer department at Washington, 18 16, '17, '18. 
 
 The last of July my son Willy left, ordered to the Mediterranean; my 
 
GENERAL JOSEPH GARDNER SWIFT. 211 
 
 friend Thomas J. Chew and I to the head of Seneca Lake, he from his visit 
 returning home to Brooklyn. 
 
 In Auo-ust, at the commencement of Geneva College, the faculty and 
 board of trustees conferred on me the professorate of "Engineering and 
 Statistics," — an empty honor, as also was the membership of the Paris 
 Society of Statistics, for which courtesy I returned my thanks to President 
 Moreau, of Paris, through General H. A. S. Dearborn, of Boston. See the 
 document on file. 
 
 In September, by request of John Greig, Esq., I explored a new route for 
 a canal from Clyde to Sodus Bay, with General Adams, Major Cook and 
 C. W. Rees as surveyors. Proceeded to New York with my documents and 
 printed my report; sent copies to many; October. 
 
 On 23d October, at New York, General Wm. North and myself and 
 many others, attended the funeral of our friend Capt. James Farquhar, at 
 the age of eighty-nine. 
 
 In November, G. W. Whistler, W. G. McNeill, Claude Crozet and myself 
 examining the Marsh near Berg's Ridge, N. J., and the Trap Ridge at 
 Hoboken for a tunnel. 
 
 On my return to Geneva, at a public meeting of the citizens in Novem- 
 ber, appointed several citizens, including myself, to lay before the State 
 legislature a plan for a railroad from Ithaca to Geneva. I explored a route 
 and reported to the Secretary of State my opinion in favor of the plan, but 
 it remained unacted upon. 
 
 December, I visited Major Van Deventer, at Lindwood ; and at Batavia I 
 purchased of David E. Evans, Esq., a farm adjoining Lindwood of two hun- 
 dred and thirty acres, for two thousand five hundred dollars. Before return- 
 ing home, G. W. Whistler and Anna McNeill were married at her brother 
 William's, in Bond Street, on 3d November. 
 
 For the want of funds, the works of the United States on the lake harbors 
 had gone into some ruin from storms, — a miserable, short-sighted policy, 
 so to commence and so to neglect such works. 
 
 1832. In the month of February I visited Colonel W. Fitzhugh, at Hamp- 
 ton, and read the correspondence between General Washington and the 
 
212 THE MEMOIRS OF 
 
 Colonel's father, Colonel William Fitzhugh, of Rowsley Hall, Maryland, in 
 1777, '78, '79, '80 and '81, on several subjects, and the Revolution. My 
 daughter-in-law, that was to be, consented to copy for me all these letters, 
 which was done, and they are among my papers, and possess interest in 
 reference to our financial policy, etc., in those days. 
 
 The last of this month. Dr. Lummis and myself went to New York, 
 through immense drifts of snow, through the Beech Woods route to Jersey, 
 to explain to capitalists the objects of the Sodus Canal from Cayuga to Lake 
 Ontario, using the counting-room of my friend Peter Burtsell, corner Wall 
 and Broad Streets, to exhibit the plans, etc. In the following month of 
 March, to wit. : 8th, Lieut. J. R. Sands, United States Navy, and myself 
 examined the route for a canal to unite the Wallabout and Gowanus Cove, 
 New York Harbor. This idea had originated with his father, Joshua Sands, 
 Esq. I commended the plan to the board of trustees of Brooklyn. In 
 March, resumed correspondence with the North Carolina Railroad Co., of 
 Raleigh and Beaufort, through General Montfort Stokes, to become their 
 engineer. 
 
 From the conflict of parties in Congress on internal improvements and 
 its uncertain results, I visited my friend Col. Totten, at Newport, to consult 
 as to my prospects. Returning, visited my father in New London, and 
 met Lyman Law and examined the Groton monument that I had designed, 
 but it was improved by my nephew, Julius W. Adams. With Mr. Law, 
 visited the grave of Uncas, the Mohican Chief. An aged squaw said to us : 
 "Take care of the good land you took from my fathers; it is a good land." 
 
 On my return to New York in April, the Harlem Railroad Co. invited me 
 to accompany their board and to examine the rock cuttings on the route of 
 the Harlem Railroad, i. e., 4th Avenue, which I did, and gave the board my 
 thoughts thereon, as to expense, etc. 
 
 I then went to Washington to consult the Secretary of War on the sub- 
 ject of going to North Carolina pending the action of Congress on har- 
 bors, etc. He advised to wait awhile, and this suspended my accepting Mr. 
 Mhoon's invitation from North Carolina. 
 
 In May, on my way home, at Philadelphia, met my friends, the widow and 
 
GENERAL JOSEPH GARDNER SWIFT. 213 
 
 daughters of Colonel Roberdeau, pleasantly settled in their own house, the 
 result of my efforts, with those of Judge Chase, of Washington, to reclaim 
 from one Pierce, who had married Frances Blair, the sister of Mrs. Rober- 
 deau, the life-rent leases inherited from their grandfather. Dr. Shippen, in 
 that city. 
 
 On arriving in New York, I accepted the chief-engineership of the Har- 
 lem Railroad at four thousand four hundred dollars per annum, and in a 
 few days had the whole line of work under contract and the rock blasting 
 successfully going on. 
 
 In the middle of June, G. W. Whistler and myself went to Little Falls, 
 of the Mohawk, and devised a plan for the town and manufactories of that 
 place for the " Little Falls Co." 
 
 In July the cholera appeared, and in a few days nearly depopulated the 
 city, i. e., drove the people to the country. The disease soon spread among 
 the workmen on the Harlem Railroad, and the work was accordingly sus- 
 pended. 
 
 Congress, in this July, appropriated for the lake harbors too late for the 
 commencement of any important work. I, however, got them under way, 
 and in August, at Rochester, was seized by cholera and sunk to a collapse. 
 My cousin, James Watts, hastened to Geneva and brought my dear wife to 
 my bed-side. My escape, as the physicians said, was the consequence of 
 deep blood-letting that reduced me to an extreme debility. 
 
 In September I was able to travel to New York to recommence the 
 Harlem road ; found the rooms beset with pretenders to engineering among 
 its members. Informed the board that I could not submit to such super- 
 ficial nonsense and delay without compromiting the trust they had reposed 
 in me, and resigned my ofifice, and returned to the lake harbors, and by the 
 end of October the chill of the season closed all the lake works. 
 
 In December, to New York in consultation with Mr. Radcliffe to proceed 
 to the Gulf of Mexico and explore a canal route by the Atrato to the Paci- 
 fic; the plan suspended. Before leaving home, Julia Osborne and A. M. 
 Frink were married at my house. 
 
 This month of December, my son Willy arrived at Portsmouth, N. H., 
 
2 14 THE MEMOIRS OF 
 
 from a cruise in the Mediterranean, and my son Alexander arrived from 
 Rhode Island. They came with my daughter Sally, who had been on a 
 visit to Mrs. W'm. Kimble in St. John's Square ; leaving me in the city, they 
 went to Geneva over the "Beech Woods" route. In this month an asso- 
 ciation of twelve hundred young men in the city appointed me their chief 
 to offer service to General Jackson, to march in case of any breach of the 
 Constitution, to sustain the laws under his command — having allusion to 
 Southern nullification, — for which I received the thanks of the President. 
 
 Six hundred and fifty-four thousand dollars for fortifications in 1832. 
 
 1833. In consequence of the illness of the wife of my friend, F. C. 
 Tucker, I had delayed my return home. On this New Year's Day, this 
 beloved lady died. The interment the second day after was in the cemetery 
 of St. Ann's, among her father's family, Joshua Sands, Esq. 
 
 The next day I returned to Geneva, passing by Newburgh. The softness 
 of the roads made my travel tedious, and I did not reach Geneva until too 
 late to reach the wedding of my son Willy and Belle at her father's, where 
 Mrs. Swift, Sally and the boys had gone ; they soon after joined us at 
 Geneva, i. e., the last of January. Soon after, placed Jose with Mrs. Record 
 — in April — and sent my son Julius to my farm at Newstead, under the 
 auspices of Major and Mrs. Van Deventer, and with some purpose, myself, 
 to sell out at Geneva and become a farmer in Erie County. 
 
 On 1 ith May attended the funeral, as pall bearer, of Geo. Gallagher, Esq., 
 whose sudden death hati left a large family of children in Geneva. 
 
 Congress had appropriated this year funds for the harbors, and by the 
 end of April had all the lake works well under way. 
 
 In May, Wm. Bayard wrote me that, in examining the records of mort- 
 gages in the city, he found one from me to Henry Eckford of my estate on 
 7th Avenue, and, on calling on the assignees of the Life and Fire Insurance 
 Company, found that my debt thereto had not been paid by Mr. Eckford, as 
 had been declared at the conspiracy trials. Now, I had mortp-ao-ed and 
 conveyed this property to Henry Eckford for the express purpose of paying 
 that debt. John B. Thorp wrote me to the same purpose. This information 
 
GENERAL JOSEPH GARDNER SWIFT. 215 
 
 determined me to commence suit for the equitable decision of this matter, 
 and regain my just rights. 
 
 On 6th June I sent to the editors of the National Intelligencer an obitu- 
 ary of the late Colonel William McRee, who had died of cholera at St. 
 Louis. (See my files.) Messrs. Gales and Seaton inserted the same. 
 
 I was in this month in correspondence with my friends, Rev. J. M. Wain- 
 wright and John Delafield, on a plan for a seminary in the city — a univer- 
 sity, — and upon the comparative merits of modern systems of instruction, 
 and as to how much of the West Point usage could be introduced into such 
 a university. 
 
 My father was with us this summer, and he visited Colonel Fitzhugh and 
 attended an ecclesiastical trial of Rev. Mr. Croes, who was convicted but 
 deemed to be demented. I did not like the aspect of the bishop's influence 
 
 in the trial. 
 
 In July, Colonel Totten inspected the harbors of Lake Ontario, on com- 
 plaints of waste, injustice and an intimation that some otiicr engineer would 
 be acceptable to the public. Colonel Totten reported that the works were 
 properly constructed and at reasonable prices, and that there was no just 
 cause of complaint. My farm at Newstead had been progressing with my 
 purchase of teams and implements, and I began to think of selling out at 
 Geneva and becoming an active farmer. My friend J. L. Smith dissuaded 
 me from this. But I purchased one hundred and twenty acres more land 
 of my adjoining neighbor, John Russell, for one thousand three hundred 
 dollars. I had taken Mrs. Swift and my son Jim Tom to see our friends 
 the Van Deventers this summer, and returned by way of Hampton ; the 
 next month of August, Sally and the Carrols from Washington city ; and 
 Belle and Willy to Niagara Falls. I left them there and went to Buffalo to 
 consult with Mr. Isaac Smith, an ingenious gendeman, on the construction 
 of a lio-ht-house for Buffalo, and other piers to secure the harbor. 
 
 Early in September I was in the city with Willis Hall about my chancery 
 suit with the Eckford heirs, and purchased the bonds of the Life and Fire 
 Company to liquidate my debt and to make the assignees co-operators m 
 
2l6 THE MEMOIRS OF 
 
 that suit. This purchase of bonds J. B. Thorpe made for three hundred 
 and fifteen dollars. 
 
 Returning to Geneva and to Rochester to explore a route for a railroad 
 to Batavia and Attica. 
 
 In October, died my cousin, William Roberdeau Swift, at Gen. Blount's, 
 in Washington, North Carolina, my last remaining male relation of my 
 family, save my brother and his son, and my own sons. 
 
 In October, General Gratiot, the chief engineer, and myself visited Col. 
 Totten and my son Alexander. Alexander and I, in crossing Narragansett 
 Bay, were run down by a sloop, carrying away the mast, boom and bowsprit 
 of our ferry-boat, breaking the shafts of our carriage, and wounding our 
 horse. The sloop towed us to Newport. Repaired and re-crossed, and 
 went to see my father at New London. 
 
 In November I returned to the city of New York, and Mr. Gouverneur, 
 Mr. Bibby and myself, the only attendants upon a notice of removing the 
 remains of the late President Monroe (who had died 4th July previously), to 
 the new cemetery — a negligence and indifference of the city, in striking 
 contrast to the pomj^ and sycophancy there exhibited in 1817. 
 
 In this month of November died the daughter of Colonel Isaac Rober- 
 deau, Mary E., and also Maria, the daughter of Gen. Winfield Scott. I was 
 with them at this sad scene. Of Mary Roberdeau's death, Elizabeth Morris 
 wrote me an impressive account. She was accomplished and amiable, and 
 an entirely natural character, beloved generally, and by the family of John 
 Quincy Adams especially. (See my files.) 
 
 In my absence from Geneva was born there my son Foster on 31st of 
 October. 
 
 In December, Mr. Charles Hoyt, of Brooklyn, proposed my return to 
 Brooklyn as a residence, and joining him in purchase of lots there. 1 
 agreed to consider his proposal, and returned to Geneva, where the agree- 
 able family of R. A. Tucker, formerly chief justice of Newfoundland, had 
 taken residence for the winter. Before leaving Brooklyn I had, on 12th 
 and 13th November, at 4 a. m., observed a host of meteoric stars, covering 
 
GENERAL JOSEPH GARDNER SWIFT. 217 
 
 the whole space of air, and continuing a long while. It was said to be in 
 the constellation of Leo. 
 
 Seven hundred and seventy-seven thousand dollars appropriated for 
 fortifications in the year 1833. 
 
 1S34. January. The Rochester and Batavia Railroad, not liking my 
 terms, employed another engineer, and had commenced that work with- 
 out preparing the sill foundations. They soon found their road in swells 
 and vales and inequalities of surface, the result of a bad economy to save 
 the price of a fair salary in order to have safe advice to follow. A 
 comment of similar nature will apply to many States, and especially to 
 Pennsylvania — losing vast sums by incompetent engineering. 
 
 I sent my son McRee to Batavia to be prepared for college in Rev. Mr. 
 Ernst's seminary. 
 
 At Lyons, with General Adams, preparing a petition to the legislature to 
 remodel the Sodus Canal charter, and to induce a more useful subscription 
 and support to that important work. 
 
 In reply to a request of Governor Marcy, wrote him a plan for a normal 
 school in each senatorial district, and gave a comparative view of ours and 
 the Prussian school discipline. 
 
 Early in February observed the defect in vision in my son Willy's eye. 
 The doctor deemed it amaurosis, from too much use at sea, and prescribed 
 the usual remedy. The course was followed by debility and a depression of 
 mental power, unfitting him for full sea-naval service. 
 
 I observed in this month of February that the magnetic variation at 
 Geneva was 3° 49' to the West. In this month, at Newstead, planning 
 buildings for my farm, and in March took a deed at Buffalo from Russell for 
 the one hundred and twenty acres, and at Batavia a deed from D. E. Evans 
 for the two hundred and thirty acres. To Black Rock to see General Peter 
 B. Porter, to consult about farming. In March, at Geneva, Willy became 
 able to do duty and was ordered to the Brandywine at the navy-yard, 
 Brooklyn. When on a visit to Mr. Thomas March he relapsed, and the 
 Secretary of the Navy excused the Pacific cruise, and, with his brother 
 
2l8 THE MEMOIRS OF 
 
 Alexander, we four returned to Geneva, advising Colonel Fitzhugh of 
 Willy's case in April. 
 
 George W. Whistler asks my advice about accepting the direction of the 
 machine factor)' for steam at Lowell. I reply, "accept, certainly, as a good 
 step to improving that machinery for railroads." He did so. 
 
 By the end of April I had the harbors on Lake Ontario under way, 
 though on a limited scale, suiting the meagre supply by Congress, and thus 
 much delay in these works. 
 
 In May, Colonel Fitzhugh and Elizabeth visited us, and he had heard 
 from Dr. Backus that Willy's case was a stroke of the sun in the first cruise 
 of the Brandywine in the Pacific, from exposure on duty at the sea-side, 
 watering the ship. 
 
 My family and Williamson's and Judge Tucker's — twenty in all — on a 
 jaunt to Bluff Point, of Crooked Lake, and to Jemima Wilkinson's farm, 
 where Rachel Malen — Jemima's successor — was chief of the fanatical, 
 though inoffensive society, save their bad example of pretended spiritual 
 rule. My son Alexander returned to duty at Rhode Island in May, and 
 Willy and Belle to Hampton — his health improving, though his nervous 
 system was shattered in June. In July, my son McRee returned from 
 Batavia to enter Geneva College. My father's health failing, and my brother 
 William with him at New London, he wrote me, and I replied on the most 
 important of all subjects, the future life. 
 
 Independence ' this year at Geneva was respectably celebrated by an 
 oration, feast and fire-works. I presided. 
 
 In August I commenced a survey of Rochester, with Mr. Stoddard and 
 Mr. Wallace, my surveyors for drainage. At home, commenced a vestibule 
 to the front of my house. In September, Mrs. Swift's niece, Mary Ann 
 Walker, of North Carolina, with us, and a nice party to Sodus Bay. 
 
 In October I explained to the Rochester council my system for a double 
 drainage — the upper for surface water and waste; the und<>r for sinks and 
 other offensive impurities ; both to be scoured out periodically by a glut 
 from a spring-head south of the town, — the whole to empty at the falls. 
 
GENERAL JOSEPH GARDNER SWIFT. 219 
 
 They adopted my jilan, and then ruined it by diminishing the mains so as 
 to prevent a man's passage to repair. 
 
 In November, recommended my friend Rev. Adam Empie, the President 
 of Wilham and Mary, in Virginia, for the presidency of Columbia College, 
 South Carolina. Escorted M. A. Walker, on her way to North Carolina, to 
 Brooklyn, and Jose to Mrs. North's school in New London, where I saw for 
 the last time our niece, Julia Osborne Frink, on the eve of going to Florida 
 to seek relief. 
 
 The last of November I went to West Hills, on Long Island, with F. R. 
 Hassler, my brother William, J. Ferguson and Mr. Dahlgren, on the 
 coast survey, to observe the great eclipse, giving Mr. Hassler a statement 
 of my observation on the meteoric appearance at Major Tucker's, in Brook- 
 lyn, on the morning of the 13th November in the east, near the sign 
 Leo. I received, ist December, from James Prentiss, an invitation to go 
 to Texas, as he reported, by request of Governor Houston, to become a 
 member of the executive cabinet, but did not acceed. 1 introduced Mrs. 
 O'Sullivan and her son John, to Mr. Calhoun and Mr. Robbins of the United 
 States Senate, to promote a claim for relief for losses of her husband, who 
 was lost in South America, on the coast of Brazil. William Bayard after- 
 ward told me this claim was unfounded in justice. (See my files.) 
 
 Mr. Charles Hoyt renewed his offer to unite in business in Brooklyn, he 
 guaranteeing me $3,000 a year for three years. This loth December, 1834, 
 I accepted the terms and commenced operations with George Winchester 
 to purchase Bolton, and with J. U. Cole to buy the flats' at Hoboken with 
 Samuel L. Gouverneur ; the matter deferred. 
 
 My co-executor in the estate of Rev. John Ireland informed me of the 
 sale of the navy-yard lots of Mr. Ireland for eight thousand dollars — 
 approved by the heirs and also by me. 
 
 December 26th, Captain Cunningham gave me a stone image from ruins 
 of a temple fifty miles up the river above Tampico, in Mexico, an Aztec 
 God. I deposited the same in the Historical Society of New York by my 
 cousin. Dr. Wm. Swift, United States Navy. I wrote to Jared Sparks of an 
 original letter of Washington's to Governor Dinwiddle, of date 3d June, 
 
2 20 THE MEMOIRS OF 
 
 1754, just before the death of Jumonville, that would go far to explain the 
 unjust rumor of harsh and cruel treatment by Washington — a sort of gap 
 in the Washington biography. This letter I had deposited with John Pintard, 
 Secretary of the New York Historical Society, and it was received by me 
 from Needier Robinson by the hands of his son-in-law, R. C. Jennings, of 
 Norfolk, Va. 
 
 Eight hundred and seventy thousand five hundred dollars for fortifications 
 for the year 1834. 
 
 1835. Returned to Geneva in January via New Milford, Onego and 
 Ithaca. Advised General Adams of George Winchester's wish to have the 
 Sodus Company's authority to apply to the Legislatures of Pennsylvania and 
 Maryland to promote the Susquehanna navigation to Cayuga Lake and 
 Lake Ontario. 
 
 February 20th, Sally and I to Albany, laying plan before the Legislature 
 to improve the ferries at Brooklyn, in co-operation with Mr. Charles Hoyt. 
 
 In March, at the invitation of Colonel Worth, examined the ordnance 
 preparations at the Watervliet Arsenal on prospects of war with France — 
 liking to keep up my regard for military affairs. 
 
 To Geneva, and purchased the 50-acre lot there of the Cook estate for 
 three thousand five hundred and fifty dollars. 
 
 In April, to Brooklyn with Mr. Hoyt, and took his house on Hicks and 
 Remsen Streets, and my daughter Sally commenced furnishing the same. 
 
 Returned to Albany and with Charles Humphrey prepared a memorial to 
 the Legislature on the presenting of a sword to Colonel Worth for war 
 honors in 1812. 
 
 Returned to New York and employed Richard Morgan to survey Harlem 
 River, to further my plan of a navy dock. (See files.) 
 
 In May, received orders and funds- from the War Department U. S., to 
 recommence the work of harbors at Genesee River and Sodus Bay, and to 
 commence beacon lights at both places. On my arrival at Geneva, found 
 Willy packing my furniture for a move. Major Rees takes charge of my 
 Geneva property, and on 30th May shipped all things with horses on a canal- 
 boat at the Brewery, and with my family of ten by canal to Albany and 
 
GENERAL JOSEPH GARDNER SWIFT. 22 1 
 
 a tow down the river to Brooklyn, and at house-keeping the 6th June, my 
 wedding day. Soon after my wife and I went to see my sick father in New 
 London, and Jose also sick at Dr. North's. We returned to Brooklyn with 
 my brother. 
 
 To Baltimore to examine the dredging at that harbor; to see if the 
 machinery would suit the lake harbors. My son Willy, ist July, to Coney 
 Island with Belle. In this month of July I agreed with the board of Brook- 
 lyn to run out and mark a water front of that city. The last of the month 
 Willy with Dr. McDonald. 
 
 August 1 8th, died at New London my venerable father. I could not be 
 there in consequence of Willy and my son Foster's illness. Colonel Fitzhugh 
 and Elizabeth came to see Willy, and returned to Hampton with Belle. My 
 son Julius had gone to China in the ship Sabina. In September my wife 
 and Foster and my brother William went to New London, where William 
 and I qualified as our father's executors. 
 
 Found Holmes' dredging machine at New London — a simple and effi- 
 cient structure — and sent Holmes to Sodus Bay to construct a machine 
 there. 
 
 In October, General Gratiot and myself to Rochester to inspect the 
 works, of which the Secretary of War gave me his favorable opinion, 
 maugre the Democratic essays to supercede me in office. 
 
 September 30th, had died the friend of many years, Miss Charlotte 
 Farquhar, at Green Hill, in the city. 
 
 In October, revised my water line at Brooklyn and attended the American 
 Institute on a committee of inspection of mechanical products. 
 
 November ist, with Major McNeill and Mr. Kirkwood, examining the 
 route of the Long Island Railroad. My son McRee, bit with the desire to 
 be a civil engineer rather than finish his course at college, became an 
 assistant to Mr. Kirkwood. On 5th November the Brooklyn board adopted 
 my water line plans. 
 
 November nth, at Utica as vice-president of a convention on internal 
 improvements and manufactures; Samuel Beardsley, president. Adjourned 
 to meet again, in Albany, in January. 
 
222 THE MEMOIRS OF 
 
 December i6th and 17th, a great fire in the city, when, by request of the 
 mayor, I took charge of blowing up buildings to arrest the fire, and suc- 
 ceeded in thus saving millions of property without injury of any adjacent 
 buildings, in every instance lifting the structure so as to fall into ruin in 
 itself, /. c, a fair "globe of compression." I was aided well by James A. 
 Hamilton and Charles King, Lieut. John Nicholas, United States Navy, and 
 Samuel Swartwont. For similar service at Quebec, an English officer was 
 rewarded with a pension ; I was thanked by the authorities of a city which 
 had in 18 14 recorded me as her benefactor. 
 
 No appropriation for fortifications in 1835. 
 
 1836. In January I addressed a memoir to the government on the 
 prospects of war and upon organizing a corps of naval engineers; and on 
 15th of that month accepted the command of a brigade of Sea Fenci- 
 bles, formed by young men of the city, and made a contingent offer of 
 service to the President of the United States, and received from the Secre- 
 tary of War, Lewis Cass, the President's thanks. (See files.) 
 
 The last of January, by Hartford, Ct., to Albany, before a committee of 
 the Legislature, to explain the nature and purposes of a water front for 
 Brooklyn, based on the least obstruction of the tide-way. In February, 
 Belle joined her sister and brother Genet Smith coming from Hampton, and 
 with Major Tucker and myself to Brooklyn and found Willy greatly recovered 
 in health. 
 
 March 7th, sent a memoir to the chief engineer on a new organization of 
 our army in reference to the reciprocal rights and duties of the government 
 and the army, and on promotion by seniority as the only safe rule — first 
 established by Charles V. of Spain and Germany, as his civil author, Azalon, 
 lays it down in his treatise, The Precursor of Grotius. 
 
 On March 12th I presented the city of New York a plan to rebuild the 
 burnt district with fire-proof buildings only. 
 
 On March i6lh, in reply to a letter from General Armstrong, formerly 
 Secretary of War, upon his comments on the war of 1812-14, ^''"■1 subse- 
 quently upon McRee's advice to Miller about the redoubt carried at 
 
GENERAL JOSEPH GARDNER SWIFT. 223 
 
 Niagara, with an account of the council of war at Barnhard's, on the St. 
 Lawrence, in November, 18 17, that lost Montreal. 
 
 On March iSth I proposed to Thomas Biddle, of Philadelphia, that the 
 United States Bank could enable the Sodus Canal to extend the navigation 
 of the Susquehanna to the lakes, taking the stock for its security. 
 
 On March 24th, gave Mr. Richmond a plan, on the survey of McRee, 
 for a harbor at the entrance of Sandy Creek, into Lake Ontario. 
 
 Corresponded with Senator Livingston and others upon the tunneling of 
 the Hudson at Albany to facilitate the railroading from the east and south. 
 
 April, examined Stewart's system to "Surmount F"riction of Wheels" for 
 railroad cars. The plan is fair, but too nice to be applied to the rough 
 machinery and imperfect construction of railroads In their several parallel- 
 isms, horizontal and vertical. 
 
 On the 19th of April to Albany, where, on the 26th, the law was passed 
 by the Legislature amending the charter of the Sodus Canal, upon which Mr. 
 Hoyt agreed to furnish twenty-five thousand dollars and his and my quota 
 on the work and the town lots. Major John L. Smith, Alexander and 
 myself, on 27th April, examined the major's farm of Sandy Pinery, on the 
 road eight miles west of Albany. 
 
 On the 1 6th of May the lake harbor works were In good progress, 
 Holmes' dredging machine making a fine channel Into Sodus Bay of 
 fifteen feet of water. 
 
 The last of May, at Mr. Fellows', in Geneva, examining White Springs 
 and Castle Brook, to unite them for water power for the village, and gave 
 the plans and estimates therefor without charge for professional services. 
 
 To Ithaca, to consult Charles Humphrey on the improvements south of 
 that town to the river Susquehanna; and thence, on the loth June, he and 
 Mr. H. and myself to Brooklyn, via Erie Canal. At the Montezuma Lock I 
 rescued a boy from drowning. 
 
 June 23d, at Brooklyn my Baltimore friend, Robert Barry, called on me 
 with a request from Bishop England to consult on a plan of the Rev. E. M. 
 Johnson and myself to remedy the vagrancy of Irish children In Brooklyn, 
 that had become very annoying, by promoting Roman Catholic schools. 
 
2 24 THE MEMOIRS OF 
 
 The bishop was very earnest in his school commendation, and was en rouie 
 to Rome to report to the Pope on his Nuncio's acts in benighted St. 
 Domingo. 
 
 July 1st, reported to the War Department the successful operation of 
 the dredging machine of Mr. Holmes, of New London, in deepening the 
 channel at Big Sodus Bay; and also that, in all other respects, the progress 
 of the harbors on Lake Ontario were very slow because of the lack of 
 appropriations. 
 
 On July 7th, to New York, and, with Major McNeill, to consult with Chas. 
 H. Hall upon the progress of the New York and Albany Railroad — the 
 major as chief engineer, Mr. Allen, the surveyor, as resident engineer, and 
 myself as consulting engineer, by occasional visits, etc. 
 
 July 12, Belle, Sally and Willy to Geneva and Hampton; Mr. Hoyt and 
 myself with them as far as Canandaigua, where, at Mr. Grig's office, a meet- 
 ing of the Sodus Canal Association was held; from whence, on the i6th, 
 the association proceeded to the town plot, at the proposed outlet of the 
 canal, and there confirmed the route of the canal. 
 
 In reference to which, I purchased a farm at Clyde of William S. De Zeng, 
 who, failing in title which he could not execute, lost me two thousand five 
 hundred dollars, which sum in justice he is bound to repay to me, I having 
 paid him that amount in cash. 
 
 July 19th, from the piers at Genesee river took an open boat and coasted 
 to the mouth of Oak Orchard Creek and there made a survey and planned 
 a United States harbor for that outlet, and sent the same to the War De- 
 partment. 
 
 July 28th, General Adams and myself descended the Clyde River to 
 Cayuga Marshes and Lake, and slept at Colonel Stanley's on the Marsh 
 Island, to explore for any improvement in our plan for crossing the Erie 
 Canal at Clyde, under the Erie, and found no better route. 
 
 August 6th, at Geneva, opened the Sodus Canal books for subscriptions 
 to the stock. 1 lalf was at once subscribed. 
 
 August 8lh, to Rochester and arranged with Daniel Ball for my son 
 Julius' interest in llie Shiawassee lands in Michigan, ami mills. This essay 
 
GENERAL JOSEPH GARDNER SWIFT. 225 
 
 was an entire failure under the sanguine Mr. Ball, to the loss on our part of 
 one thousand dollars, a great part of which was a gift of Alexander to his 
 brother Julius. 
 
 From Geneva Sally and myself to Ithaca, with Mr. and Mrs. Charles 
 Humphrey; from whence to Brooklyn, having for a companion, Colonel 
 John W. Livingston, my superior officer in Rhode Island thirty-six years 
 ago. At Ithaca I designed a plan for Alexander Duncan, Esq., to dam the 
 Canandaigua Lake in the outlet for mill-seats, and sent it to him. My 
 daughter Charlotte, with Mrs. M. P. Lomax, Newport, R. I., at school. 
 
 The month of September, exploring Harlem River in reference to the 
 navy depot plan, and for an outfitting and repairing station, both on the 
 Hudson and near Hell Gate, by which to render it imperative in war that 
 our enemy should support two blockading squadrons. Thus by opening 
 Harlem River by a few yards of cutting into the Hudson, and by a canal 
 through Randall's Island, at Little Hell Gate, maintain a choice of passage 
 to sea by either Sandy Hook or the Sound. 
 
 September 17th, to Lake Ontario and Lake Orchard to complete my plans 
 for a United States harbor at that place. Thence to Rose Valley in Wayne 
 Co. through the swamp to Clyde, and ran a line on good ground for a 
 canal — the severest labor in the field I ever experienced, from Cayuga 
 Marshes to Clyde, with Major Cook, a very capital surveyor, and Mr. C. W. 
 Rees. 
 
 By the last of October returned to my family in Brooklyn, and re-com- 
 menced the Hell Gate survey, and Barn Island — a strong position for 
 every species of magazines and for defence against an enemy, and especially 
 in case of mobs in the city of New York. 
 
 In November, George W. Whistler came to consult on improvements, 
 and he returned to Lowell, Mass., taking my daughter to visit Anna. 
 
 In December, at a meeting at Mr. Wm. Bard's, presented a plan of Chas. 
 Butler, Esq., as head of the American Land Company, to establish a town 
 at the outlet of Lake Huron, and a canal from Black Creek to that lake, and 
 sent William Hopkins to make the surveys, while I should visit the 
 Governor of Canada to consult with him on establishing a railroad from 
 
226 ■ THE MEMOIRS OF 
 
 Toronto to the proposed site for a town, and in reference to other Lake 
 Ontario harbors, etc. 
 
 December 20th, received from Colonel Justus Post one thousand one 
 hundred and eighty-four dollars, as my share on sales of some lands on 
 Coal River, in which he had interested F". R. Hassler and myself. At a 
 meeting last December of the Sodus Canal Company, at Clyde, the plan of 
 crossing under the Erie Canal there was discussed, and thus to make our 
 first lock at the town plot at Sodus Bay. Sodus is an Indian word of the 
 Seneca dialect, and signifies a creek with a wide mouth — very graphic of 
 Sodus Bay. 
 
 One million seven hundred and seventy thousand dollars for fortifications 
 for 1836. 
 
 1837. Between the ist and 15th of January, the canal commissioners at 
 Albany debated the subject of crossing the Erie Canal by the Sodus Canal, 
 and on the 15th made decision in favor of crossing under the canal at Clyde. 
 
 Immediately wrote instructions to Major Cook and Mr. C. W. Rees to 
 bore deep in the north side of the Erie at Clyde, to determine the nature 
 of the bed on which to construct the culvert. 
 
 1 8th. Met Fennimore Cooper, and we jaunted to Stockbridge, in 
 Massachusetts, thence through New Haven to the city of New York, as 
 our easiest route thither from Albany. 
 
 20th. With Commodore Ridgely, United States Navy, upon a process to 
 lay before the Navy Department the claims of Captain Samuel Augus to a 
 pension, he having been stricken from the navy list by President Adams. 
 Query : the constitutional power of the President to dismiss any commis- 
 sioned officer whose dismission is not provided for by law in such way. 
 
 26th. Sent my declination as engineer to the Pensacola Railroad 
 Company, by reason of engagements with the Sodus Canal Company, and 
 reported the .same to President Greig. 
 
 In February the speculations in city lots of Brooklyn by others than 
 Charles Hoyt convinced me that he; could not fulfill his engagements with 
 me, ami on his agreeing to pay me the balance then due me of two thousand 
 dollars when in his power, I concluded to remove my family to Geneva. In 
 
GENERAL JOSEPH GARDNER SWIFT. 227 
 
 this month we had the first information of a lung attack on my brother 
 William's wife, and as he was deeply engaged on duty, I offered to escort 
 Mary to the mild air of Florida, but it was not agreeable to her to leave 
 home. 
 
 March 7th I was called to Washington to consult on the progress of the 
 work on lake harbors. Met there the minister from Texas, Newman Hunt, 
 at a dinner party given by him to John C. Calhoun, William C. Preston, 
 General Gaines, etc., including myself. The topic was the adoption of 
 Texas into the Union as a State. 
 
 The inauguration of Mr. Van Buren had been attended by Mr. John 
 Greig, Alexander Duncan, Chas. A. Williamson and myself, and William G. 
 McNeill. We had a very pleasant club at O'Neil's. On our return we 
 examined the inclined plane of the Morris Canal at Newark, having reference 
 to its probable use on the Sodus Canal, which had now begun to lag from 
 want of funds, the speculations in land having exhausted large capitals and 
 made money very scarce. 
 
 The harbor work under way on the lakes early in April, on the 28th of 
 which month I placed my family and furniture on board a canal boat at 
 Brooklyn and thence towed by steam to Albany, meeting an accident at 
 the overslaugh that had nearly sunk our boat in the night. We escaped 
 narrowly, and on May ist entered the Erie Canal, and on 6th arrived at 
 the foot of the road near my house at Geneva, on the lake shore. 
 
 On May 23d summoned to the circuit court at Lyons to testify profession- 
 ally to the influence and effects of the Clyde mill-dam, nine miles below, in 
 producing what is vulgarly called " piling of water" — i. c, the surface of 
 the water above the dam becomes a curve of large radius, and so elevates 
 the water far up the stream. My experiment to satisfy the jury had been, 
 by taking away the slash boards from the Clyde dam after the water had run 
 out. I placed graduated stakes at several points on the margin of the river, 
 and then replacing the slash boards, noted the surface of the water on the 
 stakes after the pond had filled, which marks on the stakes indicated 
 ordinates in the canal of the back water, etc. The jury, on the exhibition 
 of my diagram, gave verdict against the owners of the dam for surplus 
 
2 28 THE MEMOIRS OF 
 
 overflovvage up the river to a point near Lyons — i. e., a line of eight miles. 
 
 In June the United States War Department determined that officers of 
 engineers should superintend the construction of harbors when they were 
 not on military duty — a ven,' proper decision — under which the harbors of 
 Lake Ontario were placed under Lieutenant \V. D. Smith (Fraser). Retain- 
 ing my agency at Big Sodus Bay until other officers could be spared. The 
 dredging at Sodus had opened a channel of fifteen feet, where, in 1829, 
 there had been only eight feet of water. 
 
 Independence was celebrated at Sodus this year by the canal company in 
 the Shaker building, the town plot for the new city. 
 
 July 19th, wrote Gerrit Smith, Esq., my plan for the abolition of slavery: 
 1st, to obtain the consent of the slave States to sell all the children born of 
 slaves at birth, and so to be born free; 2d, Congress to make a sinking 
 fund by consent of three-fourths of the States of five million dollars a year, 
 which would buy all the children of slaves, born in one year ; 3d, to 
 colonize these children when from ten to twelve years old, under the 
 auspices of emancipated competent blacks, west of the Rocky Mountains. 
 
 Aug. 4th. To my farm at Newstead to save what the shark Shipherd had 
 left. Van Deventer having made him our common tenant. I found no crop, 
 and took away my horses and wagon and a harrow, all that was left of many 
 things. Met Alanson Palmer at the farm, to whom Van Deventer in his ill 
 state of health had sold his farm — a sharper — made some settlement with 
 him in Van's name, and advised to retain the land and avoid Palmer. 
 
 In September to Eighteen Mile Creek, below Lockport, on Lake Ontario, 
 by order of War Department, to project a harbor for that place, which was 
 done, and the plan sanctioned by the Government. 
 
 Thence to Niagara and Toronto, to confer with Governor Sir Prancis 
 Head upon a plan of the American Company and the Sodus Canal Company 
 to establish a railroad from the West end of Lake Ontario to Sarnia, 
 opposite Fort Gratiot, at the outlet of Lake Huron, and from thence west 
 to the mouth of Grand River at Lake Michigan. The Governor agreed to 
 promote the operation by his influence in Canada. On my return at 
 Buffalo in company with Henry McLean, the cousin of Mrs. Swift, who 
 
GENERAL JOSEPH GARDNER SWIFT. 229 
 
 introduced me to Mr. Bates, sold him my farm at Newstead for eight thou- 
 sand dollars, under mortgage, but he failed to make payment. 
 
 October 8th. From Geneva to Sodus, and found the isthmus that unites 
 Point Charles to the main land nearly cut through by storms. Closed up 
 the breach with cribs of stone. 
 
 At the request of Major McNeill I went to Alleghany County, taking 
 Louisa and Foster to Hampton with my gray horses, and, leaving them 
 there, went to Angelica to examine the Alleghany County records, and 
 found them very imperfect and much e.xposed to fire. Thence to Captain 
 Philip S. Church, Belvidere, from whence I wrote McNeill advice how to 
 proceed to save his pine lands, and also to Samuel Glover, his attorney, to 
 prevent attempted frauds through the records. 
 
 Early in November, Henry Dwight, Esq., and myself to Albany, and 
 there met the obituary of my brother William's wife, from rapid consumption. 
 She was a fine woman, the daughter of James Stewart of New London, the 
 British Consul, leaving my brother with a son and daughter at the very age 
 when they most required a mother's care. 
 
 From Albany to the Waverly in New York, and there delivered the books 
 of the Tioga Coal Company to John B. Thorp, having received them from 
 Joseph Fellows, Esq., at Geneva. 
 
 December ist, visited Major John L. Smith at Governor's Island, and 
 met there General Scott, Colonel Thayer, Delafield, McNeill and Whistler, 
 and my brother William. Thence William and I went to Hempstead Harbor 
 to see F. R. Hassler, who was in trouble from the calls of the Secretary of 
 the United States Treasury to vary his plan of conducting the coast survey, 
 greatly retarding the progress of that work, and gave my advice to Hassler 
 to remain quiet and not write long letters to the Secretary, who probably 
 did not comprehend Mr. Hassler's scientific mode of conducting the work. 
 
 December 19th, by appointment made at Governor's Island, G. W. 
 Whistler and myself proceeded to Stonington to meet the Stonington & 
 Providence Railroad Company on plans for improvement thereof, and the 
 next day to Providence with the company and others to remedy the causes 
 of delay. The following day the company returned to Stonington, and on 
 
230 THE MEMOIRS OF 
 
 our way cut off the head of a horse by the force of the locomotive as the 
 horse was standing at night with his head over the rail. On my return to 
 New York, stopped at Fort Schuyler to examine that place with Major J. L. 
 Smith, and met here William Cutbush, formerly Captain of United States 
 engineers, and employed as surveyor. 
 
 No appropriation for forts this year. 
 
 1838. January 20th. Delayed at Brooklyn by the common council, 
 who thought my charge for making a water front to their cit)' too high. My 
 demand was eighteen hundred dollars, including my visits to Albany to 
 explain the matter to the legislative committee. The common council sent 
 me a check for twelve hundred dollars, and remained in my debt six hundred 
 dollars. 
 
 On January 22d, to Harlem with Major McNeill and Philemon Dickinson, 
 Esq., of New Jersey, and with Charles H. Hall it was agreed that to pro- 
 mote the navy dock I should draw up a report on the project of the 
 Hudson and Harlem River and Little Hell Gate for docks, yards, etc. Took 
 my quarters at the Astor House, and finished the report. It was laid before 
 the common council of the city, and produced the adoption of the High 
 Bridge of the Croton acqueduct to permit the passage of ships-of-the-line, 
 etc. (See files.) 
 
 On February 3d, a meeting of American Land Company at William 
 Bard's. I gave them an account of my sojourn at Toronto and interview 
 with Governor Head, together with my plan for a harbor at the Gratiot 
 outlet of Huron, which they adopted, to wit: Messrs. Bard, McBride, Beers, 
 Willet, Charles Butler, and Arnault ; R. K. Delafield, Secretary. 
 
 The next day, by aid of Mr. O'Connor, succeeded in settling the affairs 
 between the daughters of my late friend, Peter Birdsell, and their brother 
 John, by which the girls have the income of rent at the old stand, corner of 
 Wall and Broad Streets. 
 
 Febuary 7th. Reported to the United States Navy Commissioner and to 
 the United .States Chief Engineer my views of the importance of the Barn 
 Island and Little Hell Gate passage, and Harlem ami Hudson River sites 
 for United States navy docks and yards, and its offering space and security 
 
GENERAL JOSEPH GARDNER SWIFT. 23 1 
 
 and two passages to the ocean, thereby obliging an enemy to use two guns 
 to our one by the necessary blockade off the Hook and Montauk, our two 
 passages to sea. 
 
 February 17th. With General Scott and Charles King, Esquire, at the 
 Astor, consulting on the necessity of the general's speedy movement in 
 return to the frontier to check the secret movements of the sympathizing 
 traitors. The general departed that evening with Captain Keys. Quite a 
 scene between the captain's wife. Colonel Monroe and myself on the lady's 
 objections against her husband's duty. 
 
 February 19th. At John L. Graham's with Long Island Railroad Company 
 to treat about my taking charge of that road. The meeting adjourned, etc. 
 
 February 23d. The exchange of lands between Dr. Fitzhugh and the 
 Shakers of Sodus delayed by the difficulty in raising funds. John Greig 
 and Charles Hoyt, Esq., at my room at the Astor to devise security to Dr. 
 Fitzhugh. A meeting of the Sodus Canal Company called for early in 
 March. The cold very intense on the 24th, when Mr. Greig and I took 
 stage for Albany, Major John L. Smith meeting us with a noble pair of 
 blankets, his present to Mrs. Swift, that made us comfortable all the way 
 
 home. 
 
 On March ist citizens of Geneva appoint General Whiting, myself and 
 others a committee to locate the proper entrance of the Rochester & 
 Auburn Railroad into our village. 
 
 March 8th to Canandaigua at the meeting of the Sodus Canal Company at 
 President Greig's. "The pecuniary difficulties of the times" suspend the 
 whole work, a severe blow to my prospects; but shall make further essays to 
 revive the work. 
 
 In April summoned to New York to testify on the subject of my blowing 
 up houses with gunpowder in the great fire of December, 1835. The 
 owners succeed in recovering from the city in whose cause the blasting was 
 done. 
 
 Last of April my brother William and myself to see the first of the great 
 steamers, the Western, Captain Judkins, a grand movement to promote the 
 intercourse and the peace of nations. 
 
232 THE MEAIOIRS OF 
 
 May 1st. The agents of the Illinois Canal called on me, McLaren and 
 Hardy, on the subject of connecting a railroad therewith, and we visit the 
 Long Island Railroad to show them the process, etc. They propose to me 
 to unite with them. I deemed it something of an interference with my 
 brother's affairs, and had no more to say to the gentlemen. 
 
 On May 3d I was with General Waddy Thompson, who, as a friend of 
 John C. Calhoun invited me to write to Mr. Calhoun on the subject of 
 nullification. As an intimate friend I did so, embracing my views of the 
 whole subject, and urged on him the setding the matter, as I deemed him 
 to hold great influence with the North. But Mr. Calhoun had gone too far 
 to attempt such a purpose. With his great mind he could have done much, 
 and no doubt did assuage the violence of his compeers. 
 
 This spring I continued the small work doing at Sodus Bay Harbor, and 
 finished repairing the breach in the Isthmus of Point Charles. 
 
 On August i5tli Captain Samuel Swift, my cousin, of Geneva, and family, 
 moved to the vicinity of Princeton, Bureau County, Illinois, to a farm he 
 had there purchased, and left his Geneva property in the care of James H. 
 Woods, Esq. 
 
 On the 1 8th my son Alexander made us a few weeks' visit from Cape 
 Fear, North Carolina. This fall great confusion upon our frontier among 
 the sympathizers on both sides of the line of boundary. 
 
 General Adams trying to keep alive the Sodus Canal by a current of 
 water washing out the sandy loam from the Clyde north to the head of 
 Sodus Bay. He is an indefatigably industrious man, and will accomplish as 
 much as he has means to use therefor. I went to look at the successful 
 essay in the month of October, and on my return on November ist to 
 Geneva, I found Major John L. Smith, United States Engineer, at my 
 house, with instructions from Secretary of War, Mr. Poinsett, for the major 
 and myself to examine the condition of the people in the country on the 
 shores of Lakes Ontario and Erie, in reference to secret operations of 
 "Sympathizers" and the like, to disturb our relations with Canada. At 
 Buffalo we conferred with Colonels Bankhead and Crane, United States 
 Army, and thence to Erie, in Pennsylvania, and Cleveland, in Ohio. 
 
GENERAL JOSEPH GARDNER SWIFT. 233 
 
 Detected several plans that were urged on by misguided men, and by the 
 close of November returned to Geneva, and the major made his report to 
 the Government, of a confidential nature of course. 
 
 One million eleven thousand dollars for forts in 1838. 
 
 1839. In January Captain W. D. Smith (Fraser) by order of the War 
 Department commenced to examine into the disbursements upon the 
 United States Harbor at Big Sodus Bay, from the commencement of the 
 work in 1829 to the close of 1838, under secret charges from William 
 Edwards, one of the contractors, of fraud and waste. This occupied 
 Captain Smith eight days from January 15th, and on the 23d he left for other 
 duty. A copy of his report was sent to me by order of the Secretary of 
 War. The report states that not a single fact sustained any charges — that 
 they were totally unfounded. There has been for these ten years a series 
 of essays to oust me from office by good Democrats of Wayne and Monroe 
 Counties. 
 
 The last of January to Albany with General Adams to call on Governor 
 Seward on the subject of State improvements, and especially the revival of 
 the Sodus Canal, which the governor approved, and said he would further 
 its progress as chief magistrate. A meeting of stockholders was called at 
 Brooklyn, at Mr. Hoj't's, March 9th, when it was agreed that I should go to 
 Philadelphia to consult with Thomas Biddle and Mr. Dunlap, of the United 
 States Bank, which I accordingly did on March 27th, and left my explana- 
 tion with them, after a thorough conversation, while I should be absent in 
 Washington. When the Secretary of War expressed his satisfaction with 
 Captain Smith's examination into the Sodus Bay expenditures, the Secretary 
 mformed me it had been determined to give me the general supervision of 
 the harbor, and on Lake Ontario, and so far modify the order to employ 
 only the engineer officers; accordingly on April 4th Colonel Abert, topo- 
 graphical engineer, appointed Captain Canfield to aid me in an inspection 
 of all the harbors on Lake Ontario. 
 
 April 5th Colonel Abert and myself to see an old friend, Phineas Lacy, 
 at Alexandria. I ride out to see Bruce Walker at the theological seminary, 
 and in Alexandria my cousin Mary Harper Swift, Mrs. Summers — Sophia 
 
234 ' THE MEMOIRS OF 
 
 Potts that was — mj- early friend in Alexandria thirty odd years ago, at 
 Netty Hall, etc. 
 
 April 9th President Van Buren entertains the pacificator. General 
 Scott, in allusion to his services in nullifying days in South Carolina, 
 border troubles at Navy Island, Niagara, and with Sir John Harvey in 
 Maine. The party consisted of the heads of departments, foreign ambassa- 
 dors, and three of Scott's friends — Generals Towson, Gibson and myself. 
 On the loth the general and myself to Philadelphia, at Nicholas Biddle's, 
 etc. I met Thomas Biddle, who informs me the United States Bank 
 cannot co-operate with the Sodus Canal Company on the subject deputed 
 to me. To New York, and on April 15th with Belle, Willy and Louisa 
 march to Geneva. On the 28th to a Sodus meeting at Mr. Greig's, 
 Canandaigua, and report the failure of negotiations with the United 
 States Bank. 
 
 May 2d. At Rochester piers, and by steam to Oswego, and meet 
 Captain Canfield, and commence our inspection, as a board, of all the 
 harbors of Lake Ontario, and on the nth I return to Geneva and send 
 instructions to the agent, Judson, at Oswego, to commence the permanent 
 piers there with Beton, and to Mr. Peters at Mexico Bay, Salmon River, to 
 go on with the piers, and the same to Mr. Rees at Genesee River. 
 
 July 4th. Celebrate the day at Geneva. Hon. Gideon Lee recently 
 settled among us, with his excellent wife. He presides on that day. 
 
 On the 20th our friends the Marchs, of Brooklyn, come to see us, and 
 we take my grays to Hampton and the Wadsworth's, Miss Elizabeth the 
 heroine of the valley. We get back to Geneva on August ist. 
 
 On August 13th Colonel Abert arrives at Geneva, and invites me to a 
 survey of both lakes with him. The next day we proceed to Oswego, and 
 by steamer to Buffalo, and thence to Erie, Pennsylvania, and return from 
 inspection of Presque Isle to Buffalo, and meet the Secretary of War and 
 Mr. Gouverneur Kemble, at the Falls, and so on to Geneva, the colonel being 
 suddenly summoned to Washington on jniblic affairs. On the 26th to 
 Clyde to see General Adams about his scouring process on the Sodus Canal, 
 and thence by canal to .Syracuse and Oswego, from whence on the 28th 
 
GENERAL JOSEPH GARDNER SWIFT. 235 
 
 Colonel Worth and myself to Sacketts Harbor, and explored our scenes 
 there of 181 3, and awaited the arrival of President Van Buren and Secretary 
 Poinsett, on 29th, and proceed to review and inspection of the troops ; and 
 thence to the mouth of Black River and Brownsville, and dined with Mrs. 
 General Brown and Major Kirby, and on to VVatertown, where Mr. Fairbanks 
 gave the President an account of his extorting a large amount of money from 
 Paymaster Edmonson, by threats of drowning him in the lake. The money 
 was concealed in a bed, and, on ripping up the same, Mrs. Edmonson com- 
 mitted suicide. 
 
 August 30th, to Oswego, where the President in his address, reprimanded 
 his political friends who had been sympathizers, a severe and deserved and 
 well administered castieation. 
 
 On 31st President inspected the new Beton Harbor work, and Mr. Poin- 
 sett pronounced it good, etc. 
 
 On September ist I went to Sodus Bay with Smith, Van Buren to 
 Alexander Duncan, a farmer living on the Shaker tract. Mr. Van Buren and 
 Poinsett went direct to Genesee River, where the Secretary, with Captain 
 Loud of United States Artillery, inspected the decaying wood work of the 
 piers, and saw the effect of the negligence of Congress in delay of appro- 
 priations. The President then went to Geneva to have a few quiet days 
 with his early friend. Judge Sutherland, and to see William K. Strono-'s fine 
 farm, the old Robin Rose farm on the lake shore, and then returned to 
 Albany and Washington. I accompanied him and the Secretary to Water- 
 loo, and he thanked me for the " acceptable service rendered him in the 
 harbors and by my personal attentions." 
 
 November 2d. The vestry of Trinity Church at Geneva sent me a 
 delegate to the Episcopal convention at Rochester. 
 
 On December 24th I hurried to Hampton to see the last of Colonel 
 William Fitzhugh. He died on the 29th, at the age of seventy-nine, a 
 worthy and consistent Christian gentleman. I wrote his obituary. He had 
 been a cornet of dragoons in the Maryland line, and aid-de-camp to 
 General Gist in the Revolution. He had reared a family of twelve 
 
236 THE MEMOIRS OF 
 
 children, and left them all the means of comfort in this world, and an 
 excellent example. 
 
 Three hundred and thirty thousand dollars for forts in 1839. 
 
 1840. Alexander left us on 2d January for Washington, to receive his 
 instructions from the War Department to proceed to France to prepare to 
 instruct a corps of sappers and miners, and he sailed from New York for 
 Havre de Grace on February 12th. 
 
 During the month of February prominent Democrats of Monroe and 
 Wayne counties wrote the War Department that I was interfering adversely 
 to the interests of the Van Buren party, and requested that some good 
 Democrat should be placed in my office. A silly accusation, but without 
 any foundation in fact, for during my United States agency I had refrained 
 from all political meetings and political action, excepting my free and open 
 vote. 
 
 In the spring an effort was made to keep the Sodus Canal project before 
 the public, and General Adams (June ist) and myself went from Clyde to 
 Geneva to negotiate with the Shakers for securing their payments for the 
 Sodus tract, but without success. Our operations had become impeded by 
 the stringency in the money market, and our own wealthy stockholders 
 could not see the policy of finishing the work for less than a fourth of a 
 million, a work that would open intercourse between Chesapeake Bay and 
 Lake Ontario, and yield to the United States Government every means of 
 transport of military supplies to protect the country and its lake commerce 
 in plaster, salt, iron, coal and lumber. The finishing of the work had 
 become simple and cheap. But our capitalist stockholders did not revive 
 the work, and the land reverted to Messrs. Greig, Duncan, Butler and 
 Fellows. General Adams, however, with respectable perseverance adhered 
 to the plan of scouring out the easy sandy loam from Clyde to the head of 
 Sodus Bay, and exhausted his private means in the essay. I have devoted 
 much time and labor and my means to this work, but shall reap no other 
 benefit than the gratification of knowing it will be revived for the benefit of 
 others and the country at large. 
 
GENERAL JOSEPH GARDNER SWIFT. 237 
 
 In June I went to New York to advance my chancery suit against the 
 Eckford estate. My counsel, Messrs. Foote and Davies. 
 
 June 17th consulting with Mr. Canon of Troy upon employment upon 
 the Schenectady Railroad, and agreed to return to Troy with my brother 
 William on this subject. On 19th Major McNeill and I to Stonington and 
 Providence on that railroad business, and thence to Boston to consult with 
 Patrick Jackson. On 21st William and I via Worcester to view the well 
 conducted asylum there, and thence by Norwich and New York, and with 
 the Troy and Schenectady Railroad agent, Mr. Canon, and not liking his 
 terms I returned to New York, and William to Springfield. 
 
 June 28th to Elizabethtown, New Jersey, to consult General Scott in 
 reference to a reply to Thaddeus Phelps, who, at a Democratic meeting had 
 nominated me for the chief magistracy of New York. General Scott said 
 that although the nomination was based upon my official relations formerly 
 with Jefferson, Madison and Monroe, and my never having been a prominent 
 political actor, he thought it would not be consistent with my federal prin- 
 ciples to consent to any further proceedings, and by no means suitable to 
 my limited pecuniary means, in all which I agreed with him, and wrote Mr. 
 Phelps in accordance therewith. 
 
 July 2d Mr. Foot accompanied me to Mr. W. P. Rathbone's, in Hacken- 
 sack, New Jersey, and learned from him that my city property on Seventh 
 Avenue he knew had been conveyed to Henry Eckford, solely to secure J. 
 G. Swift's debt to the Life and Fire, and for no other purpose. Accordingly 
 at the next meeting on my case, before Master in Chancery Lansing, the 
 testimony of Mr. Rathbone, S. L. Gouverneur, Mr. Hoxie and General 
 Bogardus, taken and recorded, and these meetings continued at periods 
 until the end of the year, detaining me at my friend Tucker's through the 
 illness and to the death of my child in Geneva. Charlotte died there on 
 December 31st, at the age of fifteen. 
 
 Seven hundred and eighty thousand dollars for forts in 1840. 
 1 84 1. February 8th. At the request of Leffert Lefferts, Esq., at the 
 expected disturbance of the United States with France, I gave him my 
 views on paper on the means of defending New York, with a plan for 
 
238 THE MEMOIRS OF 
 
 raising volunteers to occupy the fortifications of the harbor in co-operation 
 with troops of the United States. At the instance of General Scott I 
 examined " Mr. Carter's ball propeller." It had e.xcited much attention in 
 the city. I drew up an argument to show that no centrifugal force created 
 by manual strength and applied to cranks and hollow spokes of wheels, 
 would propel even a small cannon ball with sufficient velocity to accomplish 
 military purposes. 
 
 On February 19th the last examination before Master Lansing. The 
 Eckford counsel presented a mortgage of my Seventh Avenue property. 
 It was deemed a bar to further action until I could initiate a new case, 
 because this mortgage is only part and parcel of the one and same transac- 
 tion, namely, to give Henry Eckford a trust of my property to pay my debt. 
 He never had given a cent in consideration for this property, and I had 
 never been indebted to him for any amount whatever. I am tired of this 
 litigation, and shall leave the pursuit of justice to my heirs. 
 
 March loth. To Washington on a visit to Colonel Totten. The officers 
 of the army at Washington had united in a petition to General Harrison to 
 reinstate me in office, an extremely pleasant evidence of the regard of my 
 military associates. (See the document on my files.) With General 
 Macomb I waited on President Harrison, who said he had something for me 
 to do. This referred to the proposal of Colonel Abert to send me upon a 
 visit of inquiry to Canada, having reference to border difficulties. General 
 Harrison and General Macomb concurred on the necessity of further 
 information of the views of the British Government, and the President 
 requested the Secretary of War, Mr. Bell, to arrange with me for this 
 expedition, my compensation to be that of Brigadier General commanding, 
 and all traveling expenses. 
 
 On March 27th to New York, and on April 3d to Geneva, the first meet- 
 ing with my family since the death of my daughter Charlotte. 
 
 On April i6th to New York, and with Major McNeill to Boston. Here 
 I consulted with an early fric-nil, Jeremiah Mason, who gave me letters to 
 Sir John Caldwell in Canada. With Patrick and Dr. Charles Jackson, and 
 my companion (jf the days of fortifying Boston, and other eastern harbors 
 
GENERAL JOSEPH GARDNER SWIFT. 239 
 
 in 1800, etc. — Henry A. S. Dearborn — who had excellent views of our rela- 
 tions with Canada, and of our means of purchasing the whole province. 
 We passed several days together in examining Colonel Thayer's newly 
 commenced fort at Georges' Island, and visited Mount Auburn. 
 
 May 1st, on board the steamer Columbia, and in forty hours over a heavy 
 swell arrived at Halifax, and found rooms at the Masonic Hall Tavern, and 
 passed a week in examining docks, forts, and the canal of Shubenacadie. 
 Sir John Harvey invited me to the review of two thousand troops. I 
 estimated them at twelve hundred. He introduced me to Lord Falkland, 
 the Governor, who invited both to dinner, and had a pleasant discussion on 
 the relations of our respective governments. I gave them my ideas, that 
 they required our timber and we their trade, and both upon equal terms. I 
 met Colonel Smelt of Eighth Foot, who presented me to his lady, a 
 daughter of Beverly Robinson. The lady exhibited much American feeling 
 and courtesy. The colonel is the reputed son of George III, and is much 
 like the portraits of that king. He had been sick. 
 
 He had been wounded severely on the Niagara frontier in 18 14. He 
 spoke kindly of his treatment by the Americans. Lady Harvey, a plain 
 person, and well-informed, the daughter of Lord Lake, of East India celeb- 
 rity. Lady Falkland is very pretty, of a sad countenance, as if she were 
 thinking of her mother, Mrs. Jordan, and her father, William the Fourth. 
 Sir John Caldwell was one of the guests. I had a letter to him. We dined 
 at the mess of the Eighth, Thirty-Seventh and Sixty-Fourth regiments, in 
 a room designed by the Duke of Kent, not much of architectural taste. 
 Sir John Harvey sent warm messages to his friend. General Scott. They 
 had been able pacificators between New Brunswick and Maine. On nth I 
 took the coach, and by that beautiful harbor above Halifax, of an extent 
 sufficient to moor a fleet of one hundred sail ; came to the margin of a trout 
 torrent near the dividing ridge, and descending the road, thence to Windsor, 
 through a rough, stunted growth of pine, alder and birch, to the river of 
 Windsor. Examined its plaster beds and the bridge across to Falmouth, 
 the rise and fall of the tide at its piers varj'ing from forty-five to sixty-five 
 feet. I found several of the descendants of the refugees from the United 
 
240 THE MEMOIRS OF 
 
 States in the war of 1776. Judge Halliburton, whom I had been introduced 
 to in Washington by General Scott, the Sam Slick of the romance, and 
 some army and navy officers, all very courteous. 
 
 On 14th on the appropriately named steamer, the Maid of the Alist, 
 throuo-h much foe in the Basin of Mines, out to clear weather after round- 
 ing Cape Blowmedon, to St. John, N. B. Our captain, an officer of the 
 navy, honored me with a salute, which made my entrance to the city more 
 public than I had expected. On our passage I observed very strong cross 
 currents and whirls, and the steering very difficult, arising from the power 
 of the tide and the great volume of water that had to pass and repass twice 
 a day between headlands on both sides of the Bay of Fundy. 
 
 At St. John I met Charles, son of the consul, James Stewart, Esq., of 
 New London, now in England ; Mr. Jewett, whom I used to know, a ship 
 carpenter at Smithville, North Carolina, thirty years ago. He was in 
 affluence, and he treated me with much civility. Also Mrs. Campbell, the 
 sister of "Tom Moore, the Consul," and Mrs. Joshua Sands of Brooklyn. 
 At high tide over the falls by steam to Frederickton, on the St. Johns, 
 where I was courteously treated by the governor. Sir William Colebrook, 
 and by the officers of the Thirty-Seventh Foot. On May 2 2d I returned 
 to Boston by the North America, by the Saint Croix and Campo Bello to 
 Tremont House, from whence I made my report to the Government at 
 Washington. (See my files.) 
 
 On May 24th with P. T. Jackson, Esq., to examine the water power and 
 steam machinery at Lowell, over the best railroad as yet constructed in the 
 United States. The next day with General H. A. S. Dearborn, discussing 
 the views of the policy of acquiring Canada by purchase, showing England 
 first the inevitable event of our becoming one government; as we were 
 descending the harbor to see our mutual friend. Colonel S. Thayer, and his 
 accurate fort of masonry on George's Island. 
 
 26th. Met General Wool at the Tremont, and had some Canadian talk ; 
 also G. W. Whistler. We two went to his house in Springfield, and then 
 by Worcester, Norwich and New London, to New York. 
 
 June 1st. Arrived at home in Geneva, and found all well, thanks to God. 
 
GENERAL JOSEPH GARDNER SIVIET. 241 
 
 On 3d to Buffalo and Niagara, inquiring into the purpose of the o-reat 
 assemblage of negroes on the Canada side, as they said, by En^-Hsli 
 authority. Saw many fugitives from the South, and much excitement and 
 threats of revenge for ills inflicted by slaver)-, etc. 
 
 15th. To Saratoga over the grounds of the battles of Gates and Bur- 
 goyne. Met James Stevenson of Albany. Thence to Whitehall, on Lake 
 Champlain, to Ticonderoga and Crown Point, and received on board the 
 steamer, Mrs. Colonel Churchill of United States Army. To Burlington. 
 Bishop Hopkins has a beautiful seat here. The scenery of the distant 
 Adirondacks and Green Mountains admirable on one of the clearest days 
 of June. 
 
 To St. Johns, passing Isle au Croix, and thence by railroad to Lachine, 
 and through the rapids that had half a dozen stout men at the helm, better 
 than a wheel, because more controllable; and on 17th had nice rooms at 
 Rosco's, in Montreal. Called on Lady Selby, who presented me to several 
 of her Canadian friends. That lady is a daughter of the House of Longue- 
 vllle. On the following day, invited to a review on the race grounds, and 
 had a sham battle of Waterloo. I had a fine horse of Colonel Oldfield's. 
 At dinner Madame Selby addressed me very audibly : "General, I hope 
 when you take Montreal that you will give my house a safe-guard." This 
 badinage drew upon me the eyes of many strangers and army officers. My 
 reply was that my hope was that all my visits to Canada might meet the 
 gentility and hospitality of peace, such as then surrounded me. My time 
 was agreeably filled till 19th, when I went to Quebec and met Sir James 
 McDonnell, the hero of Waterloo. He told me the merit of closing the 
 
 gates at Hoguemont was more due to Sergeant than himself. 
 
 General Scott Introduced me to Sir James. In reviewing the troops the 
 fine looking men of the Coldstream Guards were conspicuously handsome. 
 
 Cape Drummond and General Wolfe's route and monument, where he 
 fell and united with Montcalm in the city, had my respects. 
 
 On 2 1st to the Falls of MontmorencI, stopping at Beauport to see the 
 French, still of the aspect of Louis XIV. At the falls I gathered a bouquet 
 of wild flowers and gave them to a pretty girl in a garden at Beauport. 
 
242 THE MEMOIRS OF 
 
 The people thronged about me and invited me to their church. 
 Quite a scene. 
 
 To Point Levy and the navy sHps. The whole scene at and from Quebec 
 one of the grandest type in nature. 
 
 On 23d ascended the St. Lawrence through the remarkable black rock)- 
 gorge of Richelieu, and in Lake St. Peters could only see the tree tops on 
 either shore. Made a halt at William Henry, the outlet of the Sorel, and 
 at Montreal rejoined Colonel Oldfield of the engineers, and Lieutenant 
 Bainbridge, Colonel Campbell, etc., of the army, and again reviewed the 
 troops with General Jackson. 
 
 To the mountain, one of the noblest river and forest views probably on 
 the globe. 
 
 Examined the Cathedral, and then on 26th up the St. Lawrence to the 
 battle ground of November iith, 1813, Chrysler's Field. 
 
 To Prescott and Ogdensburg, and by the Thousand Isles to Kingston 
 with Mr. Herbert, son of Lord Clive, and met my Geneseo friend, R. A. 
 Tucker, and reviewed the troops and looked at the forts, and passed on to 
 Oswego, and met Mr. Henry Fitzhugh, and so home to Geneva, after 
 hearing Sir Allan McNab in the Parliament House, Kingston. 
 
 July 19th made my second official report to the government. (See mj- 
 files). 
 
 July 26th to Niagara and Canada, taking Hortense and Jose to General 
 P. B. Porter's, and with General Porter to his battle ground of Chippewa, 
 1814. On 31st to Buffalo with Hortense and Jose to Mrs. Van Deventer's. 
 To Cleveland, Ohio, and Detroit. Lake St. Clair and Canada. 
 
 On August 8th to Buffalo; loth, destruction of steamer Erie. 1 returned 
 to Geneva and waited till 19th for Anselm K. Terry, to whom I .sold my 
 Newstead farm for seven thousand three hundred and fifty dollars. 
 
 On 31st at old Fort Niagara with Captain W. D. Eraser, United States 
 engineers. 
 
 September 1st to old Fort George and Messisauga in Canada, and on 
 board the steamer Transit to Toronto ; my fellow passenger Doctor Edward 
 Mitchell of South Carolina, my schoolmate at the acadcni)- in Taunton, 
 
GENERAL JOSEPH GARDNER SWIFT. 243 
 
 forty-two years ago; our first meeting since those days; he had been a 
 lover of my sister Nancy, and much beloved by all of us. We recognized 
 each other on the deck of 'the steamer simultaneously. I had the pleasure 
 of promoting the enjoyment of the doctor and his family and Mr. Chew of 
 the State Department at Washington, through the civility of General 
 Clitherow, at the reviews of the English troops, Ninety-third especially, in 
 which Captain Neil Buchanan furnished me a fine cavalry horse for the 
 reviews. In Toronto was entertained by the family of R. A. Tucker of 
 Geneseo memory. Captain B., etc. 
 
 September 5th to Niagara Falls, Buffalo and Geneva. 
 
 On 20th to New York on my way to Washington. At Newark measured 
 the machinery and planes of the Morris canal, and sent the results to Captain 
 Bainbridge, English engineer, at Montreal, for him and Colonel Oldfield. 
 
 On October 7th to Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington, and from 
 the topographical bureau sent the new map of the United States to Colonel 
 Oldfield of the English engineers, with my thanks for the information about 
 Canada that he had furnished me at Montreal. 
 
 With General Scott to call on the President to converse on the subject of 
 my embassy. Mr. Tyler renewed an acquaintande that had commenced at 
 Richmond many years previously, when no one dreamed of his attaining 
 the chief magistracy. I found him so full of joy at having brought Mr. 
 John C. Spencer into the War Department, that Mr. Tyler could give little 
 heed to the subject of buying Canada on General Dearborn's plan, which I 
 was endeavoring to explain to him. In fact I was reminded of the remark 
 of Colonel Monroe at the door of General Harrison in the previous spring: 
 " Harrison will die, and the luckiest man in Virginia will occupy his chair. " 
 The levity of Mr. Tyler's manner does his sense no justice. Judge Baldwin 
 was with us, and was impressed as I was when Mr. Tyler remarked on Mr. 
 Clay that he was vastly inferior to Patrick Henry — an uncalled for and very 
 unsuitable remark, even if true. We agreed that Mr. Spencer was a man 
 of high attainments and experience in politics, for he had been prominent 
 in every party of the Union, etc. To Mr. Spencer, Mr. Tyler referred me 
 to commune on my Canadian excursion. 
 
244 THE MEMOIRS OF 
 
 October i ith attended as member of a meeting of the National Institute, 
 where my son Alexander's memoir on the moving sands of the south 
 Atlantic shore of France, called the Downs, which he had examined, and 
 the mode of arresting their progress by planting willows and grasses, with 
 a view of employing similar means on the coast of Carolina. 
 
 October 17th conversed with Mr. John Bell, late Secretaiy of War, on the 
 purchase of Canada, and of the purpose of General Harrison in my 
 Canadian expedition. Mr. Bell approved of my views, as also did Secretarj- 
 Spencer and General Scott and Colonel Abert. 
 
 Mr. Spencer addressed a note of approbation on the termination of ni)- 
 service. (See document on my files). 
 
 On November 5th General Scott, Major McNeill and myself to Baltimore. 
 At Mr. Sehly's, Baltimore, conversing on the Canadian affairs. Met here 
 my friend Doctor Wyatt, with Bishop Chase and Mr. Whitingham. 
 
 On 19th to Brooklyn. 
 
 Four hundred and fifty-five thousand dollars for torts in 1841. 
 
 1842. This winter had much correspondence with Colonel Abert on 
 national affairs, and especially upon internal improvements and of my 
 conviction that the democratic party had ever opposed them. The next 
 day replied to Mr. Germain's proposal to e.xperiment on some eastern road 
 witli his railroad car having a parallel motion to adapt itself to any 
 curvature. On 12th to Springfield to arrange for this experiment with 
 Whistler, ad interim to New York to bring Jose to Springfield, where 
 Whistler had just received letters that invited him to Russia. We went to 
 Boston to consult with Patrick T. Jackson, and the last of April I e.scorted 
 Whistler's men to Providence and Kingston, R. 1. On my return to 
 Providence met Alexander Duncan, P2sq., and aided him in conveying 
 valuables to Boston to avoid the threatening aspect of affairs in the Dorr 
 rebellion, meeting there Colonel Thayer and Julius W. Adams. 
 
 On May 3d I returned to .Springfield to see Whistler on his Russian plan. 
 
 On the same day met Mr. Germain with his car from Catskill, and made 
 an experiment on the sixty-feet plane with his car and one of Mr. Winans' 
 eight-wheeled cars. By their spontaneous descent on that inclined plane 
 
GENERAL JOSEPH GARDNER SWIFT. 245 
 
 both cars accumulating velocity b)- their descent, ran through the depot 
 track. Winans' crossed the bridge ; Germain's did not reach the bridge. 
 Equal loads in both, proving that a too easy movement of the parallel, to 
 adapt the wheels to the curve, had caused them to move from side to side 
 too readily, /. e., such an arrangement of motion requires a more perfect 
 construction of railway than has yet been accomplished ; also that the spring 
 of the lone car of Winans is better suited to the curves of our roads than 
 Mr. Germain's. The last may be improved, but thus far Winans' is best. 
 1 was present in 1828 at Baltimore when Winans first proposed his car. 
 The great fact about facile motion is that the car gear and the rail track 
 must correspond in acciu-acy and nicety of construction. 
 
 May 4th Whistler and Debo, Jose and myself to Albany. McRee went 
 to Geneva with Jose, and Debo, Whistler and myself to Washington, where 
 we arrived on the 7th, meeting Major Bautatz of the Russian service, and 
 General Tallmadge, who gave Whistler some points in the character of the 
 Emperor Nicholas, in reference to his industry and desire to improve public 
 works, that may be useful to Whistler. 
 
 On 8th met the Russian ambassador, Mr. Bodisco, and arranged for 
 Whistler's service at twelve thousand dollars a year. Had with Mr. 
 Bodisco an interesting conversation on the difficulties of a Russian cam- 
 paign across the Indus and the sands to India, and of its inutility, while 
 England had the supremacy of naval power. 
 
 May loth with Mr. Tyler and Major McNeill to converse upon my plans 
 for a navy dock on the Harlem and Hud.son Rivers. (See my report of 
 Januar)', 1838, on my files.) The President too much engrossed in politics 
 to be much interested in our subject. General Tallmadge gave the Presi- 
 dent some strong remarks on his leaving the measures of the Whigs, who 
 had elevated him. The President replied that the Whigs had left him, and 
 that he had therefore "chumped" Congress, alluding to a waggoner's mode 
 of retarding his wheels. 
 
 On May 15th Whistler and myself to Albany, he to Boston for England 
 and Russia, and I home to my family in Geneva. 
 
246 THE MEMOIRS OF 
 
 June 29th Major Tucker and family with us. Examining the new Trinity- 
 church, now up to the floor. 
 
 At the celebration of Independence our families witnessed a sad scene of 
 negligence at the fireworks, by which several people were killed and 
 wounded by the rockets. 
 
 July 19th to Rochester, and by the steamer to Niagara with Major 
 Delafield and family to the Falls. Returning home the last of the month, 
 and found our son Alexander, who had arrived from Washington ; his first 
 visit home after his return from France. (See his journals.) Also met at 
 our house the artist, Daniel Huntington, and the artist Verbryck, a very 
 interesting person, as also is his brother Huntington. 
 
 September 8th to New York to attend the wedding, on the 15th instant, 
 of my son McRee and Hortense, the daughter of my friend, Thomas I. 
 Chew, at 94 Willow Street, Brooklyn, married by Reverend Doctor Cutler 
 of St. Ann's. Guests, Colonels Totten and J. Smith, A. J. DeRosset, Mr. 
 Dickinson and my son Alexander. On 23d I went to see Alexander and Mr. 
 Davies at the Point, and the worthy widow of Colonel Mansfield said to me, 
 "You may expect most of your worldly joys in the decline of your days." 
 
 While in New York on September i6th my brother William and I called 
 on Life and Fire Insurance Company receivers, Mr. Hoffman and J. T. 
 Lawrence, about the notice of July 6th, 1842, in the papers, of a dividend on 
 the stock of that company. I held four hundred and seventy-seven shares 
 of it, four hundred of which had been transferred to me by Henry Eckford 
 while on his trial in 1826, and which four hundred shares after the trial Mr. 
 Eckford had required me to re-transfer to him, and which by advice of my 
 counsel, George Sullivan, I declined doing. These acts of Mr. Eckford I 
 have never understood. I owed him nothing. My mortgage and deed to 
 him of my .Seventh Avenue property was to secure my debt to the Life and 
 I'ire Company. I le never ])aid that debt, and went to Turkey and died 
 there, and his executors never paid it, but on the above receivers 
 declining to pay me any dividend, I employed John B. Thorp to buy Life 
 and Fire bonds for me to balance the debt therewith, and this he did to 
 enable the receivers to join me in my chancery suit against the Eckford 
 
GENERAL JOSEPH GARDNER SWIFT. 247 
 
 estate. September 2 2d Reverend Dr. Hawks showed me the memorial of 
 the Episcopal Church of St. James, New Hanover, North Carolina, October 
 ist, 1759, signed by Lewis John De Rosset, planter and member of His 
 Majesty's Counsel and Receiver-General ; William Walker (brother of 
 James), Sheriff N. H. John DuBois (uncle), merchant and justice of peace, 
 and Moses John De Rosset, M. D. 
 
 One million, three hundred and sixty-six thousand dollars for forts 
 in 1842. 
 
 1843. This winter I employed myself lecturing to the Young Men's 
 Association, and in preparing papers for my files. 
 
 The spring opened early. Busied myself with new fences and gardening, 
 having no professional employ. 
 
 On June 22d Peter Richards, Junior, and my daughter Josephine were 
 married by Rev. P. P. Irving, Mr. George Richards attending, and Bishop 
 DeLancy and Major Rees, and Mrs. J. W. Woods. Our joy was in some 
 degree diminished by the death of our friend and neighbor. Doctor Edward 
 Cutbush. The wedding party dispersed, some to the Falls, others to New 
 York, etc. 
 
 On 26th Judge Brown Whiting, Mr. DeLeng and myself to the head of 
 the lake and to crossing on the Chemung, and thence by railroad to Bloss- 
 burgh to examine the coal and iron mines at that place, in reference to 
 forming a company to transport these to Geneva and to Lake Ontario at 
 Sodus Bay. 
 
 August 15th R. C. Nicholas and myself to the Episcopal convention at 
 Auburn, as delegates from Trinity at Geneva. Here was commenced the 
 first conventional action of the laity adverse to the theological influence of 
 the Oxford tracts, and to their influence in the theological seminary in New 
 York. Mr. Nicholas and myself were appointed a committee to see Bishop 
 DeLancey, and to say that if the Gospel Messenger published any extracts 
 from the Bishop's address in favor of that seminary, the lay members of the 
 convention would deny their accuracy. The Bishop said no extract should 
 be published, and none was. Those of the laity opposed to the ultra church 
 
24S THE MEMOIRS OF 
 
 views at this convention, made an essay to sustain tlieir views in a 
 new paper to be published in New York. 
 
 September 4th John Delafield came to buy a farm. I aided him to find 
 the three hundred and fifty acres on the Rose tract, opposite Geneva. He 
 moved his family to it in the middle of October, and soon gave that farm 
 the best aspect of any in Western New York. 
 
 October 19th, forwarded to Willy at Buffalo orders from Secretan,- of the 
 Navy for him to join the Ohio, seventy-four, at Boston. 
 
 November 2d, Sally and myself to West Point, to see Alexander, and 
 thence to Brooklyn. Met Willy on his way home from the Ohio, he having 
 been there " surveyed " by a board of surgeons and found unseaworthy by 
 reason of the injury received on board the Brandywine. 
 
 December 21st a meeting with some quiet Whig friends at General 
 Tallmadge's, where it was agreed that I should proceed to Washington to 
 present to Mr. Tyler the views of those gentlemen in reference to the 
 contemplated annexation of Texas, and upon the purpose of abandoning 
 protective measures. I found at Washington that Mr. Secretary Upshur 
 favored our views in these matters, and with him laid the thoughts before 
 Mr. Tyler, having reference to the wishes of the men who had nominated 
 him at Harrisburg. But Mr. Tyler deemed these views "anti-democratic," 
 an open admission of his abandonment of the Whigs. 
 
 Five hundred and eighty-eight thousand dollars for forts in 1843-44. 
 
 1844. 1 continued in Washington the month of January, and early in 
 February visited cousin Mary H., the widow of William R. Swift, and lountl 
 her at her needle between his and my portraits, by J. W. Jarvis, and the old 
 family tankard on the table. These Mary intends for my family. At 
 Washington I quartered with General Scott and family. The daughter 
 Virginia ill, and had entered the nunnerj' at Georgetown, where the General 
 and myself visited her, finding there also, as Lady Abbess, Wilhelmina 
 Jones, the daughter of Commander Jacob Jones. The daughter Virginia 
 died in this nunnery. 
 
 February 20th, Honorable N. (i. Walker, Washington Hunt, Colonel 
 Abert and self and others on board the steamer Princeton, by invitation 
 
GENERAL JOSEPH GARDNER SWIFT. 249 
 
 from Captain Stockton, to go below Mount Vernon to experiment with his 
 immense gun, throwing a ball of two hundred and twenty pounds, with some 
 percussion, two miles at a target. The concussion very sharp and acute in 
 sound, that was injuriously stunning. 
 
 February 2 2d. The anniversary of the great namesake for whom the 
 city was called, rather insipid, and so, unbecoming. 
 
 My friends in Washington offer me a place in the War Department, the 
 chief clerkship, but it did not suit me, and, with thanks, I declined any 
 further movement, and on February 27th left for home. In my route was 
 overtaken by an express giving the dreadful news of the bursting of the 
 gun on board the Princeton, killing Secretary of State, Secretary of War, 
 Mr. Maxy and Doctor Gardiner, etc. Colonel Abert and myself had been 
 invited to that experiment, and escaped by my hurrying from the office 
 purposes of my friends. 
 
 On March ist, with my wife and family, left Brooklyn by steam to 
 Bridgeport on the Sound. Saw large flocks of wild geese resting in their 
 northern flight, and by the Housatonic to Albany and Geneva. 
 
 On Easter Monday the church elected me again to their vestry. On i ith 
 I gave a lecture to the Young Men's Association on the durability of the 
 Union. (See my files.) 
 
 On May 8th Cousin Henry Walker and Mr. Chatham on a short visit 
 from Baltimore, where he from Arkansas, and James W. Osborne from 
 North Carolina, had both been vice-presidents in the Clay convention. 
 
 July 19th Colonel Abert came to see me to converse on the probability 
 of re-commencing the lake harbors, and on 21st he returned to West Point. 
 
 On 25th had a visit from Mr. Audubon, the naturalist. He gave me the 
 history of the Campinola that corrected the extravagant story of Waterton 
 as to the loudness of the tones of the bell bird. I gave Mr. Audubon 
 letters to promote the sale of his great work. 
 
 August 8th an interview between the Bishop and Wardens Nicholas and 
 Rees, in reference to the notions of church furniture, not otherwise import- 
 ant than as indicative of more important purposes in the Oxford party. I 
 confess I do not understand Bishop DeLancy's views, though he returns t > 
 
250 THE MEMOIRS OF 
 
 ancient usage. At the next meeting of our vestry a motion was lost to 
 print Bishop Onderdonk's last sermon in Geneva, where the movement 
 in Pennsylvania was mentioned in reference to Henr}- Onderdonk, which 
 influenced the vote in some degree. 
 
 On October i6th Colonel and Mrs. Totten came to see us. he to inspect 
 the harbor of Sodus Bay, with Commodore Morris, and in reference to 
 naval purposes. 
 
 November iith I sprained my ankle, and laid up and examined the 
 English and American accounts of the various battles of 181 2-14. 
 
 Five hundred and eight thousand dollars for forts in 1844-45. 
 
 1845. Ori 1 2th February went to Brooklyn, and met my son Alexander. 
 
 February 25th Alexander and myself went to Washington, and I 
 took my quarters with my brother William H., at the junction of F and 
 Twentieth streets, west. Visited the venerable Daniel Carroll and daughters 
 at Duddington. Mr. Carroll gave me many anecdotes of Washington, with 
 whom he had a close intimacy. The last of the month my friend John L. 
 Smith arrived in Washington from an exploration of the Tortugas in the 
 Gulf of Mexico. 
 
 March ist Governor Marcy and myself called on Postmaster-General to 
 secure the office of postmaster of Geneva to Major James Rees. 
 
 March 4th attended, with General Scott, the inauguration of Mr. Polk as 
 President. 
 
 March 12th with Colonel Abert on the formation of a board of engineers 
 consisting of Colonel Kearny, Major Trumbull and myself, to repair to 
 Buffalo to form a plan of a harbor and break-water. The last of the month 
 returned on my way to this duty to my residence in Geneva, and on April 
 7th the board met at Buffalo. (See report in War Department). On May 
 2 1 St returned to Geneva. 
 
 On 27th to Brooklyn, where I wrote Major Whi.stler a caution not to 
 write me too plainly of the misdoings of Klein Michel, lest his letters should 
 be overhauled and he sent to Siberia. 
 
 On June 3d left Brooklyn and went to my brother William in Washington, 
 to remain with his family at F and Twentieth streets, during his absence in 
 
GENERAL JOSEPH GARDNER SWIFT. 251 
 
 Illinois on the business of the Barings of London as to the canal and lands. 
 The middle of the month with S. J. Gouverneur and daughter Lizzie on 
 horseback to Oak Hill in Loudon County, and explored the Blue Ridge and 
 valley. Surpassingly beautiful. 
 
 June 27th the obsequies of the late General Jackson celebrated at Wash- 
 ington. General Scott and myself had a carriage assigned for us, and at 
 the Capitol Mr. Bancroft gave an eloquent eulogy. 
 
 July 4th celebrated at Washington, killing three inexperienced gunners. 
 
 July 5th Mr. Secretary of War Marcy arrived, and I had a long interview 
 with him explanatory of the works at Buffalo, and closing my agency therein. 
 
 July 20th Mr. Harbeck called on me with a report of a fire in Broad and 
 Exchange Streets, New York, destroying among the many the store of my 
 son-in-law, 54 Exchange Place. The insurance nearly covered the loss. 
 
 On August 2d my brother, W. H. Swift and daughter, returned from Illi- 
 nois, and the next day accompanied General Scott and myself to New York. 
 
 On 9th to West Point on a visit to my son Alexander, then superintending 
 the military academy ^r^ tent, and there met General Scott, who read to me 
 his political paper on the presidency; my opinion given to him was, it was 
 best for him to command the army. We examined Delafield's fine improve- 
 ments and road through the cedars, etc., round the Point. They do 
 Delafield much credit. 
 
 At the close of this month the government at last sent Commodore 
 Morris, United States Navy, and Colonel Totten, Chief United States 
 engineers, to examine Big Sodus Bay. I sent them my views, long since 
 formed, on this subject. 
 
 September 8th Mrs. Swift's cousin, Francis B. DuBois, of Tortola, visited 
 us. His account of the evils of British emancipation of W^est India slaves, 
 though a good object, was made unwisely, and was promotive of laziness 
 and other vices. 
 
 This fall I had much corrspondence with Reverend P. P. Irving on the 
 petition of the ladies of Trinity for him to return. Our vestry divided on 
 this high and low subject. I had recently had a grave conversation with 
 
252 THE MEMOIRS OF 
 
 Bishop DeLancy on the bad influence of the decision of the ecclesiastic 
 trial of Washington Van Zant. 
 
 At the close of this month Mr. DuBois cammenced a suit to recover the 
 Minnisink lands that belonged to Dominie Gualthemus DuBois, Mrs. 
 Swift's great-grandfather, and I gave Mr. DuBois an order on the consistor)' 
 of the Dutch church in the city to deliver the portrait of said Reverend 
 Walter to him as next male heir. 
 
 Eight hundred thousand dollars for forts in 1845-46. 
 
 1846. January. At the last meeting of the vestry of Trinity in Geneva 
 
 a majority of voices elected Reverend our pastor, and 
 
 advised him that the call was unanimous. I informed him on his arrival 
 that the information was incorrect. He then declined. 
 
 February 2d the vestry elected Reverend John H. Hobart. I voted for 
 him and was requested to correspond with him. When he arrived he in- 
 formed me that his church views were higher than Mr. Williams'. I 
 sent Mr. Hobart a drawing of our parsonage, and he preached his first 
 sermon April 19th. 
 
 May 3d my brother William from his Baring agency at Chicago. Con- 
 versed with him on the war coming with Mexico, and tendered my services 
 to the President, but was not called to serve. 
 
 May 2 2d my son McRee became engineer and superintendent of Weldon 
 and Wilmington, North Carolina, Railroad. 
 
 On 12th Mr. Cady and other commissioners examined the vicinity of 
 Geneva for a site for an hospital. They fixed on Rochester. I accompanied 
 them in the Geneva examination. 
 
 May 26th General W. H. Adams on Sodus Canal at my house. That had 
 been sleeping a long while. 
 
 July 8th my friend, Benjamin Armitage of the musical club of New York 
 and Brooklyn, visited me at Geneva, and revived memoirs of F. C. Tucker, 
 Daniel Okey, Reverend J. M. Wainwright, John Delafield, Joseph Chester- 
 man, Ab Taylor, Walter Phelps, etc. 
 
 On July 21st died my friend Thomas J. Chew, at Brooklyn, at the age of 
 seventy years, father of Hortense, wife of McRee. 
 
GENERAL JOSEPH GARDNER SWIFT. 253 
 
 August 1 6th Colonel Totten's daughter and her intellectual husband, 
 Telford, and son, visited us. 
 
 On 19th declined the membership of our Episcopal convention because I 
 disapproved our church adopting any of the peculiarities of the Oxford school. 
 
 September 5 th my son Alexander visited us to take leave and march with 
 the " sappers and miners " that he had organized to assault Vera Cruz. 
 
 In October I explored Seneca County with John Delafield. He com- 
 mences to lecture on agricultural chemistry to the farmers, and, as Mr. John 
 Johnson told me, with very great and useful success. 
 
 October 3d Colonel and Mrs. Totten made us a short visit, the colonel 
 on an inspecting tour. 
 
 November loth at Newburg, where my son McRee was engineer of the 
 New York and Erie branch. Lodged at the old tavern, where I had lodged 
 when I was a cadet, forty-five years ago. 
 
 November 19th I visited our friend Major John L. Smith at Governor's 
 Island. Examined Vanderlyn's Columbus, and Brown's bust of Ambrose 
 Spencer, a good Vespasian. 
 
 November 26th conversed with General Scott and Major J. L. Smith on 
 the proposed campaign to Vera Cruz. My age assumed to be the cause of 
 my services not being accepted. I suspect my being a New Englander to 
 be a stronger influence. At the General's request I promised my attentions 
 to his family in his absence, and escorted them to Elizabethtown, Decem- 
 ber 1st. 
 
 On 5th we had our first advices of Alexander's arrival with sappers and 
 miners and pontooneers at Rio Grande. 
 
 Consultation with United States officers as to a gun-boat system to 
 occupy the shoals in the lower harbor of New York, laying up the gun- 
 boats, etc. 
 
 December 15th I wrote a memoir of Colonel Jonathan Williams, for 
 Doctor Williams of Deerfield, Massachusetts, who is collating facts of that 
 numerous family. 
 
 The last of December visit Mrs. General Scott at Elizabethtown, and 
 arranged to accompany Mrs. Scott and family to Philadelphia, in Washing- 
 
2 54 THE MEMOIRS OF 
 
 ton Square, and made a plan to enlarge the Hampton House at Elizabeth- 
 town, and made a contract with Mr. Thompson to execute the plan. 
 
 1847. I passed my New Year's day with a friend of long endurance, 
 Thomas Cadwallader, of Philadelphia, who married Miss Biddle ; met James 
 Monroe, and conversed upon our prospects in the erroneous war with 
 Mexico, and met General Sam. Houston and Mr. Rusk of Texas on the 
 same subject, and with Monroe and Colonel George Bomford, (United 
 States ordnance) and J. Eakin, Esquire, returned to Brooklyn, stopping at 
 Elizabethtown to give directions to Mr. Thompson in reference to extending 
 the Hampton House for Mrs. General Scott. 
 
 Wrote a plan for a camp of instruction on Hempstead Plain for a rifle 
 brigade, to meet the Mexicans in their defiles. Mr. Poinsett says the 
 Mexicans are excellent elements to form an army, from their nomadic life 
 and very simple diet, and recklessness of life. Mr. Poinsett was our min- 
 ister in Mexico, an observing and accurate gentleman. I wrote and sent to 
 the topographical bureau my ideas of occupying the Huas-a-hualeos Pass 
 and Tehuantepec, and constructing a railroad to the Pacific on that pass. 
 
 F'ebruary 15th resigned my membership of the vestry of Trinity Church, 
 Geneva. 
 
 February i6th. Major F. C. Tucker and myself, as guardians of Julia, the 
 daughter of Commodore Samuel Evans (United States navy), closed our 
 relations in that matter — the beautiful Julia having married Mr. Gettings of 
 Baltimore. 
 
 March 23d, Major Tucker, Mr. March and myself (three of Judge 
 Leffert Lefferts' intimates) went uninvited to the funeral of the judge 
 at Bedford. He was seventy-three years of age. 
 
 April 3d Mr. Richards, Mr. D. Huntington and myself selected a lot 
 in Greenwood — in Twilight Dell — for Mr. Richards' and my family. Deed 
 on my files. On .same day my friend Gouverneur Kemble informed me that 
 the books and Bird's scale given to me by Professor Hassler (left by me at 
 the West Point foundry) had been remounted, and had now become worth 
 one thousand dollars ; a delicate acknowledgment of my services in estab- 
 lishing West Point foundry, and for which Mr. Kemble sent me his bond at 
 
GENERAL JOSEPH GARDNER SWIFT. 255 
 
 seven per cent, interest. My original investment in West Point foundry I 
 lost by endorsing for Thomas Shields. 
 
 April 6th, Louisa and myself sat to Mr. Huntington for our portraits 
 in one cabinet size. We dined that day with the Kembles, and next day 
 with Major M. T. Leslie, United States army. 
 
 April 13th, I disinterred the remains of my mother and sister Mary, and 
 my child Harriet, and reinterred them in Twilight Dell in Greenwood ; the 
 coffins in good condition, the silver plate on Mary's very bright. 
 
 On 1 8th wrote General Brooks, United States army, New Orleans, of my 
 son Alexander's sickness, there arrived from Vera Cruz with the Mexican 
 bowel disease. 
 
 On 19th wrote General James Gadsden, my former aid-de-camp, on my 
 nephew G. W. Whistler's establishing a steam machine manufactory at 
 Charleston, South Carolina. 
 
 On 19th, McRee to Brooklyn ; met Dr. Wood, United States army, who 
 informed us of Alexander's being very ill at New Orleans. 1 reported the 
 same to Generals Scott and Worth. 
 
 On 29th Mr. Wilson placed stone pillars to sustain my mother's grave 
 stone. On the same day I removed the remains of my friend Thomas John 
 Chew, Chew's son Lawrence and his cousin Samuel to Mrs. Chew's lot 
 in Greenwood. McRee's calls professionally compelled his absence. 
 
 On 30th I examined the record at Major Tucker's, and found that the 
 corner stone of St. Ann's, Brooklyn, (which church twelve of us com- 
 menced by loan of five hundred dollars each,) was laid March 31, 1824, 
 consecrated July 30th, 1825, fifty-seven pews sold for eighteen thousand 
 three hundred dollars. 
 
 On 3d May the dreaded intelligence came through Dudley March of the 
 death of my son Alexander at New Orleans 24th April, 1847. The next 
 day came Colonel Totten's authentic notice thereof. I wrote Captain J. G. 
 Bernard, who paid every attention to the temporary interment at New 
 Orleans, and to send the remains to my son-in-law, P. Richards, Esq., who 
 had that day handed me Alexander's will and stock documents. 
 
 May 14th, McRee and self to West Point, where Professor Weir and 
 
256 THE MEMOIRS OF 
 
 self went to prove the will before Surrogate Borland, at Montgomery, 
 Orange County. 
 
 June loth, sent my record of my wife's claim for seven thousand dollars 
 on the estate of her father to James Henry, son of James, the executor. 
 
 June nth, Willy and I to New York to meet the remains of Alexander 
 coming from New Orleans; met William Murphy, who came on, Alexander's 
 servant, and who reported the death of Alexander as peaceful ; that he 
 read much Wilson's Sacra Privita given him by his mother. Placed the 
 remains in the receiving vault at Greenwood, and on i6th interred the 
 remains in Twilight Dell. Funeral service had been performed at New 
 Orleans, as Colonel Bankhead and Captain Barnard informed me. 
 
 On 23d to West Point and met Colonel Totten, Professor Mahan and 
 Captain F. A. Smith, who each accepted a silver cup from me in memory of 
 their friend Alexander. 
 
 July 4th Alexander's goods arrived. Willy has Mr. Weir's portrait of 
 me, after Sulley's at We.st Point, for Alexander. 
 
 July 17th. Extract from Rev. Francis Hawks' manuscripts, of Hanover 
 County, North Carolina: "Cape Fear, ist Oct., 1759. Lewis John De 
 Rosset, planter and of the king's counsel, and Receiver-General revenue ; 
 Wm. Walker, Sheriff N. Hanover, John Du Bois, Esq., Moses John De 
 Rosset, M. D., the uncles of Louisa, and her grandfather, etc." 
 
 July 25th wrote to W. W. Seaton (National Intelligencer,) to commend 
 to the Secretary of the Navy to cause navy officers to gather potato seed in 
 the gorges of the Cordilleras, coast of South America, where Pizarro's 
 army had fed on that succulent, as Prescott says. 
 
 August 5th visited Judge Ambrose Spencer at Lyons, and took to him 
 .some of Mrs. Gideon Lee's fine old port. The Judge was not in good 
 health. 
 
 . August I 2th Dr. David Drake of Cincinnati visited us. He gave me his 
 thoughts on the Mississippi valley, and of deepening the channel at the 
 mouths of that river. They are all on record in his report to the United 
 States government. 
 
 Memo. — Of the grave stones sent by me from New London in the year 
 
GENERAL JOSEPH GARDNER SWIFT. 257 
 
 1828 to Dr. De Rosset, who had them placed at the graves of Captain 
 James Walker, ob. i8th January 1808, ae. sixty-six, and Mrs. M. M. Walker, 
 £e. seventy-two, ob. November 1S27. My son's, James Foster, at Washington 
 city, was set up by mj- brother W. H. Swift, March, 1S30, where James died 
 1 8th March, se. twenty-four years. 
 
 August 26th, the first regatta on Seneca Lake — seventeen boats. 
 
 September 13th, wrote General H. A. S. Dearborn on potato rot. I had 
 observed its approach, and advised the Secretary of the Navy to collect 
 new seed in South America. 
 
 October 4th, Townsend Harris, Esq., called on me to enquire as to Pro- 
 fessor Webster of Geneva College and the Free Academ)-. I gave him my 
 opinion of Mr. Webster. I gave my earnest advice to Mr. Harris not to 
 lose Mr. Webster as superintendent of that new institution in the city. 
 
 November 15th, my brother, W. H. Swift, arrived from his tour to the 
 Illinois Canal. He informed me that he deemed his vocations forbad his 
 remaining in the United States Topographical Engineers, and that he should 
 resign next spring. Conversed on my becoming a commissioner of light- 
 houses, and which office I expected to receive. 
 
 December 6th, wrote Geo. W. Whistler at St. Petersburg, on his son's 
 idea of a steam machine shop at Charleston, South Carolina — to move 
 Ross Winans in its favor. 
 
 December 25th, Dr. Fitzhugh, Mrs. Tallman, and Mrs. Whitney, Bell 
 and Willy at our family Christmas. The year closes with all of us in fair 
 health. Thanks to God, through Jesus Christ, our Saviour. 
 
 1848. The new year commences very mildly, but by loth January the 
 thermometer gets down to four above zero. 
 
 January 13th, sent to Mr. Rose in Congress, evidence of Mrs. Augu's 
 just claim to her pension. 
 
 January 14th, commenced a plan to turn my twenty-one acre lot into a' 
 cemetery at Geneva. It will give one thousand five hundred lots, and 
 abundant alley way. 
 
 On 15th accepted cousin Samuel Swift's offer of his sixteen-acre lot, 
 opposite my twenty-one acre lot, for one thousand six hundred dollars. 
 
258 THE MEMOIRS OF 
 
 February 5th, attended John Delafield's lectures on agricultural chem- 
 istry, to the farmers of Seneca County. 
 
 On 23d applied to the Navy Department for a midshipman's warrant for 
 Clarence Delafield. 
 
 On 25th to Rochester with Ellen Williams; and met at James Watts' my 
 aunt Elizabeth Delano, who informed me that Zachr. Macy and my grand- 
 father, Thomas Delano, owned the Ouaise and Polpi's farms on Nantucket. 
 
 March 9th sent rambo apple cuttings to James H. Watts. 
 
 May 1st, McRee and I to Greenwood, and selected a plan for Mr. West 
 to execute for Alexander in Twilight Dell. 
 
 May 6th, Thomas March and I to Spring Brook, L. I., trouting. He and 
 I and Willy, on 9th, examine steamer "America." 
 
 May 1 8th, closed my executorship on estate of Rev. John Ireland, with 
 Major Tucker. On 19th, with Belle, Willy and Jim Tom to High Bridge, 
 and on 2 2d home to Geneva, leaving me in the city, where, with Mrs. 
 General Scott I met Governor Marcy at the City Bank. 
 
 May 25th, General Scott's reception in the city, arriving from his Mexican 
 campaign. 
 
 June 1st, McRee and myself in the steamer "Thomas Powell" to New- 
 buro-, and to examine his railroad route, and went to see the old Nicholl 
 place, (Du Bois,) below New Windsor. 
 
 June 5th, to West Point foundry, and on 6th my marriage anniversary. 
 Examined, in McRee's possession, Mr. P. P. Hunn's map of the Minnisink 
 patent lands, in which Louisa, my wife, has of the Du Bois lands two shares. 
 
 June 7th, home to Geneva; all well, thanks to God. 
 
 June 8th, met Charles A. Williamson and Mr. Eraser from Scotland, of 
 the House of Lovat, and with J. H. Woods to Sodus Bay, and explained to 
 them the plan of Sodus Canal. 
 
 June 20th, gave Mrs. Ellct the meeting of General Scott with Honorable 
 Lady Johnson, at Bath, G. B. .She was a Franks of Philadelphia, and a 
 reformed tory. Also the story of Mrs. Bailey's (of Groton, Ct.) noble 
 conduct before Fort Gri.swoKl in the war of the Reyolution, and of her 
 interview with President Monroe in 181 7. 
 
GENERAL JOSEPH GARDNER SWIFT. 259 
 
 July 8th, wrote general Scott on the opposition of Mr. Polk and 
 Governor Marcy to his, the general's, prospects for the presidency. 
 
 July 19th, Dudley March on a visit to Willy, on his, Dudley March's, 
 way to his western lands. He took two hundred and twenty perch out of 
 the lake at Geneva in four hours. 
 
 August I St, my son Foster entered Geneva College.' 
 
 August 7th, Mr. J. H. Woods introduced me to J. H. Wilton, an 
 English sprig of nobility. I went with him to visit Mr. John Greig at 
 Canandaigua. He is a very accomplished man, but a rascal of uncommon 
 ability, and has been often rescued by his family in England from degra- 
 dation and want. 
 
 August nth, Mr. Irving and I to a meeting of the Evangelical 
 Knowledge Society, much disapproved of by Bishop De Lancy. 
 
 August 22d, wrote Dr. R. H. Wood at Baltimore on General Taylor's 
 reputed letter, advising in reference to the presidency that the general 
 •should not write anything. On 4th September his reply, that he had sent 
 my letter to the general. 
 
 September 8th, Timothy Tounay cleaned out my well, and found two 
 small streams of water flowing in at the bottom, one of ordinary, the other 
 of sulphur water. I have a slightly charged sulphur spring in my dell. 
 
 September 9th, the first balloon ascension at Geneva. It floated gently 
 through the air up the lake, and came down near Ovid, some fourteen 
 miles "as the crow flies." 
 
 September 14th, Sally and I to Rochester, where was a meeting of the 
 Evangelical Knowledge Society. I advised a published reply to Bishop 
 De Lancy's objections. 
 
 October 2d, Chas. A. Williamson returned from an exploration of the 
 coast of Lake Superior, and presented me a map of the same. 
 
 Eraser of Lovat has his home in Inverness, Scotland, at " Greysachen," 
 i. e.. Glass Water. He deems himself heir to the barony. 
 
 November 7th, all my family who vote gave theirs for General Taylor's 
 electors. 
 
 November 25th, wrote to General Taylor, and recommended to his notice 
 
26o THE MEMOIRS OF 
 
 General Gadsden of South Carolina, formerly my aid-de-camp, who will 
 meet the general in Washington. 
 
 December 2d, Mr. Benjamin, president of the Chemung Railroad, called 
 on me to subscribe for shares ; and took five hundred dollars of them. 
 
 December 21st, sent to General Gadsden my publications in the 
 Rochester paper in his favor as a member of General Taylor's cabinet, 
 and sent them also to my friend Seaton of the National I7itellige7icer. 
 
 1849. February 6th, Mr. Williamson and myself to see Mr. Greig, on 
 the wishes of the former to explore the country to California, and agreed to 
 promote it with our government. On my return home found Colonel E. 
 R. Cook at my house, and gave him an introduction to the Chemung 
 Railroad Company, as an able and trustworthy contractor. 
 
 February 26th, Mr. John GreIg and myself to Albany, at Congress Hall. 
 We visited Dr. Romeyn Beck to examine the presents of PIo Nono to the 
 academy; thence by Housatonic Railroad to the city. Recommended 
 General W. G. McNeill to the President, and Mr. W. R. Thompson, son 
 of the revolutionary captain of artillery for the office of United States 
 store-keeper In New York. Met General Scott, and conversed on his 
 relations to and with General Taylor on Mexican affairs, and I advised 
 peaceable relations. Met Mr. S. B. Ruggles, and Messrs. GreIg and Duncan 
 on the subject of reviving the Sodus Canal to the new administration, as a 
 route from Chesapeake Bay to Lake Ontario. 
 
 March 9th, with C. H. Hall exploring Harlem River with Mr. John Randall, 
 one of the best surveyors the country had, and with reference to removing 
 the navy yard at Brooklyn to Harlem. 
 
 March loth, wrote Chas. A. Williamson that the government would give 
 him escort across the country to California with Colonel Sumner. Gave 
 John R. Johnson a free right to build the " Ben Loder" .steamer on the 
 shore of my sixteen-acre lot, south of my house. 
 
 March i2lh, died my friend Thomas Morris, son of Robert, the revolu- 
 tionary financier. He and Mr. GreIg were fellow students of law. 
 
 March 20th, Judge Ogden Edwards, In presence of C. H. Hall and Henry 
 Weston, declared In their presence, and said it was his purpose to put on 
 
GENERAL JOSEPH GARDNER SWIFT. 261 
 
 record that on the "Life and Fire trials, 1826," his conviction was as judo-e 
 that my honor as a man was not impugned by the testimony given in that 
 court. See on my files Judge Edwards' letter to that purpose. 
 
 March 26th, wrote to Susan Shipherd and Isabella Croysdale, 1 15 Suffolk 
 street, city of New York, about Arthur Plnnel's wife and child, kidnapped 
 on their arrival in the city of New York from London. 
 
 April 1st, IVLijor Brown, J. P. Kirkwood and myself on the New York 
 and Erie Railroad to Binghampton, at Julius Adams', and next day exam- 
 ined viaduct. Cascade Bridge and Susquehanna Bridge, and returned to 
 the city on 4th. 
 
 April 5th, before a Master-in-Chancery, Mr. Melville, overhauling my 
 memory of Governor Tompkins' affairs, in settling of which, under 
 the law of the State, making me a commissioner with Edmund Smith 
 and Thomas Hyatt in 1S24 and 1825. The master found my memory 
 accurate. 
 
 May 6th, Brother William's wife and I go to Jones in Philadelphia, and 
 there meet my brother. In the evening I call on Mr. Helm, an Eno-Hsh- 
 man, who corroborates the accuracy of my memory in the Tompkins matter. 
 He was a creditor of the governor. Met Hartman Bache, and with brother 
 William and wife on to Washington. Sent Charles Williamson his papers 
 to move to California with Colonel Sumner. Made an essay to o-et Markoe, 
 of the State Department, a charge at some European court. 
 
 April 13th, with General Taylor, and had an intimate conversation with 
 him on his mode of administration, especially on his mode of appointing 
 officers, and, at his request went to see Mr. Clayton, Secretary of State, in 
 reference to the consequences of the e.xercise of the appointing power. 
 I urged that it should not be merged in the functions of any minister; that 
 such a procedure was unconstitutional, which held the President responsible. 
 The President had said that he would be glad to have me in Washington, 
 and asked me how the patent office would suit me. I replied that, with 
 the extensive acquaintance I had, there was no office in Washington that 
 could enable me to support my family there; that although I had some 
 income well managed by a prudent and sensible wife, I could not expose 
 
262 THE MEMOIRS OF 
 
 her to a perpetual necessity of saving, and there that subject ended for the 
 time, and I did not revive it. 
 
 April 20th, my brother William and myself dined with the President, 
 and after dinner I conversed much with the general on the subject of his 
 relations with General Scott, and counselled peace between them. I 
 requested the President to have my nephew, Julius Adams, employed as an 
 engineer, but nothing resulted therefrom. I saw that the power of 
 appointing to office had fallen from the President's hands. I left the city 
 to return to my home on 2 2d, and on my arrival at Baltimore found my 
 friend Barry's family in distress by the death of his son-in-law. Dr. Julius 
 Ducatel. On my arrival in New York 27th April met General Scott, and 
 advised him of my conversation with General Taylor in reference to their 
 affairs, and my belief that he was desirous of peace between them. 
 
 April 30th, examined the Free Academy with my friend Professor 
 Webster, its president. Saw evident results of his good management of 
 that institution. 
 
 May 2d on my way home, at McRee's, in Newburg, examined his work 
 on that branch of the New York and Erie Railroad. In the cemetery of 
 Newburg I found a red sandstone at the grave of Louisa's worth)- aunt, 
 Margaret Du Bois, who died in Newburg 21st March, 1S13, a;, sixty- 
 seven years eleven months and twenty-nine days. Her husband, uncle 
 John Du Bois' grave was alongside, without any memorial stone. They were 
 an exemplar)' pair, of conjugal life, of affection and piety. 
 
 May 4th, left my son McRee, and, on board the steamer " Alida" met the 
 daughter of General Armstrong, Margaret, the wife of Mr. W. B. Astor, and 
 her son-in-law, Mr. Delano, (a far-off cousin of mine whose mother was 
 named for mine, Deborah), also Mr. Robert Tillotson, but could not accept 
 their invitation to visit them at that time as they landed at Tivoli. Arrived 
 at home finding my family in health, thanks to God. 
 
 May iith came the painful intelligence of the death of George W. 
 Whistler at St. Petersburg, Russia, on 7th April, in the service of the 
 Emperor Nicholas. 
 
 May 2 I St, sent to Richard Derb)- a biography of his father-in-law. Colonel 
 
GENERAL JOSEPH GARDNER SWIFT. 263 
 
 George Bomford, United States Ordnance, whom I had brought into the 
 army in 1803 — a very valuable officer. 
 
 May 24th, received accounts of the death, by cholera, of my friend 
 General Worth on 7th May in Texas, and also of the death by cholera 
 of my former friend and neighbor Charles A. Williamson, in Missouri, on 
 way to California, on 14th May, and on 29th came the account of the 
 death of his wife in Edinburgh, Scotland, on 9th May. 
 
 June 1st, my son James with us, and a family party to Clifton Springs. 
 These waters had relieved my son Willy from severe tetanus. 
 
 July 2d, invited to examine the Chemung Railroad with its board of 
 directors, and met my friend Benjamin Armitage at Jefferson, and com- 
 mended him for treasurer of their board. 
 
 August 2d, met Colonel John Livingston of Newport memory, 1800, and 
 at Ithaca Charles Humphrey, whom I had known in Albany as the excellent 
 speaker of the State assembly. He had served well in the war of 181 2 as 
 captain in the Forty-first Infantry. 
 
 August 4th, with Major Thompson S. Brown, who had accepted the office 
 of engineer to succeed G. W. Whistler in Russia. 
 
 August 2 2d, letter from McRee on his first son's birth, and another from 
 Mr. Richards of his third son's birth. 
 
 On 22d a call on me to aid to pay the debt of Trinity at Geneva. 
 I replied that when those of the congregation who had not subscribed to 
 build the church had done their part I would do mine. 
 
 August 25th, in the name of the citizens of Geneva I advised Dr. Wood, 
 at Niagara, that they would be happy to welcome President Taylor on his 
 route to the East. I offered the President the use of my retired house. 
 He accepted it, but was lying ill at the Falls. 
 
 September ist, wrote Williamina Williamson that I had some very inter- 
 esting papers of her grandfather, Colonel Charles W , and his 
 
 journal of a travel in Turkey, and of his original oft'er to the Hopes of 
 Amsterdam to purchase the soil of the territory of Ohio, etc., and that 
 those papers were subject to her disposal. 
 
 September 6th, Dr. Woods writes of the increasing illness of the 
 
264 THE MEMOIRS OF 
 
 President, and of the need of going east at once by steam and lake, and 
 of abandoning any further meetings with his fellow citizens. 
 
 The past summer, as president of the board of health of Geneva, we had 
 kept the village pretty clean, and had generally good health. 
 
 September 14th, sent McRee my ideas of an inscription for a cenotaph 
 in memor)' of George W. Whistler in Greenwood, on Julius Adams' design, 
 now in Twilight Dell. 
 
 October 2d, sent to Colonel Abert my views of constructing a railroad 
 from the Mississippi to the Pacific, through Texas and the River Gila, and 
 to San Francisco. 
 
 October 14th, Louisa's birthday; Colonel Totten came to see her, and 
 to talk about Alexander. 
 
 October 17th, my former deput)- surveyor of the customs, Samuel 
 Terry, came to see me and urged his restoration to the custom house, and 
 also that of John Morris ; two of the most efficient and honest men in that 
 service of the United States. Joseph Grime and Joseph Hoxie joined me 
 in this effort — not successful — and got Terry the place of assessor in 
 Brooklyn ; and Morris became a merchant. 
 
 November 2d, Sally, James and I to West Point foundr)', and to the 
 former residence of Captain Phillipse. 
 
 November 14th, closing meeting of the board of health of Geneva, and 
 all accounts settled. 
 
 November i6th, for the fourth timed essayed to have a bridge across the 
 ravine at the south boundary of Geneva, to extend in a direct line the main 
 street. F'ailcd. 
 
 1850. My thoughts on this New Year in reference to my vocation, that 
 has become null b)- the omission of Congress to continue the experimental 
 construction of harbors on the lakes, and by which those that remain 
 unfinished are rapidly falling to decay. So I must turn to some other 
 employment, and accordingly, on the 4th January- I went to Lyons to see 
 General Adams about the revival of the Sodus Canal charier. I com- 
 menced also to write a History of the Rise and Progress of Internal 
 Improvements in the United States, aided by the suggestions of S. B. 
 
GENERAL JOSEPH GARDNER SWIFT. 265 
 
 Ruggles, Esq., and commenced thereon with my son McRee, who, and 
 family, were with us that day. 
 
 January i8th. The "Ben Loder" steamer commenced operation on our 
 lake at Geneva, to the head of the lake ; a very good progress in internal 
 commerce. 
 
 February 2d, my son McRee commenced to organize his division of the 
 New York and Erie Railroad — Almond to Olean. On 5th he left us, after 
 seeing his brother Julius, who had just arrived ill with a typhoid, taken in 
 the service of the New York and Erie Railroad at Piermont. He died on 
 the 6th — one of the most unselfish of beings. His remains rest beside 
 his brother Thomas and sister Charlotte. His bearers his shipmates, and Dr. 
 Covin Gray, who was with him at his death ; a kind and benevolent man. 
 
 February 28th, had collected petitions from many towns to revive the 
 charter of the Sodus Canal, and sent them to General Adams. 
 
 March 21st, to Albany to aid in the revival of the Sodus Canal charter, 
 and before the canal commissioners heard the objections to that canal irom 
 Henry Fitzhugh, while so many were petitioning to have that canal route 
 opened to the Susquehanna River. The charter was renewed. 
 
 On 30th March, McRee telegraphed me of the sudden death of my friend 
 Thomas March, at Brooklyn. Hastened to Brooklyn. 
 
 April I St the funeral; F. C. Tucker and Joshua Sands the chief mourners. 
 His two brothers, Charles and Frank were there. 
 
 April 2d, at General W. G. McNeill's, at the marriage of his daughter to 
 Mr. Rhodewald. 
 
 April 8th, Messrs. Wainwright, Tucker, Oakey (Wm.,) renewed our 
 old club. 
 
 April 27th, employed in gardening and improving my south lots — about 
 forty acres. 
 
 Received advices from Samuel Gouverneur of the death of his wife 
 Maria, the daughter of President Monroe. Governor Cales called to see 
 me, and revived the days of Mr. Jefferson and Mr. Madison at Washington. 
 
 August 22d, Foster and myself to Danville, and met McRee, and in his 
 carriage on to Almond and Belvidere, and revived old times with Captain 
 
266 THE MEMOIRS OF 
 
 Phillip Church, and on to McRee's residence at Friendship, on the New 
 York and Erie Railroad. Examined McRee's bridge at Phillipsburg; to 
 Cuba and Olean, and on 2d September to Sonyea at Dr. Dan. Fitzhugh's, 
 and so on to Rochester, and home. 
 
 October 8th, Clarence Delafield arrived from McRee's with the distressing 
 account of Henry Clark's death, by the accidental discharge of his 
 fowling piece. 
 
 October 21st, arrived Rev. Dr. Wyatt from Baltimore. 
 
 Measured my lot, one hundred and fifty-one feet front and three hundred 
 feet to the lake ; about an acre and one-eighth. 
 
 November 2d, a law and order meeting at Geneva, self president, Major 
 Rees and John Delafield vice-presidents, to sustain the "Compromise" 
 against the wild purposes of anti-slavery. The evils of slavery not to be 
 reached unconstitutionally. 
 
 Memo. My orders as chief engineer, 18 14, to Lieutenant D. B. Douglass 
 and Lieutenant Horace Story, to report to Major E. D. Wood on the 
 Niagara frontier. 
 
 November 13th, to Brooklyn. 
 
 November 15th, the family went to see and hear Jenny Lind at Terp- 
 sicore Hall. Mr. Daniel Webster and Jenny exchanged salutes. 
 
 We also attended Mitchell's astronomical lectures in Brooklyn. 
 
 November 25th, gave Malcolm Douglass the resolutions of the Green- 
 wood Association, to appropriate two lots to remove the monument to D. 
 B., Douglass, who had recently died at Geneva. 
 
 December 14th, wrote the Secretary of State commending Francis B. 
 Du Bois for United States consul at St. Thomas. 
 
 December 24th, called with Colonel Murray on Hon. Daniel Webster, at 
 the Governor's Room, City Hall, and went with Mr. Webster to his room 
 at the Astor House, and had a short conversation with him on the irritable 
 state of the southern mind. I said to him that I hoped to see him 
 President. His reply was : " General, my first wish is to spread a desire to 
 have the laws obeyed, ami as to the rest, the country will decide," etc. 
 
 December 28th, met Mr. Holford, the wealthy Englishman who had made 
 
GENERAL JOSEPH GARDNER SWIFT. 267 
 
 a large loan to Arkansas, at Colonel Murray's. I told Mr. Holford that his 
 meeting with Henry Walker in Arkansas was intended to support his (Mr. 
 Holford's) claim, and not to promote the evil of repudiation. 
 
 The last day of the year, in a snow storm attended the funeral of Maria, 
 the wife of my protege William G. McNeill, on my sixty-seventh birth-day. 
 She was an excellent wife, mother and friend. 
 
 1 85 1. February loth, had an explanation with Mr. Samuel Swartwont 
 about what he deemed a loan to me of five hundred dollars. I considered 
 it as a fee for my services in promoting the improvement of the marshes at 
 Hoboken. I repaid him the amount at his request, he being in many pecu- 
 niary difficulties. 
 
 February 27th, Louisa, Sally and myself to Philadelphia at my brother 
 William H. Swift's, and through Mr. Fisher, had a pleasant meeting of my 
 old friends Biddle, Cadwallader and others, at the rooms of the Philadelphia, 
 Baltimore and Wilmington Railroad Companj^ We examined the college 
 of Girard and Laurel Hill, and the grave of my friend Ferdinand Rudolph 
 Hassler, and his profile in marble on the stone. At the mint Mr. Dale 
 placed in the hands of Mrs. Swift an ingot of gold — six thousand dollars — 
 about twenty-five pounds. 
 
 The middle of March we returned to Brooklyn, after having made a run to 
 Baltimore, and meeting Richard Rush, Esq., Governor Patterson, Thomas 
 Biddle and Governor Edward Gales (at Willy's friend Ingersoll's, of the 
 navy,) at dinner. 
 
 March iSth, wrote an obituary of Major James Rees; of the meeting of 
 Washington and Robert Morris on the square, head of Market Street, 
 Philadelphia, en route with his army for Yorktown, 1781. 
 
 March 25th, to Newark and Belleville to see my grandsons Fitzhugh and 
 Joseph G. at Mr. Welles' school; a man of education and talent, but 
 deficient in the common sense of life as it exists. The scenes at Belleville 
 reminded me of Alexander Macomb and myself there in 1803 — shooting 
 and other amusements, visiting Passaic Falls, etc. 
 
 March 26th, with James Whistler, a cadet, son of George by his second 
 wife, to West Point foundry, at Gouverneur Kemble's, and next day to 
 
268 THE MEMOIRS OF 
 
 West Point, and introduced him to my friends there, all of whom, for 
 the sake of his father, took an interest in James' success. Had an expla- 
 nation from Captain Brewerton, the superintendent, that the omission of 
 the name of Colonel Jonathan Williams on Captain Cullum's register^ 
 ■would be remedied in the next edition by an ample record of facts, etc. 
 Returned to Brooklyn. 
 
 On 1st May I received instructions from the Topographical Bureau at 
 Washington, to commence to examine the position and condition of light- 
 houses on Lakes Ontario, Erie, Huron and Michigan. 
 
 May 9th, to New Haven to see my nephew, George W. Whistler, an 
 engineer on the New York and New Haven Railroad. Was much grati- 
 fied by my reception by his wife, the daughter of Dr. Ducatel. 
 
 May loth, returned to Brooklyn, and with Louisa to Twilight Dell in 
 Greenwood the next day. We had an interesting view of the British 
 steamer "Pacific" going down the bay for Liverpool. 
 
 On 20th May, Louisa and I returned to Geneva, and thence on 26th May 
 I proceeded to Sodus Bay on Lake Ontario, in the execution of my instruc- 
 tions, and so on to Buffalo, up the lakes and among the islands and light- 
 houses, and so on from Detroit through Lakes St. Clair and Huron to Sagi- 
 naw Bay, and to Mackinaw and Sheboyagow in Wisconsin Lake, Michigan, 
 and thus employed until August, when I returned to Geneva, and sent from 
 thence my report and plans to the Topographical Bureau at Washington. 
 
 My son McRee visited me at Geneva to converse on what had occupied 
 our previous thoughts, a sojourn in Europe, and we determined to make the 
 voyage, etc. [See my journal of that journey of McRee's and myself, so 
 omit record here until our return in May, 1S52.] 
 
 1852. May 9th, my family at church and returned; thanks for the 
 reunion in health and safety. 
 
 May loth, I wrote Bishop Hawks of Missouri a request to interest him- 
 self for the discharge of an English youth, Thomas Parr, who had left his 
 friends and enlisted in the United States army, one of whom came fellow 
 passenger with me from England to seek the boy. 
 
 May I ith to Rose Valley and Clyde, in Wayne County, with General W. 
 
GENERAL JOSEPH GARDNER SWIFT. 269 
 
 H. Adams, to examine as to what might be done to continue the general's 
 "washings" to extend the canal from Clyde to the head of Sodus Bay. 
 Did not find any difficulty in the route of the canal, and it seemed strange 
 to me that capital should be wanting to complete so easy and cheap a work 
 to unite Lake Ontario and Chesapeake Bay, and open up the vast resources 
 in that whole line. The mere exchange of gypsum, flour, and fish, for coal, 
 iron and lumber, would sustain a fair profit to stockholders. 
 
 Returned to Lyons by a farm owned by an escaped slave from the South, 
 and considered what was my duty, under the constitution, in reference to 
 breaking up this slave's farm, and concluded to be silent. 
 
 May 30th, with Mr. Greig on Sodus Canal affairs, he holding large 
 interests in Wayne County. He was averse from again entering into 
 that project. We conversed about his friend Mr. Watson, whom I had seen 
 in Edinburgh, Scotland, in reference to the Williamsons' interests in the 
 United States, and also upon what both of us had seen on the continent of 
 Europe. 
 
 June — , corresponded with the Secretary of War, General Totten, and 
 Major W. H. Chase, on the error of introducing a foreign officer of 
 engineers into our own corps — General Bernard — who had served several 
 years, and became Secretary of War to Louis Philippe of France. 
 
 June 19th, my friend Colonel Thayer arrived and passed a few days with 
 us, and then traveled West. 
 
 July 6th, the remains of Henry Clay arrived In the cars from the East, 
 en route for Kentucky, escorted by Governor Cass, General Sam Houston, 
 etc. Introduced Dr. Fitzhugh to them, and had a brief conversation with 
 General Cass in reference to the claims of Colonel Abert to the action of 
 Congress, to place him on a par with other useful officers in rank. 
 
 July 14th, I wrote my distant cousin, Edmund L. Swift, of the Tower of 
 London, on the prospects in the United States for his wife, a McGregor, 
 and an highly educated lady, to establish an extensive seminary in the 
 United States, as he was about declining his office of conservator of the 
 crown jewels, etc. 
 
 July 15th, wrote to Barrister Guest of the Temple, whom I had met in 
 
2 70 THE MEMOIRS OF 
 
 England, and gave him all I could collect of what had been done in the 
 United States in reference to codification. He soon after became master 
 of laws at Cambridge. 
 
 July 26th, with my son James and nephew Charles Swift to Niagara, to 
 celebrate General Scott's honors there. Met Mr. John King and Wash- 
 ington Hunt, and Mr. Greeley, the distinguished editor. The celebration 
 was a failure. Also met Colonel Andrews of Boston. 
 
 From 29th September to 22d October attending, as witness, the trial of 
 Mayor Lawrence and the Pentz, and others, at Newark, New Jersey, in 
 reference to the houses that had been blown up by me at the order of the 
 mayor at the great fire, December, 1835. 
 
 General Scott, Samuel L. Gouverneur, who had married Miss Lee of 
 Petersville, Maryland, in Newark. 
 
 In November I wrote, for Counsellor Davies, a statement of the gun 
 powder blasts, and what I deemed unjust to the owners of that property, so 
 destroyed, in a strict legal sense, and also stated what I deemed a neglect of 
 my services and exposure at that fire of i6th December, 1835, while 
 England had knighted a young engineer ofticer for similar services at 
 Quebec, in Canada, on a much smaller scale. To determine how much 
 powder would shake a house down and not damage neighboring houses, 
 was of importance as a service. That had been accomplished at every 
 house so blown up at the great fire of i6th December, 1835. 
 
 I returned home to my family in Geneva, where we had assembled at 
 Christmas, eight of my family, and two days after McRee escorted his 
 mother to Mr. Richards', Brooklyn. 
 
 1853. On New Year's day I arrived at Mr. Richards', Brooklyn, to where 
 my wife had preceded me. 
 
 Januarj' 3d, Mr. John C. Adams called on me by previous appointment, 
 and I agreed to go to Boston with him to explain to the capitalists there 
 the whole system of the Sodus Canal. We arrived in Boston on 4th, at my 
 brother William's. I presented the plan to the bankers, Thayer and 
 others, but they did not enter with any spirit into the subject. 
 
 Februar)' ist, George W. Whistler and m\-self left Mount Vernon Place 
 
GENERAL JOSEPH GARDNER SWIFT. I'Jl 
 
 for New York. I had previously seen President Walker at Cambridge, and 
 arranged with him for my son Foster, a graduate of Geneva College, to 
 enter Harvard College as a junior. On my return to Brooklyn, met 
 William G. McNeill, very ill, on his arrival from England, in the kind care 
 of his mother-in-law, Mrs. Camman, where he died on i6th February. I 
 wrote an obituary of this distinguished man, and sent it to the secretary of 
 the Society of Civil Engineers in London, of which society General McNeill 
 died an honorary member. He was a person of much talent, and com- 
 manding and winning manner, and was one of the principal pioneers of 
 railroad improvements in the United States. 
 
 March i6th, I shipped to Wilmington, North Carolina, a marble slab that 
 I had caused to be made in Brooklyn, and wrote my namesake, Swift Miller, 
 a request to see this slab carefully erected at the grave of Mrs. Smith in 
 "old Brunswick Cemetery, Cape Fear River." The inscription is thus: 
 " In Memory of that Excellent Lady, Sarah Rhett Dry Smith, who died 
 2 1 St November, 1821, aged 59 years. Also, of her Husband, Benjamin 
 Smith of Belvedere, once Governor of North Caiolina, who died January, 
 1826, aged 70." The slab was properly erected. 
 
 March 20th, wrote my son Foster at Harvard College, where he had 
 entered as a junior, agreeably to the consent of the faculty; and sent him 
 afterwards a memoir of my Grandfather Samuel Swift, a graduate of 1735, 
 that was requested by some one at Harvard making memoirs of distin- 
 guished graduates of old times. 
 
 March 30th, gave Richard S. Tucker my opinion of forty years' duration 
 in favor of supplying Brooklyn with the best of water, from the brooks 
 east of the bridge that discharge themselves into the Jamaica Bay. 
 
 March 31st, wrote to Colonel Thayer upon the omission of due notice of 
 Colonal Jonathan Williams, in the newly published register of West Point, 
 by Captain Cullum, to promote a correction of that omission. 
 
 May. Early in this month essayed to retain Gold S. Silliman, Esq., as 
 postmaster of Brooklyn ; an excellent officer and worthy gentleman, with 
 whom I had maintained friendly relations from the year 1800 at Newport, 
 Rhode Island. 
 
2 72 THE MEMOIRS OF 
 
 Met General Scott several times this month on the subject of recording 
 his campaigns in Mexico. He read to me the first chapter. I deem it 
 well done. 
 
 May 23d, kept the seventy-second birthday of my friend F. C. Tucker at 
 No. I West Si.xteenth Street. The age is a matter of doubt. He and 
 General Scott, Major Robert Anderson, and Colonel James Monroe came 
 to see Mr. and Mrs. Richards and Mrs. Swift at Brooklyn, on that day. 
 
 June 8th, Louisa and self visited our friends General Adams' family at 
 Lyons, on the death of their daughter Jane in South America, and of their 
 sons James and Sibley, all three very intelligent children. A sad 
 bereavement. 
 
 June 1 6th, died our friend George R. Lewis at New London. 
 
 June 24th, to see my friend John Greig, Esq., Canandaigua; failing in 
 health and strength. 
 
 In July I was confined some weeks by jaundice, and expected to depart, 
 but by good nursing of my wife and daughter so far revived as to use 
 horseback exercise, and to receive the children of my friend Charles A. 
 Williamson, deceased, to wit., Wilhelmina and her husband Captain 
 Wickham, of Thirty-third Regiment Infantry of the English Army, who was 
 seeking a farm to retire upon in the United States. 
 
 August 1st I purchased a pony, and found benefit to my health by 
 riding. 
 
 Ferdinand Hassler visited me to get my memoir of his father, the late 
 superintendent of the United States coast survey. Rev. Dr. Judd read to 
 me his reply to the high church doctrines about baptism ; a well composed 
 view of that subject, adverse to Romanism. 
 
 The month of Septemlaer was noted for ague and fever at Geneva, 
 especially in the lower parts of the village and the flats bordering the lake 
 on the north, also several cases on the higher lands ; my son Willy one of 
 them. The treatment was quinine, and successful. 
 
 October 2 2d, died my friend John Delafield at Oaklands, on the opposite 
 side of the lake, aged sixty-seven years, a great loss to the farming interests 
 of Seneca County. I directixl tlie interment on 25th in our Geneva cemetery. 
 
GENERAL JOSEPH GARDNER SWIFT. 273 
 
 1854. January loth we celebrated Bell and Willy's marriage day, their 
 twenty- first anniversary, at Willy's Geneva home. 
 
 January- 30th, Mr. Robert Tillotson arrived, and we discoursed of our 
 former days in the city. He described to me the mode of conversion of 
 his son to Romanism, under the auspices of Cardinal W^iseman and Mr. 
 Newman, and of that son's union with the Oratory at Birmingham, in 
 England. So much for the Puseyism of Western New York. 
 
 February 2d, received from the singular William Wood, of Canandaigua, 
 a present of a view of the Colosseum of Vespasian at Rome. He said that 
 his life had been passed without being able to see it, and that as I had seen 
 it he wished me to accept the engraving — an old Amsterdam production. 
 
 Sent to Colonel Thayer a memoir on West Point, and to Mr. Seaton 
 of the National Intelligencer, a notice of the United States Military Academy, 
 West Point. 
 
 February loth, Mrs. Swift's nephew, James Walker Osborne of North 
 Carolina, visited us, and also her cousin John Barrow, grandson of her 
 aunt McLean. 
 
 Sent my application to government in favor of Mrs. Commodore Angus' 
 claim for her late husband's back pay, etc., to Charles Abert, Esq., at 
 Washington, to present to Congress. Wrote Mr. Barrow in London how 
 to proceed to gain title to the lots in Dock Street, Wilmington, North 
 Carolina, that belonged to Mr. Barrow's mother, Margaret Du Bois 
 (McLean), and to Henry McLean, and to Mrs. Margaret McLean 
 Hatfield. 
 
 March 15th, Major Tucker, Anna Beck and myself to R. S. Tucker's, at 
 Gowanus, and revived some of "the club" music of other days. 
 
 March 20th, Colonel John Lind Smith, my useful and true friend, began 
 to recover from a lonof confinement from a wound in the eroin, received at 
 the battle of Cerro Gordo in Me.xico. A doubtful recovery. Dr. Buck. 
 
 April loth, wrote Commodore Morris, United States Navy, advising to 
 promote the use of the old ordnance upon Brown's statue of Washington, 
 now in progress for Union Square, New York city. 
 
 April 2 2d, visited my friend Charles Hoyt and wife and children at 
 
2 74 THE MEMOIRS OF 
 
 Norwalk, in Connecticut. He proposes going to Europe. Of doubtful 
 benefit. 
 
 July 15th, my first report to the United States lightliouse board, through 
 Colonel Abert, for a tripod iron light on South Shoal of Nantucket — my 
 place of birth — probably the finale of my essays in civil engineering. 
 
 July 2 2d, my son Foster arrived at home. He had graduated at Harvard 
 College respectably. 
 
 July 25th, David Williamson and wife, the daughter of the iron master 
 of Tredegar, in Wales, made us a visit. The son of Charles A. W^illiamson. 
 
 A long drouth this summer, and on 8th and 9th September our first rain 
 for three months. The leaves on the trees so dry as to rattle like wood in 
 sound when shaken by wind. 
 
 On 1 2th I commenced writing the Secretary of Navy, General Scott and 
 Commodore Charles Stewart on the difficulty of forming a retired list for 
 the nav)-, unless the plan proposed be greatly modified, to do justice to 
 faithful services performed. 
 
 On 22d November Jose's child, Margaret Weston, was born; named for 
 Mrs. Cronkhite. 
 
 November 23d I attended a clerical party at Major Tucker's, of five 
 bishops, fifty presbyters and deacons and twenty-five laymen. 
 
 1855. At the opening of this year I began a correspondence with several 
 military friends on the condition of the country, and especially as to giving 
 quiet to the South, where, under cover of opposing the tariff' and abolition 
 extravagancies their real object, I suppose to be, to perpetuate and extend 
 slavery as a right of the South. As to the tariff, it is a question in which 
 the Union has interests as well South as North, and should be equalized 
 to meet those interests justly, and probably a direct tax may accomplish 
 much toward quiet. As to abolition — an influence growing at the North — 
 it is now about one voter to two hundred. But the South seems intent 
 upon ruling or breaking up the Union. My letters reviewed Mr. Secretary- 
 of-War Davis' plan to subvert the existing army organization under the 
 guise of an imperfect staff. My chief correspondent being Colonel Abert, 
 Sent some essays to the National Inielligenccr. 
 
GENERAL JOSEPH GARDNER SWIFT. 275 
 
 January 6th, my application to Congress through Charles Abert succeeded, 
 giving the widow of Captain Angus a pension. That lady sent me a goblet 
 and ring of silver in token of her acknowledgements. I replied it was not 
 my wish so to tax her income. 
 
 On 31st found the winter oppressively and unusually cold; the temper- 
 ature was about as usual. 
 
 April nth, fine weather. Mrs. Delafield (the widow of John of Oak- 
 lands) took leave of us, having sold their farm to Mr. Fuller. 
 
 April 25, gave my criticism of Major Douglass' memoirs, especially on 
 the war of 181 2 and Military Academy, to President Hale. Copy on 
 my files. 
 
 May 23d, my brother and wife and Miss Eliza Howard arrived, and 29th, 
 McRee consulted him about going to Iowa. On the same day I wrote Mrs. 
 Gratiot on the death of her husband, the general. 
 
 June 1st, Sally designed a celebration of Louisa's and my fiftieth anni- 
 versary of our marriage 6th June, on which day twenty-six of the family 
 had assembled at Geneva, and we kept up the season for some days. 
 Louisa enjoyed this occasion and reunion exceedingly. 
 
 June 14th I was called to Lyons to the funeral of Mrs. Adams, the 
 excellent wife of my friend General W. H. Adams. How close together 
 our joys and sorrows. 
 
 June 30th, I replied to Daniel Huntington's inquiries as to the belief in 
 General Washington's blasphemy, stating my total disbelief in such 
 impressions; that I had conversed in my youth with General Alexander 
 Hamilton, Lieutenant-Governor Cobb, Colonel Trumbull, Major Baylies 
 and General Chief Justice Marshall as to the domestic and social character 
 of Washington, all adverse to his having any habit of using oaths, etc. 
 
 July 4th, attended the exhibition of Dr. Reed's school as an examiner, 
 at Walnut Hill. 
 
 July 20th, arrived my friends William Kemble and wife and Professor W. 
 H. C. Bartlett and wife, from West Point, and on 30th Foster's friend 
 Mr. , of Roxbury. 
 
 August 6th, Louisa, for the first time in our married life, made a visit 
 
276 THE MEMOIRS OF 
 
 abroad without me, going with Foster to see Hortense and family at Avon. 
 
 August 17th, wTOte General Scott on the injurious tendency of Secretary 
 Davis' plan to repeal the law of 1802 that limits the detail of a superin- 
 tendent of the United States Military Academy to the corps of engineers ; 
 injurious in two material facts: extending executive power to defeat the 
 purpose of the law of 1S02, namely, by appointing an uneducated person, 
 or a personal favorite to that office, making the office thereby a mere 
 political or party agent, and annulling the only national institution in the 
 Union, save the supreme court. 
 
 August 23d I commenced to execute a design long entertained, to visit 
 my native place, Nantucket, and the residence also of my father, neither of 
 which had I seen for sixty-three years. Arrived at Brooklyn on 29th, took 
 the cars for Springfield and met my brother William and wife at Miss 
 Howard's, and my sister and self visited the graves of my aunts Elizabeth 
 and Mary Swift, (both had been wives of Colonel Burt of Longmeadow.) 
 in which cemeterj^ both with the colonel rest. 
 
 On 29th to Boston, and met at the depot my friend Colonel Thayer, and 
 with him to Fort Warren on George's Island, where, in the year 1841, 
 General H. A. S. Dearborn and myself had visited him in the early 
 construction of that fort. I am much gratified at the scientific aspect of 
 the colonel's work. We visited Fort Independence also, and Governor's 
 Island, where thirty-eight years ago the colonel commenced his engineering 
 career as a lieutenant. 
 
 September 4th Colonel Thayer accompanied me to Taunton, the scene of 
 my school day.s, and on to New Bedford, where the Colonel had, in 1808, 
 commenced a fort. We visited the scenes of those days, the residence of 
 my grandmother Delano, Clark Cove, etc. The colonel w^as summoned 
 back to Boston, and I explored the scenes of my childhood in Dartmouth, at 
 Russell's Corners and Smith's Mills at the head of Pasquemonsett, where I 
 lived at John Smith's, Esq., while at Master Hart's school, and the scene of 
 rescuing a slave from the hands of William Anthony in 1791. I explored 
 the old Hathaway house near Russell's corners, the residence of my father's 
 family until we moved to Taunton, 1792. I took cuttings from the Talman 
 
GENERAL JOSEPH GARDNER SWIFT. 277 
 
 sweeting apples that I enjoyed when a child. Returned in my "horse and 
 chaise" to New Bedford and visited my cousins Betsy and Nancy, (Mrs. 
 Bennett,) at Fair Haven, and on 6th September on board the steamer for 
 Nantucket. My companions were Mrs. Brayton, an acquaintance of my 
 mother's, a ver}^ aged Quaker lady, and Captain Matthew Crosby and his 
 handsome wife, of Siasconset. I recognized Broat Point and Roach's old 
 store on landing-, and Delano Corner, Hammet's residence and "Wesco Hill." 
 Met my schoolmate Timothy Hussy, and lodged at Captain Stephen Weet's, 
 where his daughter, Mrs. Clasby, lived. The captain was in his eighty- 
 fourth year, had been a friend of my grandfather Thomas Delano, who had 
 lived at the opposite corner, my birthplace, and who died there i8th 
 November, 1799, at the age of sixty-seven. At small cost entertained by 
 Matthew Crosby with the old Nantucket dish, corn pudding. Met there 
 Franklin Folger the chronologist, who gave me the lineage of the Delanos 
 and Swains, and how they were the cousins of the Folgers and Coffins. I 
 also met the Mitchells, especially Miss Maria the astronomer, and what 
 with the excitement and consequent fatigue of examining every corner, I 
 became ill, and was carefully nursed by Mrs. Clasby, and visited by Mr. , 
 Charles Folger and his sister of Geneva. 
 
 On 17th I left the beloved old island for home. My son James hearing 
 of my illness had gone to Nantucket for me, so we passed each other in 
 the steamers. He followed me to Brooklyn, where I was joined at Mr. 
 Richards' by my daughter Sally. I came from New Bedford to Fall River, 
 and thence by the steamer Metropolis to the city, finding Foster waiting 
 my arrival. 
 
 On 6th October Mr. Richards accompanied me home, meeting the 
 Kembles and Professor Bartlett at Peekskill and Garrisons. We two 
 arrived at Geneva the next da}', and found Louisa at her usual place at the 
 window of the diningf room watching- our coming-, and receivino- us with her 
 habitual cheerfulness. I had been at Brooklyn seized with gout, much to 
 the surprise of Gouveneur Kemble, when we met at Peekskill. 
 
 November 4th, Louisa, Sally and I attended the communion. Louisa 
 expressed great thankfulness for this reunion. 
 
278 THE MEMOIRS OF 
 
 November 9th, Louisa had some indisposition from cold supposed to be 
 taken in examining the corn in the stable, thought by her to be lumbago. 
 On loth she was languid and pale, though we played at domino in the 
 evening. 
 
 November iith, Louisa not well enough to go to church, but earnestly 
 wished Sally and myself to go. On 13th McRee arrived, and on 14th 
 Louisa growing more 111. In the morning she joined our hands and 
 said she was to die, and at six a. m. 15th, this excellent wife and mother 
 departed. On the i6th it was deemed needful to inter the body. To the 
 end of the year the loneliness of my bedroom, that had so recently been the 
 scene of Louisa's early rising and Industry, was essayed to be made 
 tolerable by my children's attentions. 
 
 1856. Januar)', occupied much of my time In replying to Mr. Birney's 
 " Christians." See my letter book. 
 
 Middle of April, we left Geneva for Brooklyn, and found Jose with an 
 excellent portrait of her mother suspended before her bed, the work of the 
 artist, Daniel Huntington. This and photographs, and the family piece by 
 the same Mr. Huntington, done by request of Alexander, (shades of a good 
 wife, mother and friend,) were mournful relics. 
 
 July 19th, I had a unanimous call to preside at a meeting to approve the 
 nomination of Colonel Fremont. On taking the chair I announced that I 
 was thoroughly In tavor of preventing the extension of slavery Into the 
 territories, but not In favor of meddling with slavery in the States where it 
 existed ; that under the constitution slaves were a species of property, not 
 in the sense that horses and oxen were property ; that slaves had a species 
 of franchise through State action, and thus far had claims to personality 
 adverse to chattelism. 
 
 July 25th, a letter from the widow of Alden Partridge, of West Point 
 memory, to aid in getting his son a cadetship at the Military Academy. 
 I wrote to the War Department and to Senator Foot In favor of the 
 appointment. 
 
 1857. January ist, Mr. Richards and myself, In pursuance of ancient 
 usage, made new year's calls In Brooklyn. 
 
GENERAL JOSEPH GARDNER SWIFT. 279 
 
 January 12th, with General Scott in Twelfth Street conversing on the 
 condition of slavery, and upon its influence in the relations of North and 
 South, and also upon the Secretary of War's interference with the individual 
 rights of army officers. 
 
 Mr. Edward Blunt explained to me the use of Trott's longitude chart ; — 
 correct in principle, and useful to within four seconds of a degree. Also of the 
 American telescope, that it was in all respects equal to the Munich glasses. 
 
 February 9th, Sally and I to Boston, and at Springfield called on the 
 worthy Mrs. Carew, the friend of my mother and father. At Boston with 
 my brother William and wife at No. 6 Mount Vernon Place. The fami- 
 lies of the elder Quincy and his son very desirable visiting places, and 
 I enjoyed them, and Dr. James Jackson, and Mr. Guile's and Mr. Elliot's 
 (Samuel,) and Judge Warren's, where we met Colonel S. Thayer. The 
 Athseneum a charming resort. At Mr. John Savage's, to converse on his 
 forthcoming genealogical work ; also the families of Mills. Examined the 
 Historical Society documents of Pemberton, Adams, Swift, etc., from 1720 
 to 1775. Had the pleasure to listen to Mrs. Kemble's readings of 
 Shakspeare. 
 
 March 8th, visited my ancient maiden cousins, Sarah and Mary Swift, at 
 Dorchester, the Baker house, and cousin Sally Delano Williams at Roxbury, 
 and with Sally and sister Hannah to see our cousins on Milton Hill, and 
 the cemetery, where are fifteen graves of the Swift family and a tomb. 
 Went to see my cousin Fanny at Mrs. Harris', in Cambridge, and 
 Roberdeau at Charlestown. Met Colonel Thomas Aspinwall at the Guiles', 
 and Joseph Grafton. 
 
 March i6th, Sally and sister Hannah and myself to New York and 
 Brooklyn. Visited several of the clubs there and in the city of New York. 
 Useful establishments to promote intelligence and easy intercourse. Mr. 
 Richards and Mr. Cronkhite members. 
 
 On 30th March Mr. Huntington commenced my portrait for a member of 
 an historical picture. 
 
 April 6th, wrote Dr. Hawks on the promotion of quiet between the North 
 and South by his contemplated efforts at the South, in speaking there on 
 
28o THE MEMOIRS OF 
 
 the anniversary of the Declaration of Independence at MeckHnburg, in 
 May, 1776. 
 
 April 14th, wrote Mr. Howe, of Brooklyn, my opinion in favor of Mr. 
 Kirkwood's location of the Nassau water works. 
 
 April 1 8th, wrote the venerable Quincy of Boston, and J. G. Wright of 
 Wilmington, North Carolina, upon the troubles growing up between the 
 North and South, and that non-extension of slavery was an essential 
 element of any permanent settlement to quiet, and that Mr. Wright should 
 urge this highly indispensable principle at the coming celebration in Meck- 
 linburg County on 20th May, to promote quiet. 
 
 May 7th, wrote General Totten and Colonel Abert, United States Army, 
 on the newly proposed organization — especially its staff. Commended G. 
 B. Shaw to General Totten for an assistant engineer. 
 
 May 23d, died in Paraclepta, Arkansas, Eliza Younger Walker, the cousin 
 of Mrs. Swift and wife of James W. Walker. 
 
 June 6th, heard of the death of my friend Thomas Biddle of Philadelphia, 
 ae. eighty, and on this, my marriage day, found the turf on the grave of 
 Louisa very fresh ; Jose and Sally had placed many flowering plants there. 
 
 June 8th, the steamer "Loder" passed our house with thirty-eight canal 
 boats " in tow," and a raft of lumber one-fourth of a mile in length. 
 
 June 17th, wrote the family of the late General J. De B. Walbach my 
 readiness to promote adjustment of claims on the United States. Heard 
 of the fate of the Ledyards in the steamer on the St. Lawrence. 
 
 September 6th, the worthy Henry Dwight died se. seventy-six, at Geneva. 
 My cousins Fanny and Elizabeth Swift of Milton visited us, and brought 
 with them, for me, the family arms that had been brought from Rotherham 
 in England, 1630, by our ancestor, Thomas Swift of Dorchester, son of 
 Robert of Rotherham. 
 
 In October I wrote General Scott my impressions of the vulgar assault 
 upon his Mexican services by General Pillow, and of the utter improba- 
 bility of making any impression upon the public mind unfavorable to 
 General Scott. 
 
 October 12th, wrote to the ordnance department upon a hemispherical 
 
GENERAL JOSEPH GARDNER SWIFT. 28 1 
 
 empty shell opening by a hinge, being placed in the bore of a cannon or 
 mortar before the cartridge, and opened by explosion, so as to prevent 
 windage. 
 
 In November I wrote to the canal commissioners that great damage was 
 occurring to the banks of Seneca Lake, by the obstructions placed in the 
 outlet at Waterloo, in the process of what is commonly called " piling of 
 water," /. c. back water, and referring them to the facts on Clyde River, near 
 Lyons, for similar effects, and to experiments in France to sustain my 
 opinion. 
 
 1858. In February wrote my cousin Fanny Swift, of Milton, for a 
 transcript of the inscriptions on the grave stones of the fifteen graves there 
 of our family. 
 
 February i8th, my cousin Henry Delano of New Hampshire with us. 
 He informed me of the death of his mother, Elizabeth Hamet Delano, on 
 3d of this month, se. seventy-eight years. 
 
 April 24th, my grandson Fitzhugh, failing to receive a cadetship, went to 
 sea "before the mast " in the ship " Amaranth " for Australia, from New York. 
 
 April 1 2th, Joseph Fellows and myself attended the funeral of John 
 Greig, Esq., of Canandaigua, who died on 9th April, ae. seventy-eight, 
 leaving a fortune acquired in the United States to his relations in Scotland, 
 after ten thousand dollars a year for life to his wife. 
 
 May 8th, a beautiful day. Sally aided me in surveying my forty-acre 
 lot south of the town. 
 
 June iith, my cousins, the Pattens, visited us. I gave them my certifi- 
 cate of my knowledge of a portrait of Washington by the elder Peale, 
 after the "Battle of Princeton," painted by the consent of Washington for 
 my uncle Jonathan Swift of Alexandria, where in 1804, and onward, I saw 
 it, and my uncle gave me its history as above. 
 
 July 5th, wrote General Scott that the widow of his companion in 
 imprisonment in Quebec, Major Van de Venter, wished his aid to secure a 
 pension for her husband's just claims. 
 
 July loth, received a present of charts of United States and South 
 America from G. W. and Edward Blunt. 
 
2 82 THE MEMOIRS OF 
 
 July 14th, in correspondence with the adjutant-general, Samuel Cooper, 
 and sent him files of army memoir. 1800 to 18 13. 
 
 August 5th, arrived the report of a successful laying of the cable 
 from Newfoundland to Valencia in Ireland, one thousand seven hundred 
 miles, greatest depth six thousand feet, and of a message between \"ictoria 
 and the President of the United States going by that cable both ways. 
 
 September, the comet, of unusually brilliant aspect in the western sky. 
 Query: Is it that which Professor Hassler and Colonel Williams, Mr. 
 Garnett and the officers at West Point observed in this month in 1807 ? 
 
 September 26th, wrote General Webb of my purchasing, as United States 
 agent, Sandy Hook in 1820, for twenty thousand dollars, and proposing 
 that the dispute between New York and New Jersey be settled b)- the 
 United States granting a site there for an hospital. Also sent Colonel 
 Webb the facts of the Brooklyn water line in 1835 '> that my map and 
 report had been secretly taken from the archives of the city of Brooklyn ; 
 of the line as adopted by the then common council, and of the infringe- 
 ments on that line by lot owners. 
 
 November 3d, visited Twilight Dell in Greenwood. Sally and I attended 
 the singing of Picolomini at the Athseneum. 
 
 November 4th, Colonel J. L. Smith and Major W^ H. Chase and wife, 
 and adopted child, visited us. We had a conversation on the great 
 question of slavery and its tendency. Chase a southern mind on that 
 matter; Smith silent. He had made free his si.xteen slaves, and sent them 
 to Liberia. 
 
 On 8th November Colonel Smith, Mr. Cropsey and myself take the rail- 
 cars at Green Point to Flushing, and thence by carriage to Willet's Point, 
 examining the plan for the fort for that site, and then crossed over to the 
 cooperating Fort Schuyler. The Colonel and I had some conversation on 
 his making a will. He said he had no existing relative on earth to his 
 knowledge. He and myself thence to Harlem, and thence by steamer to 
 the city. The colonel though cheerful, and as ever, entertaining in his 
 remarks, is much reduced in strength of body, and his appetite small. 
 
 November 9th, with J. P. Kirkwood and Captain Green inspecting the 
 
GENERAL JOSEPH GARDNER SWIFT. 283 
 
 Nassau water line on Long Island, and on 12th inspecting the beginnino-s 
 of the Central Park of the city of New York, and the foundation of the 
 large water reservoir therein. 
 
 November 19th, an interesting dinner party at B. D. Silliman's. Professsor 
 Leiber, Dr. G. W. Bethune, Daniel Lord, Esq., Mr. Izard and iNIr. Prino-le 
 from South Carolina, Mr. Pierrepont, Mr. G. S. Silliman, the father of B. D. 
 Silliman. The constitutional aspects of slavery the subject of discourse, 
 and the prospects of trouble between the South and the North sections. 
 The fact that the North can never submit to an extension of slavery into 
 the territories admitted, save by the gentlemen from South Carolina; and 
 Mr. Lord, a ver>' clever man, seemed to be of opinion that the constitution 
 contemplated support to slavery. 
 
 November 27th, in reply to a letter from P. S. Sanger of Washington, on 
 the subject of removing the dead from one cemetery to another, relied on 
 him to advise me what had been done with those of my son James Foster 
 Swift and the grave stones ; said son having been buried in the cemetery 
 north of the President's mansion in March, 1830. Removed to a new 
 cemetery. 
 
 December. Early in this month INIajor Chase and Captain Barnard 
 advised me of the increasing illness of the best friend I ever had. Colonel 
 John L. Smith. I wrote Colonel Thayer and General Gadsden of it. 
 
 December 13th, the colonel died very peacefully at Mrs. Ellen Robin- 
 son's boarding house, 64 Amity Street, New York City, at the age ot 
 about seventy years. A will could not be found, and the assets in the 
 Leather Manufacturers' Bank went, with his library and other things at 
 Fort Schuyler, into the hands of the city administrator. Buried at West 
 Point on i6th. At Christmas we heard of the safe arrival of Mrs. De 
 Lancy and the bishop in England. 
 
 1859. Januar)- 4th, wrote the chief engineer of the United States that a 
 will of the late Colonel J. L. Smith might be found among the papers of 
 the late General James Gadsden, of Charleston, South Carolina, an intimate 
 friend of Colonel Smith's, and to whom I knew that Colonel Smith had 
 sent money to aid a friend of his mother's. 
 
284 THE MEMOIRS OF 
 
 In this month I commenced a correspondence with Colonel Delafield and 
 Governor Morgan, to induce the Legislature to permit the property of 
 Colonel Smith to be expended in constructing and endowing a school at 
 West Point, in memory of Colonel Smith. The judiciary committee 
 reported adversely. 
 
 January 14th came accounts of Jose's being very ill. Sally went to her. 
 The dear child declined rapidly and died on i6th, and was interred in 
 Twilight Dell at Greenwood. 
 
 April 19th, wrote Josiah Ouincy my impression of his Life of John Ouincy 
 Adams, that Mr. Ouincy had sent me ; that it was an instructive volume, 
 and remarkable for what had been omitted as to John Ouincy Adams' early 
 and long-continued Federalism, and abandonment of its principles; and 
 also upon our prospects nationally; and that the growth of cotton in the 
 East Indies, etc., would so depress the value of slaves as to convince the 
 South that labor paid for would be more profitable than slave labor. 
 
 April 23d, the most severe snow storm of the year. It moderated soon 
 after and swallows appeared 30th, and May opened most gently. 
 
 July 4th, sold my out-lots, about forty acres, to Dr. Reed for three 
 thousand dollars. 
 
 July 15th, my brother William and wife passed a week with us, and we 
 had pleasant conversations of our respective visits to Europe. William 
 bought a fine picture in Italy, — a St. Cecilia. 
 
 September i8th, Mr. Richards and his brother, Dr. Wolcott Richards, go 
 to South Hampton, England, in the Arago. 
 
 On 30th I requested the Secretary of the Interior to send me my land 
 warrant. McRee had it located in Nebraska on the Rolling Fork of the 
 Wolff River, by Mr. Everett. 
 
 October 14th, arrived our new bell for Trinity ; gave twenty-five dollars 
 on this birthday of Louisa. 
 
 At Christmas — Willy, Belle, Lizzy, James, Joseph G., Joseph S., Tony, 
 Maggy, Sally and m\self. 
 
 i860. As my family had not gone to Brooklyn in the jjast fall, and Mr, 
 Richards was in Europe, leaving Tony and Maggy with .Sally and myself to 
 
GENERAL JOSEPH GARDNER SWIFT. 285 
 
 pass the winter in Geneva, it gave me plenty of time to reflect on the 
 aspects of our country, that were growing in anxiety ; and yet I have hopes 
 that events may assuage the evils of meddling with the compromise line of 
 36° north latitude. The great object now being, as it appeared to me, to 
 impress the South that an essay at secession would be ultimately defeated, 
 and that, therefore, going out of the Union would be far more detrimental 
 to southern interests than could be brought about by tariffs or abolition 
 societies; and that the great desire of the South to maintain political rule 
 must be defeated by the natural progress of northern population. In 
 furtherance of these views I cooperated with my fellow citizens of Geneva 
 of the Whig name, and presided at several of their meetings: commencing 
 with a declaration of my creed, namely, not to countenance any interference 
 with slavery in the States as protected by the constitution, but to oppose 
 every species of extension of slavery into the United States Territories ; 
 because if such extension was tolerated slavery would become the basis of 
 our government, and the consequence of such a government would be 
 laziness of slave-owners and a descending scale of public and private 
 morals, and thus a ruin to free institutions, for a free government can only 
 be maintained by mental activity and bodily industry. 
 
 Early in the month of March, Mr. Richards' letters from Rome advised us 
 of the death of Mr. J. P. Cronkhite in that city, and of his interment in the 
 Protestant cemetery there. Mr. Richards and his brother, and the wife of 
 Mr. Cronkhite were with her husband at his death. 
 
 On 6th November I voted for electors to elect Abraham Lincoln President, 
 not that I deemed Mr. Lincoln to possess equal talents with Edward Everett, 
 though Mr. Lincoln's speeches in Illinois adverse to the policy of Mr. 
 Douglass evinced a strong common sense; and I deemed the Bell and 
 Everett ticket favorable to too great a sacrifice of northern ability to prevent 
 disunion. Immediately after voting I proceeded to the cars, and arrived 
 the 7th at Brooklyn. On our arrival at the Delavan we received the first 
 telegraph reports of Mr. Lincoln's success. 
 
 November 8th, called on General Scott, (with whom was Colonel 
 Thomas, the assistant adjutant-general,) in Twelfth Street. Conversation 
 
2 86 THE MEMOIRS OF 
 
 at once commenced on the purposes ol the South. The general haei 
 written to a host of acquaintance of his in every Southern State his views of 
 the destructive consequences of secession. Ke expressed great fear that 
 the earnest advice he had given in the past month of October to President 
 Buchanan, to arm and furnish every fort at the South, had been totally 
 neglected. 
 
 Before 20th November, South Carolina raised the palmetto flag, Virginia 
 was summoned to an extra legislative session, and Major Anderson had 
 been sent to relieve Colonel Gardner at Fort Moultrie. 
 
 At the meeting of Congress I was astonished by the tone of Mr. 
 Buchanan's message, denying power in the executive to avert the action of 
 secession. 
 
 On 14th December Governor Cass resigned the Department of State, a 
 position he had filled during all the strange acts of the Secretary of War 
 and Secretary of the Treasury, and must have seen some of the purposes 
 of these men. 
 
 December 20th, South Carolina essays secession. 
 
 On 26th Major Anderson leaves Moultrie and occupies Sumter, with 
 one hundred and eleven men. 
 
 I received several letters from Major \V. H. Chase on the fine prospects 
 of the South in forming a new confederacy. I replied in November that it 
 would be better to know what they were doing at the South before going to 
 extremes, and that he. Chase, being a Boston boy would find that the South 
 would not trust him as "one to the manor born." 
 
 1 86 1. January. After various consultations with Major f. G. Barnard 
 and others, I selected a syenite from Mr. Edwards' marble factory, (it came 
 from Aberdeen, in Scotland, and cost seven hundred and seventy-two 
 dollars,) for a monument at West Point to the memory of Colonel John 
 Lind Smith. This was done under the decree of the surrogate of New 
 York, giving to my discretion one thousand dollars for the purpose, and on 
 7th May I had it at West Point set up in the cemetery there, and advised 
 Mrs. Elizabeth Gray of Dundee, N. B., of my course in this matter. My 
 .grandsons Joseph S. and Huntington accompanied me. We were hos- 
 
GENERAL JOSEPH GARDNER SWIFT. 287 
 
 pitably received by Professor \V. H. C. Bartlett, and at Mr. Kemble's 
 and Parrot's, at West Point foundry. 
 
 May 1st, I addressed a letter to Jefferson Davis on the strength of being 
 his early commander, and urging on him my reasons why he could not 
 succeed in breaking up the Union. I sent the letter for the perusal of 
 President Lincoln, and to be forwarded by the Postmaster-General, so as to 
 avoid the aspect of corresponding with traitors in an improper way. I also 
 urged Mr. Davis to use the influence of his position to molify his 
 coadjutors, and promote a quiet return to the Union. See my letter book. 
 
 While at West Point I wrote President Lincoln on the character of 
 Thayer, Mansfield, Lee and others as capable general officers, especially 
 W. H. C. Bartlett, and also upon the importance of having West Point 
 under the superintendence of one as nearly like Thayer as might be 
 found. See my letter book. 
 
 June 14. Digestion attended with nausea and vertigo. 
 
 \vi the past summer I met at Commodore Craven's in Geneva, Mrs. 
 Farquhar of Pottsville, in Pennsylvania — quite a traveler. This lady said 
 to me that she had met a cousin of mine at Aix-la-Chapelle who had been 
 the conservator of the crown jewels in the tower of London, who p^ave 
 to Mrs. Farquhar the circumstances of my meeting this gentleman, Sir 
 Edmund Leuthal Swifte, and of the interview between myself and the 
 yeoman of the guard who had mistaken me for Sir Edmund, and who had 
 pointed out to me the residence of Sir Edmund in Ann Bolen's Tower, 
 1851-1852, as is mentioned in my journal of my travels in England, etc. 
 Another of the curious coincidences of life in human affairs. 
 
 From the arrival of General Scott from France in December, 1861, I was 
 with him frequently in conversation upon the passing events of our 
 unhappy rebellion, until — 
 
 1862. April 15th, when he went to his home at Hampton, in Elizabeth- 
 town, N. J., where 1 joined him on 17th, and remained most of the time 
 until 1st of June, when he went to Cozzens' charming hotel below West 
 Point, and I went to visit my friends at the Point and at West Point 
 foundr)', at Mr. Parrott's, enjoying theirs, and Gouverneur Kemble's and 
 
288 THE MEMOIRS OF 
 
 William's hospitality, and at Mr. Parrott's had at dinner a warm discussion 
 with the Russian ambassador on the condition of my country ; he sorrowing 
 for our downfall, and I denying the need of his sorrow. 
 
 In the course of the summer my son Foster and Miss Alida Fitzhugh 
 had fixed on 29th October for their marriage at Geneseo, where both 
 families assembled under the hospitality of Mrs. Bachus and Mrs. Brent, 
 and Mr. Ayrault, with my late wife's cousin, Rev. John C. Du Bois of St. 
 Croix. Both families met at the church, and the marriage was celebrated 
 by the Rev. Mr. Ayrault, brother-in-law of the bride, and Rev. Mr. 
 Du Bois, cousin of the groom. 
 
 In the year 1S61 my son Foster, in the spring, volunteered as a surgeon 
 in the 8th New York Regiment, and proceeded to Annapolis and Wash- 
 ington, and on 21st of July was in the battle of Bull Run in Virginia — 
 a defeat of both armies. Foster deemed it his duty to remain with the 
 wounded in the field and hospital, a prisoner; was sent for by Beauregard 
 and parolled, and sent to Richmond, thence to Old Point Comfort and 
 thence home, and has not been exchanged until the day of writing 
 this, December, 1862. 
 
 1863. I had proposed to comment on the strategy of this war of rebellion 
 in my diary, but the gazettes and the monthly journals so abound in knowl- 
 edge of what should have been done, and what left undone, that I will refrain 
 from remark save recording that I deem the yielding to party what belonged 
 to the country (which has distinguished the States of New York and New 
 Jersey) as lamentable evidences of want of patriotism. The anomalous 
 interview between politicians and the English ambassador being among the 
 most prominent of errors. 
 
 1864. We, after casting our votes on 8th November for Mr. Lincoln, 
 took the cars on 9th, and arrived at No. 70 Eleventh Street on 10th. 
 
 On 30th December my brother William H. and myself attended the 
 funeral of our cousin. Dr. William Swift, United States Navy, at the doctor's 
 house No. 1 2 Carroll Place, Brooklyn. The doctor died of heart disease 
 at the age of eighty-five years, a worthy man and a good officer. He 
 had been while surgeon in the United States Navy our consul at Tunis, 
 
GENERAL JOSEPH GARDNER SWIFT. 289 
 
 Africa. He left a competence to his wife, an amiable and intelligent 
 woman, and three nice young sons. 
 
 December 31. My son James Thomas gave me my birthday dinner; all 
 my family there save Willy's, including two Misses Weston and General 
 Scott and General Anderson. A nice party. 
 
 1865. January 4th, attended with General Scott, General Anderson, Mr. 
 John Travers and others, as pall-bearers, the funeral of Mrs. Margaret C. 
 Kemble, the wife of William Kemble, Esq. This excellent lady died at 
 the age of sixty-eight years, forty-two of which she had been intimate in 
 my family. Mrs. Kemble combined many qualities of heart and mind that 
 made her dear to her family and to a long list of acquaintance. 
 
 January 7th, I wrote to Miss Susan M. Quincy, of Boston, on the death 
 of her father, Josiah Quincy, at the age of ninety-three years — a useful and 
 valuable citizen in many stations — as member of Congress and president of 
 Harvard College, etc. I also mentioned to Miss Quincy that Mrs. 
 Sigourney had sent to me, as a memorial, a letter to herself from Mr. 
 Quincy. 
 
 On 24th January I wrote to the President of the United States on the 
 miserable policy of retaliating upon the Confederate prisoners at Beaufort, 
 South Carolina; and alluded to a substitute by confiscating rebel land and 
 other rebel property, in favor of southern men who had not voluntarily 
 aided the rebellion, and also in favor of aid to the slaves of such men ; and 
 that the whole subject might be embraced in a war proclamation, to meet 
 the Confederate plan of arming their slaves to battle against the Union. 
 
 On 3 1st January I wrote again to President Lincoln on the subject of the 
 treasonable talk in this city of New York in favor of southern independ- 
 ence, and expressing my hope that the subjects of treason, habeas corptcs, 
 State rights, tenure of civil office and executive power might be amended 
 in the Constitution before the advent of peace. 
 
290 THE MEMOIRS OF 
 
 The writer of this journal died at Geneva, western New York, July 23d, 1865, 
 and his remains rest in the family plot there, marked by a monument with the 
 following inscription : 
 
 JOSEPH GARDNER SWIFT, 
 
 Son of Foster and Deborah Swift, 
 
 Born Nantucket, Mass., Dec. 31, 1783. 
 
 Died Geneva, New York, July 23, 1865, 
 
 First Graduate of the U. S. Military Academy, 
 
 West Point. 
 
 Chief Engineer U. S. Army 1812. 
 
 Brevetted Brigadier General 18 14. 
 
 In the "Biographical Register of the Officers and Graduates of the United States 
 Military Academy," by General Cullum, is the following record : 
 
 "GRADUATES OF 1802. 
 
 "I. (Born, Mass.) Joseph G. Swift. (Apd. Mass.) 
 
 ''Military History. — Cadet of the United States Military Academy from May 
 12, 1800 to October 12, 1802, when he was graduated and promoted in the army to 
 
 Second Lieutenant Corps of Engineers, Oct. 12, 1802. 
 Served as superintending engineer of the construction of Fort Johnson, North 
 Carolina, 1804-6; at the Military Academy, 1807; as superintending engineer in 
 the erection of Governor's 
 
 (First Lieut. Corps of Engineer Jan. 1 1, 1805.) 
 (Capt. Corps of Engineers Oct. 30, 1806.) 
 Island batteries, Boston Harbor, Mass., and in general supervision of the defences 
 of the northeastern coast, 1808-10; 
 
 (Major Corps of Engineers Feb. 23, 1808.) 
 as superintending engineer of the fortifications of the Carolina and Georgia harbors, 
 1810-12; in the war of 1812-15 with Great Britain, as aid-de-camp to Major- 
 General Pinckney, 
 
GENERAL JOSEPH GARDNER SWIFT. 29 1 
 
 (Lieut. -Colonel Corps of Engineers July 6, 18 12.) 
 
 (Colonel and Chief Engineer of the U. S. Army July 31, 1S12.) 
 
 1812; as chief engineer of the army under command of Major-General Wilkinson 
 
 in the campaign of 1813 on the St. Lawrence River, being engaged in the battle of 
 
 Chrysler's Field, Upper Canada, Nov. 11, 1813; and of the forces for the defence 
 
 of the city and harbor of New York (including Brooklyn and Harlem Heights,) 
 
 (Brev. Brig.-General Feb. 19, 1814, for meritorious services.) 
 
 1813-14; as superintending engineer of the construction of the fortifications of 
 
 New York Harbor, 1814-17; in command of the corps of engineers July 31, 1812 
 
 to November 12, 18 18, having charge of the Engineer Bureau at Washington, D. C, 
 
 April 3 to Nov. 12, 1818; and (ex-officio) superintendent of the Military Academy 
 
 July 31, 1812 to July 28, 1818; and its inspector April 7 to Nov. 12, 1818; and as 
 
 member of board of engineers for the Atlantic coast of the Lhiited States April 21, 
 
 181 7 to Nov. 12, 18 1 8. 
 
 Resigned November j2, 18 18." 
 
 Cii'il History. — Surveyor of the United States Revenue for the port of New York, 
 1818-27. Member of the board of visitors to the Military Academy 1S22 and 
 1824. Chief Engineer of New Orleans and Lake Pontchartrain Railroad, (the first 
 laid with T rail in the United States,) 1830-31. Civil engineer In the service of the 
 United States, superintending harbor improvements on the lakes, 1829-45. Aided 
 in suppressing Canada border disturbances 1839, and was appointed by the President 
 in 1 841 on a mission to the British Provinces with reference to a treaty with Great 
 Britain. Member of several scientific and historical societies, and of "La Societe 
 Frangaise de Statique Universelle de Paris," 1839. Degree of LL. D. conferred by 
 Kenyon College, Gambler, Ohio, 1843. 
 
 Died July 23, 1865, at Geneva, N. Y., aged eighty-two. 
 
 The superintendent of the Military Academy, General Cullum, directed honors to 
 be paid to General Swift's memory in the following order : 
 
 "Headquarters U. S. Military Academy, ) 
 
 "West Point, N. Y., July 30, 1865. 
 
 " The first graduate of the U. S. Military Academy, General Joseph G. Swift, 
 departed this life at his residence, Geneva, N. Y., on the 23d inst., at the advanced 
 age of nearly eighty-two. 
 
 "General Swift was born Dec. 31, 1783, in Nantucket, Mass., was graduated at 
 the Military Academy soon after its organization, and was promoted October 12, 
 
292 MEMOIRS OF GENERAL JOSEPH GARDNER SWIFT. 
 
 1802, to be Second Lieutenant in the Corps of Engineers, in which branch of service 
 he continued through all the successive grades, 'till he became Colonel and Chief 
 Engineer of the Army, July 31, 1 812 — during that period being chiefly engaged in 
 the construction of fortifications on the Atlantic coast. In the war of 1812-15 ^^''^h 
 Great Britain, after serving as aid-de-camp to Major-General Pin'kney, he became in 
 1S13 the chief engineer in Wilkinson's campaign on the St. Lawrence, participating 
 in the battle of Chrysler's Field, and was subsequently, in 1813-14, chief engineer 
 of the forces for the defence of New York, receiving for his meritorious services the 
 brevet of Brigadier-General Feb. 19, 18 14. After the war he assumed the direct 
 superintendency of the Military Academy, and was its inspector for a brief period 
 preceding his resignation November 12, 1S18. Upon leaving the army he, for nine 
 years, was surveyor of the U. S. Revenue for the port of New York, and then 
 became a distinguished civil engineer, employed by the government for a long period 
 in directing harbor improvements on the northern lakes, and aiding in suppressing 
 Canada border disturbances, being in 1841 honored by the President with a mission 
 to the British Provinces with reference to a treaty of peace with Great Britain. 
 'Born at the close of the American Revolution, and dying at the termination of the 
 American Rebellion, General Swift lived through the most momentous period of 
 history, and was himself a prominent actor in the grand drama of our national 
 existence. His military career began with that of the Military Academy, which he 
 fostered in its feeble infancy, and he lived to see, in its developed maturity, the sons 
 of his cherished alma mater directing the high destinies of his country on victorious 
 fields in Canada, Florida, Mexico, and within the wide domain of our southern 
 border. He now calmly sleeps, after a long and useful life of more than four score 
 years, leaving this world in the blissful consciousness that he and his brother gradu- 
 ates of this institution have ably performed their allotted part in subduing the savage 
 foe, in conquering foreign enemies, and crushing treason in our midst ; and that he 
 has left behind a regenerated fatherland of one people, with but one emblem of 
 nationality, sacred to liberty, and the triumph of the best government on earth." The 
 personal excellence of General Swift can be only appreciated by those who knew 
 and loved him, and they were all whom he met on his long journey of life, for he 
 had no enemies but his country's. Amiable and sincere, spotless in integrity, stanch 
 in friendship, liberal in charity, General Swift was a model gentleman, a true patriot 
 and Christian soldier, worthy of the imitation of all who, like him, would live honored 
 and revered, and die universally regretted. 
 
 " As an appropriate tribute of respect from the Military Academy to his memory, 
 there will be fired, under the direction of the commandant of cadets, eleven minute 
 guns, commencing at meridian to-morrow, and the national flag will be displayed 
 at half staff from the same hour until sunset." 
 
Swift Coat of Arms and Old Chair. 
 
GENEALOGY. 
 
 The Name. 
 
 The origin of family names, though obscured by time, has reference to the 
 character, occupation or residence as also to parentage, and family devices or arms 
 also indicate these names. Thus the device of "Deer at full speed," and that 
 assumed by the Rector of Godrich of a dolphin round an anchor and the motto 
 ^^Festina Lenter are in point, for in those days a dolphin was called a zv^\{^. — Vide 
 
 Scott's Sivift. 
 
 The name Swift, written by the Saxons Swiff or Swithen, as also Swyfte and 
 Swifte, is found in the early annals of England. Sir Frs. Talgrave says in his Rolls 
 that, anno eleven hundred and sixty-four (1164) lived Henry Swifte of Tavesham in 
 Norfolk, and Walter Swifte of Metar in Berks, and John Swifte of Corford in Suftblk ; 
 and anno 1 199 Gilbert and Albreda Swifte (his wife) of Riversdale, had lands allotted 
 to them, and William Swift's daughters in Essex, to wit: Amecia and Matilda had 
 lands devised to them, and Stephen Swift was a proprietor in Norfolk, and William 
 in Essex, and anno 1275 Richard Swift of Cotax in Cambridge, and William of 
 Customar and Adam Swift of Norfolk were proprietors, and Adam Swift lived in 
 Wakefield in Yorkshire, and John at CoriorA.— Vide 1164. Anno 1280 Arnulph 
 Swift was at Costise in Tavesham in Norfolk (see 1 164,) and Henry at Deniston, and 
 Erwald Swift in the church, and Walter and Roger lived in North Hampshire, and 
 the family in Lancaster held lands under Duke Henry. Anno 1300 Robert Swift 
 and Margaret his wife lived at Canterbury on land granted by Edward I. In the 
 Parliamentary Writs of Sir F. Palgrave, page 1483, Gilbert Swift of Devizes, in 
 Shire of York, was a knight in Parliament 9th September, 1314- Anno 13 17 Robert 
 de Swyft, an honorable person, says Palgrave, a licentiate at Wineford in Essex. 
 Anno 132 1 John Swift of Leominster in Herts was a knight in Parliament.— 
 Palgrave, page 14S3. In 1356 Hugo Swift received a patent of land. Anno 1398, 
 in sir Harris Nicholas' Proceedings of the King's Privy Council, page 80, Mr. Swyft is 
 secretary to the writ of summons of Richard II. Anno 1399 Roger Swift lived in 
 Kent, and inherited a tenth of the lands of Hadels, and anno 1461 another Roger 
 Swift also inherited a sixteenth of the same lands. Anno 1408 and 1420 John Swift 
 was a land-holder in Norfolk. — F/^^ 1164. Anno 1508 Peter Swift was auditor of 
 St. Pauls, London, and Richard, rector in Hereford. Anno 1530 Robert Swyft lived 
 at Castle Ward in Notts, and his cousin lived in Lancaster. Anno 1531 John Swyft 
 and Ann, his wife, had a lawsuit with Stanly of Mt. Eagle, for Hornby Castle and 
 
2 GENEALOGY OF THE FAMILY OF 
 
 for Capton Manse, and other manors in Lancastershire. Anno 1535, in 36tli Henry 
 VIII. Robert Swyft was prior of Shuldham in Norfolk, (vide 1164,) and William 
 Swift was prior of Cateby in Lincoln, and anno 1535 Robert Swifte was rector of 
 Rotherham in Yorkshire, and his sons Robert and William were auditors. Of this 
 family was Thomas Swift our immediate ancestor, who migrated from Rotherham 
 anno 1620 to 1629 to Massachusetts Bay, and brought with him the family arms, 
 "Or, a Chevron vair Blue and White between Three Black Bucks in full Course." 
 This Thomas became a "freeman" of Masssachusetts anno 1635. Of this Roth- 
 erham family Dugdale says, was the Dean of St. Patrick's, and also of the same 
 was Robert Swift who, anno 1550, was proprietor of Wakefield manor in Yorkshire, 
 (vide anno 1280,) and whose son Roger was seized of Rotherwell in the same shire, 
 and another son, Robert, became sheriff of the county, and was knighted by 
 Elizabeth 1599, and continued sheriff until 15th James I. Anno 1597 and '98 lived 
 Garret and Jasper Swift of the same family. My uncle Jonathan Swift informed me 
 they migrated to, and died bachelors in, Virginia. Anno 1658 Sir Edward Swift was 
 in the army with Monk, and of the council that annoyed Monk in opposing 
 Charles II. 
 
 The foregoing is written to show the location and condition of the name; but 
 whether before anno 1535 any of them be ancestors of kin of ours I do not assert. 
 Yet there must needs have been some consanguinity among so many persons of the 
 same name, living at various times in contiguous counties. In the time of Alfred, 
 mention is made, in the Saxon Chronicle, of the name as existing in repute and rank. 
 When the Normans ruled prenomens became common ; the conquered Saxon, prob- 
 ably for safety, adopted Norman christian names. I have not attempted, because I 
 have not been in England, to accumulate later facts of the Yorkshire family, some of 
 which maybe seen in Walter Scott's Life of Dean Jonathan Swift. Anno 1802 I 
 heard my father and his cousin John Swift, of Milton, conversing about the Rev. 
 John Swift of Framingham as corresponding with the Dean, or with his cousin Dean 
 Swift, and calling themselves cousins. When my uncle Jonathan Swift visited 
 England, anno 1786, he visited Rotherham in Yorkshire, and found the family of 
 respectable circle at Rotherham, and in other parts of the county, they having the 
 tradition that a branch of that family had migrated to Boston in the previous century. 
 
 The foregoing account of the name was made by General Swift. Very interesting 
 articles on the English family of Swift are contained in Historic Notices of Rotlicrliavi, 
 by John Guest, F. S. A., and South Yorkshire, by Rev. Joseph Hunter. These works 
 arc in the Boston Public Library. 
 
 Nui K. — liurUc's General Armory gives the arms of Robert .Swift, Esq., of Rotherham, born 1448. the riV/. 
 mercer, eldest son of Rol)ert Swift, Esq., of that place, — or, a chevron vair between three bucks in full coursi- 
 proper. Crest, a sinister arm embowed, vested vert, cuffed ar., holding in hand a sheaf of five arrows, or 
 feathered ppr., barbed az.; Vicount Carlingford, extinct 1634, grandson of William Swift, who was brother of 
 Robert .Swift, Ksq., of Rotherham, bore the same arms and crest. 
 
 Godwin Swift, attorney-Keneral to the Duke of Ormonde, and founder of the family in Ireland, son of the 
 Rev, Thomas Swift of Goodrich and liriston Co., Hereford, bore the same arms: Crest a demi-buck ramp., ppr., 
 in the mouth a honeysuckle, also ppr. stalked and leaved vert. Motto ; luilinu I.ente. The use of the anchor 
 entwined by a dolphin, Hurke says, was an assumption of Godwin Swift as a parody on the name. 
 
THOMAS SWIFT OF DORCHESTER. 
 
 THOMAS SWIFT AND HIS DESCENDANTS. 
 
 (ITfjomas Stoift, one of the earliest settlers of Dorchester, Mass., according to 
 Savage, was son of Robert Swift of Rotherham, Yorkshire, England. As he did not 
 qualify this assertion, we may well believe that he derived his information from an 
 authentic source. 
 
 He probabl)' came with the first comers, but his name first appears, November 
 22, 1634, on the town records, as the grantee of five acres of land. Twenty more 
 are recorded January 4, 1635, at the Great Hill between Roxbury and Dorchester; 
 one acre of marsh February 18, 1635, near Goodman Munning's at the Point Neck, 
 and March 18, of the same year, between three and four acres more. He also 
 appears as grantee of four acres of meadow land beyond the Neponset River. 
 Beside these grants he became the owner of other lots by purchase.* 
 
 He was admitted freeman of the colony May 6, 1635, was a member of the Rev. 
 Mr. Wareham's church in 1636, as was his wife Elizabeth, and was occasionally called 
 to serve the town in an official capacity. In 1658 he was a supervisor of the 
 highway, from 1659 to 1662 was a fence viewer, and was further distinguished as 
 quartermaster of a troop of horse. 
 
 In 1 66 1 -2 the commissioners for ending small causes met at his house, and the 
 same year he received from the town one pound as part of the selectmen's expenses, 
 and in 1665 three pounds. Probably they had met at his house to transact the 
 affairs of the town. From all we can learn he appears to have been a man of 
 enterprise, always ready for duty, and holding the respect of his fellow citizens. He 
 was a malster by trade, which he seems to have combined with agriculture. His 
 labors appear to have been well rewarded, for, beside rearing his family in a comfort- 
 able manner, giving his children a common education, and providing for his daughters 
 at their marriage, he was enabled to leave to his family a goodly estate for that day, 
 and was not unmindful of the church, and his dependents. 
 
 Among the household goods that he brought over was the ancient carved oak 
 
 *Henry Meriheld a;. 65 yrs. and Margaret his wife -x. 65 yrs., Anthony Golifer re. 64 yrs., Ann Spurr 0;. 61 yrs., 
 Thomas Tileston x. 76 yrs., all of Dorchester, testifieth that Thomas Swift, late of Dorchester deceased, and 
 Thomas Swift his son, of Milton, possessed by tillage and mowing a tract of upland and meadow in Dorchester 
 44 years; which is bounded southerly with meadow and upland formerly belonging to the worshipfuU M'. Israel 
 
 Stoughton : the upland being bounded westerly with the highway, northerly with Leads, his land, and 
 
 easterly mth the meadow formerly belonging to M'. John Holman, and partly with the same meadow; and the 
 meadow being bounded westerly with the same upland, and northerly with the meadow formerly belonging to M'. 
 John Holman, and easterly with a great salt creek or river. 
 
 Henry Meriheld and wife also testifyeth that he. Swift, had two houses upon it and they were tenants. Ann 
 Spurr also testifyeth there were two houses. Swift hved in one with his family, myself being one. William 
 Sumner a;. 80 yrs., Richard Hall se. 65 yrs., Thomas Holman st. 45 yrs., Timothy Tileston x. 49 yrs., testifyeth 
 that he lived on it 36 years and upwards. — Document dated Dec. 23, j6Sj. Suf. Deeds Lib. 13, Fol. 40S. 
 
4 GENEALOGY OF THE FAMILY OF 
 
 chair and the famil)- coat-of-arms, painted in oil on canvas. These precious 
 relics of the old Puritan are still in possession of his descendants ; the former 
 owned by Miss Elizabeth R. Swift of Milton, the latter by McRee Swift, Esq., 
 of New Brunswick, N. J. 
 
 The old arm chair indicates by its st}'le and workmanship that it belonged to the 
 period of the emigration, and there is not the shadow of a doubt of the authenticity 
 of its descent to the present day. It was inherited by Mr. Samuel Swift of the 
 fifth generation from Thomas, whose house is still standing on Milton Hill. By 
 some mistake, this valuable relic was sold by auction when Samuel Swift's estate was 
 settled, for the paltry sum of eighteen cents. It was bought by Mr. Ezra Glover of 
 Quincy, who could not be induced to give it up. At his decease it fell to his son, 
 John J. Glover, who possessed a taste for antique furniture, and died leaving a fine 
 collection. His furniture was sold by auction, and well advertised, which brought 
 together many persons who were disposed to pay a large price for this interesting 
 chair. Those desirous of getting it back into the family stated their case, and the 
 parties wishing to purchase withdrew their claim, and the administrators, with the 
 consent of the heirs, sold it to Miss Elizabeth R. Swift of Milton, in whose possession 
 it now remains. Albertypes of the chair and the coat-of-arms have been success- 
 fully made for this work. 
 
 Savage says Elizabeth, wife of Thomas Swift, was probably daughter of Bernard 
 Capen of Dorchester, which is doubtless correct, for Thomas Swift in his will calls 
 John Capen his brother-in-law, and John Capen (who had a grant of an acre of land 
 next to Goodman Swift to build a house on,) speaks of his sister Swift in a letter to 
 Mary Bass, dated i, 5 mo., 1647, printed in the History of Dorchester, p. 45. The 
 Swift graves are also ne.vt to those of Capen. 
 
 Bernard Capon was from Dorchester, England. He was a very prominent citizen, 
 serving as representative six times. He died Nov. 8, 1638, and his gravestone 
 inscription is thought to be the earliest in New England. See Hist. Gen. Register, 
 Vol. XX., p. 246, for an account of the family. 
 
 CHILDREN. 
 
 Joan, perhaps b. in England, d. July 21, 1663; m. Nov. 5, 1657, (as Savage says, should be, without 
 doubt, 1647,) John Baker of Boston, smith, by whom she had eight children, six of whom 
 proljably d. young, as only two, Thomas and Elizabeth, are named in their father's will, made 
 March 26, 1666; proved July, 1666; invt. .^^798.19. Abstract of same in Hist. Gen. RfgisUr, 
 Vol. XV., p. 124. He gave son Thomas land in Dorchester that had belonged to his grandfather 
 Swift. He m. 2nd, 8, 11, 1663, Thankful, dau. of Lieut. Hopestill Foster of Dorchester, by 
 whom he had John, and a posthumous dau. Silence, b. 28, 5, 1666. He was admitted townsman 
 of Boston 1642, and his name appears in the Book of Possessions 1648; ar. co. 1644. Hi> 
 inventory shows he was a shipowner, and that he lived in good style. 
 
 2. iTtjomas, b. June 17, 1635. 
 
 3. ©bafiiatj, b. July 16, 1638. 
 
 Ei.lZABinil, b. Feb. 26, 1640; d. Jan. 9, 1641-2. 
 
THOMAS SWIFT OF DORCHESTER. 5 
 
 Ruth, b. Aug. 24, 1643; d. between 1677 and 16S0; m. Oct. 10, l65o, Capt. Wm. Greenough, 
 shipwright, of Boston, by whom she had seven children. He d. Aug. 6, 1693, re. 53, (g. s. one 
 of the most beautiful in Copp's Hill). Will made Aug. I, 1693; proved Sept. 13, 1693; 'nvt. 
 ;^i 245.9.4, showing large estate and house furnished in a superior manner. Had 2nd wife 
 Elizabeth Rainsford; 3rd wife Sarah Shore of Chelmsford. See N. E. Hisi. Geti. I\eg., Vol. 
 
 Mary, b. Sept. 21, 1645; m. 11, 11, 1663, John White of Boston, joiner; bapt. in Dorchester 15th 
 Dec, 1639; d. Aug. 6, 1690, k. about 50: (g. s. Copp's Hill). Will made Apr. 26, 1690; 
 proved Oct. 11, 1690; invt. £ioii.-j3,, consisting of dwelling houses and wharf, land at Dor- 
 chester, farm at Lynn, household effects showing he lived in the same style as his brother-in-laws. 
 Names brother James White, of Dorchester, and son Edward. Was son of Edward White of 
 Dorchester, 1635, who was b. 1593; m. Martha King in 1616 at St. Dunstan's church, Cran- 
 brooke, Kent, Eng. John and Mary had, i. Mary, b. 8, S, 1663, m. John Robinson. 2. Martha, 
 b. July 7. '659, m. Samuel Warkman of R. I., housewright. 3. Sarah, b i6th Aug., 1671, m. 
 Capt. Edward Martyn, merchant of Boston, son of Michael Martyn of Boston, mariner. In 
 this line is descended Mrs. Harrison EUery. 4. Elizabeth, m. John Welch, mariner. 5. 
 
 Edward, m. Elizabeth ■ ; was cooper of Boston. 6. Susanna, d. June iS, 167S. 7. 
 
 Thankful, b. Jan. 18, 1677, spinster in 1702. 8. John, b. Aug. 12, 16S0. 
 
 Anna, b. Nov. 16, 1647; d. Sept. 13, 16S0, x. 33, (g. s. Copp's Hill) ; ra. Aug. 19, 1664, Obadiah 
 Read of Boston, housewright, by whom she had several children, i. Elizabeth, b. Mch. 29, 
 1669; m. July 6, 1691, Samuel Durham. 2. Anna, b. Feb. 3, 1672-3; m. Highinbottom. 3. 
 James, b. Feb. 29, 1679-S0. Others d. young. By his 2nd wife Elizabeth he had children. He 
 d. Feb. 19, 1721-2, £e. 82, (g. 5. Copp's Hill). Will made Jan. 3, 1718; invt. ;^S75; names 
 sons Thomas, James, and Obadiah to have 100 acres land in Kittery Co., York; grandson John 
 Durram; daus. Sarah Hughes, Anna Highinbottom, Mary Miller, Elizabeth Durrani, Elizabeth, 
 dau. of Obadiah; sisters Hannah and Sarah Broughton. 
 
 James, bapt. 10, i, 1649; d. 4, 9, 1657. 
 
 Susanna, b. Feb. 11, 1651-2; d. Mch. 2, 1732, se. 80; m. Apr. 18, 1672, Elder Hopestill Clapp of 
 Dorchester. (See Clapp's Genealogy). 
 
 Elizabeth, ; d. 6, 9, 1657. 
 
 The death of Goodman Swift is recorded May 4, 1675, but his grave-stone is 
 inscribed May 30, 1675, and that of his wife January 26, 1677-8. These stones, 
 still standing side by side in the western corner of the ancient graveyard of Dor- 
 chester, at Upham's corner, are of heavy slate well preserved, and bid fair to stand 
 the storms and sunshine of two centuries more. The illustrations given, are directly 
 from the stones. The inscriptions are also printed on page 166, Vol. Iv. of the N. E. 
 Hist, and Gen. Register. 
 
 The graves are covered with two large rough Roxbury pudding stones, placed 
 there to protect the bodies from the wolves ; a common custom with the early 
 settlers, these rapacious animals being numerous at that period. 
 
 WILL. 
 
 The last will and testam' of me Tho : Swift Sen' of dorchester, made the six and twentieth day of Aprill, 
 sixteen hundred seveanty and five. 
 First. I Commit mv soule to god that gave it, and my body to a decent buriall in the earth. And for this 
 world's goods which god'has gratiously given me, my will is that my just debts be paid and funerall discharged, 
 and then my whole estate as now it is, I leave it with my wife for her comfortable livelyhood dureing her natural 
 life, if she remaire a widow; but and if she Change her Condition by marrying with another man, then my will is 
 that my wife shall have one hundred pounds out of my estate, either in land or goods, which she like be»t, and 
 
6 GENEALOGY OF THE FAMILY OF 
 
 this hundred pounds shall be at her disposall when it shall please god to take her away by death, and for 
 the rest of my estate, when this hundred pounds is taken away, my will is that my sonn Tho : shall have live 
 pounds as a farther token of my love, beside what he have formerly had. 
 
 Also, I give and bequeath six pounds unto the towne of dorchester toward there maintaining of an alile 
 minestry in dorchester, and to be laid out by the selectmen & deacons in Something that may helpe the towne 
 in there yearly maintenance. And twenty shiUings I give unto Henry Merrifield, and twenty shillings unto 
 Anne, the wife of Rob' Spurr, who were formerly my servants; the remainder of my estate I doe will and 
 appointe that my sonn Obediah Swift shall have a double portion with any of his sisters, accounting what they 
 have formerly had. and when my wife die or marry, if my sonn Obediah be able & willing, he may purchase the 
 land and pay his sisters in other specie, further, my will is that Elizabeth, my deare and loving wife shall be 
 Executrix of my whole estate, and my brother-in-Law W'". Sumner, and my brother-in-Law John Capen I 
 doe appointe to be Overseeres of my whole estate. In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and Scale 
 y day is; yeare aforesaid. 
 
 the mark of \V. Tho : Swift & a seale. 
 
 Signed, Sealed & Deliv' in presence of us, viz : 
 John Cape.n, Sen', 
 
 RlC* S.MITH. 
 
 L' Jn" Capen and Rich'' Smith made oath in Court the 30 July, 1675, that 
 they being present subscribed there names as witnesses to this Instrum', which 
 Tho : Swift Signed, sealed and published to be his last will and testam', & y' 
 when he soe did he was of a sound disposing minde to the best of there 
 knowledge, this done as attests. Lib. 6, Fol. 9./, Suf. Wills. 
 
 INVENTORY. 
 
 An inventory of the estate of Tho: Swift of dorchester, who departed this life y' 4th of May, 1675, taken 
 and appraised by us whose names are underwritten this iSth day of June, 1675 : 
 
 Imp", wearing apparrell of all Sorts, both linen and woolen, - - - - - 
 
 It : some peses of new Cloath, viz : tecking, ------- 
 
 It : 9 sheetes, 7 pillowbys, table cloath, one duz. and halfe of napkins, towells and a little flax, 
 It : one bed and bolster, blankets, pillows, curtaines, vallens, bedstead. 
 
 It: One Cupbord, Chests, truncke, table, Chaires, Cushins and forme, . - - 
 
 In the Chamber. It: One featherbed, bolsters, Rugg, blanktis, . . - . 
 
 It : 3 p' Sheetes, one chest, Rugg and other small things, . . . - . 
 
 Kitchen. It : 10 platters, 2 candlesticks, basons, fruttedishes, porengers, quart potts, bowles, &c., 
 It: 2 brass kittles, I Iron pot, I warming pan, I porsnet skillet, brase morter firepan and 
 
 tongs, and other utinsells, -..--.-- 
 
 Malthouse. It : One skreene, hair cloth baggs, measures, and other utensels. 
 In the yard & field. It : 5 Cows, one horse, two oxen, two yung cattle, swine. Cart and wheeles, 
 
 plow, chaine, sadle, pillion, bridle, and other utincells, - - - . - 
 
 It: 22 acres and 4 of land on the north of Naponsett, . . - . - 
 
 It : 20 acres land at the 20 acre lots, ..-..-.- 
 It: II acres and .1 land in y Cow walke, --.-.-. 
 
 It : the dwelling house, barne, rooms, orchard, gardens, plowing land and pasture 
 
 land on the hill neere the house, about 12 acres, - . . . . 
 
 It : 4' acres of land called pops lott, and aboute two acres in the toune feild, - . - 
 
 It : 6 acres of meadow, ...-..-.- 
 
 It: One muskit and p' of Sidar press, -..-..-- 
 
 the totall sume, errors excepted, is - - - 459 10 03 
 
 JAMES HUMPSTREY, 
 Lib. 5, Fol. 2jn, Suf. IVills. Wm. SUMNER, 
 
 JOHN CAPEN, Sen'. 
 
 Although Thomas Swift made his mark when signing his will, he could write, for 
 7). fac-siniUc of his autograph, with others, attached to a petition in 1641, is printed 
 in Blake's Annals of Dorchester. 
 
 £ 
 
 s. 
 
 d. 
 
 010 
 
 01 
 
 00 
 
 002 
 
 00 
 
 03 
 
 007 
 
 08 
 
 03 
 
 010 
 
 13 
 
 06 
 
 006 
 
 01 
 
 00 
 
 005 
 
 01 
 
 06 
 
 004 
 
 12 
 
 05 
 
 004 
 
 ■3 
 
 00 
 
 007 
 
 H 
 
 06 
 
 003 
 
 10 
 
 06 
 
 033 
 
 10 
 
 04 
 
 on 
 
 OS 
 
 00 
 
 040 
 
 00 
 
 00 
 
 030 
 
 00 
 
 00 
 
 160 
 
 00 
 
 00 
 
 062 
 
 00 
 
 00 
 
 060 
 
 00 
 
 00 
 
 CXX3 
 
 19 
 
 00 
 
THOMAS SWIFT OF DORCHESTER. 
 
 Deacon 9rf)oma33 Stoift, (Thomas^) of Milton, yeoman, b. in Dorchester, Mass., 
 June 17, 1635; m. Dec. 9, 1657, Elizabeth, dau. of Robert Vose, of Milton. She 
 d. Jan. 26, 1676, and the i6th of the following October he m. Sarah Clapp. She 
 was dismissed from the church in Dorchester the 18, 7, 1681, and was admitted to 
 full communion at the Milton church Oct. 2, 1681. She may have been a daughter 
 of a brother of Roger Clapp. (See Clapp Genealogy, p. 12). 
 
 CHILDREN. 
 Thomas, b. July 30, 1659; dead in 1 71 7, when his father, by will, gives a legacy to "Thomas 
 Swift, the reputed Son of Son Thomas Swift, deceas'd." 
 
 Elizabeth, b. Aug. 21, 1662; m. Pratt. 
 
 Ebenezer, b. Oct. 21, 1667; d. Nov. 3, 1680. 
 
 William, b. May 5, 1670; killed in 1690 in the expedition against Quebec, Canada, being a mem- 
 ber of John Withington's co. of Dorchester. His cousin James, member of same co., was also 
 killed. 
 k- 3of)n, b. Mch, 14, 1678-9. 
 5. Samiitl, b. Dec. 10, 16S3. 
 
 Deacon Swift received from his father-in-law, in 1659, i()% acres of upland in 
 Milton, which was confirmed to him by deed dated Feb. 23, 1663.* This, with 
 other lots which he subsequently added by purchase, was the original homestead, 
 continued in the family until 1835, when it was sold by his great-grandson Samuel 
 Swift. This estate is now owned by Mr. Lewis W. Tappan, Jr., of Milton, a descendant 
 of Obadiah, brother of Dea. Thomas Swift. 
 
 He early showed a capacity for public affairs, and in 1662 was chosen to run a 
 line between Dorchester and Braintree, and was a supervisor of the highway. In 
 1661 he received a bounty of £1 for slaying a wolf 
 
 He evidently settled in Milton about the time of his marriage, and became one of 
 the most prosperous and useful citizens, being constantly in office till within a few 
 years of his death. 
 
 The town was incorporated in 1662, but the records do not commence until 1669. 
 His name appears that year as one appointed to make the rate, and "get help for the 
 Sabbath." The same year he was on the grand jury, and also commenced his long 
 career of service as a selectman, which reached, almost without an intermission, to 
 the year 1700 — a period of about thirty years. During this time he was also called 
 to serve in various other capacities; was clerk of the market; appointed in 1700-1 
 to oversee the building of the meeting house ; was fence viewer, tything-man, 
 assessor, representative to General Court, and in 17 14 moderator — probably the last 
 town office which he held. 
 
 *Mch. iS, 1727-S, Jonathan Gulliver a:, about 67 yrs., Stephen Crane about 70 yrs., John Wadsworth about 
 55 yrs., Peter White about 67 yrs., all testify that Dea. Thomas Swift of Milton, deceased, and Samuel Swift, his 
 ■son, for forty years have been in possession of a certain tract of land in Milton. — Suf. Deeds, Lib. 4.2, Fol. jj. 
 
8 GENEALOGY OF THE FAMILY OF 
 
 Beside these numerous offices he was made quartermaster of a troop of horse 
 May 5, 1676, as had been his father, and bore the title of Heutenant. He was 
 appointed by the General Court to take charge of the Neponset Indians at Brush 
 Hill. Major Gookin, in his Indian History says that "Mr. Eliot and himself met 
 every other week in the winter of 1676 among the Punkapoag Indians, who were 
 brought up from Long Island, and placed near Brush Hill in Milton, under the charge 
 of Quartermaster Swift. They came up late from the Island, yet they planted some 
 ground procured for them by Major Swift, and they got some corn. Their wives 
 and children were there with them." 
 
 The following orders and petitions, from the Mass. Archives, give us some idea of 
 his valuable services. 
 
 29, 5, 1675. Coperall Thomas Swift was ordered by the council to take with him Indians, soldiers at Swanzy. 
 
 To the honorable Counsell now sitting in Boston : 
 
 Thes humbly sheweth that wheras I was ordered by the whorshipfuU Mr. Danforth to asoect the Indians 
 belonging to punckapoge the latter part of the last summer, and secondly of beinge ordered by the honnerd 
 major Guggins, and so from the honnerd Counsell to tacke care of the afuresayd Indians after that they came 
 from the island. Thes humbly informeth that the last year I spent a grete deal of time about them, they being 
 restraind from Commerse with the Inglish, and our EngUsh beinge so Kedy, many of them, to tacke any 
 advantage against them if that they were found out of that Limits, which necesitated me to doe much of ther 
 business, beside all other ackomation conceringe them and the good of the Country, Considering how the case 
 stood between us & the Indian; which service I hop I did cheerfuly and in some mesure, I hop, to the utmost 
 of my power, for which 1 have never reseved any alowance; but I humbly leve it to your honers Consideration. 
 as to the ackompt of what time I spent, it was almost impossible fur me to Kepe an ackompt of, considering how 
 things have been with us. so I Re»t, holding it my duty to pr.ay for you honner. 
 
 your humbell servant in what I can or may, 
 
 THOMAS SWIFT. 
 
 5d. 8m., 76: [• Mass. Archives, Lib. ^0, Fol. Z2j. 
 
 Ordered, that Lieu' Thomas Swift take Speedy care to provide .Sixty or more of the Friend Indians, well 
 furnish'' with arms & amunition, to be sent out under a Suitable Comander ag' the comon Enemy. 
 Past in the affirmative by the Magistrate. 
 Aug. 1690. Jo" Addington, Sec'>'. 
 
 Consented to by the deputiees. Neh. Jewet, p. ored. 
 
 These he furnished at an expense of ;^o.i5.o. — Mass. Archives. 
 
 Not only in secular affairs was he prominent and useful, but the church found in 
 him a ready supporter. He was one of the founders of the First Church in Milton, 
 signing the covenant April 24, 1678, and Aug. 20, 1682, was ordained deacon. He 
 and his wife Elizabeth had been members of the Dorchester church before the 
 organization of the Milton church, and there their children were baptized. In 1686 
 he gave .^2.5.0 to the support of the minister, being one of the largest subscribers. 
 
 The town records of Dorchester show that he and Ezra Clapp were granted, in 
 1 68 1, liberty to catch fish at Neponset, below the mill, and to make a stage there. 
 
 Capt. Roger Clapp of Dorchester, Nov. 9, 1690, makes his cousin Thomas Swift 
 one of the overseers of his will. 
 
 Deacon Swift lived to the good old age of 82 years, dying January 26, 1 71 7-1 8. 
 His wife died Feb. 4th, 171 7-18, the day after her husband's funeral, as is recorded 
 in the journal of her son, the Rev. John Swift of Framingham. Some accounts call 
 the Rev. John the son of the first wife, Elizabeth, which is erroneous. 
 
THOMAS SWIFT OF DORCHESTER. 9 
 
 The gravestones of Mr. and Mrs. Swift — small, beautifully cut stones — are 
 standing in the Milton cemetery among a number of stones, fifteen in all, of the 
 family. That of Mr. Swift has been printed in the .V. E. H. G. Register. They are 
 reproduced for this work by the Albertype process. 
 
 WILL. 
 
 In the Name of God. Amen, the Twenty-first day of September, Anno Domini One Thousand 
 Seven Hundred and Seventeen. In the fourth Year of the Reign of our Sovereign Lord George over Great 
 Brittain, cVc, I, Thomas Swift of Milton, in the County of Sufi'olk within his Majesties province of the Massachu- 
 setts Bay, in New England, Yeoman, being in a Competent Measure of bodily health, and of sound mind & 
 understanding, praised be almighty God for the same. Knowing the uncertainty of this present Hfe, and being 
 desireous to Settle that outward Estate the Lord hath lent me, Doe therefore make & Ordain this my Last 
 will and Testament in manner and form following, (That is to say), First and principally I commend my 
 Soul into the hands of God, my almighty Creator, hopeing to receive full pardon and remission of all my Sins, 
 and Salvation through the alone Merits of Jesus Christ my Redeemer, And my Body to the Earth, to be decently 
 Interred according to the discretion of my Ex'% herein after named, in hopes of a Glorious Resurrection into 
 Eternall life. And as touching such worldly Estate as the Lord hath lent unto me, my will and meaning is, 
 the same shall be Imploy'd and bestowed as hereafter in and by this my will is exprest. hereby revoking, 
 renouncing & makeing null and void all wills and Testaments by me formerly made, declareing and appointing 
 this to be my last will and Testament, w-herein is contained the same. 
 
 Imp". I will that all my just debts, and Funerall expences, bee well, truly and duely paid, by my son Samuel 
 Swift of .Milton afores', Husbandman, one of my Executors hereinafter named. 
 
 Item. I do give and bequeath unto my Loving wife Sarah Swift the use, benefit and improvement of the 
 East End of my Dwelling House, from Bottom to top, with the liberty, use and privilidge of y Garden and well, 
 and Three Milch Cows maintained Summer and winter, and Yearly the summe of Twelve Pounds Money, 
 Quarterly (dureing the Terme of her naturall life,) or in what to her shall be Equivalent to money, and her 
 Yearly firewood. I also give and bequeath unto my afore^aid wife Sarah Swift, her Heirs and Assigns forever, 
 all my money and Moveable Estate within doors, And all Money, and debts owing or due to me by bill, Bond, 
 or otherwise. I also give unto her my Negro Woman to be at her disposall, and the one-half of my Orchard 
 dureing her natural life. 
 
 Item. I do hereby give, devise and bequeath unto my Son John Swift, and to his Heirs and Assigns forever. 
 All that my whole Tract and parcell of upland, which I have lying in the Six Divisions (so called) within the 
 township of Milton afores ', bounded Easterly with the Land of Ephraim Xewton, Westerly with Deacon Sumner's 
 Land, Northerly with the Parralel Line, and Southerly with Brantry Line. Also all my Land Lying in the 
 Twelve Divisions of Land (so called) in Dorchester afores'. Containing between Three Score and Four score 
 Acres. And also all that my Piece of Salt niairsh Meadow Lying in Dorchester afores'', containing Estimation 
 Seven Acres, be the same more or Less, w'hich is bounded and Surrounded with Lands of the Late Ebenezer 
 Clap, dec', John Daniel, Daniel Allen, and the River. And my mind and will is that my s"* Son John Swift, or 
 his Heirs, shall possess all the afores' uplands at my decease, and the Meadow at my s' wife's decease or 
 removeall by marriage, (I haveing given my s' Son John Swift considerable before, beside his learning.) And 
 if it happens that my s' Son John Swift at any time hereafter be minded to sell and dispose of his aforesaid 
 Lands and Meadow, it is my will and desire that his Brother .Samuel Swift may have the first tender thereof, 
 made to him for buying them on such reasonable Terms as any other person would give for the same. -Vnd if it 
 happen that my s' Son John, with his family, in his Mother's lifetime or afterwards Leaves Framingham, and is 
 minded to come & Live in Milton, then in such case for the Accomodation of himself and Family while he shall 
 remain in Milton, wether it be for term of his life or shorter, he shall have the Old East End of my dwelling 
 House, up and downe from the Cellar to the Top, Liberty tS: use of the old Garden and well, with Ingress, 
 Egress and Regress to and from the same for the aforesaid purpose freely, only having his ^lother's Consent 
 thereto. I give also to my S'' Son John Three Cows, to be delivered him at my decease. 
 
 Item. I give and bequeath unto my Daughter Elizabeth Pratt, and all her Children born of her body. 
 One Hundred Pounds, to be equally divided between her and them, to be paid them within One Year after my 
 decease, by my son Samuel Swift. 
 
 Item. I give and bequeath unto Thomas Swift, the reputed Son of Son Thomas Swift, dece.is'^ Ten ShiUings 
 besides the Twenty Pounds I have given under my hand to pay him, and what is behind that I promised his 
 Mother. And I do hereby C)rdaine and appoint that the afors' Thomas Swift, the reputed son of my s'' Son 
 Tho : Swift, shall have no more of ray said Estate. 
 
 Item. I do hereby give, devise, and bequeath unto my s'' Son Samuel Swift, and to his Heirs and Assignes 
 forever, all my remaining upland and meadow Lying and being in Milton & Dorchester aforesaid, with all my 
 Housing, Edifices, Buildings, Barnes, Yards, Gardens, Orchards appertaining thereto, and Fences Standing 
 thereon, he paying my just Debts and Funerall Expences, and what I have herein before given Annually unto his 
 Mother, and unto his Sister Ehzabeth Pratt and her Children; and also supplying his Mother with Firewood at 
 home at her doore at all time and times when she shall need it, as also an Horse to ride on at her pleasure; as 
 also reserving out of the above given and bequeathed premises unto my Son John the privihge of his liveing in 
 
lO GENEALOGY OF THE FAMILY OF 
 
 the Old East End of s'^ Dwelling house in manner as afores''. I also give unto my son Samuel Swift all the rest 
 of my whole Stock of Neat Cattle, and all my out door Implements & Utensills of Husbandry, as Carts, Wheels, 
 Chains, Ploughs and the like. And I do appoint my Negro Man to be for the Equall use and Service of my 
 Son Samuel and my wife while she Continues upon my place, and at her removeal thence by Death or other- 
 wise the s'^ Negro Man to be the Sole dispose of my s' Son Samuel; and my Indian Boy Jehu to be at my Son 
 Samuel's disposall for the remainder of his time at my decease. And it is my mind and will that my s'^ Son 
 Samuel Swift, out of that my Estate given unto him as above said, shall pay unto my aboves' wife the summe of 
 Twelve Pounds Pr. .\nnum dureing her naturall life, & all needfuU firewood, and provide and maintaine for her 
 Three Cows and a Horse dureing her abode in Milton as aboves'. And shall pay unto his Sister Pratt and her 
 Children One Hundred Pounds as abovesaid, and unto Thomas Swift, the reputed Son of Thomas Swift, Ten 
 Shillings as aboves'. And my will is that my wive's Three Cows afores'', and all the moveables before given 
 unto her which remain at her my s' wife's decease, be for my s"* Son John Swift and his Heirs. 
 
 Lastly. I do hereby constitute and appoint my Two before named Sons, John and Samuel Swift, to be the 
 Executors of this my Last Will and Testament. In Testimony whereof I, the said Thomas Swift, have hereunto 
 set my hand and Seal the day and Year first above written. , , — ' — , - 
 
 THOMAS SWIFT. i. seal V 
 
 Signed, Sealed, Published & Declared by the s'' Thomas Swift, the '^ — .,— ' ' 
 
 Testator, as and for his Last will and Testament, in pres- 
 ence of us. 
 
 Edward Mills, Jun', 
 Samuel Kneeland, 
 Edward Mills. 
 Suffolk, ss. By the Hon'''* Samuil Sewall, Esq., Judge of Probate, etc. 
 
 The aforegoing Will being presented for Probate by John and Samuel Swift, Executors within Named, 
 Edward Mills and Samuel Kneeland made Oath that they Saw Thomas Swift, the Subscriber to the aforegoing 
 Instrument, Sign, Seal, and heard him publish and Declare the same to be his last Will and Testament. And 
 that when he so did he was of Sound Disposing mind and memory according to these Depon"' best Discern- 
 ing. And that together with Edward Mills, Jun', (now at Marblehead,) set to their names as witnesses 
 thereof in the presence of the said Testator. 
 
 Boston, February 2o'^ 1717. Samuil Sewall. 
 
 John Swift of Framingham, Gent, 
 Samuel Swift of Milton, Yeoman, 
 Thomas Thatcher of Boston, Brasier, 
 James Tilestone of s'' Boston, Carpenter, 
 
 all of the county of Suffolk, gave bonds in the sum of Two thousand dollars for the fullfilment of the will 
 Feb. 5, 1718. Lib. 20, Fol. 224. 
 
 4 
 Ecb. 3oiju' Stoift, (Thomas'' Tlwmas\) b. in Milton Mar. 14, 167S-9; d. Apr. 24, 
 1745 ; m. Dec. i6, 1701, Sarah, (b. Sept, 7, 1671 ; d. Feb. i, 1747, ?e. 73 yrs.) dau. 
 of Timothy Tileston of Dorchester. 
 
 CHILDREN. 
 Sarah, b. Sept. 16, 1702; dead in 1745; adm. to Church Mar. 24, 172S; m. June 0, 1729, Eben 
 
 Roby of Sudbury. 
 Elizabeth, b. Mar. 26, 1704; d. Apr. 12, 1739; adm. to Church Mar. 24, 172S; m. Apr. 15, 
 
 1 731, Rev. James Stone of HoUiston. 
 Anne, b. July 5, 1706; d. ; m. Dec. 5, 1733, Rev. Phillips Payson, H. C. 1724; 
 
 settled. at Walpole. Four of their sons were settled ministers: Rev. Phillips Payson, D. 
 
 D., H. C. 1754; ord. at Chelsea 26 Oct., 1757. Rev. Samuel Payson, H. C. 1758; ord. at 
 
 Lunenburg Sept., 1762. Rev. John Payson, H. C. 1764; ord. at Fitchburg 27 Jan., 1768. Rev. 
 
 Scth Payson, D. D., H. C. 1777; ord. Rindge, N. IL, 4 Dec, 17S2, father of Rev. Edward 
 
 Payson, D. D., of Portland, Me., H. C. 1S03. 
 Marv, b. Nov. 16, 1 70S; unm. in 1745. 
 Martha, b. ; m. Oct. 13, 1740, Major John Farrar of Framingham. She died 
 
 about 1749. 
 0. 3oljn, b. Jan. 14, 1713-14. 
 
THOMAS SWIFT OF DORCHESTER. II 
 
 Rev. John Swift was the senior minister of the Marlboro' Association of ministers 
 at the time of its formation, although the name of Robert Breck stands first on the 
 list of members. He graduated at Harvard College in 1697, and was ordained as 
 the first minister of Framingham Oct. 8, 1701. His ministry was conducted with 
 faithfulness and prudence; and not a notice occurs in all the transactions of the 
 town in any degree qualifying the respect and estimation in which he was held. Of 
 his ability as a preacher we have ho means of judging. His printed sermons are 
 marked with a pure and classical taste. He was free from all affectation of style as 
 well as extravagance of zeal, or rashness of opinion. The subject of his ordinary 
 discourses, as one may infer from his own diary, were often suggested by passing 
 events. Some of these discourses bear marks of extemporaneous composition. 
 Thus he notes on one occasion his preaching from the words " The voice of the Lord 
 is upon the waters; the God of glory thundereth;" adding, "it being a day of 
 thunder." A day of extreme severity suggested the text: "Who can stand before 
 his cold?" And a few weeks later, doubtless while the snow drifted through the 
 crevices of the ancient and dilapidated meeting-house, the motto of his sermon was 
 "a covert from the storm." The halt of a detachment of soldiers in the village 
 induced him to discourse from the word " a devout soldier." Mr. Swift preached 
 the Election Sermon in 1732 ; also a discourse on the occasion of the death of the 
 Rev. Robert Breck of Marlborough in 1731 ; both of which were printed. 
 
 He is spoken of as a wise counsellor and good man of a well cultivated mind, 
 and held in great esteem in the churches. His salary was £^0, equal to $233.33 ! to 
 which, in the latter part of his ministry on account of the sickness of his wife, an 
 additional grant of $10 was added. He is said to have been a correspondent of 
 Dean Swift. He died April 24, 1745, in the 4Sth year of his ministry and the 67th 
 year of his age. See Hist, of Framingham, and Hist, of the Worcester Association. 
 
 The following letter respecting the division of Framingham is interesting, as 
 giving one some idea of the situation of a country minister at that period : 
 
 Framingham June 7, 1731. 
 
 Sir: — 
 
 I hear that the Hon'''* House of Representatives have granted a Division of the Town of Framing- 
 ham (which upon 30 years' Experience or more of the capacity of the s'' Town) I fear will prov. subversive to 
 the best, especially religious. Interests of the Said Town. 
 
 Such a Division, Sir, would be a great Ease to me in my Official performances were the Town capable of it; 
 but by reason of the Town's deficiency in the payment of my dues, and trouble they have given me about my 
 Settlement, I have been greatly impoverished. Spent a Considerable part of my paternal estate to Support the 
 Ministry in Framingham, as I can easily make to appear. 
 
 Settling in the year 1700, before there was any paper currency in the Governm'. (as I suppose), and having 
 had but an inconsiderable allowance for the Change of the Species, I can't suppose my Loss to be much (if any- 
 thing) short of 1000/'. The Deficiency of the arrears since the Town had a discharge or receipt in full from 
 me, which I know ought to be made good, and am well informed are recoverable in the Law, together with new 
 charges which will accrue unavoidably, will be what one -half part of Framingham (notwithstanding their num- 
 bers) cannot accomplish without help, in my humble opinion, verte Dominie. In the year 1729 the Hon'''* 
 House of Representatives received it for good doctrine. I think, viz", that our Hon'''' Legislature have it in their 
 power to make reasonable allowance for the discount upon the paper currency whereby Minist"' small annuityes 
 are much diminished, And I depend (under God) upon the Goodness & Justice of his Excellency & the Hon- 
 
12 GENEALOGY OF THE FAMILY OF 
 
 ourable Board that nothing shall be done to my hurt. If there should be any occasion, I pray. Sir, that you 
 would communicate these lines, as in your wisdom you Shall See meet, and you will greatly oblige 
 
 \' Obedient & humble Servant, 
 
 JOHN SWIFT. 
 To the Hon''"' 
 
 John Willard, Esq', 
 Boston. 
 
 Deliver 
 Mass. Archives Lib. 1 14, fol. 56. 
 
 OBITUARY. 
 
 [ From the Boston Evening Post of May 13th, 1745.] 
 
 Framinghara, May 8. On the 24th of the last Month died here, after a long and tedious Indisposition, the 
 Rev. Mr. John Swift, the first Pastor of the Church in this Place, in the 67th Year of his Age, and the 45th Year 
 of his Ministry. As he was a Gentleman of considerable natural Powers, so he acquired a considerable Degree 
 of human and useful Learning. He particularly excelled in Rhetoric, and Oratory, and as a Critic in the Greek 
 Language. His Piety was sincere and eminent : His Preaching was sound and Evangelical. As a Pastor he 
 was diligent, faithful and prudent; and in his Conversation he was sober, grave and profitable; yet aft'able, 
 courteous and pleasant. He was a lover of Hospitality, and kept his Heart and his House open to all good People. 
 When he received Injuries at any Time, he bore them with singular Discretion and Meekness; and the various 
 Trials and Sorrows with which he was exercised, especially the latter part of his Life, gave Occasion for shewing 
 forth his Wisdom, Humanity, Patience, and Resignation to the Divine Will. He was had in high Esteem by the 
 Association to which he belonged, and respected by all who had any Acquaintance with his real Character and 
 Merits. 
 
 The following inscription, from his monument in the Framingham graveyard, is 
 printed in the history of that town : 
 
 HIC JACET 
 
 Qui oblit A. D. 1745, Aprills Qd'" 
 
 /Etatisque anno 67""° 
 
 VIR ILLE REVERENDUS D. JOHANNES SWIFT 
 
 Dotibus et nativis et acquisitis ornatus ; 
 
 Docendi Artifex, Exemplar Vivendi, 
 
 Felix, dum vixit, 
 
 Mores exhibens secundunn Divinas Regulas, 
 
 Episcopo necessarios 
 
 Commlscens Prudentiam Serpentis, Columbaeque, 
 
 Innocentiam ; 
 
 Commercium cum eo habentlbus, 
 
 In vita Percfiarus, 
 
 Atque gratam sui, etsi moestam, Memorlam 
 
 Post mortem, lis relinquens : 
 
 Qui per varies casus, variaque Rerum Discrimina 
 
 Atque usque ad mortem 
 
 Raram dlscretlonem, Modestiam, Patientiam, 
 
 Voluntatique Supremi Numinis Submissionem 
 
 Spectandam prcebens ; 
 
 Jam tandam in Domino requievit 
 
 Adoptlonem 
 
 Scilicet, Corporis obruti Redemtionem 
 
 Expectabundus. 
 
THOMAS SWIFT OF DORCHESTER. 13 
 
 TRANSLATION. 
 
 Here lies the Reverend John Swift, who died in 1745, April 24th, in the 
 67th year of his age. Adorned with gifts both native and acquired; he 
 was a master in the art of teaching; a model of living, conforming all his 
 acts to the divine laws. To all those with whom he had to do he exhibited 
 the wisdom of the serpent and the innocence of the dove. While livino- he 
 was very much beloved, and he left at death a grateful though mournful mem- 
 ory to his friends. Through many scenes and trials, and even unto death, he 
 manifested a rare discretion, modesty, patience and submisson to the Divine Will. 
 He at length rests with the Lord, looking for the adoption that is the redemp- 
 tion of the body. 
 
 WILL. 
 The following Will, dated September, 1743, commences with the usual formula: 
 
 Imp'. My Will is That my just Debts and funeral Charges be duly paid or discharged bv mv Ex- 
 ecutor. t= 1 , 
 
 Item. I give and bequeath unto Sarah, my Well beloved Wife (in lieu of Dower &- Thirds) the use & 
 Improvement of my House in Framingham, of late years used for mv Studv, as also of the Land and conven- 
 iences adjommg, & therewith used distinct from my former; and other improvements, & one Bed and furniture 
 (of which my said mfe to have her Choice,) and so much of mv Other Household Goods as shall be Judged 
 necessary and convenient in order to her keeping house there, as also the benefit of one Cow, to be kept "for her 
 use Winter and Summer, annually during her widowhood, and I further give & bequeath unto my said Wife one 
 purse with Some Silver Money therein (Which may be found in the Till of my chest under Some writings) • and 
 further, my Will is That my Said Wife he Supplied (out of the Income of mv Real Estate) with whatsoever 
 shall be further needful for her comfortable & Decent Support & maintenance during her Widowhood as afore- 
 said, and for a Decent funeral after Death. 
 
 Item. I give and bequeath unto my Son John Sunft (Minister of Acton,) whom I likewise Constitute Sole 
 Executor of this my Will, my Whole Library, Books and Manuscript, also my Watch and my Negro-man named 
 or called Francis. .\lso all my Right & Interest of Lands at a place called or known by the name of Dorchester 
 Canada; Which Right of Lands were Derived to me on ace' of my Brother William Swift, who (n-ith many 
 others) perished in the first Expedition against Canada; To him, my said son John, and To his heirs and 
 assigns forever. 
 
 Item. I give & bequeath unto my Son-in-Law, Ebenezer Robye, Esq., & to his heirs and assi<'ns 
 my Negro man named or called Nero, or such sum in Bills of Credit as he shall be valued at by a lust 
 appraizer. ' ' 
 
 _ Item. I give and bequeath unto my son-in-Law, M' Philips Payson. (minister of Walpole.) and to his 
 heirs t\: assigns, my Negro Named or called Guy. 
 
 Item. My Will is that my other Two Negros, namely. Dido and Esther, serve with my aboves' Wife on her 
 Order during her life, and after her Decease with my Daughter Farrar, her heirs or assigns. 
 
 Item. My Will is That all my Housing and Lands in Framingham, Stoughton and Elsewhere \rith 
 . all my Personal Estate of what kind, nature or Denomination Soever (other than what is above men- 
 tioned & bequeathed) be Divided in five even & Equal parts or shares to and among the rest of my 
 Children & Grand Children in Manner following: That is to say, one-fifth part thereof to mv 
 Daughter Anne Payson; one-fifth part thereof to my Daughter Mary S"-ift; one-fifth part thereof 
 to my Daughter Martha Farrar; And one-fifth part thereof (to be Distributed part & part ahke) 
 to and among the Children of my Daughter Sarah Robye, Dec'd; and one-fifth part thereof in like 
 manner to and among the Children of my Daughter EUzabeth Stone, Dec'd. To them, their heirs and 
 assigns respectively forever. 
 
 r- ^}^"^^ }^^' ^^''^ '^ "^^^^ ™^ Surviving Daughters, together with such as shall be appointed Guardian to mv 
 Grand Children, may (if they apprehend it needful or profitable) make Sale of Housing and Lands to them 
 bequeathed as afores'\ or any part thereof, during the minority of mv Grand children, or any of them- and 
 I accordingly authorize & Impower them so to do, by passing good and authentick Deed or Deeds of 
 the same. And I do hereby utterly Revoke, Disannul & make void all other Wills, Bequests or Execut" 
 
14 GENEALOGY OF THE FAMILY OF 
 
 by me in any wise before Named, Willed or bequeathed; Ratifying and confirming this & none other to 
 be my last Will and Testament. In Witness whereoft' I have hereunto set my hand & Seal the day cV: date 
 within written. 
 
 JOHN SWIFT. I SEAL I 
 
 Signed, Sealed, published & declared by the mthin named John Swift, as his last 
 Will & Testament, In the presence of us the Subscribers, who set to our 
 names as Witnesses in the said Testator's presence. 
 
 William pike, 
 Stephen Ballakd, 
 Mary Farrar. 
 her X mark. 
 
 This Codicil or Schedule Witnesseth that I, the within Named John Swift, in addition to my Will bearing 
 date in the Month of September, 1 745, Do hereby give and bequeath unto my Daughter Mary Swift, in consid- 
 eration of her Trouble, and in requital of her Dutiful .i tender care of me under my Weakness, my silver 
 Tankard, also my Horse & Shayes over & above what is expressed in my said Will; hereby Ratifying & Confirm- 
 ing the said Will, with Codicil, to be my last Will & Testament. In witness whereof I have hereunto set my 
 hand & seal this nth day of June, A. D. 1744. , <-'^ , 
 
 JOHN SWIFT. I seal | 
 
 In the presence of 
 
 Joseph Buckminster, Jun., 
 Willia.m pike. 
 .Stephen Ballard. 
 
 JSeb. Ilo!)n Stot'ft,'' (Jolm,^ Thomas,'' Thomas,^) born in Framingham Jan. 14, 
 1713-14; d. Nov. 7, 1776, 3e. 61 yrs. ; m. Nov. 19, 1740, Abigail, (b. July 20, 1717 ; 
 d. Mar. 18, 17S2, in the 63d year of her age,) dau. of Jeremiah and Rebecca Adams, 
 of Medway. 
 
 CHILDREN. 
 1. I. 3ol)n, b. Nov. 18, 1741. 
 
 Mr. Swift was graduated at Harvard College in 1733, and the same year was 
 schoolmaster in Framingham. In May, 1738, he received an unanimous invitation 
 to settle in the ministry at Acton, and the following 8th of November was ordained 
 He first received .^250 as a settlement, and ^^^150 as an annual salary — to be made 
 of equal value should the currency depreciate. This sum was altered several times, 
 and at last permanently fixed at £'/0 lawful money. 
 
 During the prevalence of the small pox in Acton, in 1775, he was severely 
 attacked by the disease, and never able to preach afterwards. 
 
 He was a little above the common height, rather slender, of pleasing address and 
 manners ; opposed to excess and extravagance of every kind, and was a gentleman 
 of talent, learning and piety, though occasionally facetious, witty and eccentric. 
 
 His sermon, preached at the ordination of the Rev. Joseph Lee of Royalston, 
 was published. 
 
THOMAS SWIFT OF DORCHESTER. 15 
 
 WILL. 
 His will, dated October 24, 1775, commences in the usual manner: 
 
 Imprimis. I «-ill that all my just debts and funeral charges be well and truly paid in convenient time after 
 my decease. 
 
 Item. I give unto my beloved Wife Abigail Swift my Horse and Chaise and Eighty pounds lawful money, 
 together with two-thirds part of all the remainder of my personal estate, money, &c., to be at her disposal 
 forever; and likewise the improvement of two-thirds part of all my Real Estate lying in Acton, so long as she 
 remains my widow. 
 
 Item. I give unto my only Son, John Swift, all the remainder of my Real and personal Estate lying in 
 Acton, not before disposed of. My will is that my said Son John shall come in possession of the whole of my 
 Real Estate lying in .\cton, after my wife's marriage or decease. 
 
 I give unto my Grand Children, HoUis and Luther, all my lands in .\shburnham in the County of Worcester, 
 in the province aforesaid, to be equally divided between them in quality. My Will is that if either of my said 
 Grand Children should die in minority, or when in a single state, the whole of said lands in Ashburnham I give 
 to the other surviving grand son. Furthermore, I do hereby constitute and appoint my beloved wife Abigail and 
 my son John Swift to be Executors to this my will and testament. 
 
 JOHN SWIFT. I SEAL I 
 
 Signed, sealed, and pronounced to be his last will and testament before 
 
 Edward Sprague, 
 Daniel Adams, 
 Abel Fisk. 
 
 Dr. 3a{jn5 Stoift, (John* Johit^, Thomas,'' Thomas,^) b. in Acton Nov. 18, 1741 ; 
 H. C. 1762 ; physician of Acton; d. Dec. 23, 1781, in his 40th year. He m. Catha- 
 rine Davis of Acton, b. May 6, 1748. She had a second husband. Dr. Whitman. 
 
 CHILDREN. 
 
 John Hollis, b. , 176S; d. Sept. iS, 1793, unm, 
 
 William Pitt, b. Mch. 3, 1771; d. Mch 26, 1774. 
 
 Jeremiah Adams, b. , 1772; d. Mch. 31, 1774. 
 
 S. ILutljcr,'' b. April 20, 1 775 ; 
 
 Eutljrr Siriift,5 (Johti,* John,'^ Thomas,'' Thomas,'') b. April 20, 1775 ; d. Dec. 6, 
 1857; m. 1798, Hannah Brown, b. May 26, 1777; d. July 25, 1850. 
 
 CHILDREN. 
 
 John Hollis, b. Dec. 12, 1799; d. s. p. Feb. 15, 1S63; m. Jan. 11, 1S22, Hannah H. Pulcifer; b. 
 
 abt. 1799; d. Feb. 29, 1864. 
 Catharine, b. Jan. 23, 1S02; d. Feb. 23, 1803. 
 Catharine Eliza, b. Aug. 21, 1804; d. Apr. 9, 1S07. 
 9. teilliam 13itt, b. Apr. 30, 1S06. 
 
 Caroline, b. June 3, 1809; d. May 22, 1882; unm. 
 
1 6 GENEALOGY OF THE FAMILY OF 
 
 railliam' I3itt Stoift, (Luther,^ 7ohn= John,* Johu,^ Thomas,-' Thomas,') b. April 
 30, 1806; d. Dec. 20, 1857 ; m. Mar. 30, 1835, Abigail, (b. Dec. 1813,) dau. of Asa 
 
 and Mary (Leach) Shaw, of Norton, Mass. She m. a second husband French, 
 
 who died in 1878. She resides in Malboro', Mass. 
 
 CHILDREN. 
 
 William Tcikter, b. April 21, 1S36; d. May 5, 1S3S. 
 
 John, b. April 28, 183S; member of Co. D, 2ist Reg't. Served 3 years in the Union Army. 
 
 Residence, Sioux City; m. in 1S66 Eliza A. Pratt, of Fitchburg. 
 Lizzie F., b. Jan. 23, 1S40; m. May 7, i860, Luther F. Read of Westford, b. Feb. i, 1S3S; killed at 
 
 the battle of .\ntietam Sept. 17, 1S62. She next m. Nov. 26, 1870, \Vm. F. Hale of Acton, 
 
 b. Nov. 7, 1840; served nine months in the Union army. Res. Stow. [I am indebted to Mrs. 
 
 Hale for the information concerning the later generations of her branch of the family.] 
 Abby, b. Aug. 16, 1841; d. Jan. 9, 184S. 
 Geo. Loring, b. Sept. 17, 1S42; d. May 21, 1S76. Served three years in the Union Army, Co. 
 
 F, 13th Reg't; m. Sept. 27, 1864, Mary L. Watson of Fitchburg, b. June 3, 1838. They 
 
 had two children, Sarah Abby and Willie. 
 Joseph Albert, b. Dec. 10, 1S43. Served three years in the Union Army; reenlisted in 1S64; 
 
 wounded at the battle of Winchester, Va., Sept. 19, 1S64; d. in hospital Oct. 12, 1S64.* 
 Sarah, b. April 2, 1845. 
 Lucy W., b. July 28, 1S46; m. Dec. 4, 1867, Joshua W. Carr of Stow, b. May 26, 1844; served 
 
 three years in the Union Army. Residence, Stow, Mass. 
 Nathan, b. Mar. 20, 1848. Residence, Marlboro, Mass. 
 Isaac, b. Oct. 10, 1849; d. Sept. 28, 1874. 
 Annie, b. Sept. 22, 1851; m. Charles Sprinks of .Albany, N. Y., Nov., 1S71. He d. June 14, 1879. 
 
 Residence, 93 Broad Street, Lynn. 
 Emma S., b. June 6, 1853. 
 
 William Henry, b. Aug. 4, 1854; m. June 3, 1878, Mary E. Walcott of Stow. Residence, Marl- 
 boro, Mass. They had one child, Clarence L. Swift, who d. Oct. 8, 1881, at 9 mos. 21 ds. 
 
 *He wrote home from war as follows : — 
 
 In the Hospital at Winchester, Va., Sept. 26, '64. 
 Dear Mothek : — 
 
 I now write you a few more lines to let you know that I am getting along nicely, although the 
 ball has not been found yet. I think it has struck some of the cords, but I hope not, for it may give me a stiff 
 leg for life; then I should have to be discharged, and I don't want that you know, for 1 like soldiering too well. 
 I like it as well as ever. Now do nut worry about me for I have the best of spirits, and care too. This is what - 
 I enlisted for, and what I have got; and what I would do again if I were at home. I am glad that George did 
 not reenlist, for two is enough. I wish that John had not, for he is so sick of it. 
 
 John Brown bore the colors. He did it well, too; he had his leg broken, but he will not lose it. He and 
 I fell near together so we are in the same hospital. Our Acton captain has gone to Harper's Ferry and we shall 
 go soon; then you can write to me. 
 
 Write to John and tell him we had a glorious victory. Bully for that ! 
 
 I must close for the present; love to all and don't worry. This is from your loving son, 
 
 JOSEPH A. SWIFT. 
 
 He was but a boy when he enHsted, only about seventeen years old, and very small of his age. He was 
 told that they would not take him. " Yes they will," he said, " for I have just made my heels three inches 
 higher, and they will have to take me." When he reenlisted and came home his sister said to him she was sorry, 
 and he replied, " I am not, for what is my life good for if we have not our freedom?" 
 
 The John Brown referred to was his schoolmate. They enlisted together, and he thought a great deal of 
 him. Young Swift bled to death from his wounds, and was brought home and buried in Stow. His friend died 
 in a few days after. 
 
THOMAS SWIFT OF DORCHESTER. I 7 
 
 ffol. Samuel' Stoift,* (Thomas," Thotnas') of Milton, where he was b. Dec. 10, 
 1683; d. Oct. 13, 1747; m. Nov. 6, 1707, Ann, (d. May 19, 1769) dau. of Thomas 
 Holman, a prominent cilizen of Milton. 
 
 CHILDREN. 
 
 Thomas, b. Feb. 16, 1709-10; m. Aug. 23, 1739, Elizabeth Crehore, who d. Aug. 23, 17S2, x. 71. 
 
 Had a dau. EUzabeth, b. Jan. 9, 1 741-2. 
 Sar.\h, b. Apr. 28, 171 1 ; m. May 19, 1730, John Adams. 
 Anna, b. Aug. 28, 1712; m. Aug. 28, 1739, Solomon Kersey, of Hingham. 
 Patience, b. Mar. 19, 1714; d. Aug. 12, 1714. 
 10. Samuel, b. June 9, 1715. 
 
 Ebenezer, b. Dec. 6, 1716; d. Aug., 1717. 
 
 Patience, b. Feb. 3, 1717-18; m. May 29, 1739, Ebenezer Wadsworth. 
 
 11. ^atfjnnitl, b. Sept. 25, 1719. 
 
 John, b. Jan. 23, 1 720-1; housewright of Milton in 1748; probably d. unm. 
 Abigail, bapt. Nov. ii, 1722. 
 
 12. lEbcntjcr, b. May 24, 1724. 
 
 Col. Swift was one of the wealthiest and most influential men of Milton. He 
 inherited his father's capacity for public affairs, and we early find him filling such 
 offices as constable, tythingman, surveyor of the highways, and so forth. He later 
 became a judge of the court of common pleas, colonel of the militia, representative 
 to the general court, moderator of the town-meetings, and filled the office of select- 
 man almost constantly from 1725 to his death in 1747. In 1727 he was on the com- 
 mittee to build the meeting-house, and in 1729-30 one of four who paid the highest 
 rate, and had his pew " first in the right hand going up the broad alley." He is 
 designated in the town records by the various military titles from ensign to colonel. 
 
 The position he so many years sustained in the town tends to confirm the tradi- 
 tion that he was austere and of an arbitrary temper. Our imagination pictures him 
 as a man of commanding aspect, with the dignified manner of his time — such a 
 man as we see in the portraits of Smybert and Copley. The impress of his character 
 is seen in many of his descendants, who have, in addition to ability, been distin- 
 guished by many of the social graces of life, a general elegance of bearing, and 
 much personal beauty — those gifts which are seldom to be met with save through a 
 goodly ancestry. 
 
 The gravestones of Mr. and Mrs. Swift are among the largest and finest in the 
 Milton cemetery, and are illustrated in this work. 
 
 WILL. 
 
 In the Name of God Amen, This Third day of May in the Year of our Lord one Thousand 
 Seven Hundred Forty & Five. And in the Eighteenth Year of the Reign of our Sovereign Lord George the 
 
 * Continued from page seven. The line of Rev. John Svrift, brother of Col. Samuel, being continued 
 through three generations by only one son, in order to simpUfy matters I deemed it best to complete that branch 
 before taking up the line of Col. Samuel. 
 
f8 GENEALOGY OF THE FAMILY OF 
 
 Second, King of Great Britain, &c.— I Samuel Swift of Milton in the County of Suffolk, mthin His Majes- 
 ties Pronnce of the Massachusetts Bay in Xew-England, Esq'., being at present in a competent measure of 
 bodily Health, and of perfect Mind and Memory, Thanks he given to God therefor: But calling to mind the 
 mortality of my Body, and Knowing that it is appointed unto all men once to Dye, do make and ordain this my 
 last Will and Testament; That is to say, Principally, and first of all, I Give and Recommend my Soul into 
 the Hands of God that gave it; trusting alone for Salvation in Merits and Righteousness of JeSUS Christ 
 my only SaWour and Redeemer; And my Body I Recommend to the Earth, to be Buried in decent Christian 
 Burial, at the discretion of my Executors hereafter named ; not at all doubting but at the general Resurrection 
 of the Dead I shall receive the same again by the mighty power of God. And as touching such worldly estate 
 wherewith it has pleased God to bless me in this life, I Give and dispose of the same in the following manner 
 and form. 
 
 Imprimis, I Give and Bequeath unto Ann my well beloved Wife, the use and Improvement of y old or 
 Easterly end of my dwelling House, and the Cellar under it : Also the use and Improvement of all my Indoor 
 Goods or Moveables Except my Clock, or such other particulars as I shall here after mention in any of my Chil- 
 drens Portions : Also the use and Service of my Negro Woman Kate. And also I Give and order her Support 
 and Subsistence in all respects, both in Meat & Drink, and also in Fuel and Medicine, and that in a plentiful 
 and ample manner both in sickness and Health ; to be found and provided by my Son Ebenezer Swift. And I 
 also Give her the use of my old Garden. And I also order my s'' Son Ebenezer to provide her a Horse to Ride 
 on when ever she shall have occasion, or think fit to use him. And all this above mentioned I give and provide 
 for her so long as she shall remain my Widow and no longer. Also I Give and Bequeath unto her forever, all 
 the Money or Cash that I shall leave at my decease, both Silver and Province or Colony Bills, and all the Debts 
 that may be due to me at my decease, by Bill, Bond, Book debt, or any other ways whatsoever, and also all my 
 Gold Buttons. And in Case she shall Marry again after my decease then I Give her y" Sum of Fifty pounds in 
 Province Bills of the old tenor; to be paid her by my Son Ebenezer within one year after her marriage. 
 
 Item, I Give and Bequeath unto my eldest Son Thomas Swift and to his Heirs and assigns forever, 
 that part of my Lot of Land in Milton that lyeth upon the Southeasterly side of the Road leading to Stoughton 
 between the Lands of John Newton & Benjamin Sumner, and being Bounded Northwesterly by y* said Road, 
 and Southeasterly by Braintree old line containing about Seventy Acres of SaU Marsh lying in Dorchester, being 
 the piece he now improves, joyning to the marsh of Nathaniel and Ebenezer Houghton : Also my Cedar-swamp 
 in Stoughton by Mashapoag Pond, containing about Six acres and one Quarter : And also the one half of my 
 Stock of Cattle and Horses according to Quantity and QuaUty, after what I have herein particularly mentioned 
 and disposed of are first taken out. And after the decease or Marriage of my Wife, I give him my Negro-woman 
 Kate. And also give him the Iron Back that he now improveth. 
 
 Item, I give and Bequeath unto my second Son Samuel Swift, the Sum of Three Hundred pounds in 
 Bills of Credit on this Province of the old tenor; to be paid him by my Son Ebenezer Swift, at Five equal yearly 
 payments after my decease. And also I Give him my two Canes, that which he hath already in possession, and 
 my other Cane which I now use; Also my Silver Hilted Sword; and my Horse-CoU now about Three Years old; 
 and two Cows which he shall first choose. 
 
 Item, I Give and Bequeath unto my Third Son Nathanael Swift, and to his Heirs & assigns for ever 
 The Ten acres of Land, be it more or less, where he now hves, with the House and Barn standing thereon And 
 also my Eight acre piece of Salt-marsh lying in Dorchester, between y Marsh of Mr. Fove and Jeremiah Tucker; 
 And also my Woodlot in Milton lying between the Parallel Line (so called), and the Road leading to Stoughton; 
 and my Pasture within fence by the Meeting-house in Milton: He paying the Sum of Money hereafter men- 
 tioned. 
 
 Item, I Give and Bequeath unto my Fourth Son John Swift and to the Heirs of his own Body lawfully 
 begotten, and to their Heirs for ever all my upland lying in Dorchester upon the Southeast side of the lower 
 Road leading from Milton to Boston, containing about Twenty acres, be it more or less, and lyeth between Jere- 
 miah Smiths orchard and the Land of Joseph Leeds : And Six acres of my piece of Saltmarsh joyning to the 
 s'' upland and running from thence down to Neponsit River, the whole of the s'' piece of Marsh containing 
 about Twenty acres; the s'' Six acres to be measured off and to Iv next to the Ditch that parts between my s^ 
 pieceof Marsh, and the Marsh of Thomas Trott : Also Ten acres of my Wood-lot lying in Milton unfenced on 
 the Easterly side of y" Way leading to y Scotch-woods (so called) jovriing to the land already mentioned in my 
 Son Nathanaels Portion, and on the land of Colonel Miller, and the land of Ebenezer Wadsworth & Mr. Oxen- 
 bridge Thatcher; the s' Ten acres to be measured off and to lye next to the s'' Way to Scotch-woods. And my 
 Son Ebenezer is to have liberty to pass & repass across y" said piece unto the other part of y s' Lot. And in 
 Case my s'' Son John should die without lawfull Issue of' his Body, then what I have given him as aforesaid, to 
 be equally divided among my Four Sons namely Thomas Swift, Samuel Swift, Nathanael Swift and Ebenezer 
 Swift, or their Legal Representatives; them their Heirs and assigns for ever. I also give mv s'' Son John all my 
 Carpenter & Joyners Tools. 
 
 Item, I Give and Bequeath unto ray Fifth Son Ebenezer Swift, my Clock, & *Coat of Arms, and my 
 
 • Now in possession of McRee Swift, Esq., of New Brunswick, New Jersey, and the same from which the 
 Albertype in this work is taken. 
 
THOMAS SWIFT OF DORCHESTER. 19 
 
 Iron Back in the Kitchen; And also I Give him his Heirs and assigns for ever, all the Residue and Remainder 
 of my Estate both Real and Personal wheresoever the same is or may be found, not heretofore or hereafter par- 
 ticularly mentioned and Disposed of in this my last Will : He paying the sums of Money heretofore & here- 
 after mentioned, and performing what I have enjoyned him to do for his mother as abovementioned. 
 
 Item, I Give and Bequeath unto my Daughter Sarah AdamS the Sum of One Hundred Pounds in Bdls 
 of Credit on this Province of the old tenor, to be paid her by my s'' Son Nathanael Swift at Three Yearly equal 
 payments after my decease. And I also give her my Molatto Girl Dinah. 
 
 Item, I Give and Bequeath unto my Daughter Anna Hearsay the wife of Solomon Hearsay the Sum 
 of One Hundred pounds in Bills of Credit of this Province of the old tenor, to be paid at Three equal yearly 
 payments next after my Decease, Fifty pounds part thereof to be paid by my s' Son Nathanael Swift, and the 
 remaining Hfiy pounds to be paid by my s'' Son Ebenezer Swift and all to be Deposited in the Hands of my s'' 
 Son Nathanael bwift and he to have power to demand and receive the same; and he is to Improve it for the 
 Relief and benefit of my s'' Daughter Anna & her Children; and to distribute y same at such times and in 
 such Quantity and bpecies as he shall judge to be most for her benetit. But in case the s'' .Solomon Hearsay 
 should decease before my s' Daughter Anna then all the Remainder of the s" Sum to be paid into her hands, 
 having regard (if need be) to the times of payment above mentioned. And in case my s'' Son Nathanael 
 should decease before the s' Solomon Hearsay then all the Power care and trust hereby Reposed in my s' Son 
 Nathanael to devolve upon my Son Ebenezer Swift. 
 
 Item, I Give and Bequeath unto my Daughter Patience VVadsworth the Sum of one Hundred 
 pounds old tenor, to be paid her by my s'' Son Ebenezer in Province Bills at Three equal yearly payments ne.xt 
 after my decease. 
 
 Item, I Give and Bequeath unto my s"" three Daughters, Sarah Adams, Annah Hearsay & Patience Wads- 
 worth, after the marriage or decease of my Wife, all my Indoor moveables, not before particularly mentioned 
 and disposed of in this my last Will, to be Equally divided among them. 
 
 Item, My Will is that all my arms not before mentioned be distributed as follows. Viz. my long gun to my 
 Son Thomas, my little Gun that I had of brother Pratt to my Son Ebenezer, and my Case of Pistols & Holsters 
 to my Son Nathanael. 
 
 Item, My Will is, and I do hereby order that all my Just Debts and Funeral Expenses, be discharged and 
 paid by my s' Sons Thomas Nathanael and Ebenezer in Equal parts out of their own proper Portions; and to 
 be delivered into y« hands of my Executors hereafter mentioned for them to pay when they shall be due. 
 
 And I Exhort all my Children to live in love and peace among themselves, that the God of peace may 
 dwell with them. And I desire them all to rest Satisfied and Contented with this my distribution of my Estate; 
 wherein my Will is, that if any of my Children shall be discontented and give trouble to any other of my Chil- 
 dren or Heirs mentioned, then he, she, or they, being so discontented and giving trouble as aforesaid, shall for- 
 feit all I have herein bequeathed to them, and y same shall be equally divided among all those of my Children 
 as shall rest Satisfied and Contented with this disposition of my Estate. 
 
 And I do hereby Constitute and appoint my two Sons Thomas Swift and Samuel Swift to be Co-Executors 
 of this my last Will and Testament And I do hereby utterly disallow, revoke and disannul all other former 
 Wills, Legacies and Bequests, and Executors, by me in any way before named. Willed and Bequeathed; Rati- 
 fying and Confirming this and no other to be my last Will and Testament. 
 
 In Witness whereof I the s'* Samuel Swift have hereunto set my Hand and Seal the Day and year first 
 above written. 
 
 SAME. SWIFT. 
 
 -j SEAL I 
 
 Signed, Sealed, Published Pronounced and Declared by y« 
 Samuel Swift the Testator to be his last Will and 
 Testament, in the presence of us the Subscribers, 
 
 James Blake 
 Samuel Blake 
 Ruth Blake 
 
 Suffolk ss : Lib. 40, fol. 360. 
 
 The will was proved January 12, 1747, but the following day Ann Swift appeared 
 and renounced what was given her by her said husband, and claimed her dower. 
 She made her will January 9, 1855 ; proved July 5, 1862; gives five shillings to her 
 four sons, Thomas, Samuel, Nathaniel, Ebenezer, and the residue of her estate to her 
 three daughters, Sarah Adams, Anna Hearsay and Patience Wadsworth. 
 
20 GENEALOGY OF THE FAMILY OF 
 
 lO 
 
 Samucb Stoift, lEsq., (Samuel? Thomas^ Thomas^) of Boston, b. in Milton June 
 9, 1715 ; d. Aug. 30, 1775 ; m. in 1738 Eliphal, (b. Feb. 7, 1713,) dau. of Samuel 
 and Eliphal Tilley. He m. second, Oct. 5, 1757, Ann, (b. Oct. 3, 1729; d. May 8, 
 1788,) dau. of Capt. Hopestill Foster,* of Boston. 
 
 CHILDREN. 
 
 Sarah, rn. Col. Putnam. Their dau., Mrs. Bryant, was living in New London, Ct., in 1S2S, «ith a 
 
 son and a daughter. 
 Ann, died s. p. 
 Eliphal, died s. p. 
 
 Elizabeth, b. June 23, 1758; m. (pub. Oct. 30, 1776,) John Newhall, of Belchertown, and had a 
 son, Samuel S. Newhall. She next m. Col. Jed''. Burt, of Longmeadow. No children. 
 13. jFasttr, h. Jan. 20, 1760. 
 
 Mary, b. , 1762; m. Col. Burt as his third wife. 
 
 U. Snnatljan, b. Mar. 27, 1764. 
 
 Lucretia, b. July — , 1767; d. Dec, 1830; m. Sept. 23, 17S7, John Lovering. "A worthy, exem- 
 plary wife, mother and kind friend." 
 Philomela, b. — — , 1774; m. Elijah Stoddard, and had a son and daughter. 
 
 Mrs. Swift appears from her diary to have been a woman of more than ordinary 
 intelligence, and of great piety. 
 
 She commenced to write before her marriage, and continued it, at intervals, for 
 many years after. Her compositions, which are of a deeply religious character, are 
 mostly in verse, commemorating the death of relatives and friends. She writes, May 
 6, 1758, that she was taken into Mr. Byles' church, and of her religious duties, etc. 
 She was in the habit of writing out her thoughts on the sermons she heard preached, 
 and she often wrote on passing events, as — on the frequenting the tavern Saturday 
 nights; on Lisbon being shaken by an earthquake, Nov. i, 1775 ; on the taking of 
 Quebec, 1759; on the vanity of the world; on the safe delivery of a child; on the 
 repeal of the cruel stamp act, May 20, 1766. She also wrote verses on the death of 
 "the universally beloved Capt. Larrabee," and says "this worthy gentleman departed 
 this life in the 75th year of his age, lamented by all who knew him." In June, 1775, 
 she is at Springfield, and writes: "Here I am in the woods, Boston being so sur- 
 rounded by armies that we could not enjoy our home : no school for the children, 
 
 • The Foster family, prominent in the history of Dorchester, commences with Hopestill' and Patience, whose 
 son, Capt. Hopestill,' m. Mary, dau. of James Bate, and had, with other children, James,' who m., Oct. 7, 1680, 
 second wife, Anna, dau. of Job Lane. .\n engraving of the coat-of-arms on their gravestone may be seen on 
 p. 26, vol. I, Heraldic "Journal. Of their numerous children was Capt. Hopestill' of Boston, housewright, (named 
 in his father's Will and Suf Deeds, L. 48, F. 76,) who m. Nov. 11, 1724, Sarah .Vllen, who d. Sept. 6, 1772, a; 
 70 yrs. 6 mos. He d. Dec. 26, 1772, x 70 yrs. 10 mos. The family IJible of their son HopestilP(brother of .\nn' 
 Swift), who m. Susannah Wood, is in possession of their grandson, James' Foster, of Longwood, son of John 
 Hancock" Foster, who m. Elizabeth Allen. His brother, David W.' Foster, of Boston, has the manuscript of 
 Ann Swift. (For an account of the earlier generation, see Hist, of Dor., p. 1 18, and Savage Gen. Did.) 
 
THOMAS SWIFT OF DORCHESTER. 21 
 
 » 
 
 and the town forsaken by the ministers — the pillars of the land." About this time 
 she wrote the following letter : 
 
 Capt. Handfield, S^ 
 
 Your kindness in undertaking to get a pass for me emboldens me to ask the like favor for my dear husband 
 whom I hear is in a very weak state of health. The anxiety of my mind is great about him. A word from you 
 would have more weight than all the arguments that he could make use of. 
 
 Could I come to him, this favor 1 would not ask. O, S' I trust in your goodness that you will do what you 
 can to forward M' Swift to me and in doing so you will greatly oblige 
 
 Your distressed friend, 
 Should be glad if he would bring out two ANN SWIFT, 
 
 trunks which there is clothing in that I 
 want very much for myself and children. 
 
 The appeal seems to have failed, for she writes under date Aug. 30, 1775 : "De- 
 parted this life, in the 6ist year of his age, my dear husband, Samuel Swift. He 
 died in Boston, or in other words, murdered there. He was not allowed to come to 
 see me and live with his wife and children in the country. There he gave up the 
 ghost — his heart was broken ; the cruel treatment he met with in being a friend to 
 his country was more than he could bear, with six fatherless children (in the woods) 
 and all my substance in Boston." Mrs. Swift was a woman of delicate health, but 
 of much energy. She was living, Nov. 16, 1787, in her own house in Orange Street, 
 Boston, when she deeded a small portion of her land to Ebenezer Pope, whose estate 
 it joined. 
 
 Mr. Swift was graduated at Harvard College in 1735, studied law with Counsellor 
 Gridley and became a barrister and fellow practitioner with John Adams, afterwards 
 president of the United States. 
 
 Mr. Swift was a highly esteemed citizen of Boston, and was frequently invited by 
 the selectmen to visit the schools with many other distinguished citizens. 
 
 He was one of those fearless and determined men who set the revolutionary ball 
 in motion, and early gave up his life to the cause of freedom. 
 
 As a proof of his prominence and the esteem in which he was held, the town 
 records of Boston attest. At a town meeting of the freeholders and other inhabi- 
 tants of the town of Boston, legally warned, at Faneuil Hall, Monday, April 3, 1775, 
 — an adjournment of the March meeting — Mr. Samuel Adams, moderator of the 
 meeting, being at the Congress then sitting at Concord, Samuel Swift, Esq., was 
 chosen moderator /w tempore. It was, indeed, no small honor to preside at one of 
 the famous town meetings in those stirring times, and to take the place of such a 
 patriot as Sam Adams. 
 
 Mr. Swift was a member of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery in 1746, and he 
 is said by his friend. Colonel May, to have been one of those active in promoting the 
 destruction of the tea in Boston Harbor. 
 
 However that may be, he is known to have been an active and influential patriot. 
 President John Adams told his distinguished grandson. General Swift, while on a 
 visit to his seat in Quincy in 181 7 with President Monroe, that Samuel Swift was a 
 
22 GENEALOGY OF THE FAMILY OF 
 
 good man and a generous lawyer, and was called the widows' friend ; that he was a 
 firm Whig whose memory the State ought to perpetuate. The same sentiments Mr. 
 Adams expressed in a letter to William Wirt, of Virginia. Mr. Adams also said it 
 was owing to the zeal and resolution of Samuel Swift that caused many Bostonians 
 to secrete their arms when Gov. Gage offered the town freedom if arms were brought 
 in to the arsenal ; and that Mr. Swift presided at a freemason's meeting where it was 
 covertly agreed to use the arms concealed, and, in addition, pitchforks and axes, if 
 need be, to assail the soldiery on the common ; which scheme was betrayed to Gage, 
 causing the imprisonment of Swift and others. This imprisonment brought on dis- 
 ease from which he never recovered, and he died August 30, 1775, aged 60 years, as 
 President Adams said, "a martyr to freedom's cause." His remains were interred in 
 the tomb in the stone chapel ground that had belonged to Samuel Tylly, Esq., the 
 father of his first wife. 
 
 He had acquired a competency by his profession, which, excepting a house in 
 Boston and a few acres of land in Dorchester, was lost, including bonds, through the 
 unfaithfulness of his agent, while Boston was garrisoned. 
 
 WILL. 
 
 In the Name of God Amen I .Samuel Swift of Boston in the county of Suffolk in New England 
 Esq' being sensible of what I am about make this my last Will & Testament First recommending my Soul to my 
 merciful God hoping in his mercy and in the next place commiting my Body to the Earth to be buried by my 
 Executrix hereafter named in the economical manner and as touching the small worldly estate (though enough) 
 with which God has intrusted me after my just debts & funeral charges are paid and anything remains; I give & 
 bequeath it as follows, viz' To ray daughter Sarah Putnam I Give the sum of five shillings & no more and to my 
 daughter Ann Swift I give her the Hke sum of tive shillings and no more they and each of them having had 
 already advanced to them their full equal part >& proportion of my small estate To my daughter Eliphal I give 
 five shillings; to my daughter Elizabeth I give tive shillings; to my son Foster Swift I give five shillings; to my 
 daughter Mary Swift I give live shiUings; to my son Jonathan Swift I give five shillings and to my daughter 
 Lucretia Swift I give five shillings to be paid to each of them in three months after my decease Then I Give 
 all the remainder of my Estate as well real as personal to my well beloved wife Ann Swift viz', the use and im- 
 provement of it during her natural life and with leave also to make ample Sale & disposal of all or any part of 
 my personal Estate first used and then if need be of my real Estate for the support of herself and any of her chil- 
 dren (always excepting my daughter Sarah I'utnam and Ann Swift) and at her death she is hereby impowered 
 by Will or otherwise to dispose of it to my children (not excepted as aforesaid) as she please or if she thinks 
 proper to advance any thing to any one of them excepting as aforesaid she shall be at liberty so to do if they 
 behave dutifully to her, of which she shall be the sole judge, being fully satisfied that she will do what is just & 
 equitable but if my said wife should die without Willing or disposing of what I hereby give her for life & then my 
 Will is that what she shall or may leave of my Estate whether real or personal, or both, be equally divided be- 
 tween my Children viz which is hereby given equally to them their heirs and assigns forever (excepting to .Sarah 
 Putnam and Ann Swift as aforesaid) and I hereby direct and order that no Inventory or Apprizement of any 
 part of my Estate be had : In Witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and Seal this twenty-third day of 
 August, Anno Domini One Thousand seven hundred & seventy, 
 
 SAMUEL SWIFT. 
 
 -j SEAL \ 
 
 Sign'd Seal'd publish'd pronounc'd S: 
 declared by the s'd Samuel .Swift the 
 Test.ator to be his Will & Testam'. in 
 
 presence of us 
 
 (first interlined in one place near the bottoni) 
 
 John Peirce 
 
 TllO.MAS liAYl.KV Juiier 
 
 Joseph Fiei,l) Proved June 24, 1776. 
 
THOMAS SWIFT OF DORCHESTER. 23 
 
 1 1 
 
 l^affjanicl' Stotft, {Samuel,^ Tliomas'^ Thomas') of Milton, yeoman and gentleman, 
 b. September 25, 1719; d. in 1767; m. (pub. Jan. 9, 1741-2) Rebecca Tucker, 
 who d. Sept. 6, 1793. The town records show that he filled the offices of constable 
 and fence-viewer. Adm. on his estate was granted to Rebecca Swift and Jeremiah 
 Tucker, who presented the inventory Feb. 12, 1768; amt. £^2^, 9s., 6d. Josiah 
 How appointed guardian of the children. 
 
 CHILDREN. 
 
 Rebecca, b. Dec. 30. 1742; m. James Tucker (pub. Apr. 2, 1763). 
 
 Sarah, b. May 25, 1745; d. 17S1; m. Samuel Henshaw (pub. May 30, 1777); son of Sam'l and 
 
 Waitstill Henshaw, b. at Milton, 1744; grad. H. C. 1773; rem. to Northampton. 
 Eliphal, b. Oct. II, 1747; m. John Baker, Jr., of Dorchester (pub. Aug. 15, 1777). 
 Patience, bapt. Dec. 3, 1748; d. young. 
 
 Patience, b. Nov. 14, 1749; ra. Sept. iS, 1799, Daniel Newell, of Lynn. 
 Mary, b. Dec. 20, 1751; m. Joseph Bennett (pub. July 17, 1773). 
 15. ilfattjanirl, b. June 12, 1754. 
 
 Abigail, b. ; m. Ruben Ferry, Sept. 13, 17S1. 
 
 Jonathan, b. ; m. Silence White, who d. in Boston, July 16, 1817, s. p. The 
 
 adm. of her estate shows she was sister of John White, Esq., of Weymouth. 
 Elizabeth, b. June 25, 1761 ; m. 17S3, Samuel Babcock. 
 
 12 
 
 lEiKncjtr" Sinift, {Sainiielf Thomas^- Thomas'), of Milton, gentleman, born March 
 24, 1724-5 ; d. Jan. 17, 1805, aged 80 yrs. ; m. Judith [b. Jan. 30, 1728-9; d. Apr. 
 22, 1784, aged 55 yrs.], dau. of Dea. Nehemiah Clapp [pub. Jan. 17, 1746-7]. He 
 served the town as surveyor of highways in 1758, '64, '71, '78. 
 
 CHILDREN. 
 
 Ui. Sotin, b. June 24, 1747. 
 17. Samuel, b. May 28, 1749. 
 IS. Ebruorr, b. Jan. 15, 1752. 
 
 Lvdia, b. Feb. 14, 1754; d. July 10, 1758. 
 
 Susannah, b. Dec. 31, 1756; m. Wm. Bartlett of Boston (pub. Sept. 9, 17S0). 
 
 Stephen, b. Apr. i, 1761. 
 
 Lydia, b. Mar. 7, 1763; m. Wm. Pierce, (pub. Dec. 9, 1784). 
 
 Ann, b. Aug. 6, 1764; perhaps the same who was called Nancy; m. Samuel Berry of Brookline 
 (pub. May 20, 1786). 
 
 Judith, b. ; m. Henry Crane, Jr. (pub. Mar, 20, 1784). 
 
 13 
 
 Sr. Joatcr' Stoift, {Samuel^ Samuel? Thomas^ Thomas^) b. Jan., 1760; d. Aug. 
 
 18, 183s ; m. Feb. 18, 1783, Deborah [b. Sept. 1762 ; d. June 3, 1824], dau. 
 
 of Capt. Thomas and Elizabeth Delano* of Nantucket. She was buried in the 
 
 ♦Here followeth some genealogical notes collected and made at Amsterdam in 1852 by Edward Delano, son 
 of Warren : r- j j 
 
 Arnulph de Franchemont, proprietor of the estate of this name, took the oath of fealty to Conrad and was 
 
24 GENEALOGY OF THE FAMILY OF 
 
 Episcopal Cemetery of St. Ann's, Brooklyn, N. Y., June 5, 1824. Their portraits, 
 painted by Jarvis, in possession of their grandson, McRee Swift, Esq., are repro- 
 duced by the Albertype process for this work. 
 
 CHILDREN. 
 
 29. 3osr)3fj ©arSncr, b. Dec. 31, 1783. 
 
 Jonathan, b. 1785; d- young. 
 
 Sarah Delano, b. Feb. 24, 17SS; d. May, 1839; m. December, 1810, Eli, son of James and Delia 
 Adams, of Concord, Mass. He d. July i8, 1822. Besides children who died young, they had 
 Col. Julius Walker Adams, b. Oct. 18, 1812; m. Dec. 2, 1835, Elizabeth Dennison, of Stoning- 
 ton. Conn. He is a distinguished civil engineer, particularly devoted to sanitary science. He 
 was partially educated at West Point, and commanded a regiment from Brooklyn, N. Y., in the 
 war of the Rebellion. DeUa Woodward Adams, b. Nov. 19, 1815; m. Col. Edward B. White, 
 U. S. A., of Charleston, S. C. Mary, b. Nov. 21, 1818; m. James P. Kirkwood, of Edinburgh, 
 Scotland. 
 
 Deborah Ann, b. 1790; d. Dec. 1805. "A very beautiful woman." 
 
 20. SSailliam l^tnrg, b. Nov. 6, 1800. 
 
 Mary Roberdeau, b. Aug. 8, 1S04; d. Dec. 1827; m. Jan. 23, 1821, George W. Whistler, 
 
 created Count, A. D. 1 139. He married the daughter of the Seigneur Ivoy, and had Conrad the Count and Gov- 
 ernor of Liege and Bouillon; he married Ermingarde Walcourt, 1766; their son Hugh married the heir of 
 Bavaria. Hallin, the successor to Franchemont, married Agnes, daughter of Guilbert of Ovras, 1225. Walleron 
 de Franchemont became Seigneur of de Launoy in 1310, between Selle and Tournay; their son, Hugh de 
 Launoy, married Margarethe of Migneul, as appears on the tombstone. Gilbert de Launoy of Wellnolle and 
 Beaumont, married Catherine Molembix, and had three sons. Baldwin de Launoy Michelle, Lady of Conray, 
 and their descendant, Philip de Launoy, served Charles V, 12th Sept., 1543. He married Margaret, daughter of 
 Baldwin of Falaix, and died May 25, 1560. The heir, Philip, died about 1594. The arms of these de Launoys 
 are a shield argent with three green lions and three red tongues. On Dec. 7, 1603, was baptized in the 
 Walloon church at Leyden, Philip, the son of John and Mary de Lonoye. This Philip migrated to New Ply- 
 mouth in November, 1621, and who, it is believed, was the same Philip who came to New Plymouth in the For- 
 tune in i62r. He married Dec. 19, 1634, and was about nineteen years of age, and it is thought is undoubtedly 
 the same Philip de Lonoye. They wrote their names de Lano, de la Noy and de Launuy. One of them 
 married at the Walloon church James de Lano, and is believed to be the brother of Philip, born 1603, and hus- 
 band of Mary of Leyden, whom the record says went to New Spain or New Plymouth in 1621. The first gen- 
 eration of the de Launoys, or de Lano, or Noy or Noye, known in America, was this Philip, who came to New 
 Plymouth in the Fortune, in 1621, of 55 tons, the second vessel that reached the colony, and she was placed on 
 the same footing with the Mayflower as to the distribution of land. He married Hester Dewsbury of Duxbury; 
 she had three sons, Samuel, Thomas and Jonathan, and a daughter. Jonathan, the youngest son of Philip, was 
 born 1648, and he married Mary Warren, daughter of Nathaniel Warren of Plymouth, on Feb. 26, 1677-78. 
 Their children were, Jonathan, married Ann Nash June 20th, 1704; Jabez, married his cousin, Mary Delano, 
 1710; Sarah; Mary; Nathan; Bethia; Nathaniel, married a Durfee, 1720; Esther; Jethro, married Elizabeth 
 Pope Oct. 9, 1727; and Thomas, who married Jane Peckham, April, 1729. 
 
 The aforesaid Jonathan was lieutenant of the colony, military constable, and surveyor, as his father, Philip, 
 had been also. His farm was called Nonasketucket, in Dartmouth, now Fair Haven, and he died Dec. 28, 1720, 
 and was buried at where the headstone was in 1S50. 
 
 Thomas Delano, who married Jean Peckh.im in April, 1729, had children, Abishai, born July 9, 1731; 
 Thomas, born in 1732 and died in November, 1799, married to Elizabeth Swain of Nantucket; Ephraim, born 
 Aug. 14, 1733, married to Elizabeth Cushman Nov. 27th, 1760; Gideon, born Sept. 25, 1736, married Patience 
 Tabor; Deborah, born June 14, 1739, married . Sherman; Jean, married Pierre Tobey. J. G. Swift re- 
 members great-uncle Abishai, who settled in Hampshire County, Mass., and also great-uncle Gideon, on board 
 his very neat sloop that coa.stcd between Boston and Carolina. The aforesaid Thomas' wife was born in 1729, 
 and was the granddaughter of Peter Folger, and daughter of Shul)art Swain of Nantucket. The aforesaid 
 Ephraim, of whom I have heard my mother speak as of one she respected highly, married Elizabeth Cushman. 
 Their children were, Thomas, born Oct. 16, 1761, died February, 1782; Deborah, born July 16, 1773, died Feb. 
 9, 1851; Warren, born Oct. 28, 1779, married Deborah Church Nov. 6, 180S. Their children, Warren, married 
 Catherine Lyman; Franklin if. married Laura Acton; and Edward Delano, this last the collector of this 
 memoir, except in reference to my grandfather, Thomas Delano. The sons of the saiil Thomas were Ephraim, 
 Henry, Thomas, Abishai and William, and daughters, Elizabeth Howland, Deborah Swift, my mother, and Sally 
 Fitch. My grandfather educated his first four sons in England. 
 
Foster Swift, M. D. 
 
THOMAS SWIFT OF DORCHESTER. 25 
 
 U. S. A., son of Col.Wm.Whistler, U. S. A., b. in Indiana, cadet at the U. S. Military Academy from 
 July 31, 1S14, to July I, 1S19, when he was graduated and promoted to 2d lieutenant corp of 
 artillery, July I, 1819; 1st Ueutenant 2d Artillery, Aug. 16, 1829; resigned, Dec. 31, 1833; 
 civil engineer in U. S. from 1S42-49; superintending engineer of the St. Petersburgh & Moscow 
 R. R., Russia, in the employ of the emperor; died Apr. 7, 1849, aged 48 yrs.; children : i, Geo. 
 
 W. Whistler, b. ; m. dau. of Prof. Ducatel of Baltimore, by whom he had 
 
 Geo. W., now living in Baltimore. His second wife, m. in 1854, was Julia, dau. of Ross W. 
 Winans, of Baltimore; 2, Joseph Swift Whistler, d. young; 3, Deborah Delano Whistler, m. 
 Seymour Hayden in England, the distinguished surgeon and artist of London, whose etchings 
 have obtained such celebrity. 
 
 Dr. Swift was, at his father's death, preparing for college, but that affliction 
 made other pursuits necessary. He commenced the study of medicine with Dr. 
 Joseph Gardner in 1779, and about 1780 was appointed surgeon on board the Ports- 
 mouth, sloop-of-war, Capt. Daniel McNeill, and with a squadron destined for Hol- 
 land, met a British fleet — Rodney's — and was captured by the Culloden, seventy-four, 
 commanded by Lord Robert Manners, and sent to St. Lucie, where he was kept a pris- 
 oner thirteen months, escaping, with twelve others, in 1781. This escape was a re- 
 markable event. Dr. Swift, who had prescribed successfully for the illness of the 
 commander of the prison-ship, was allowed to visit the sick of the island, and was 
 amply compensated by them— a guinea a visit. These fees gave him and his fellow- 
 sufferers many comforts, but still they were prisoners. Twelve of them, officers and 
 men, with Capt. McNeill at the head, had long been devising a plan of escape. 
 They practiced swimming, and then waited for some trader to anchor near by. At 
 last a brig partly laden with sugar lay at anchor. Now was their chance, which they 
 hastened to improve. Selecting a night light enough to see the brig, the twelve low- 
 ered themselves quietly from a port into the water, and swam with a light bundle of 
 clothes tied to their backs, to the cable of the vessel. One of their comrades on 
 reaching the cable shinned up, and raising his body over the side bow, his indistinct 
 form at that hour of the night struck the watch with terror, and they ran below. 
 The others, following their leader, hastened to fasten the companion and hatches, cut 
 the cable, and put to sea. In eleven days they reached Cape Cod with their pris- 
 oners, only eight, the remainder being on shore in St. Lucie at the time of the cap- 
 ture. The sale of the brig, a Hull trader, partly laden with sugar and rum, gave 
 each of the twelve some hundreds of dollars, and much eclat, at the time " that truly 
 tried men's souls." 
 
 Of this imprisonment his mother writes as follows : 
 
 My Dear SUter:- Boston, Sept. 20, ,781. 
 
 I have heard from my son Foster, but oh, how can I tell, or how can you hear? He 
 IS oil board a guard-ship at a place where they will not exchange prisoners, and he has written letters to Dr. 
 Gardner and Deacon Davis, enough to break, or move a stone to speak, begging that some one would stir in the 
 affair, and try to get the Americans released. Their number on board is two hundred and twenty, put down the 
 iold at sunset — how can they live? 
 
26 GENEALOGY OF THE FAMILY OF 
 
 1 have copied his letter to me and send you. I fear nothing can be done, as I have not the least encourage- 
 ment from either, and there he must he and sicken and die. My heart is too full. Farewell. 
 
 Your sister, ANN SWIFT. 
 
 Your brother Foster tells me that your cousin Hearsay has seen the wharfs, and is quite of the notion of 
 taking them, and Cunningham is going to quit them, and he would have you send him word if there is anything 
 further you would have him do. 
 
 In November of 1782 Dr. Swift thought of settling professionally on the island 
 of Nantucket, by the advice of Dr. Gardner, who gave him letters of introduction ; 
 but not finding that place equal to his hopes, he went the next year to Virginia, by 
 invitation of his only brother, Jonathan, where he received the friendly aid of Gen. 
 Washington, to whom he had carried a package and introduction from Gen. Benjamin 
 Lincoln, and succeeded, but lost his health and returned to Nantucket. In 1786 he 
 removed with his wife and son to Dartmouth, Mass., where he remained till July, 
 1792 ; then took up his residence and the practice of his profession in Taunton. In 
 1809 he removed to Boston, and Feb. 18, 18 14, was appointed garrison surgeon. 
 He was post surgeon April 24, 1816, assistant surgeon May, 1821, and died at his 
 post, New London, Conn. 
 
 WILL. 
 
 Knowing the certainty of death I, Foster Swift, do make this my last Will and Testament. In doing it I 
 desire humbly to recommend my Soul to God, hoping for pardon and salvation through the mediation of a 
 crucified Redeemer. It is my wish to be buried in a plain pine coffin, simply stained, without any ornament, to 
 have plain Gravestones with my name and profession, place of nativity and age, and time of death and no 
 more. 
 
 After all my debts are paid I dispose of my estate as follows, viz : One-half of my estate, real and per- 
 sonal, (excepting what is mentioned below,) I give to my daughter .Sally D. Adams. All the residue of my estate, 
 real and personal, I give to my sons Joseph, William, and my grandchildren George, Joseph and Deborah 
 Whistler, in equal parts, that is, George, Joseph and Deborah Whistler to have one-third of one-half. If there 
 should be any dividend from any source I give the same to my sons Joseph and William. The Watch which I 
 have worn belongs to my son Joseph. To him I give my Silver Tankard, and the table spoons marked 1). D. to 
 Louisa Adams. To my sisters Mary and Philomela I give Ten Dollars each, my Gold Seal and Watch Chain I 
 give to Julius W. Adams. To my early friend Lyman Law, Esq., I give my Gold Ring. 
 
 I hereby appoint my sons Joseph and William executors, and my daughter Sally executrix of this will. 
 
 In testimony of which I have hereunto set my hand and seal this thirteenth day of February, A. D. 1834. 
 
 FOSTER SWIFT. 
 
 < SEAL \ 
 
 Signed, sealed, and declared by the Testator "j 
 as his last Will and Testament, in the |- 
 presence of us: ) 
 
 JOHATHAN COIT, 
 
 JosEi'H Smith, Jr., 
 
 E. F. DUTTON. 
 
 FOSTER SWIFT, M. D., 
 Surgeon in the 
 
 U. S. Army, 
 
 Born in Boston 
 
 20th Jany, 1760, 
 
 Died in New/ London 
 
 18 Aug., 1835. 
 
Mrs. Foster Swift. 
 
THOMAS SWIFT OF DORCHESTER. 27 
 
 H 
 
 Jonatj^an* Stoift, {Foster,'^ Samuel,^ Thomas,^ Thomas'), b. in Boston, March 22, 
 1764; d. Aug. 22, 1824; m. Sept. 24, 1785, Ann (b. Dec. 3, 1767; d. Jan. 16, 
 1833), dau. of Gen. Daniel Roberdeau of the Revolutionary War and the Congress 
 of 1778. (See Roberdeau Genealogy). 
 
 Mrs. Swift was present at the inauguration ball in honor of Gen. Washington, 
 and during the evening was led out to dance by him. A life-like miniature of her 
 on ivory at the age of twenty-two is in possession of her daughter, Mrs. Patten, who 
 has also an oil painting at the age of si.xty. 
 
 CHILDREN. 
 
 A son still born Oct. 10, 1 786. 
 
 William Roberdeau, b. Aug. 29, 17S7; d. Oct., 1833; m. Aug. i, 1815, Mary Donaldson (d. 
 Apr. 30, 1S70, aged S3), dau. of Edward Harper, of Alexandria; early was in the counting- 
 room of Wm. Taylor, and made voyages for this house as supercargo with great success; was 
 afterwards established as a merchant in Baltimore with Eli Adams; finally moved to Washing- 
 ton, N. C, where he died, s. p. Oct. 1833. 
 
 A son, b. Nov. 12, 1789; d. Nov. 13, 1789. 
 
 Daniel Roberdeau, b. Nov. 9, 1790; • d. unm. Aug., 1825. 
 
 Jonathan, b. Dec. 2, 1792; d. July i, 1793. 
 
 Isaac Bostwick, b. Feb. 2, 1795. 
 
 Ann Selina, b. Feb. 18, 1797; d. July 18, 1798. 
 
 Geo. Washington, b. Feb. 11, 1800; d. unm. Sept. 19, 1819. 
 
 Ann Foster, b. Oct. 11, 1802; m. Jan. 13, 1S29, Jonathan T. Patten, a prosperous wholesale mer- 
 chant of New York, where they still reside. For their children, see Roberdeau Genealogy. 
 
 Mary Selina, b. Jan. iS, 1S05; m. Aug. 8, 1S26, Henry Allison, b. in Va. Dec. 23, 1793; d. Dec. 
 26, 1871; settled in Missouri, where, at Brownsville, Mrs. A. lives. For children, see Rober- 
 deau Genealogy. 
 
 Wm. Taylor, b. Sept. 20, rSo8; d. next day. 
 
 Foster, b. May 20, 1810; d. unm. .Sept., 1825. 
 
 Mr. Swift was for forty years a prominent citizen of Alexandria, Va. He was 
 bred to mercantile life by Mr. May of Boston, and early (before 1785), established 
 himself in commerce at Alexandria, where he met with success, accumulating a 
 fortune. His fine place bore the unique name of Grasshopper Hall, since known as 
 Kolros, where he frequently entertained Gen. Washington, with whom he was on 
 intimate terms. He had a fine portrait of him painted by Peale, now in possession 
 of Jonathan Patten, Esq., of New York. 
 
 Mr. Swift was a Mason, and received his degree in the Washington Lodge, 
 Alexandria; initiated and passed Feb. 25, 1785, and raised to a Master Mason Feb. 
 24, 1786. 
 
 As a brother Mason Mr. Swift attended the funeral of Gen. Washington, and was 
 the one who sprinkled the earth over the body during the services. He was also 
 buried with Masonic honors by the lodge. A gentleman of dignified and elegant 
 manners, tall, of commanding aspect ; his eyes were blue, and his complexion dark. 
 
28 GENEALOGY OF THE FAMILY OF 
 
 He was an intelligent traveler, visiting England and Ireland in 1786-7, when he 
 improved the opportunity of a visit to Rotherham, in Yorkshire, the home of his 
 ancestors. Here and elsewhere in the county he found the name respectably 
 represented ; some having the tradition that a branch of the family had migrated to 
 Boston in the previous century. On visiting Dublin some members of St. Patrick's 
 Society thought they traced a resemblance between him and the Dean, and with the 
 characteristic poetry of Irish feeling, they gave him a dinner and presented him with 
 a portrait of the Dean, with the arms of the Yorkshire family. His valuable papers, 
 among which were many letters from Gen. Washington, were all lost at sea soon after 
 the death of his son, while being sent to New York. His portrait, which was painted 
 abroad, was so injured on the voyage home that he destroyed it. 
 
 15 
 
 i^atl^anitl,' {Nathaniel* Samuel^ Tkomasf Thomas',) of Dorchester, b. in Milton, 
 June 12, 1754; d. Nov. 16, 1831 ; m. Sept. 25, 1777, Mary Baker, b. Feb. 7, 1754. 
 
 CHILDREN. 
 
 21. fiatbanicl, b. July 15, 1778. 
 
 22. EJailliam, b. Sept. 11, 1779. 
 
 Mary, b. Mar. 18, 17S1; d. unm. in 1877. 
 Sarah, b. Dec. 23, 17S2; d. unm. in 1S77. 
 
 23. Samuel, b. Dec. 2, 1784. 
 
 The daughters, Mary and Sarah, were charming ladies of great intelligence, 
 residing till their death in Dorchester. The family tomb is situated in the old 
 Dorchester graveyard. 
 
 16 
 
 3Df)n=' SiDift, lEsq. {Ebenczer* Samuel,^ Thomas^ Thomas,') b. in Milton on the 
 ancestral farm, June 24, 1747; d. Jan. 14, 1819; m. May 17, 1772, Elizabeth (born 
 Jan. 14, 1754; d. Dec. 13, 1825), dau. of William and Hannah (Blake) Babcock 
 of Milton. 
 
 CHILDREN. 
 
 Bktsf.y, b. Apr. 27, 1773; d. 1774. 
 24. 3ot)n, b. Mar. 12, 1775. 
 
 Wii.i.iAM, b. June 13, 1777; merchant of Milton; adm. to John Swift, Esq., Feb. 7, 1808, d. s.p. 
 
 Elizabeth, b. Jan. 4, 1779; d. June 10, 1805; m. Capt. P. 15. Rogers; children: i, Charles; 2, 
 Elizabeth; 3, Judith, m. E. P. Porter of lioston, d. s. p.; 4, John Swift, m. and left four child- 
 ren; 5, George 1!., d. leaving a widow and three children; 6, Fanny, m. J. A. Veazie of Boston, 
 has three children; 7, Pcnuel, dead. 
 
THOMAS SWIFT OF DORCHESTER. 
 
 29 
 
 Fanny, b. Dec. 30, 1780; d. unm. Mar. 2, 1868. A lady much beloved. She owned the ancient 
 coat of arms before mentioned, which she gave in i860 to Gen. Swift, now in possession of 
 his son, McRee. 
 
 Charles, b. May 2, 1783; d. single. 
 
 Edward, b. Aug. 15, 1788; d. single. 
 
 Capt. John Swift, as he is frequently called on the Milton record, was one of the 
 leading men of the town. He built the house now standing on Adams Street near 
 Canton Avenue, Milton Hill, from which the following picture was made, about one 
 hundred years ago, on land his wife inherited from her ancestors. 
 
 In business he was a successful manufacturer of gentlemen's and ladies' beaver 
 hats, in which he rivalled those imported from the mother country. 
 
 The Milton records during the Revolutionary period of its history, show that he 
 was an active and ardent patriot, filling the most important offices with signal ability. 
 Before the memorable year of i ']^6, when he was chosen as one of the committee of 
 safety and correspondence, he had filled numerous minor offices, as clerk of the 
 market, surveyor, and so forth; and in 1781 he was appointed with his brother 
 Samuel to raise men for the Continental army, and was also chosen to examine the 
 treasurer's accounts and to regulate the schools. No committee during these 
 exciting times seemed complete unless his name was attached to it, and all we can 
 learn of him stamps him as a determined and resolute man, greatly respected by his 
 
30 GENEALOGY OF THE FAMILY OF 
 
 townsmen. In i8 17 he was a second lieutenant in a company which went to assist in 
 quelling Shay's rebellion. 
 
 The following incident, giving us some insight into his character, was given by 
 the Rev. Frederick Frothingham, in his two hundredth anniversary discourse : " June 
 ■ 19, 1796, the church of Milton called the Rev. John Pierce, afterwards the famous 
 Dr. Pierce, of Brookline, but the town would not concur. Dr. Pierce used to say in 
 his jovial fashion that Mr. John Swift was the cause of his not coming to Milton. 
 Being a man of influence, he made such a fuss in the town that the town refused to 
 ratify the vote of the church in favor of inviting Mr. Pierce. And the weighty 
 ground of Mr. Swift's opposition was, that he did not like Mr. Pierce's step-mother." 
 
 A note to a sermon by John H. Morrison, D. D., of Milton, says : " About sixty 
 years ago, I have been told that at a town meeting in Milton, no public measure 
 could be carried which was opposed by John Swift, the energetic head of an impor- 
 tant family which is now represented by only one male member." 
 
 Squire Swift was a politician of the old Jeffersonian school, and made his influence 
 felt both in his town and county. He is said to have been tendered the nomination 
 for Congress, but declined. In writing his political squibs, as he called them, he 
 signed himself " The Man of Fur." 
 
 Mr. E. J. Baker of Dorchester writes: "His was no negative character. He 
 loved his friends and hated his enemies, while he rendered to Ca;sar the things that 
 are Ca;sar's, and to God the things that are God's. In the days of my boyhood I 
 met him frequently, when he was at the age of threescore years and ten, and my 
 remembrance of him is that he was tall and portly, dignified in his person and in his 
 gait, and elastic in his step. His hair was very white, with the queue of the former 
 generation. He was always social and pleasant in his conversation, and a constant 
 attendant at church. His hospitality was bounteous, and shared alike by his neigh- 
 bors and transient visitors." 
 
 Administration on his estate was granted to his son John, February 2, 18 19. 
 The inventory, amounting to three thousand, seven hundred and forty-six dollars and 
 four cents, showed tvvo pews in the Milton meeting house, and about one hundred 
 books in the library. His family tomb is near by the graves of his ancestors in the 
 Milton cemetery. 
 
 17 
 
 Samuel' Stoift, {Ebenezer' Samuci,' Thomas'^ Thomas'), b. at the paternal mansion, 
 Milton Hill, May 28, 1749; d. February i, 1830, aged 81; m. (pub. October 4, 
 1782), Abigail (b. May 15, 1759; d. August 16, 1834, aged 76), dau. of William 
 and Eunice (Bent) Pierce. 
 
THOMAS SWIFT OF DORCHESTER. 3 1 
 
 CHILDREN. 
 
 25. Samuel, b. Sept. 22, 1783. 
 
 Judith, b. July 17, 1785; d. unm. Oct. 23, 1857. 
 
 Lewis, b. Aug. 5, 1787; d. young. 
 
 Andrew, b. Aug. 20, 1789; d. unm. Feb. 19, 1851. 
 
 William, b. July 27, 1791 ; d. s. p. June 8, 1865. 
 
 Ebenezer, b. June 19, 1793; d. June 16, 1827. 
 
 Abigail, b. Dec. 25, 1795; d. unm. July 22, 1838. 
 
 Eunice, b. June 6, 1798; m. Nov. 20, 1823, Josiah Wadsworth. 
 
 George, b. Nov. 29, 1800; d. unm. 
 
 Tho.mas Oliver, b. Apr. 12, 1803; d. unm. June 6, 1837. 
 
 Mr. Swift, like his brother John, was an ardent patriot of the Revolution, and we 
 find his name on many of the important committees of those stirring times. In 1781 
 he was on the committee of safety and correspondence, also to raise men for the 
 Continental army. Besides various other committees to which his name was 
 attached, he was surveyor of the highways, constable, and overseer of the poor. 
 Mr. Swift by occupation was a farmer, tilling the acres that had been cultivated by 
 his ancestors. By his will, dated Sept. 24, 1827, he disposed of an estate of nearly 
 six thousand dollars among his children, who, Aug. 25, 1835, sold the property to 
 Mr. Thomas Hollis, of Milton. Singular to say, the estate has got back again into 
 Swift blood, having been bought by Lewis W. Tappan, Jr., a descendant of 
 Obadiah, son of the first Thomas. Mr. Tappan has remodeled the old mansion and 
 occupies it as a residence. Mr. Swift was the owner of the Swift chair, pre- 
 viously mentioned. 
 
 18 
 
 lEbentjcr' Sinift, (Ebenezer* Samuel,^ Thomas^ Thomas,^) born in Milton Jan. 15, 
 
 1752; d. in Framingham Sept. 3, 1775, ae. 23, (g. s.) ; m. , 1775, Martha 
 
 Rice of Natick. Had one son, Ebenezer*, b. , d. ; m. 
 
 Sept. 7, 1800, Sally Greenwood, by whom he had the following children: 
 
 CHILDREN. 
 
 Martha, b. Nov. 3, 1800. 
 Mary, b. May 1, 1S03. 
 George, b. May 20, 1805. 
 Hiram, b. Feb. 5, 1814. 
 
 19* 
 
 General 3a?,t^\f Partner Sfaift, ILIL. ©., (Foster," Samuel* Samuel^ Thomas'^ 
 Thomas') b. at Nantucket Dec. 31, 1783; d. July 23, 1865; m. June 6, 1805, 
 
 *By a typographical error the number to which this refers is 29 instead of 19, as it should be. 
 
32 GENEALOGY OF THE FAMILY OF 
 
 Louisa Margaret (b. Oct. 14, 1788; d. Nov. 15, 1855,) dau. of Capt. James 
 Walker,* a rice planter of Wilmington, N. C. 
 
 CHILDREN. 
 James Foster, b. May 15, 1806; d. March 18, 1830; m. Jan. 2, 1830, Mary F. Jephson of New 
 York. Partially educated at West Point; U. S. assistant engineer when he died. 
 
 26. 3onatI)an ajailliamss, b. March 30, 1808. 
 
 Alexander Joseph, b. March 4, i8io; Cadet at the U. S. Military Academy from July i, 1826, to 
 July I, 1830, when he was graduated and promoted in the army to Bvt. Second Lieut. Corps 
 of Engineers, July I, 1830. Served: as Asst. Engineer in the construction of Ft. Caswell, N. 
 C, and improvement of Cape Fear River, N. C, 1830-32, and in the erection of Ft. Adams, 
 Newport Harbor, R. L, 1832-35; as Superintending Engineer of the opening of Ocracock 
 Inlet, N. C, 1835-39; of the improvement of Cape Fear River of Pamlico Sound, N. C, 
 (First Lieut. Corps of Engineers Oct. 31, 1836,) 1S36-39; of the construction of Ft. Caswell, 
 N. C, 1836-39, and of improvement of Cose Sound and of New River, N. C, 1838-39; on 
 professional duty in Europe at the School of Application (Capt. Corps of Engineers July 7, 
 1838,) for the Artillery and Engineers at Metz, France, 1840-41 ; at the Military Academy as 
 Instructor of practical military engineering June 30, 1841, to Sept. 12, 1846; Treasurer Dec. 
 19, 1845, '° Sept. 12, 1846; Superintending Engineer of the construction of cadets' barracks 
 1844-46; and in the war with Mexico 1856-7, in command of Sappers and Miners and 
 Pontoniers, being engaged in the siege of Vera Cruz March 9-18, 1S47. Died April 24, 1847, 
 at New Orleans. 
 
 Thomas Delano, b. March 23, 1S12; d. Sept 2, 1829. 
 
 Julius Henry, b. Sept. i, 1814; d. Feb. 6, 1S50. 
 
 Sarah Delano, b. March 30, 1816; d. March 22, 1876; m. Oct. 18, 1861, Peter Richards of 
 New York. 
 
 27. fHclart, b. April 15, 1819. 
 
 Louisa Josephine, b. April 30, 1821; d. Jan. 16, 1859; m. June 22, 1843, Peter Richards of 
 New York. 
 
 Harriet Walker, b. Feb. 3, 1S24; d. Dec. 7, 1S26. 
 
 Charlotte Farquhar, b. April 5, 1826; d. Dec. 31, 1840. 
 
 James Thomas, b. Aug. 30, 1829; m. Nov. 14, 1861, Margaret Weston, only dau. of Judge 
 Weston of Sandy Hill, N. Y. Is a successful merchant of New York, and member of the 
 Chamber of Commerce. He has made admirable use of his surplus income in charities, par- 
 ticularly in founding the Home for Old People of Geneva, N. Y., in memory of his brother 
 Foster. 
 
 28. JFoBttr, b. Oct. 31, 1833. 
 
 'Robert Walker, a kinsman probably of the Rev. George Walker, the hero of Londonderry and resident of 
 Portaferry, Ireland, m. Ann .Shearer, a dau. of the family of Montgomery of Mt. Alexander, and migrated in 
 1738 with many of his retainers, among them the Owens and Kenons, to Wilmington, N. C, where were born, 
 Ann, (Quince) 1740; James, 1742; d. Feb. 1808, re. 66 yrs. ; m. Jan. 1770, Magdalene Margaret Dubois, who 
 d. Dec. 1827, a-. 72; and had James W., b. Dec. 25, 1770, who, with his family and son Henry migrated 
 to Ashtourne, thence to southwest part of Arkansas; Harriet, b. Dec. 10, 1784; Louisa Margaret, b. Oct. 14, 
 1788; m. J. G. Swift. Julius Henry, b. Oct. 26, 1793; d. 1827 in Pendleton, S. C. 
 
 Dominc Petrus Dubois of Amsterdam, of a refugee Huguenot family from Rochelle in France, about the 
 time of the massacre of St. Bartholomew, was the father of the Rev. Walter Dubois, pastor of the Reformed 
 Dutch Church in (Jarden Street, New York, who married Helena Van Baal. He d. Oct. 175 i, :i'. 80. Of their 
 children, John, b. 1707, by his second wife Gabriella De Kosset of Wilmington, N. C, had Magdalene Margaret, 
 b. Feb. 19, 1765, wife of James Walker. 
 
 1 have a copper plate portraiture of Dom. Petrus Dubois of Amsterdam in my library, and I have placed in 
 the consistory of the early Dutch Church of New York, whose pastor is the Rev. Mr. De Witt, a full-sized and 
 excellent work of art in oil portrait of Ihe aforesaid Dom. (jualthemus Dubois. 
 
 The De Rossets were a Huguenot family of long existence in F'rance. Two sons, Louis and John, emi- 
 grated to Wilmington, N. C. Louis was of llie King's Council, and with his brother, and William Montgomery 
 Walker, brother of James Walker, were the founders of St. James Episcopal Church in Wilmington. — From J. 
 G. Swift's Notts. 
 
THOMAS SWIFT OF DORCHESTER. 33 
 
 A Memoir of General Swift having been already published, it is unnecessary 
 here to give more than a brief reference to his character. 
 
 From his ancestors, who were of the best Puritan type, he inherited a rare combi- 
 nation of qualities, that formed a noble manhood. He was not only a brave soldier, 
 but a man whose character and influence would have gained him distinction in any 
 position of life. He was a staunch supporter of the Episcopal Church. He took 
 much interest in agricultural pursuits, was possessed of much musical talent, which 
 displayed itself in early childhood, and had a great deal of love for the fine arts. 
 Although not what would be called a student, he was well read, possessed a decided 
 literary taste, and had a remarkable memory. He was particularly interested in 
 historical matters, and gave considerable attention to the genealogy of his own family 
 and kindred. He was a careful observer, wrote tersely and with much force. He 
 was a staunch supporter of the government during the late civil war, and threw the 
 whole weight of his influence against secession. His last recorded utterance was for 
 the safe delivery, and future prosperity of his country, just emerging from the horrors 
 of a four years civil war. 
 
 He was particularly happy in his domestic relations, and the most charming 
 and interesting of companions, pouring out the hoarded stores of long years' close 
 observation, silent thought and clear analysis of striking events. 
 
 His dignity and simplicity, courtly politeness and lively sympathies, always 
 secured for him the warm regard of old and young. For the latter, he felt a pater- 
 nal interest, and was ever a wise counsellor and faithful friend. 
 
 General Swift's portrait was painted several times. Once by Jarvis, by order of 
 the city government of New York, to be hung in the City Hall. The Corps of 
 Engineers, to show their respect and affection for their chief, requested him to sit to 
 Tully, which picture now hangs in the library of the Military Academy at West 
 Point — a fit depository of the portrait of its first graduate, second Superintendent, 
 and subsequent Inspector. Later in life his portrait was painted by Huntington, and 
 from this admirable likeness, and valuable work of art, the plates are furnished for 
 this book. 
 
 " A man he seemed of cheerful yesterdays and confident to-morrows ; with a 
 face not worldly minded, for it bore so much of nature's impress, gayety and health, 
 freedom and hope, but keen withal, and shrewd." 
 
 At the age of eighty-two he passed away, surrounded by his family, full of 
 years and honors, with faculties bright, and affections warm to the last ; much 
 lamented by the public, and sincerely mourned by a wide circle of friends. 
 
 For the above we are chiefly indebted to a Biogaplncal Sketch of Gen. Swift by 
 Gen. G. VV. CuUum, U. S. A., printed in 1877. 
 
 WILL. 
 
 I give to my daughter, Sarah D. Swift Richards, all my Lot and House and Furniture at Mill Point, in fee 
 simple. I give to my executors, McRee Swift and Peter Richards, all the remainder of my property of every 
 
34 GENEALOGY OF THE FAMILY OF 
 
 kind in trust to be conveyed to them in five equal shares, to the five following named of my children, to wit : 
 Jonathan \V. Swift or heirs, to McRee Swift or heirs, to my son-in-law, Peter Richards (Josie's share,) to James 
 Tho'. Swift, and to Foster Swift. I give to Maria Jephson, widow of my son James Foster, Five Hundred 
 Dollars, and I give to our faithful family servant Mary Simpson, Five Hundred Dollars, to buy an annuity. 
 
 Done in the City of New York this 20th day of March, Eighteen Hundred and Sixty-five, in presence of 
 us witnesses, and in presence of each other, and at the request of the Testator. He declaring this to be his 
 last will. I '~^~' 1 
 
 J. G. SWIFT. I SEAL I 
 
 WiNFiELD Scott, U. S. Army, City of New York. ^-y' 
 
 John Hamilton, 17 W. 20th St., New York. 
 
 Mem". To my Brother the Family Bible and my Mother's and Father's Portraits for life, and then to my 
 oldest male Heir. The Urn belongs to Sally, the Statuette of Napoleon to my son McRee. The Silver Tea Pot 
 and Sugar Dish and Basin from the Canteen to Sally. The City Plate and Library divided among my Children 
 within two years after my demise. Nearly all the rest of the Pictures belong to Mr. Richards. The Arms to 
 the eldest male. Math'l Instruments to McRee. 
 
 J. G. SWIFT. 
 
 Capt. railliam pjenro^ Stoift, 3. ffl., M. S. SI., {Foster': SamucK Samuel^ Thomas^ 
 
 Thomas:) b. at Taunton Nov. 6, iSoo; d. Apr. 7, 1879; m. 1825, 
 
 Mary, dau. of Charles Stuart, British Consul at New London, Ct. She died in Nov. 
 
 1837, leaving two children. His second wife, to whom he was m. Apr. , 1844, 
 
 was Hannah W., dau. of John Howard of Springfield, Mass. She died at her resi- 
 dence, No. II West i6th St., New York, Jan. 6, 1884, ze. 63. 
 
 CHILDREN. 
 29. Cijarica KE., b. , 1828. 
 
 Mary, b. , 1826; m. George Ironside, merchant, born in England. 
 
 Gen. Geo. W. Cullum, U. S. Army, printed a biographical account of Capt 
 Swift, from which the following abstracts are made : 
 
 " It is difficult in fitting phrase to do justice to the beloved memory of such a nobleman of nature as Captain 
 Swift, and to portray his gentle, cheerful and buoyant spirit: his refined courtesy and vivacity of manner; his 
 sweet serenity of temper, abounding humor and genial conversation; his conscientious candor and ingenuous 
 frankness; his lofty honor, without soil or blemish; his devotion to duty as to a shrine of worship; his fulfillment 
 of pledges and fidelity to every trust; his judgment in meeting and energy in overcoming obstacles; his patient 
 and tireless industry in all pursuits; his modesty in measuring his achievements; his probity and justice under 
 every temptation; his cheerful confidence and tranquil courage amid difficulties; his love of home and aflection 
 for kindred and friends; and, in fine, render due honor to all the varied virtues harmoniously fused together to 
 form this upright officer, who 
 
 " bore, without abuse 
 The grand old name of gentleman." 
 
 " In his official relations, one who had known Swift intimately for forty years, says in a letter : ' He carried 
 into business the same qualities that distinguished him elsewhere — the instinct of a thorough gentleman, and 
 the training of a soldier : sound sense, and a delicacy of feeling that made it impossible for him to look on the 
 right or left of the path of duty and honor. I never thought of him as a trader, but always as a trustee; and 
 trustworthiness, in every act, thought or opinion, is the word above all others to characterize him. lie was 
 
THOMAS SWIFT OF DORCHESTER. 35 
 
 naturally conservative and added to these qualities a sense of order, both natural and acquired, which maintained 
 every piece of work at all times in as great completeness as it could be. He was tenacious of his opinions, and 
 they became a part of himself; and if he once set a black mark against a man, it was not easy to induce him to 
 erase it, bat his instincts were so true that he rarely had occasion to change his judgments of men.' 
 
 But Swift's daily contact with the outside crafty world never blunted his sensibilities nor dwarfed his 
 intellect. Nature had imbued him with a simplicity of heart, a refined unconsciousness of excellence which had 
 not the slightest taint of vanity or tarnish of self-complacency. This gentle, childlike simplicity was one of the 
 great charms of his character, and gave a placid repose to his entire hfe. He had a sensibility feelingly respon- 
 sive to every fine impulse; a kindness, Uke golden threads running through the tissue of his whole being; and 
 a modesty, which was reflected in all his acts, which colored all his surroundings, and heightened all his virtues. 
 His modesty forbade his ever dwelling upon his own great achievements or daily acts of benevolence, though 
 from others he keenly appreciated generous commendations that were deserved. His heart was always open, 
 his counsel ever ready, and his sympathy warmly alive to all modest merit struggling with adversity. This lender 
 compassion for the unfortunate was so strong that even his stern moral sense would soften to the evil-doer led 
 astray by alluring temptation, his considerate reply to relentless Pharisees being always : " put yourself in the 
 poor fellow's place, that is the -only way to judge a man." Though his melting charity of thought commiserated 
 wrong, he never swerved a tittle from an open expression and earnest advocacy of right. His candour courted 
 the light; rectitude was the pole-star of his intellectual as of .his moral nature; and honor his sacred tie of 
 humanity, 'the noble mind's distinguishing perfection.' His sense of justice was so strong and so unselfish that, 
 even in matters involving his own interest, no one hesitated to abide by his decisions, for they were strictly 
 impartial and based on truth. In his crystal conscience truth entered as a beam of pure white light, without the 
 tinge of one deviated ray of duplicity, directing him in the path of duty. Thus duty was not the mere routine 
 of business, but a great moral obligation, the mainspring of his transactions. Whatever he did was well done 
 and done systematically, for to him order was ' heaven's first law ' in conducting the smallest detail as the greatest 
 undertaking; and untiring industry was the prodigious lever of his success. Work, to attain a worthy and 
 useful purpose, sweetened his every moment with profit, seasoned all hours with joy, and idle days were canker- 
 worms of his happiness. In all his acts practical common sense was conspicuous, and his views were plainly 
 presented without the slightest garniture of show, or veiled with any gossamer of conventional phraseology. 
 Ever ready at the opportune moment, he struck while the iron was hot, never, however, disdaining through per- 
 severance to make the iron hot by striking. He prudently looked well to the past and forward to the future, 
 but his habitual caution, which weighed in nice balance truth against error, was not the ' leaden servitor of dull 
 delay.' He rarely lost his admirable equipoise amid all the disturbing elements of a jarring world; and his 
 sound judgment, though so promptly rendered as to appear an intuition, was always based on ascertained facts, 
 sagacious arguments, and mature reflection. His capacity for affairs was incontestable, and such confidence was 
 reposed in his skilful management and well-tried fidelity that, till a few years before he died, he held, besides 
 his public, no less than twenty-eight private trusts; was the safe custodian of many secrets of sorrow, trial and 
 misfortune ; and gave as careful and minute supervision to the interests of his family, relatives, and intimates, as 
 to his own. Yet, while accomplishing so much, he never seemed busy. His study, in which most of his work 
 was done, was at all hours open to his friends, and no matter how troublesome or complicated his work in hand 
 might be, he was always ready to turn from it to offer his hearty, genial welcome to a visitor, or to patiently listen 
 to any domestic or business affair brought to him for advice or consideration. But, when his day's work was 
 done, his task was over, and he enjoyed his quiet evenings, his friends and his books, when their turn came, 
 without a trace of preoccupation. Books he read for recreation as well as for knowledge; but the chief joys of 
 his life were his family and friends, particularly his army associates, for whom his heart ever yearned. He was 
 especially fond of the Military Academy and its traditions, and toward its graduates he grew more and more 
 kindly and sympathetic with every waning year of life. This affection was warmly reciprocated, for he had a 
 magnetic influence over all his intimates, and even the casual acquaintance was won by his sincerity, fidelity, 
 manly virtues, and capacity of brotherhood. He inspired love and confidence also in those, whatever their 
 stations, tranisently employed on the various works under his supervision, for their interests became his; their 
 claims upon his sympathy or consideration met with a prompt response; and no worthy subordinate, however 
 necessary to him, failed of his influence to be advanced to a more lucrative position. It is therefore not strange 
 that Swift was beloved and honored by the whole community with which he associated. For every one he had 
 a gentle and kind word, a hearty, cordial greeting, and put all at ease by that urbanity of manner, or high lireed- 
 
36 GENEALOGY OF THE FAMILY OF 
 
 ing which comes from the heart, and is refined into an inexpressible charm by the constant mingling with 
 polished society. With the world, both at home and abroad, he had had much intercourse which gave him an 
 affable, yet dignified demeanor, not as a garment put on for court occasion, but which was the habitual, graceful 
 drapery of life. They who knew him slightly perhaps thought him reserved, but no intimate could approach 
 him without catching the merry twinkle of his speaking eyes. His mirth and cheerfulness were the fountain- 
 springs, sparkling and bright, of his social life, which diffused refreshing dews of gladness upon all others, and 
 to himself gave that happy temperament, rarely clouded by care, which, like the dial, mark only the hours that 
 shine. 
 
 " Swift was indeed the light and strength of his immediate circle, and at his own fireside was most truly 
 appreciated, for he was the most devoted of husbands and Ihe tenderest of parents; to the friends he had, and 
 their adoption tried, his heart was faithful to the last hour of life; he was the incorruptible citizen whom neither 
 power nor pay could swerve; the firm patriot whose whole country was holy ground; the efficient officer ever 
 at his post of duty; the able agent punctiliously faithful in the administration of every trust; the soul of honor 
 with the courage to execute the commands of conscience; and in his manly bosom lofty sentiments were em- 
 bellished by the softer refinements of a most noble nature, which 
 
 " like gold, the more 'tis tried 
 The more shall its intrinsic worth proclaim." 
 
 Capt. Swift was appointed a cadet at the U. S. Military Academy April 15, 
 1813, when but thirteen years old, entering Aug. 13, 1813, and there was distin- 
 guished for a love of fun rather than a devotion to study. In December, 18 18, he* 
 was ordered on Major Long's expedition to the Rocky Mountains, which somewhat 
 tamed his playfulness. Once, while on a buffalo hunt, he was captured by Pawnee 
 Indians, who detained him some months, being kindly treated, and learning their 
 habits of life. 
 
 On the return of the expedition in February, 1821, although his class had been 
 graduated, he was attached to the end of the class roll, and promoted from July i, 
 1 819, as Second Lieutenant Corps of Artillery. 
 
 After the completion of Major Long's map of the expedition he was, till 1826, 
 under Colonel Abert of the topographical engineers, on surveys for military 
 defenses on the Atlantic coast, and was detailed from 1828-29, on the improvement 
 of railroads. 
 
 From 1830 to 1832 he was engaged in the United States Post Office depart- 
 ment, in compiling, almost entirely with his own hands, an elaborate post-route map 
 of the United States, with books of distance, which were so complete that they have 
 been the basis of all since used. During these two years he also assisted in the 
 survey of several railroads. 
 
 In the meantime, August 5, 1824, he had been promoted First Lieutenant, ist 
 Artillery, and August i, 1832, was attached to the general staff of the army as Brevet 
 Captain of Topographical Engineers, and full captain July 7, 1838. 
 
 Captain Swift's attainments were considered so high that, at the request of 
 Professor Hasslcr, he was detailed from 1833 to 1843 on the great geodetic survey 
 of the Atlantic coast, and at various times had charge of fifteen river and harbor 
 improvements along the Atlantic coast, from Portland, Me., to VVestport, Ct. From 
 
THOMAS SWIFT OF DORCHESTER. 37 
 
 1836 to 1840 was resident superintending engineer of the Massachusetts Western 
 Railroad. 
 
 In 1840-41 was in Europe, and after his return, in 1843, was a member of the 
 board of visitors to the Military Academy. From 1843 till July 31, 1849, when he 
 resigned from the army, he was the principal assistant to Colonel Abert, during 
 which time he was often detailed on important duties. The principal of these was 
 as a commissioner of the Illinois and Michigan Canal, of which, from June 26, 1845, 
 to August 16, 1 87 1, he was president of the board of trustees. His was the organ- 
 izing brain and directing hand of the board, of this great work from its inception, 
 and during which $10,913,765 passed through its hands, faithfully accounting for 
 every dollar. The success of the negotiation to secure the loan from Baring Bros., 
 to carry on this work was greatly due to the business tact, engineering experience, 
 and upright character of Captain Swift ; and they communicated their high appreci- 
 ation of the services he had rendered, and their personal regards, and asked him to 
 accept an extra year's salary. 
 
 In 1843 he erected the iron beacon still standing at the entrance of Black Rock 
 Harbor, Ct., and in 1848 Minot Ledge lighthouse. 
 
 Shortly after resigning his commission he was appointed president of the Phil- 
 adelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore Railroad, which position he filled with great 
 acceptance. On his resignation he accepted the presidency of the Massachusetts 
 Western railroad, acquitting himself to the entire satisfaction of the company. In 
 1853 Harvard College conferred on him the honorary degree of A. M. He became 
 prominently identified with other great railroads, and in 1874 went to England for 
 the purpose of making favorable financial arrangements with Messrs. Baring & Co. 
 
 Captain Swift, from his first acquaintance with these bankers possessed their entire 
 confidence, and to the day of his death was their confidential adviser relating to 
 American railroads. 
 
 Captain Swift lived to see nearly four-score years, passing away with love, honor 
 and troops of friends. 
 
 21 
 
 Qr. Xatbanicr Stoift, {NathatKiel; Nathaniel' Samttel,^ Thomas'^ Thomas,^) of 
 
 Andover, Mass., physician; b. in Dorchester July 15, 1778; d. Dec. 7, 1840; m. 
 
 Nov. 27, 1803, Sarah, (b. May 22, 1783; d. Sept. 11, 1858, s. 75,) dau. of 
 
 Timothy Abbott of Andover. 
 
 CHILDREN. 
 
 30. i^atfjaniel, b. May 12, 1805. 
 
 31. (Seotgc Baferr, b. July 30, 1S06. 
 
 Sarah Francis, b. Nov. 15, 1807; m. June 19, 1S33, Rev. Jeffries Hall. Children: i, Caroline, 
 Li. May 26, 1834; m. Moses Foster of Andover. 2, Edward Percival, b. April 3, 1836. 3, 
 Henry Kirke White, b. July 24, 18—. 4, Sarah Frances, b. Jan. 23, 1S41; m. Dr. J. C. 
 W. Moore, Concord, N. H. 5, Helen Maria, b. Oct. 23, 1S47, res., Chesterfield, N. H. 
 William, b. Dec. 17, 1809; d. Nov. 20, 1S33. 
 
38 
 
 GENEALOGY OF THE FAMILY OF 
 
 Catharine, b. July 6, 1S13; m. Aug. 12, 1834, John F. (b. Jan 29, 1810) son of Capt. John and 
 Martha (Swan) Trow, of North Andover, Mass. Children: I, Sarah F. Trow, b. Aug. 22, 
 1835 ; m. Oct. I, 1856, A. Carter, Jr., manufacturing jeweler, res.. Orange, N. J. 2, George W. 
 Trow, b. June 21, 1827; d. Oct. 8, 1S72. 3, Catharine S. Trow, b. Aug. 28, 1842; m. Aug. 
 12, 1S63, Dr. James B. Cutter. 4. Martha EUzabeth Trow, b. Sept. 20, 1844; m. Oct. lo, 18S7, 
 Hugo Peipers, merchant of New York. 5, John Fowler Trow, Jr., b. May 19, 1850; m. 
 April 14, 1880, Cora Munn. 
 
 John F. Trow commenced life as a printer, and at the age of twenty-two established and 
 pubUshed the Nashua Herald, at Nashua, N. H. He sold out his interest to the editor, 
 and in 1833 left for New York, where, in May of that year he engaged in business under the 
 firm name of West & Trow. From 1840 to 1848 he was of the firm of Leavitt, Trow & Co., 
 publishers and booksellers, and John F. Trow, printers. In 1848 he commenced the publi- 
 cation of Wilson's Business Directory, and in l852of Trow's New York City Directory, which 
 pubUcations are still continued. He is president and treasurer of Trow's Printing and Book- 
 binding Company, and treasurer of the National Needle Company. Mr. Trow has been an 
 elder in the Presbyterian church for thirty-five years. 
 
 32. Samutl, b. Feb. 21, 1815. 
 
 Charles, I b. July 25, 1816; lives in Boston. 
 
 33. Sonatijan, i b. July 25, i8i6. 
 
 OBITUARY. 
 
 Died at .-Vndover, on the 7th instant, after a short illness, Dr. Nathaniel Swift, in the sixty-third year of his 
 age. By this providence an affectionate family have been bereft of a kind and tender father, the community of 
 a strictly honest and upright citizen, and the church of a sincere and devoted member. 
 
 Dr. Swift was affectionate and kind in his disposition, cheerful and friendly in his social intercourse, and 
 prompt to every professional call, without regard to the unseasonableness of the hour, the inclemency of the 
 weather, or the poverty of the applicant. 
 
 The poor and the aged have lost in him a friend indeed. It was his special delight to minister to their 
 comfort. They experienced his care and attention in sickness, and his counsel and charity in health. At his 
 death, those who had experienced the value of his services and kindness gathered around his remains, to shed 
 the silent tear, and to speak of his many virtues, and his self-denial for their good. 
 
 He held several important public offices : those of Justice of the Peace and Postmaster, for nearly twenty 
 years, and those of Coroner, Notary Public, and Director in the Essex Bank for many years. The duties of 
 each he continued to discharge until his decease. 
 
 He had been a member of the church about forty years. His religion was of the heart and not in word 
 only. His favorite books were his Bible, with Orton's Exposition, and Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress, with Scott's 
 Notes; the latter of which he read through in course not less than twenty times. It had been his habit for 
 years to rise between four and five o'clock and spend a season in religious reading. The blessing of his paternal 
 care and instruction will long be cherished in grateful recollection, and be felt, we trust, when time shall be no 
 more. His numerous family of children all became at an early age members of the Church of Christ. One 
 most devout and heavenly minded, some years since, entered, we cannot doubt, in his eternal rest. May the 
 bereaved widow and children, and the sisters and brothers in this hour of deep affliction find the consolation 
 which flows alone from the Christian's life; and be trained, under the discipline of heaven, for a union with the 
 departed dead where tears and parting shall be unknown. 
 
 December 26, 1840. 
 
 22 
 
 Dr. iLHiUiam'' Stoift, 53. S. N., (Nathaniel" Nathaniel' Samuel^ Thomas^ Thomas') 
 b. in Dorchester Sept. 11, 1779; d. Dec. 27, 1864; m. Dec. 31, 1850, Martha 
 Elizabeth, dati. of Luke and Mary (Montague) Phelps, of VVesthampton, Mass. 
 
THOMAS SWIFT OF DORCHESTER. 39 
 
 CHILDREN. 
 
 William Jonathan, b. March 10, 1S52; grad. at Amherst College 1873; College of Physi- 
 cians and Surgeons, N. Y., 1878; Bellevue Hospital, N. Y., 1880; m. June, 13, 1882, 
 Marie Aborn, dau. of S. J. Jacobs, of New York. Residence New York. They have 
 Lawrence, b. June 8, 1883. 
 John Baker, b. Sept. 30, 1S53; grad. Amherst College 1873; Harvard Medical School 1S77; 
 m. Oct II, 1S82, Hettie, dau. of Andrew H. Potter, of New Bedford, Mass. Residence! 
 Boston. They have John Baker, b. Aug. 12, 1883. 
 George Montague, b. Sept. 2, 1856; grad. Amherst College 1S76; College of Physicians and 
 Surgeons, N. Y., 1879; Bellevue Hospital, N. Y., 1881; residence. New York. 
 
 Dr. Swift was graduated from Harvard College in 1809, and from the Harvard 
 Medical School in 1812. The same year he entered the United States navy as a 
 volunteer, and sailed to the coast of Africa on board the " Chesapeake." On her 
 return he received from President Madison his commission as a surgeon in the navy. 
 He was on board the " Chesapeake " during her engagement in Boston Harbor with 
 the British man-o'-war " Shannon," was made prisoner, and with others was sent to 
 Halifax, Nova Scotia, from which place he was sent home with the wounded. Dr. 
 Swift was with Lawrence when he died, and was presented by him with his belt. In 
 18 1 3 he was on the brig " Syren," was again taken prisoner and sent to the Cape of 
 Good Hope, where he was kept six months. In 1820 Dr. Swift was on the "Ontario," 
 from which vessel he was detached and sent to Tunis as acting United States consul, 
 where he remained si.xteen months. In 1827 he was on the frigate "Erie;" 1829 
 on the " Constellation," cruising to England, France, and in the Mediterranean. 
 From about 1833 to 1836 Dr. Swift was stationed at the Naval Hospital in 
 New York. This service was during the cholera epidemic. In 1836 he was on the 
 "North Carolina;" was fleet surgeon of the Pacific squadron, and on his return in 
 1839 was stationed at New York, Boston and Newport, for different periods. In 
 1862, at his own request, he was placed on the retired list, having spent fifty-one 
 years in the service of his country. His residence for several years was Brooklyn, 
 N. Y., where he died in 1864. Dr. Swift was a gentleman of polished manners, 
 extremely methodical, and always avoiding anything like display. He was a great 
 reader, very fond of books, and collected a large library. 
 
 23 
 
 Capt. Samuer Siuift, (Nathaniel^ Nathaniel Samuel^ Thomas,^ Thomas') b. in 
 Dorchester Dec. 2, 1785; d. March 15, 1862; m. Nov. 3, 1819, Eliza Hester, (b. 
 Oct. IS, 1800; d. May i, 1866,) dau. of John Willkings of Wilmington, N. C. 
 
 CHILDREN. 
 Mary Wyatt, b. May i, 1823; drowned May 1, 1841. 
 
40 GENEALOGY OF THE FAMILY OF 
 
 Eliza Hester, b. Feb. I, 1825; m. Feb. 4, 1845, Thomas M. Woodruff of Trenton, N. J., 
 who died in Chicago Jan. 28, 1880. Children: George, b. Jan. 30, 1846; William Swift, 
 b. March 4, 1849; m. in Dixon, 111., July 19, 1879, Ruth Frances Wood. 
 George Baker, b. Nov. 21, 1826; d. March 28, 1827. 
 34. Samuel, b. May 22, 1S2S. 
 
 Isabella Sarah, b. April 11, 1832; m. Oct. 28, 1852, Robert J. Woodruff, M. D., of Trenton, 
 N.J. Children: Mary Jean, b. Aug. 28, 1835; ">• J^i"- ^4. 1880, A. B. Charbonnel of 
 Chicago; Isabella Louisa, b. Aug. 6, 1855; d. May 28, 1859; Susan Hester, b. June 
 16, 1858. 
 
 Harriet, b. Aug. 19, 1834; died Sept. 22, 1835. 
 
 Harriett, b. July 4, 1836; died Feb. 5, 1880; m. Sept. — 1866, Henry O. Nichols of Dor- 
 chester. Children: Grace Swift, b. Nov. 3, 1867; Arthur Topliff, b. July 7, 1869; Carrie 
 Frances, b. Oct. 3, 1877. 
 35. aailliam, b. July 22, 1839. 
 
 Mary, b. Sept. 4, 1841; m. at Springfield, 111., Feb. 14, 1871, Professor Orestes H. St. John 
 of Topeka, Kansas. He is a geologist and paleontologist. No children. 
 
 Charlotte, b. May 27, 1843; m. at Princeton February 22, 1866, to Charles F. Little, M. D. 
 Practiced a number of years in Princeton, then removed to Manhattan, Kansas. Children : 
 Eliza Ada, b. June 22, 1S67; NelUe Perkins, b. Dec. 15, 1S68; Blanche Alpine, b. 
 Dec. 18, 1869; d. Nov. 27, 1878. Jennie Belle, b. Oct. 8, 1871; Frederick Swift, b. 
 June 25, 1873. 
 
 Capt. Swift chose as his profession a seafaring life, and in 1806 made his first 
 voyage, following the sea as a shipmaster twenty-four years. 
 
 He commanded, with success, the ships of Stephen Girard of Philadelphia, and 
 those of Goodhue & Co., and is said to have been the first American to make a 
 voyage to the north-west coast. 
 
 He was a man of commanding presence, and possessed much personal beauty. 
 A portrait painted in Antwerp is in the possession of his son-in-law, Mr. Nichols, of 
 Dorchester. His daughter, Mrs. E. H. Woodruff of Princeton, 111., has a miniature 
 of him taken in early life, and his daughter, Mrs. Charlotte Little, has one of her 
 mother. 
 
 In 1836 Capt. Swift left the sea, and removed from Dorchester to Geneva, N. Y., 
 and in 1838 he removed to Princeton, 111., where he died. 
 
 OBITUARY. • 
 
 Died in Princeton, on Saturday morning the 15th, of Paralysis, Capt. Samuel Swift, in the 78th year of 
 his age. 
 
 [ COMMUNICATED.] 
 
 He was born in Dorche.ster, Massachusetts, and having early in life manifested a predilection for the sea, 
 he entered into the service of the Boston and London Shipping Company. He subseciuently commanded some 
 of the best merchant ships of New York and Philadelphia, and made in them many long and perilous voyages. 
 He live times circumnavigated the glol)C, and from long and active service acquired a high character for pmfes- 
 sional skill. He was a man of marked individuality of character; he possessed great determination and 
 courage, and displayed a rare and admirable coolness in the presence of danger. Though a great part of his 
 life had been spent on the sea in active employment, which does not afford much for the acquisition of knowledge 
 unconnected with nautical pursuits, the fund of general information he possessed was large. He w.is well read 
 in the English classics, and had an especial admiration of the works of Pope, Addison, Goldsmith and Johnson. 
 
 In all his long and eventful life his probity and honor were never questioned, and it might with truth be 
 said of him that he was that " noblest work of God, an honest man." 
 
 March 15, 1862. 
 
THOMAS SWIFT OF DORCHESTER. 41 
 
 24 
 
 Sai^n^ Stoift, (John' Ebcncser^ Samuel,' Tlionias'^ Thomas' ) b. March 12, 1775 ; d. 
 Sept. 26, 1838; m. Elizabeth Parker, b. ; d. Aug. 27, 1863, daughter 
 
 of Capt. Gideon and Elizabeth Hovey Parker, of Ipswich, a meritorious officer of 
 the Revolution and correspondent of Washington. 
 
 CHILDREN. 
 
 John McLean, b. Nov. 23, 181S; went to sea; never heard from. 
 
 Elizabeth Rogers, b. Jan. 19, 1820. 
 
 William Parker, b. Dec. 27, 1821; d. June 3, 1875. 
 
 Dean Manning, b. Oct. 23, 1S24; d. Aug. 26, 1859; m. April 30, 1850, Mary Sumner, b. Aug. 
 
 20, 1827, dau. of Lemuel Sumner. She m. 2d, Moses C. Chapman. Had two children who 
 
 died young, Mary Frances and Dean Manning. 
 Mary Frances, b. Oct. 12, 182S. 
 
 Mr. Swift followed his father's business, and occupied the family mansion on 
 Milton Hill, in which all his children were born. He was a man of standing in the 
 community; universally esteemed for his integrity, and filled several important 
 ofifices. His only surviving children. Misses Elizabeth R. and Mary F. Swift, 
 ladies of refinement and culture, live near by the old homestead. Their charming 
 home contains many interesting and valuable relics of the olden time, chief among 
 which is the old oak chair before mentioned. They also have a rare and curious 
 Venetian mirror of large size, and a fine old book-case which is thought to have 
 belonged to Gov. Hutchinson. These ladies are the last of a family prominent in 
 Milton's history for two centuries, though representatives still sustain the character 
 of the family in other towns. 
 
 25 
 
 Samucr Sinift, (^Samuel' Ebcnczcr* Samuel^ Thomas"' Thomas!) b. Sept. 22, 
 1783; d. Jan. II, 1S26; m. Nov. 2, 1806, Polly Cheney, b. in Roxbury ; 
 
 d. May 5, 1828, £e. 42: dau. of Lieut. Thomas and Jane (Foster) Cheney of 
 Roxbury. 
 
 CHILDREN. 
 
 Samuel Foster, b. Oct. 6, 1807; a drummer in the U. S. Army; died in service at Old Point 
 
 Comfort. 
 Child died in infancy. 
 
 36. SMilliam Augustus, b. Oct. iS, iSn. 
 
 37. ILefajis, b. Jan. 16, 1815. 
 
 Andrew, ; d. in Philadelphia Mar. 22, 1S41. 
 
 Ebenezer, 
 
 Thomas, ; d. young in Roxbury. 
 
 Mr, Swift was a hatter of Roxbury; a man of great humor, of whom many 
 anecdotes are told. 
 
GENEALOGY OF THE FAMILY OF 
 
 26 
 
 CTommotiorc Jionatijan EJEilliams' Stoift, 5S.. S. N., (^Joseph Gardner , Foster , Samiiel\ 
 Samuel^ Tliomas'; Thomas^) b. March 30, 1808, at Taunton, Mass.; d. July 30, 
 1877; m. Jan. 10, 1833, Isabella Fitzhugh, youngest child of Col. William Fitzhugh 
 of Hampton. Mrs. Swift resides at Geneva, N. Y. 
 
 CHILDREN. 
 
 Fitzhugh, b. March 12, 1S41; d. Dec. 31, i860, at sea. 
 
 Joseph Gardner, b. Feb. 4, 1844; d. March 2, 1871; cadet at the U. S. MiUtary Academy from 
 
 Sept. 1S62 to June iS, 1S66, when he was graduated and promoted in the army to 2 J Artillery. 
 
 Served in garrison at Richmond, Va., Sept. 30, 1S66. 
 Ann Elizabeth, b. Oct. 31, 1846; m. Sept. 3, 1S72, Lieut. John Williams Martin, 4th U. S. 
 
 Cavalry. They have WiUiam Swift Martin, b. Feb. 4, 1874; John Throop Martin, b. Jan. 
 
 20th, 1884, d. Jan. 22, 1885. 
 
 Commodore Swift was appointed from North Carolina August 25, 1823 ; went 
 to the Mediterranean in 1824; returned in 1826; went to the Pacific in frigate 
 "Brandywine" in 1826; returned in 1829; examined in 1820 and promoted in 1831; 
 went to the Mediterranean in 1831 ; returned in 1832 ; steamship "Fulton" Atlantic 
 coast 1840; special service 1850-5. Commissioned Lieutenant March 3, 1861 ; 
 commissioned a Commodore July 16, 1862. 
 
 27 
 
 ffici\E£' S&3ift, (^Joseph Gardner," Foster^' Sanmel* Samuel^ Thomas^ Thomas,^) b. 
 April 15, 1819, in New York; m. Sept. 15, 1842, Abby Hortense Chew, daughter 
 of Thomas John Chew, U. S. N. For her ancestry see Pedigree of Chew by Rev. L. 
 B. Thomas, p. 33. 
 
 CHILDREN. 
 
 Hortense Hallam, b. Aug. 22, 1843; d. April 28, 1848. 
 
 Louisa Walker, b. Aug. 23, 1845. 
 
 Elizabeth Chew, b. July 29, 1847; >"• J""^ "> 1879, George Henry Janeway of New Bruns- 
 wick, N. J. 
 
 Alexander Joseph, b. Aug. 20, 1S49; grad. Rutgers College 1868; Polytechnic Institute, 
 Troy, 1872. 
 
 Lawrence Chew, b. Feb. 24, 1852; grad. College of Physicians and Surgeons, N. Y., 1878, 
 Charity Hospital, N. Y., 1880; m. April 16, 1884, Mabel Bruce, dau. of Col. Joseph M. Griffith 
 of Des Moines, Iowa. They have Swift, b. March 16, 1885. 
 
 Thomas Delano, b. Feb. 10, 1854; grad. Rutgers College 1875; College of Physicians and Sur- 
 geons, N. Y., 1879; Bellevue Hospital 1881. 
 
 Jonathan Williams, b. March 30, 1856; d. May 2, 1862. 
 
 Josephine Richards, b. Jan. 10, 1859. 
 
 Robert Hali.am, b. June 16, 1863; d. March 4, 1865. 
 
 Mauy Lewis, b. May 11, 1865. 
 
THOMAS SWIFT OF DORCHESTER. 43 
 
 Mr. Swift, now retired from active business life, resides at New Brunswick, New 
 Jersey. He has been a successful civil engineer, engaged in the construction and 
 management of railroads in various States, and later in manufacturing enterprises. 
 He inherits much of his father's literary tastes and high-bred courtesy ; and the 
 warm interest he has shown in the progress of this work has been of material 
 assistance to the compiler. From the family Bible, which belonged to his father, 
 the late General Joseph Gardner Swift, he has furnished much data ; and by his 
 kind permission the Journal of General Swift has been printed from the original copy 
 in his possession. Besides this valuable document, Mr. Swift has inherited the ancient 
 oil painting of the family coat-of-arms, and the portraits of his grandparents. Dr. 
 and Mrs. Foster Swift, by Jarvis, and has had them photographed for this work. 
 
 In 1852, when Mr. Swift was traveling abroad with his father, General Joseph 
 Gardner Swift, and while walking in the grounds of the Tower of London, his 
 father was accosted by one of the guards, who expressed surprise at seeing Mr. 
 Swift out so early in the day. 
 
 " How do you know me, my man?" said General Swift. 
 
 "Why, sir, I see you constantly." 
 
 The man had mistaken the General for Mr. Swift, the keeper of the crown jewels. 
 They found Mr. Swift lived in the enclosure and went to his house, and to their 
 astonishment were met by a gentleman of advanced years, the counterpart almost of 
 Mr. Swift's grandfather, Dr. Foster Swift — Edmund Lenthal Swift, barrister, K. C. J. 
 They lunched and spent several hours with him, and found he was of the Rother- 
 ham family of Swifts. This interview is mentioned in Notes and Queries by E. 
 L. Swift. 
 
 28 
 
 mi. Sa^iiX-' Si'mxii, (Joseph Gardner^ Foster^ Samuel," Samuel,' Thomas;' Thomas') 
 b. at Geneva, N. Y., Oct. 31, 1833; d. May 10, 1875; m. Oct. 29, 1862, Alida 
 Carroll, daughter of Dr. D. H. Fitzhugh, and had 
 
 Sarah Delano, b. Feb. 5, 1864. 
 
 MEMORIAL. 
 
 Dr. Swift, who is said to have resembled his father more than any of his sons, was graduated at Hobart 
 College, Geneva, in 1852. During the last year of his college course he attended lectures in the Medical College 
 in Geneva, but was dissuaded from continuing his medical studies after graduation, by his father, who thought 
 him too delicate, physically, to endure the arduous labors of a doctor's life. To gratify his father he read law 
 reluctantly for eight months, in the office of Judge Kent, in this city, and then, feeling the need of a more 
 liberal classical and literary culture than he had obtained at Hobart College, he entered the Junior class at 
 Harvard University, and graduated at that institution in the class of 1854, the subject of his inaugural thesis 
 being "The Influence of Shakspeare's Plays on the Popular Estimation of Historical Characters." Thus fur- 
 
44 GENEALOGY OF THE FAMILY OF 
 
 nished with the broad foundation of a Hlier.il education and a fine Uterary taste, he resolved to gratify his early 
 inclination to study medicine. In the fall of 1854 he became a favorite pupil of Dr. WiUard Parker, and from 
 that time until the summer of 1870, when he was prostrated by the disease which finally destroyed him, he gave 
 himself with untiring energy and self-sacrificing devotion to the study and practice of his profession. He grad- 
 uated at the College of Physicians and Surgeons, in the class of 1857. He immediately entered Bellevue 
 Hospital, and served during two years on the same staff with his attached friend, Dr. Edward B. Dalton. In the 
 spring of 1S59 he estabhshed himself in private practice in this city. He hart already p.issed the precarious 
 period in the young doctor's course, and had begun to lay the foundation of a brilliant career as a teacher and 
 practitioner, when the war broke out, in the spring of 1S61, and animated by a loyalty which, with him, was 
 something more than the contagious enthusiasm which pervaded the country at that time, he forsook his prac- 
 tice and went as surgeon to the 8th regiment of New York State Militia, in response to the first call for troops 
 to defend the capitol. At the battle of Bull Run he and his staff were captured while in the performance of 
 their duty, and being almost the only prisoners who were not taken in the act of hasty retreat, they were released 
 on parole in the city of Richmond, by Gen. Beauregard, and, after a brief detention, returned on parole to their 
 homes. Thus debarred from the privilege of further service in the army, Dr. Swift resumed the practice of his 
 profes.sion. In 1S62 he married the daughter of Dr. Fitzhugh, of Living'iton County, who with one child, a 
 daughter, survives him. His success from this time was rapid and exceptionally brilliant. He was successively 
 appointed physician to St. Luke's, and the Children's Hospital; Assistant Professor of Obstetrics in the College 
 of Physicians and Surgeons, and afterwards Clinical Professor of skin diseases in the Bellevue Hospital College, 
 and Professor of Obstetrics in the Long Island Medical College. He had thus obtained within the brief period 
 of ten years, by his scholarly acquirements, by his ability as a teacher, and by his skill as a practitioner, a claim 
 to the first rank in his profession. He had scarcely begun to enjoy the honor and rewards of his well-earned 
 position, when, in the summer of 1870, after a season of untiring labor and peculiarly trying experiences, he 
 began to exhibit the signs of the pulmonary disease to which he finally succumbed. Conscious as he was of the 
 threatening nature of his malady, he worked on for some time, regardless of the affectionate warnings of his 
 friends and medical advisers, and only reluctantly yielded to their counsels when he fainted in the Theatre at 
 the Bellevue College, in the effort to fulfil an engagement to lecture in the opening session of that institution in 
 the fall of 1870. He soon afterwards went to Europe, but returned in the spring of 1871, without material 
 improvement in health. The winter of 1S71-72 he passed on the Pacific Coast, in the congenial companionship 
 of his friend, Dr. Dalton, whose brief but brilliant career he there saw closed. The following winter he passed 
 in the south of France, where, having procured an authorization from the French government, he hoped to 
 practice his profession. He returned to this country, however. In the spring of 1873, to visit his family, and his 
 disease having made considerable progress, he was induced to remain at home, instead of returning to France 
 as he had intended. His experience of the effects of a warm climate upon his disease not having been entirely 
 satisfactory, he resolved to try the experiment of spending a winter in the northern part of this State, at Morrisville, 
 in Madison County. He was so encouraged by the promising effects of a cold climate, that he purchased a house 
 at Morrisville, and determined to abandon, for a time, all hopes of resuming his practice, and devote himself to 
 the recovery of his health. In the summer of 1874, however, it became evident to him and to his friends that 
 he was fast losing ground in the conflict with his disease, and last fall he decided to try again the effect of a 
 warm climate. He went to the Island of Santa Cruz, where he passed a lonely winter, separated from his wife 
 and child, and sustained only by the hope, which grew fainter day by day, of arresting the progress of his dis- 
 ease. The last weeks of his life were cheered by the presence of a sister who, with her husband and a nephew, 
 went to him in the hope of bringing him back to his home to die. This hope was not abandoned until a few 
 days before his death, when he began to fail so rapidly that he realized the near approach of death, and met it 
 with cheerful resignation, and in the complete assurance of a Christian faith. He died on the loth of May. His 
 remains were brought home, and now rest in the family ground at Geneva. Such is the brief record of a life of 
 which we all knew the promise and now lament the untimely end. Dr. .Swift's professional career, though too 
 lirief to be marked by any work which will perpetuate his name on the scroll of fame, was one that will leave a 
 lasting and enviable impression on the memory of all who enjoyed his friendship, or had the privilege of inter- 
 course with him as a teacher or physician. He possessed in a high degree the intellectual and moral qualities 
 which lit a man for the responsible office of a physician. Love of nature and loyalty to the truth were his pre- 
 eminent characteristics. He was imbued with the true scientific spirit, and his professional acquirements, in all 
 departments, as far as they went, were free from the chalT of speculation and hypothesis. He hated sham 
 
THOMAS SWIFT OF DORCHESTER. 4.5 
 
 wherever he found it, whether it lay in the conceit of those who deceived themselves, or in the dishonest 
 practices of those who sought to deceive others. He had all the qualities of a successful teacher, thorough 
 honesty, large experience, liberal acquirements, and literary attainments, and there can be no doubt that the 
 cause of sound medical education lost one of its ablest and most promising exponents in his early death. As 
 a physician, it may be truly said, that few men in our profession possessed or deserved in a larger degree than 
 Dr. Swift the confidence and alfection of his patients. His gentle and winning address, his sagacity and skill as 
 a clinical observer, his fertility of resources, and above all, his fidelity, commanded the affection, respect and 
 absolute trust uf all to whom he ministered. His work was always thorough, and he gave to his cases a thought- 
 ful and laborious study, which distinguished him from the routine practitioner. His sense of professional duty 
 was so high that he never counted the cost to his health in fultilling it, and there is little question in the minds 
 of his friends that he finally fell a victim to his untiring and self-sacrificing labors. This sense of professional 
 duty in Dr. Swift was not dictated simply by a sympathetic nature, or by a desire to please or win the confidence of 
 his patients, but mainly by a profound conviction of the responsibility he assumed, whenever he was called to 
 the bedside of those who trusted themselves to his care. But to all who enjoyed the privilege of Dr. Swift's 
 companionship, his remarkable social qualities gave a charm to his character which your memory of him will 
 recall better than any words of mine. Who of us can forget his refined and genial presence; his humor, that 
 would illumine tears, and the wit whose shafts were never poisoned with malice, but always gleamed with mirth? 
 Cultivated beyond most men in our profession in general literature, and devoted to all that was pure and elevat- 
 ing in art, his conversation was always entertaining and often brilliant in the originality and keenness of his 
 criticism. He was never commonplace, because he never borrowed his convictions from other men unless they 
 accorded with his own observation, or had been first subjected to his own enlightened reflection. But with all 
 his intellectual gifts and accomplishments. Dr. Swift possessed a kindly and sympathetic nature that was quick 
 to share the sorrows as well as the joys of his friends. As in his professional relations there was no self sacrifice 
 too great for him to make in the discharge of what he recognized as his duty, so in his closer relations to his 
 family and his friends there was a love and a loyalty that knew no bounds. The keenness with which he some- 
 times suffered from his sense of his professional responsibility was only exceeded by the painful sympathy with 
 which he realized the trials of his friends. To the severe strain which he suffered from both of these causes in 
 the last year of his practice, his illness, as I have before suggested, was doubtless largely due, and while we 
 cannot but grieve that a man of so great promise is lost so early to our profession, and a friend of 
 such genial and noble nature is gone from us in the fullness of his manhood, we have reason to rejoice that we 
 were permitted for even a brief period to enjoy the privilege of his friendship, and the precious example of his 
 character. — From a sketch by IVm. H. Draper, M. D.. printed in iSjj. 
 
 29 
 
 (fCbartcs' m.. Stoift, (William Hc7iryf Foster': Samiiei: Samuel,^ Thomas^ Thomas^) 
 , 182^; m. , Margaret, dau. of John Howard of Springfield, Mass., 
 
 sister o.f his stepmother. Summer residence Pequot Avenue, New London, Ct. 
 
 CHILDREN. 
 Mary H. 
 
 Louisa Josephine. 
 
 30 
 
 i^atjjanfcF Sfatft, (Nathaniel^ Nathaniel: Nathaniel: Samuci: Thomas^ Thomas:) 
 of Andover, merchant; b. May 12, 1S05 ; d. Sept. 6, 1878; m. Oct. 10, 1832, 
 
46 
 
 GENEALOGY OF THE FAMILY OF 
 
 Martha Jane, dau. of Francis Kidder ot Andover. She died Nov. 28, 1843, aged 
 30 years. He next married Oct. 13, 1847, Almena Jacobs. 
 
 CHILDREN. 
 
 George Francis, b. Dec. 10, 1S33. 
 Martha Elizabeth, b. Feb. 15, 1836. 
 Charlotte Harris, b. July 26, 1839. 
 Anna Hartwell, b. Sept. 18, 1842. 
 
 OBITUARY. 
 
 [From the Boston Daily Advertiser of Sept^ 20, 1S78.] 
 
 One by one our older citizens and fellow townsmen are passing away. To those who are following next in 
 file, the ranks must appear to be rapidly thinning out. But two weeks ago we cast a last sorrowful glance upon 
 the bier of our honored and esteemed townsman, Captain Oliver Hazard Perry. 
 
 One week later, to a day, the funeral obsequies were held over the mortal remains of Mr. Swift, a native 
 and life- long resident of Andover. The light of a pure and unblemished life has gone out. A kind-hearted, gener- 
 ous, useful and esteemed citizen has passed away from our sight. One more is added to the great majority on 
 the other side of the chasm between the present life. But the memory of the just is blessed. In this thought 
 is the consolation which remains to those nearest and dearest in the relations of life to our departed friend. 
 
 Mr. Swift was born in Danvers May 12, 1805, and was the eldest son of the late Dr. Nathaniel and Sarah 
 Abbot Swift. Early in life — almost in his boyhood — he engaged in mercantile pursuits, and upon attaining his 
 majority he became a partner in a mercantile firm in Andover. A business tact and shrewdness was mani- 
 fested from the earhest stage of his business career. Promptness, straightforwardness and honesty, three 
 sterling qualities of the business man, were prominent in his character, and promised from the outset assurance 
 of success. And success came readily and naturally; gradually, but not spasmodically — a healthy success. 
 By a prudent, sagacious and careful management of his business affairs, he was enabled to retire therefrom with 
 a competency for his family before he was fifty years of age. But these qualities, which were so prominently 
 manifested in the duties pertaining to his business, were by no means unnoticed or overlooked. His correct 
 judgment and capacity for usefulness were very soon called into active exercise in positions which, while bene- 
 fitting society, the cause of education, the interest of his native town, and the general welfare of his fellow-men, 
 reflected a lasting honor upon his good name and reputation, fie proved himself to be more than a successful 
 business man. His instinctive honesty, his unswerving integrity, his forecast, his sound judgment and his correct 
 and exquisite taste, were all brought together and made to subserve and round out happily a very useful and hon- 
 orable life of official duties. Fur twenty-eight years a working director in the .Andover Bank (State and National,) 
 for thirty-six years a trustee of the Andover Savings Bank, and its president for eighteen years — to the date of his 
 decease, and for twenty-eight years a trustee of the .Vbbot Academy for young ladies, his advice and counsel 
 always commanded the attention and respect of his associates. In 1852 he was elected treasurer of the Abbot 
 Academy, and to the permanent life and success of this institution he devoted himself with unwonted ardor, and 
 with a strength and vigor indicative of his earnest and unstinted love for the work he had undertaken. From 
 the very first he manifested a determination to render the surroundings of the Academy pleasing and attractive, 
 to enlarge the area of its domain, to beautify and adorn the same, and all his ardent aspirations to this end 
 appear to have been crowned with admirable and womlerful success. 
 
 31 
 
 Br. Gtorsc 15a{ttr' Sinift, (Nathaniel^ Nathaniel^ Nathaniel,' Samuel^ Thomas', 
 Thomas') b. July 30, 1806; d. 1872; m. Nov. 8, 1831, Mary Bennett 
 
 Warren, of Framingham, Mass. Dr. Swift was graduated at the Harvard Medical 
 School in 1830, and practiced in Manchester, N. H., Lawrence, Mass., and 
 New York. 
 
THOMAS SWIFT OF DORCHESTER. 47 
 
 CHILDREN. 
 Mary. 
 
 George Warren. 
 Catherine. 
 Frank. 
 
 32 
 
 Samuel' Sinift, (Nathaniel,'^ Nathaniel^ Nathaniel* Samuel^ Thomas^ Thomas^) 
 merchant, b. Feb. 21, 1815; d. Dec. 5, 1851, in Brooklyn, N. Y. ; m. Nov. 16, 1842, 
 Mary Phelps, b. in Westhampton, Mass., Dec. 8, 1818. 
 
 CHILDREN. 
 
 Mary, b. July 5, 1S44; d. July 31, 1846. 
 
 Martha Elizabeth, b. Sept. 16, 1S47; ">• ^^'°- '^> 1S69, W. B. Dickerman, banker, of 66 
 Broadway, N. Y. 
 38. Samntl, b. Aug. 5, 1S49. 
 
 33 
 
 3onatf)an' Stotft, (Nathaniel^ Nathaniel' Nathaniel' Samuel^ Thomas^ Thomas,^) 
 of Andover, b. July 25, 1816; m. Oct. 30, 1850, Almena Jacobs of Cherryfield, 
 Maine; b. Jan. 6, 1831, Columbia, Me. 
 
 CHILDREN. 
 
 Elizabeth Florence, b. Oct. 25, 1S60; grad. 1881 at the Andover Female Academy. 
 Kate Adams, b. March 4, 1869. 
 
 34 
 
 Samncl' Stotft, (Saw^rtf/," Nathaniel,^ Nathaniel,* Samuel,^ Thomas^ Thomas,^) of 
 San Francisco, California; b. May 22, 1828; m. Nov. 24, 18 — , Emma Newberry. 
 
 CHILDREN. 
 
 Mary Hester, b. June — , 1866. 
 
 Mr. Swift was brought up on a farm near Princeton, Illinois. His father's inten- 
 tion was to give him a collegiate education, but losing his fortune, he moved to Illinois 
 at an early day, so that he had no opportunity for an education except what he got 
 himself. In 1852 he went to California, crossing the plains with a party of nine young 
 men from Princeton with two ox teams ; the one with which he was connected, how- 
 ever, had three yoke of oxen and one yoke of cows, which afforded them milk most of 
 the way. They were five months in making the trip from Princeton, 111., to Downs- 
 
48 GENEALOGY OF THE FAMILY OF 
 
 ville, Simon Co., Cal. On reaching the sink of the Humboldt River their team was so 
 diminished, having lost two oxen and one cow, that they could not attempt to cross 
 the fifty-mile desert that there was open before them, with their wagon, as the rest 
 of their team was insufficient to make the trip over the desert, and then over the 
 Sierra Nevada range of mountains, so they sold what was left of the team, and used 
 the wagon for camp-fires for the party, and having given and thrown away every- 
 thing else that was portable, except what provisions they could carry and were 
 necessary to last them for the remainder of the journey, they started next morning 
 early, with their provisons and one quart of water to each man, for which they paid 
 one dollar per quart. After some severe hardships they reached California, not hav- 
 ing seen a house or other habitation of any white man, after leaving the Missouri 
 river, except Fort Laramie and Fort Hall, where some United States troops were 
 stationed. In 1857 he made atrip up Frazier river into British Columbia, navigating 
 that river in a small boat a distance of two hundred and fifty miles, with an Indian for a 
 guide, adding another chapter to his frontier life, which for roughness of experience 
 surpassed anything he had previously gone through, being constantly surrounded by 
 dangers to life in various ways. In 1859 he returned to California and received a letter 
 from his father, requesting him to return home, as he was quite old and decrepit. He 
 did so, and remained in Princeton, 111., until 1866, during which time his father and 
 mother both died, and he then returned again to California, and has resided the 
 most of the time in San Francisco. He joined the Order of F. and A. Masons in 
 California in 1855, in Forest Lodge, No. 66, Sierra County ; afterwards joined Bureau 
 Lodge, No. 112, in Princeton, then was a member of two different Lodges in San 
 Francisco. Is now a member of Portland Lodge, No. 55, Portland, Oregon. While 
 in Princeton the last time he joined Princeton Chapter, No. 28, of Royal Arch Ma- 
 sons, also Orion Council, No. 8, Royal and Select Masters and Temple Commandcry, 
 No. 20, Knights Templar. He is now a member of San Francisco Chapter, No. i, 
 Royal Arch Masons, California Council, No. i. Royal and Select Masters and Golden 
 Gate Commandery, No. 16, Knights Templar, San Francisco. When leaving San 
 Francisco in 1881 to go to Montana, he was Secretary of San Francisco Chapter, and 
 Recorder of Golden Gate Commandery, Knights Templar, and was also President of 
 the Masonic Veteran Association of the Pacific Coast. Mr. Swift's present address 
 is 1 1 12 East Sixteenth Street, Oakland, California. 
 
 35 
 
 HSillinm' Stoift, {Satnuel° Nathaniel^ Nathaniel* Samuel^ Thomas' Thomas,^) 
 of Princeton, Illinois, b. July 22, 1839; m. Nov. 6, 1865, at Fiskeleva, 111., to Maria 
 King. 
 
THOMAS SWIFT OF DORCHESTER. 49 
 
 CHILDREN. 
 
 Ida Wyatt, b. Feb. 7, 1867. 
 Minnie Belle, b. Sept. 22, 186S. 
 Samuel Jackson, b. Oct. 15, 1870. 
 William Sherman, b. Jan. 28, 1872. 
 
 Mr. Swift was a volunteer during the late civil war in the 93d Illinois Regiment. 
 
 36 
 
 lUSfniam ^lugustus' Sfnift, {Samiielf Samuel,^ Ebenezer* Samuel,' Thomas,^ 
 
 Thomas') b. in Roxbury Oct. 18, 1811 ; m. June 15, 1836, Anna Young, daughter 
 
 of Abigail and Barnabas Atwood, of Brewster, Mass. She was b. Aug. 12, 1811 ; 
 
 d. without issue January 3d, 1744. Mr. Swift married her sister, Mrs. Thankful 
 
 Maker, April loth, 1845. She was b. Sept. 11, 1815. Mr. Swift is a builder now 
 
 residing in Roxbury. 
 
 CHILDREN. 
 
 Anna Augusta, b. June i, 1846. 
 
 William, b. Oct. 31, 1849; book-keeper in the Maverick National Bank, Boston; m. Feb. 22, 
 1882, Addie W. Jacobs. 
 
 37 
 
 EtintB' Stoift, {Samuel,^ Samuel,^ Ebenezer^ Samuel^ Thomas? Thomas,^) a 
 pianoforte maker residing at 255 Lybrand Street, Philadelphia; b. in Roxbury Jan. 
 16, 1815 ; m. Nov. 6, 1844, Maria A. Engelman, b. in Philadelphia Feb. 29, 1824. 
 
 CHILDREN. 
 Samuel,' b. Aug. 9, 1845; d. Aug. 7, 1858. 
 Andrew,* b. Aug. 4, 1848; d. May 6, 1850. 
 William,* b. May 29, 1S52; m. Sept. 15, 1875, Fanny M. Umsted; have Lewis,^ b. Feb. 13, 1879. 
 
 38 
 
 Br. Samtitl' Stnift, (Samuel^ Nathaniel^' Nathaniel,^ Samuel,^ Thomas^ Thomas,') 
 b. Aug. 5, 1849; m. April 21, 1875, Lucy, dau. of Judge H. E. Davies of New 
 York, by his wife Rebecca Waldo Tappan of Boston. Dr. Swift is a physician of 
 Yonkers. He was graduated at the Yale Scientific School in 1868; also at the 
 College of Physicians and Surgeons, medical department, Columbia College, New 
 York, class of 1872. Was mayor of Yonkers, April 1882, to April 1884. 
 
 CHILDREN. 
 Martha, b. July 27, 187S. 
 
50 GENEALOGY OF THE FAMILY OF 
 
 Note. — Up to this point in the genealogy, the descendants of Lieut. Thomas' Swift, son of the first 
 Thomas', have been followed out. The descendants of his brother Obadiah^ will now be continued from page 4, 
 and numbered consecutively after the posterity of Thomas'. 
 
 ©baliia]^,* (Thomas^) b. in Dorchester, July i6, 1638; d. Dec. 27, 1690; m. 
 
 March 15, 1660, Rest, (b. , 1639) dau. of Maj. Gen. Humphrey Atherton. 
 
 In a deed dated July i, 1664, conveying one hundred and forty acres of land to 
 Gyles and Edward Payson, he and Timothy Mather call themselves administrators 
 of their father in-law, Maj. Gen. Humphrey Atherton. He was a blacksmith by 
 trade, and in 1672 "Rece an hundred of Iron, for which he made axes and bows for 
 Endian gratuetie by Capt. Foster's order." He was fence viewer in 1664, and 
 several times afterwards; was constable in 1662, and supervisor in 1674. Savage 
 gives him a second wife, Abigail, but I think he is in error, and that she was the 
 wife of his son, Obadiah, Jr. Rest Swift and Obadiah Swift returned the inventory 
 of Obadiah's estate March 24, 1691-2. A Rest Swift died Nov. 3, 1708, who was 
 probably his widow. 
 
 CHILDREN. 
 
 Remember, b. 5, 10 mo., 1661; d. 5, 12 mo., 1661. 
 
 Rest, b. 13, 10 mo., 1662. 
 
 James, b. 
 39. ©baSiab, b. 28, 11 mo., 1670. 
 
 HoPESTiLL, b. March II, 1674. 
 
 Elizabeth, b. Sept. 7, 1675; d. Sept. 17, 1675. 
 
 Abigail, b. Jan. 4, 1676; m. Apply. June 12, 1734, James Apply of Norwich, Conn., 
 
 in a deed, calls Sarah Swift, of Dorchester, spinster, his cousin or kinswoman, he being the 
 youngest of the two sons, and only heir of .'\bigail Apply, of Preston County, New London, 
 deceased, daughter of Obadiah Swift of Dorchester, blacksmith. He deeds to said Sarah all 
 his rights in lands in Dorchester and Stoughton which belonged to their grandfather, Obadiah 
 Swift, deceased, and great-grandfather, Maj. liumphrey /Vtherton. 
 
 Elizabeth, b. Jan. 4, 1679; d. Nov. 2, 1683. 
 
 39 
 
 ©faatiini),' (Obadiah;' Thomas^) b. in Dorchester, 28, 11 mo., 1670; d. Jan. 20, 
 1747 ; m. Abigail Blake, last day of December, 1695. She was admitted to full com- 
 munion at the Dorchester church, Nov. 7, 1702-3, and d. March 19, 1737-8. He 
 was admitted to the church in November, 1696. He was a blacksmith. 
 
THOMAS SWIFT OF DORCHESTER. 5 1 
 
 CHILDREN. 
 
 40. SatttES, b. Nov. I, 1696. 
 
 Susanna, b. July 14, 1701; m. Henry Newell of Boston, shipwright, Nov. 22, 1722. 
 
 Jane, b. Dec. 9, 1703; m. James Young Dec. 7, 1727. 
 
 Priscilla. b. Oct. 3, 1706; m. Henry Ledbetter March 30, 1732, eldest son of Increase Ledbetter. 
 
 Sarah, b. ; m. James Leeds June 23, 1737. 
 
 He was one of the grantees in 1737-8 of a right in the new township of Dor- 
 chester, Canada, incorporated in 1765 as Ashburnham, derived from the services of 
 his brother James, who was killed while a member of Capt. Withington's company 
 of Dorchester, in the expedition against Quebec, Canada, in 1690. 
 
 40 
 
 JamcB,* (Obadiah? Obadiah^ Thomas^) b. in Dorchester, Nov. i, 1696; m. 
 Silence, dau. of Sherebiah and Silence Butt, April 9, 1718. He was a yeoman of 
 Dorchester. 
 
 CHILDREN. 
 
 ^t. Satnes.b. June2l, 1719. 
 
 Susanna, b. March 6, 1720-1; m. Joseph Whiston of Boston, Nov. 24, 1738. 
 
 OBADlAH.b. Jan. 31, 1723-4. 
 
 Ezra, b. Oct. 23, 1726; d. Feb. 9, 1726-7 (grave stone). 
 
 Silence, b. Oct. 21, 1728; m. Desire Hawes, Oct. 6, 1748. 
 ^2. EIijaf),b. March 9, 1730-31. 
 
 JOAB, b. March 29, 1733; d. May 16, 1745. 
 
 Sherebiah, b. July 2, 1735. 
 
 Abigail, b. Oct. 29, 173S; m. John Purpoon, Oct. 31, 1759. 
 
 Ezra, b. Nov. 15, 1740. 
 
 April 25, 1737, James Swift and wife Silence; Hopestill and Hannah Blake; 
 Abigail, widow of John Woodward, husbandman ; Mary Butt, spinster, all of Dor- 
 chester ; Hannah, Silence, Abigail and Mary, being children of Silence Butt, deceased, 
 late wife of Sherebiah Butt, also deceased ; said Silence Butt was one of the grand- 
 children of Henry Merrifield, of Dorchester, deceased. They sell land to Benj'. 
 Bird of Dorchester, gentleman, in Dorchester and Stoughton, which belonged to 
 their great-grandfather, Henry Merrifield. 
 
 41 
 
 '^^xtA'i' (James ^ Obadiah,' Obadiah,"- Thomas\) b. June 21, 17 19; m. Mary 
 Mayer June 11, 1741. He was admitted to the New North Church, Boston, Feb. 
 14, 1741-2. He was a shipwright. 
 
52 GENEALOGY OF THE FAMILY OF 
 
 CHILDREN. 
 
 43. SsOTEB.bapt. July 10, 1743. 
 
 44. Sfnrg, bapt. June 22, 1746. 
 
 William, bapt. Nov. 20, 1748; probably d. young. 
 
 William, bapt. Aug. 12, 1750. 
 
 Mary, bapt. Sept. 30, 1753; d. April 9, 1764 (grave stone). 
 
 Silence, bapt. Nov. 30, 1755; probably same pub. to Paul Ingerfield, Dec. 29, 1773. 
 
 Susannah, bapt. Dec. 24, 1758; probably same pub. to Robert Jones, Aug. 28, 1785. 
 
 Abigail, bapt. June 7, 1761. 
 
 42 
 
 ISltjaf),' (James* Obadiah' Obadiah^ Thomas^) b. in Dorchester, March 9, 1730- 
 31 ; m. Edee Seward, pub. Nov. 24, 1757. She owned the covenant July 2, 1758 ; d. 
 Oct. 12, 1795, ae. 64 years. He was a shipwright, living in Henchman's Lane in 1789. 
 He died May 9, 1 803, ae. 73 years. Administration on his estate was granted to 
 Jacob Rhodes of Boston, shipwright, May 30, 1803. Ebenezer Rhodes, printer, and 
 James White Burditt, bookseller, gave bond. Their gravestones are still standing 
 in Copp's Hill burying ground, with those of some of their children. The inventory 
 of the estate amounted to $2053, of which $2000 was house and land in Hench- 
 man's Lane. 
 
 CHILDREN. 
 
 45. Eltjat), bapt. Aug. 27, 1758. 
 
 Elizabeth, bapt. Aug. 31, 1760; m. July 14, 1779, Capt. James Hutchinson, by whom she had 
 Hannah. He died, and she next married David Oliver, a mast and spar maker on Oliver's 
 Dock, now Battery March Street and Liberty Square. They had four children: i, David 
 Oliver, m. Susan Parkman, both dead; 2, Sally Oliver, m. Wm. Parkman, who d. 1809; 3, 
 Harriet, spinster; 4, Edee, spinster. 
 
 Sarah, bapt. Dec. 12, 1762; m. May 23, 1779, Capt. Samuel Makin, of Philadelphia, who d. long 
 since. She lived to be 94 years old, a remarkable woman, in the full enjoyment of all her 
 faculties. Capt. Makin was sailing master of the Queen of France, a government vessel in the 
 war of 1812. He had his leg broken in the service off Boston harbor, was landed in Boston, 
 and cared for till well. In 1836 or '40 Mrs. Makin obtained a pension, with back pay, from 
 the government. They had five children, now dead, whose children are wealthy citizens of 
 Philadelphia, filling honorable positions. 
 
 William, bapt. Sept. 16, 1764; d. April i, 1765 (grave stone). 
 
 Mary, bapt. May 31, 1767; d. young. 
 
 Mary, bapt. Sept. 4, 1768, m. first, March 3, 1793, Francis Sloan; had one son, now dead; m. 
 
 second, Avery, had one dau., dead; m. third, John French, had three children, now 
 
 dead. She d. about 1846, in Boston. 
 
 46. iStnjamin, bapt. Aug. 19, 1770. 
 
 43 
 
 Jamea,' (James," James* Obadiah,' Obadiah* Thomas,^) baptized in Boston, 
 
THOMAS SWIFT OF DORCHESTER. 53 
 
 July 10, 1743; m. Winifred Davis of Charlestown, Nov. 29, 1764. She owned the 
 covenant at the New North Church, Oct. 20, 1765. 
 
 CHILDREN. 
 
 William, b. Oct. 8, 1767. 
 Sarah Brigden, b. Sept. ii, 1769. 
 Elizabeth Gillam, b. Feb. 28, 1771. 
 James, bapt. Mar. 14, J 773. 
 WiNNiFRED, bapt. Dec. 15, 1776. 
 John, bapt Nov. 7, 1779. 
 
 Mrs. Swift, daughter of Barnabas and Winifred (Brigden) Davis, of Charlestown, 
 ■was born June 17, 1743. For ancestry see Wyman, p. 281. 
 
 44 
 
 l^tnrg,' (^James^ James^ Obadiahf Obadiah^ Thomas,^) b. in Boston, June 22, 
 1746; m. June 14, 1768, Mary Richardson. She owned the covenant at the New 
 North Church Nov. 6, 1767. He was a shipwright, and lived in Hull Street. 
 
 CHILDREN. 
 
 Mary, / 
 
 Sarah, bapt. Dec. 16, 1770. 
 
 Peggy Richardson, bapt. March 21, 1773; m. Thomas Adan, Nov. i, 1791, and had John R., 
 Esq.; Catherine E. R. m. Henry S. Waldo, merchant. 
 
 Perhaps he is the same Henry Swift who died November, 1789, ae. 44. 
 
 45 
 
 lEUjal)," {Elijah," jfames,^ Obadiah' Obadiah^ Thomas,^) b. in Boston, Aug. 27, 
 1758; m. April 22, 1781, Nancy Brown. She owned the covenant at the New 
 North Church Dec. 30, 1781. They lived in Lynn Street. He was a shipwright 
 and died before Feb. 13, 1804, when Henry Swift, baker, of Boston, was chosen 
 guardian of his children, viz: Elijah and Benjamin, more than 14; Elizabeth 
 George, Thomas, Catherine, under 14. Children baptized at the New North Church. 
 
 CHILDREN. 
 
 Nancy Lapis, bapt. Jan. 27, 1782; probably d. young. 
 
 Elijah, bapt. Nov. 30, 1783. 
 
 William, bapt. Sept. 25, 1785; probably d. young. 
 
 Benjamin, bapt. Sept. 2, 1787. 
 
 Elizabeth Hudson, bapt. Oct. 25, 1789. 
 
54 GENEALOGY OF THE FAMILY OF 
 
 George W., bapt. Feb. 12, 1792; in 1813 a baker, and same year sells property in Lynn Street^ 
 
 that belonged to his father. 
 Katy Richardson, bapt. Nov. 9, 1794; schoolmistress in 1821, when she sells her right in her 
 
 father's estate. 
 Thomas, ' ; was of Hancock, N. H., Feb. 4, 1823, when he sells his right in his 
 
 father's estate. 
 
 46 
 
 Btnjamin," {Elijah^ Javies* Obadiah^ Obadiah,^ Thomas^) shipmaster of Bos- 
 ton; commanded the ship Hazard in 1805, owned by Thomas H.Perkins. With 
 wife Hannah was Hving in Charlestown in 1827. He was b. in Boston, Aug. 19, 
 1770; m. Hannah Rhoades, Aug. 6, 1796; merchant in 1831. She was b. Nov. 17, 
 1777; dau. of Jacob Rhoades; d. Nov. 28, 1831. He d. March 15, 1858. He 
 removed to Pepperill. Children baptized in Boston in 181 1. 
 
 CHILDREN. 
 
 Eliza Rhoades, b. April 14, 1797; d. Oct. 2, 1829; m. April 30, 1821, Abraham Andrews. 
 
 Benjamin, b. March 31, 1800; d. Oct. 2, 1801. 
 
 Hannah, b. Jan. 26, 1803; d. Aug. 27, 1852; m. Oct. 17, 1826, Thomas M. Thompson of 
 
 Charlestown, d. June 27, 1836. Hardware dealer of Boston. 
 Caroline, b. April 26, 1806; d. June 8, 1806. 
 Caroline, b. March 29, 1807; m. Nov. 14, 1S30, Abraham Andrews, of Charlestown. He d. 
 
 March 7, 1S69. 
 Benjamin, b. July 11, 1810; d. Aug. 10, 1S83. 
 Sarah Stevens, b. Sept 9, 1812; d. Nov. 16, 1866. 
 
 Mary Burdeti, b. June 21, 1814; m John Farrar, Oct. 20, 1841. He d. Feb. 6, 1849. 
 Susan, b. March 27, 1816. 
 Abhy, b. Jan. 30, 1818; d. Aug. 24, 1862. 
 Ellen Louisa, b. Oct. 13, 1820. , 
 
 William Henry, b. July 25, 1822. 
 
 Capt. Swift was an active and prominent member of the Harvard Church, 
 Charlestown, and furnished the lower row of windows in the auditory with "India 
 blinds " at his own charge. His pew was No. 33, and he owned pew No. 14. 
 
 47 
 
 J^tnrg,' {He7try' James,'' y antes* Obadiah^ Obadiah^ Thomas') b. in Boston, 
 Sept. 7, 1768; m. Nov. 18, 1790, Sarah Brown, b. May 2, 1766; d. July 28, 1799. 
 He next m. May 4, 1800, Agnes, dau. of William McKcan, sister of Prof Joseph 
 McKean of Plarvard College. She was b. Jan. 13, 1766. 
 
 He was engaged in the bakery business, corner of Charter and Unity Streets, at 
 the north end. lie d. Ajiril 3, 1808. The inventory of his estate amounted to 
 
THOMAS SWIFT OF DORCHESTER. 55 
 
 upwards of ten thousand dollars, but it proved insolvent. His widow possessed 
 property in her own right, and bought in the estate, corner of Charter and Unity 
 Streets, which is still owned by his descendants. 
 
 CHILDREN. 
 
 Henry, b. Jan i, 1792; d. Oct. 11, 1793. 
 hi. I^cnrg, b.July 5, 1793. 
 
 William, b. Sept. 3, 1797; d. Oct 14, 1798. 
 
 Sarah, b. Feb. 7, 1801. 
 
 William Joseph, b. Jan. 29, 1S04; d. Oct ir, 1807. 
 ^9. 3Dl)n 3amcs, b. April 16, 1S05. 
 
 William Joseph, b. Oct. 19, 1S07; drowned March 16, 1824, on his passage from Gbttenburg, as 
 second mate of ship Galena. 
 
 48 
 
 l^enrg,* {Henry' Henry,'' James,' James' Obadiah^ Obadiah,i Thomas,'^) b. July 
 5. 1793. in Boston; d. March 13, 1862. He removed early in life to Nantucket, 
 where he was established in the hardware business. He was one of the original 
 members of the New England Guards. He m. June 5, 1817, Mary, dau. of Zenas 
 and Abial Coffin, one of the wealthiest merchants and largest ship-owners of that 
 place. Mrs. Swift was b. Feb. 15, 1799; d. July 2, 1827. He m. second, Elizabeth 
 dau. of Benjamin and Judith Glover. She d. Feb. 22, 1872. 
 
 CHILDREN. 
 
 Sarah Brown, b. March 25, 1820; d. July 11, 1825. 
 
 Mary Coffin, b. March 24, :822; m. Dec. 5, 1838, Lewis W. Tappan, son of John Tappan, of 
 
 Boston. Their son, Lewis Wm., Jr., b. Feb. 16, 1840, m. Olivia Buckminster, dau. of the 
 
 Rev. Samuel K. Lothrop of Boston. She d. 1878, leaving one daughter, b. Sept. i, 1876. 
 Child, b. and d. Sept. i, 1824. 
 
 Sarah Brown, b. Feb. 23, 1826; lives with Mrs. Tappan. 
 Henry, b. Dec. 11, 1832; ni. Emma Potter of Concord, N. H., and has Harry, Frank, Maud. 
 
 Residence, Durham Park, Marion Co., Kansas. 
 William Joseph, b. May 27, 1835, in Nantucket; m. Oct. 20, 185S, Anna C. Stearns, dau. of 
 
 Marshall Stearns of Brookline, Mass., and has Susan Stearns, b. Jan. 12, 1867; Henry 
 
 Marshall, b. Feb. 16, 1872. 
 Margaret, b. March 10, 1838; d. March 18, 1869; m. Oct. 1858, William Stearns, of 
 
 Brookline, Mass. 
 
 49 
 
 Safjn 3anus," {Henry ^ Henry' James' James,' Obadiah^ Obadiah,' Thomas^) 
 b. April 16, 1805 ; m. Mary, dau. of Samuel Hitchborn of Boston. Mr. Swift was 
 a merchant of Boston. He was a clerk in 1823 with Bradshaw & Parker, on Long 
 
56 GENEALOGY OF THE FAMILY OF 
 
 Wharf; from 1829 to 1840 was of the firm of Parker & Swift; then from 1840 to 
 1844, J. J. Swift & Co. He was successful, and accumulated a fortune. 
 
 CHILDREN. 
 
 Agnes McKean. 
 
 Eliza T. 
 
 Mary, b. ; m. J. H. Lombard. 
 
 Amy. 
 
 W. H. 
 
 Frances, b. ; m. Edward Holbrook. 
 
 Lillian Alice. 
 
 Mr. Swift early manifested a lively interest in the extension of the railway system 
 of the country, and upon retiring from active mercantile pursuits in 1854, was 
 elected a director in the Fitchburg Railroad Company, and on Feb. 8, 1855, was 
 chosen its President, which office he held till August 17, 1864, when he voluntarily 
 retired from the board, but continued to be consulted by the management upon all 
 matters of importance during the remainder of his life. 
 
 Having now no active business to occupy his mind, and being an energetic and 
 public-spirited man, he must needs turn his attention to some beneficent enterprise. 
 In 1865 and 1866 he took a leading interest in the establishment of the National 
 Steamship Company, in the interest of Boston, and for which company the Erie and 
 Ontario were built, but from lack of adequate support, and from the unstable condi- 
 ton of the times, the scheme was abandoned, and the pioneer vessels sold and taken 
 from that port. 
 
 In 1869 he took an active interest in the Caughnawaga Ship Canal, a project for 
 uniting the St. Lawrence River with Lake Champlain, thereby uniting the commerce 
 of the great lakes with New England, and with others secured a charter from the 
 Dominion Parliament, and kept it alive by subsequent legislation for several years, 
 but from the lack of general interest in Boston, which was mainly relied upon for 
 the means of construction, this great internal improvement was given up. 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 ENGLISH ANCESTRY. 
 
 Since that portion of the genealogy was printed which relates to Thomas Swift 
 and his wife Elizabeth, the founders of the Dorchester family in America, some 
 investigations have been made in England with a certain degree of success. Their 
 marriage has been found on the parish register of the Church of the Holy Trinity, 
 Dorchester, England ; but nothing there indicates that Thomas Swift was born in 
 Dorchester, or that the name existed there previous to the date of his marriage. 
 It is possible that he was born in an adjoining parish or county, and that, being 
 imbued with the religious fervor of the time, had gathered there with others, pre- 
 paratory to embarking for the New World. 
 
 Savage says, that Thomas Swift of Dorchester was the son of Robert of Rother- 
 ham, Yorkshire. I am inclined to think that this statement is not based on any 
 more substantial evidence than family tradition. Such a tradition has existed in 
 the family. It is well-known that the handing down of christian names common 
 to families was very strictly followed, but in no instance do we find the name of 
 Robert, among the children or grandchildren of Thomas, and in fact, I think the 
 name has never been borne by any of his descendants. 
 
 But Savage's conjectures as to the parentage of Elizabeth, wife of Thomas Swift, 
 have proved to be right. He says, she was probably the daughter of Bernard 
 Capen, who was from Dorchester, England. Thomas Swift, in his will, calls John 
 Capen, who was son of Bernard, his brother-in-law, and John Capen in a letter to 
 Mary Bass, printed in the History of Dorchester, Mass., p. 45, speaks of his sister 
 Swift and sister Upsall. 
 
 With this clew, it seemed to me that an examination of the parish registers of 
 Dorchester, England, might disclose something in relation to Thomas and Elizabeth 
 Swift. Accordingly a search was made, and on the parish register of Holy 
 
58 APPENDIX— ENGLISH ANCESTRY. 
 
 Trinity was found the entry, that " Thomas Svvifte and Elizabeth Capen were 
 married i8 Oct., 1630," and "20 Nov., 163 1, Joane, daughter of Thomas Swifte, 
 was baptized." These two are the only instances of the appearance of the name 
 on the register. 
 
 The next child we find to them recorded is on the Dorchester records in 
 America, when, June 17, 1635, the birth of their son Thomas appears. It is 
 possible that other children were born, between these two periods, who died 
 young. 
 
 The same parish register, records the marriage of Nicholas Upsale and Dorothie 
 Capen, 17 Jan., 1629. Nicholas Upsale is well known, as one of those who was 
 persecuted as a Quaker. An account of him has been printed in the New England 
 Historical and Genealogical Register, vol. XXXIV., p. 21. 
 
 A William Rockwell and Susan Capen, were married 14 April, 1624, 
 doubtless the same person, who with his wife Susanna, appear in Dorchester, Mass., 
 in 1630, when he was made freeman. He was one of the first deacons of the 
 Dorchester Church and the history of that town, p. 79, gives the name of his wife 
 as Susanna Chapin, doubtless mistaken for Capen. Probably she was another 
 daughter of Bernard Capen, for according to the family Bible, he had a child of 
 this name. 
 
 There are four parish churches at Dorchester, England, all of about the same 
 date, but none possess registers earlier than about 1663-4, except Holy Trinity, 
 whose register commences as early as 1 5 59. Its covers are gone, but the entries are 
 perfectly legible. A great many Capens appear on it between 1559 and 1652, 
 some of which are here appended. The name on the registers seems to have 
 finally resolved itself into Galpin. For an account of the Capen family, see vol. II., 
 p. 80, and vol. XX., p. 246, of the New England Historical and Genealogical 
 Register. 
 
DORCHESTER. 
 
 Extracts from tJie Church Registers of Holy Trinity, 
 Commencing 1559. 
 
 14 April, 1624. 
 
 4 Aug., 1629. 
 
 17 Jan., 1629. 
 
 18 Oct., 1630. 
 
 23 
 
 Feb., 
 
 1633- 
 
 29 
 
 April, 
 
 1632. 
 
 12 
 
 July, 
 
 1635- 
 
 .s 
 
 Nov., 
 
 1637- 
 
 8 
 
 Nov., 
 
 1640. 
 
 I 
 
 Jan., 
 
 1642. 
 
 8 
 
 Sept., 
 
 1628. 
 
 28 
 
 May, 
 
 1632. 
 
 3 
 
 March, 
 
 1633- 
 
 6 
 
 Jan., 
 
 1642. 
 
 22 
 
 April, 
 
 1643. 
 
 26 
 
 March, 
 
 1646. 
 
 10 
 
 April, 
 
 1646. 
 
 20 
 
 April, 
 
 1646. 
 
 27 
 
 April, 
 
 1646. 
 
 6 
 
 May, 
 
 1646. 
 
 Wm. Rockwell and Susan Capon, Married 
 
 Robert Gifford and Hannah Capon " 
 
 Nicholas Upsale and Dorothie Capen, 
 
 Thomas Swifte and Elizabeth Capen, " 
 
 Elizabeth, daughter of Thomas Capen Baptized 
 
 Ruth, daughter of Bernard Capen, " 
 
 Barnard, son of Bernard Capen, 
 
 William, son of Bernard Capen, 
 
 Mary, daughter of Bernard Capen, " 
 
 John, son of Bernard Capen, 
 
 James Capen, Buried 
 
 Margaret, wife of Thomas Capen, 
 
 Elizabeth, daughter of Thomas Capen " 
 
 John, son of Barnard Gapen, 
 
 William, son of Thomas Gapen, 
 
 Ruth, daughter of Barnard Galpen, 
 
 Elizabeth, daughter of Barnard Galpen, 
 
 Barnard, son of Barnard Galpen, 
 
 Mary, daughter of Barnard Galpen, 
 
 William, son of Barnard Galpen, 
 
 To 1652. 
 
INDEX TO THE GENEALOGY. 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 Abbott, Timothy 37 
 
 Abbott, Sarah, m. Nathaniel Swift 37 
 
 Abert, Col 37 
 
 Acton, Laura 24 
 
 Adams, Abigail, m. Rev. John Swift 14. '5 
 
 Adams, Daniel 15 
 
 Adams, DeUa 24 
 
 Adams, Delia W.,m. Edward B.White . ... 24 
 
 Adams, EU 27 
 
 Adams, EU, m. Sarah D. Swift 24 
 
 Adams, James 24 
 
 Adams, Jeremiah 14 
 
 Adams, John • 21 
 
 Adams, John, m. Sarah Swift 17 
 
 Adams, Julius W., m. Elizabeth Denison ... 24 
 
 Adams, Louisa 26 
 
 Adams, Mary, m., James P. Kirkwood .... 24 
 
 Adams, Rebecca 14 
 
 Adams, Sally D 26 
 
 Adams, Samuel 21 
 
 Adams, Sarah 19 
 
 Adan, Catherine E. R., m. Henry S. Waldo . . 53 
 
 Adan, Thomas, m. Teggy R. Swift 53 
 
 .\ddington J 8 
 
 Andrews, Abraham, m. Caroline Swift .... 54 
 
 .\ndrews, Abraham, m. Ehza R. Swift .... 54 
 
 Allen, Daniel 9 
 
 Allen, Elizabeth, m. John Hancock Foster . . 20 
 
 Allen, Sarah, m. Capt. Hopestill Foster ... 20 
 
 Allison, Henry, m. Mary E. Swift 27 
 
 Apply, Abigail 5° 
 
 Apply, James 50 
 
 Apply, , m. Abigail Swift 50 
 
 Atherton, Humphrey 50 
 
 .\therton, Rest, m. Obadiah Swift 50 
 
 Atwood, Anna T., m. William A. Swift .... 49 
 
 Avery , m. Mary Sloan 52 
 
 Avery, Mary, m. John French 52 
 
 Babcock, Elizabeth, m. John Swift 28 
 
 Babcock, Samuel, m. Elizabeth Swift .... 23 
 
 Babcock, William 28 
 
 Baker, E. J 3° 
 
 Baker, John, m. EUphal Swift 23 
 
 PAGE, 
 
 Baker, John, m. Joan Swift 4 
 
 Baker, John, m. Thankful Foster 4 
 
 Baker, Mary, m. Nathaniel Swift 28 
 
 Ballard, Stephen 14 
 
 Barnabas, Atwood 49 
 
 Bartlett, William, m. Susannah Swift .... 23 
 
 Bass, Mary 4,57 
 
 Bate, James 20 
 
 Bate, Mary, m. Hopestill Foster 20 
 
 Bayley, Thomas 22 
 
 Bennett, Joseph, m. Mary Swift 23 
 
 Bent, Eunice 30 
 
 Berry, Samuel, m. Ann Swift 23 
 
 Bird, Benj 51 
 
 Blake, Abigail, m. Obadiah Swift 50 
 
 Blake, Hannah 28, 5 1 
 
 Blake, Hopestill 51 
 
 Blake, James 19 
 
 Blake, Ruth 19 
 
 Blake, Samuel 19 
 
 Breck, Robert 11 
 
 Brigden, Winifred 53 
 
 Broughton, Hannah 5 
 
 Broughton, Sarah 5 
 
 Brown, John 16 
 
 Brown, Hannah, m. Luther Swift 15 
 
 Brown, Nancy, m. Elijah Swift 53 
 
 Brown, Sarah, m. Henry Swift 54 
 
 Bryant, Mrs 20 
 
 Buckminster, Joseph 14 
 
 Burditt, James W 52 
 
 Burt, Col., m. Mary Swift 20 
 
 Burt, Jed., m. Elizabeth Newhall 20 
 
 Butt, Sherebiah 5 ■ 
 
 Butt, Silence, m. James Swift 51 
 
 Byles, Mr 20 
 
 Capen, Bernard 4. 57. 59 
 
 Capen, EUzabeth 59 
 
 Capen, Elizabeth, ra. Thomas Swift .... 58 
 
 Capen, Dorothy, m. Nicholas Upsale .... 58 
 
 Capen, Hannah, m. Robert Gifford 59 
 
 Capen, John 4, 6, 57, 59 
 
 Capen, Margaret 59 
 
INDEX TO THE GENEALOGY. 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 Capen, Mary 59 
 
 Capen, Ruth 59 
 
 Capen, Susan, m. William Rockwell 5S-9 
 
 Capen, Thomas 59 
 
 Capen, William 59 
 
 Carbonnel, A. B., m. Mary J. Swift 40 
 
 Carr, Joshua W., m. Lucy W. Swift 16 
 
 Carter, A., m. Sarah F. Trow 38 
 
 Chapman, Moses C, m. Mary Swift 41 
 
 Cheney, PoUey, m. Samuel Swift 41 
 
 Cheney, Thomas 4' 
 
 Chew, Abby H., m. McRee Swift 42 
 
 Chew, Thomas John 42 
 
 Church, Deborah 24 
 
 Clap, Ebenezer 9 
 
 Clapp, Ezra 8 
 
 Clapp, Hopestill, m. Susanna Swift 5 
 
 Clapp, Judith, m. Ebenezer Swift 23 
 
 Clapp, Nehemiah 23 
 
 Clapp, Roger " 7> ^ 
 
 Clapp, Sarah, m. Thomas Swift 7 
 
 Coffin, Mary, m. Henry Swift 55 
 
 Coffin, Zenas 55 
 
 Coit, Jonathan 26 
 
 Crane, Henry, m. Judith Swift 23 
 
 Crane, Stephen 7 
 
 Crehore, Elizabeth, m. Thomas Swift 17 
 
 Cullum, Geo. W 33. 34 
 
 Cunningham 26 
 
 Cushman, EUzabeth 24 
 
 Cutter, James B., m. Catharine S. Trow ... 38 
 
 Dalton, Edward B 44 
 
 Danforth, Mr 8 
 
 Daniel, John 9 
 
 Davies, Lucy, m. Samuel Swift 49 
 
 Davies, H. E 49 
 
 Davis, Barnabas 53 
 
 Davis, Catharine, m. Dr. John Swift 15 
 
 Davis, Deacon 25 
 
 Davis, Winifred, m. James Swift 52, 53 
 
 Delano, pedigree 23, 24 
 
 Delano, Deborah 24 
 
 Delano, Dorah, m. Foster Swift 23 
 
 Delano, Elizabeth 23 
 
 Delano, Ephraim 24 
 
 Delano, Franklin H 24 
 
 Delano, Gideon 24 
 
 Delano, Jabez 24 
 
 Delano, Jean 24 
 
 Delano, Jethro 24 
 
 Delano, Jonathan 24 
 
 Delano, Mary 24 
 
 Delano, Nathaniel 24 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 Delano, Philip 24 
 
 Delano, Thomas 23, 24 
 
 Delano, Warren 24 
 
 Dennison, EUzabeth, m. Julius W. Adams ... 24 
 
 De Rosset, pedigree 32 
 
 De Rosset, Gabriella 32 
 
 Dewsbury, Hester 24 
 
 Dickerman, W. B., m. Martha E. Swift ... 47 
 
 Draper, W. H 45 
 
 Dubois, pedigree 32 
 
 Dubois, Magdalene M 32 
 
 Dubois, Rev. Walter 32 
 
 Ducatel, , m. George W. Whistler ... 25 
 
 Durfee, , 24 
 
 Durham, Samuel, m. Elizabeth Read 5 
 
 Durram, John 5 
 
 Durram Elizabeth 5 
 
 Dutton, E. F 26 
 
 Eliot, Mr 8 
 
 Ellery, Mrs. Harrison 5 
 
 Engleman, Maria A., m. Lewis Swift .... 49 
 
 Farrar, John, m. Martha Swift 10 
 
 Farrar, John, m. Mary B. Swift 54 
 
 Farrar, Martha 13 
 
 Farrar, Mary 14 
 
 Ferry, Reuben, m. Abigail Swift 23 
 
 Field, Joseph 22 
 
 Fisk, Abel 15 
 
 Fitch, Sally 24 
 
 Fitzhugh, Alida C, m. Foster Swift 43 
 
 Fitzhugh, D. H 43 
 
 Fitzhugh, Isabella, m. Jonathan Swift .... 42 
 
 Fitzhugh, William 42 
 
 Folger, Peter 24 
 
 Foster, pedigree 20 
 
 Foster, Ann, m. Samuel Swift 20 
 
 Foster, Capt 50 
 
 Foster, David W 20 
 
 Foster, Hopestill 4 
 
 Foster, Hopestill, m. Mary Bate 20 
 
 Foster, Hopestill, m. Patience 20 
 
 Foster, Hopestill, Capt., m. Sarah Allen ... 20 
 
 Foster, Hopestill, m. Susannah Wood .... 20 
 
 Foster, James, m. Anna Lane 20 
 
 Foster, Jane 4' 
 
 Foster, John Hancock, m. Elizabeth .Mien. . 20 
 
 Foster, Moses, m. Caroline Hall 37 
 
 Foster, Thankful, m. John Baker 4 
 
 Foye, Mr iS 
 
 Franchemont de, Arnulph 23 
 
 French, , m. Abigail Swift 16 
 
 French, John, m. Mary Avery 52 
 
 Frothingham, Rev. Fred 3° 
 
INDEX TO THE GENEALOGY. 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 Gage, Gov 22 
 
 Gardner, Joseph 25 
 
 Girard, Stephen 40 
 
 Glover, Benjamin 55 
 
 Glover, Elizabeth, m. Henry Swift 55 
 
 Glover, Eira 4 
 
 Glover, John J 4 
 
 Goodhue & Co 40 
 
 Gookin, Major 8 
 
 Greenough, William, m. 1st, Ruth Swift .... 5 
 
 Greenough, William, m. 2d, Elizabeth Rainsford, 5 
 
 Greenough, William, m. 3d, Sarah Shore ... 5 
 
 Greenwood, Sally, m. Ebenezer Swift 31 
 
 Gulliver, Jonathan 7 
 
 Golifor, Anthony 3 
 
 Gridley, Counsellor 21 
 
 Griffith, Joseph M 42 
 
 Griffith, Mabel B., ra. Lawrence C. Swift ... 42 
 
 Hale, Wm. F., m. Lizzie F. Swift 16 
 
 Hall, Caroline, m. Moses Foster 37 
 
 Hall, Rev. Jeffries, m. Sarah F. Abbott .... 37 
 
 Hall, Richard 3 
 
 Hall, Sarah Frances, m. J. C. W. Moore ... 37 
 
 Hamilton, John 34 
 
 Handheld, Capt 21 
 
 Harper, Edward 27 
 
 Harper, Mary D., m. Wm. R. Swift 27 
 
 Hassler, Prof 36 
 
 Hawes, Desire, m. .Silence Swift 51 
 
 Hayden, Seymour, m. Deborah D. Whistler . . 25 
 
 Hearsey, , 26 
 
 Hearsey, Anna 19 
 
 Hersey, Solomon, m. Anna Swift 17 
 
 Henshaw, Samuel, m. Sarah Swift 23 
 
 Henshaw, Samuel 23 
 
 Henshaw, Waitstill 23 
 
 Highinbottom, m. Anna Read 5 
 
 Hitchborn, Mary. m. John J. Swift 55 
 
 Hitchborn, Samuel 55 
 
 Holbvook, Edward, m. Frances Swift 56 
 
 Hollis, Thomas 31 
 
 Holman, Ann, m. Samuel Swift 17 
 
 Holman, John 3 
 
 Holman, Thomas 3> 17 
 
 Houghton, Ebenezer 18 
 
 Houghton, Nathaniel iS 
 
 How, Josiah 23 
 
 Howard, Hannah W., m. WiUiam H. Swift . . 34 
 
 Howard, John 34, 45 
 
 Howard, Margaret, m. Charles W. Swift ... 45 
 
 Howland, Elizabeth 24 
 
 Hughes, .Sarah 5 
 
 Huntington 1,7, 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 Hutchinson, Elizabeth, m. David Oliver ... 52 
 
 Hutchinson, Gov 41 
 
 Hutchinson. James, m. Elizabeth Swift .... 52 
 
 Ingerfield, Paul, m. Silence Swift 52 
 
 Ironside, George, m. Mary Swift 34 
 
 Jacobs, Addie W., m. William Swift 49 
 
 Jacobs, Almena, m. Nathaniel Swift 46 
 
 Jacobs, Almena, m. Jonathan Swift 47 
 
 Jacobs, Marie A., m. William J. Swift .... 39 
 
 Jacobs, S. J 39 
 
 Janeway, Geo. H., m. Elizabeth C. Swift ... 42 
 
 Jarvis 33 
 
 Jephson, Mary F., m. James F. Swift 32 
 
 Jewet, N 8 
 
 Jones, Robert, m. Susannah Swift 52 
 
 Kent, Judge 43 
 
 Kenons 32 
 
 Kidder, Francis 46 
 
 Kidder, Martha Jane, m. Nathaniel Swift ... 46 
 
 King, Maria, m. William Swift 48 
 
 King, Martha, m. Edward White 5 
 
 Kirkwood, James P., m. Mary Adams .... 24 
 
 Kneeland, Samuel 10 
 
 Lane, Anna, m. James Foster 20 
 
 Lane, Job, 20 
 
 Larrabee, Capt 20 
 
 Law, Lyman 26 
 
 Leach, Mary 16 
 
 Ledbetter, Increase 51 
 
 Ledbetter, Henry, m. Priscilla Swift 51 
 
 Lee, Rev. Joseph 14 
 
 Leeds, James, m. Sarah Swift 51 
 
 Leeds, Joseph 18 
 
 Little, Charles F., m. Charlotte Swift .... 40 
 
 Lombard, J. H., m. Mary .Swift 56 
 
 Long, Major 36 
 
 Lothrop, Olivia B., m. Lewis W. Tappan, Jr. . 55 
 
 Lothrop, Samuel K 55 
 
 Lovering, John, m. Lucretia Swift 20 
 
 Lyman, Catherine 24 
 
 Maker, Thankful, m. William A. Swift .... 49 
 
 Makin, Samuel, m. Sarah Swift 52 
 
 Manners, Lord Robert 25 
 
 Martin, John W., m. Ann E. Swift 42 
 
 Martyn, Edward, m. Sarah White 5 
 
 Martyn Michael 5 
 
 Mather, Timothy 50 
 
 May, Col 21 
 
 May, Mr 27 
 
 Mayer, Mary, m. James Swift 51 
 
 McKean, Agnes, m. Henry Swift 54 
 
 McKean, Joseph 54 
 
 McKean, William 54 
 
w. 
 
 INDEX TO THE GENEALOGY. 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 McNeill, Daniel 25 
 
 Miller, Col 18 
 
 Miller, Mary 5 
 
 Mills, Edward 10 
 
 Merrifield, Henry 3, 6, 5 1 
 
 Monroe, President 21 
 
 Montague, Mary 38 
 
 Moore, J. C. W., m. Sarah F. Hall 37 
 
 Morrison, Rev. John H 30 
 
 Munn, Cora, m. J. F. Trow 38 
 
 Munning, Goodman 3 
 
 Nash, Ann 24 
 
 Newberry, Emma, m. Samuel Swift 47 
 
 Newell, Daniel, m. Patience Swift 23 
 
 Newell, Henry, m. Susanna Swift 51 
 
 Newhall, Elizabeth, m. Col. Jed'h Burt .... 20 
 
 Newhall, John, m. Elizabeth Swift 20 
 
 Newton, Ephraim 9 
 
 Newton, John iS 
 
 Nichols, Henry O., m. Harriet Swift 40 
 
 Oliver, David, m. Elizabeth Hutchinson ... 52 
 
 Oliver, David, m. Susan Parkman 52 
 
 Oliver, Sally, m. William Parkman 52 
 
 Owens 32 
 
 Parker, Elizabeth, m. John Swift 41 
 
 Parker, Elizabeth Hovey 41 
 
 Parker, Gideon 41 
 
 Parker, Willard 44 
 
 Parkman, Susan, ra. David Oliver 52 
 
 Parkman, William, m. Sally Oliver 52 
 
 Patten, Mrs 27 
 
 Patten, Jonathan T., m. Ann Swift 27 
 
 Payson, Anne 13 
 
 Payson, Rev. Edward 10 
 
 Payson, Edward 50 
 
 Payson, Giles, 50 
 
 Payson, Rev. Phillips 10, 13 
 
 Payson, Rev. Phillips, m. Anne Swift 10 
 
 Payson, Rev. Samuel 10 
 
 Payson, Rev. Seth 10 
 
 Peckham, Jane 24 
 
 Peipcr, Hugo, m. Martha E. Trow 38 
 
 Perry, Oliver H 46 
 
 Phelps, Luke 38 
 
 Phelps, Martha E. m. William Swift .... 38 
 
 Phelps, Mary, ni. Samuel Swift 47 
 
 Pierce, Abigail, m. Samuel Swift 30 
 
 Pierce, John 22 
 
 Pierce, Rev. John 30 
 
 Pierce, William 30 
 
 Pierce, William, m. Lydia Swift 23 
 
 Pike, William 14 
 
 Pope, Elizabeth 24 
 
 PACE. 
 
 Pope, Ebenezer 2r 
 
 Porter, E. P., m. Judith Rogers 28 
 
 Potter, Andrew H 39 
 
 Potter, Emma, m. Henry Swift 55 
 
 Potter, Hettie, m. John B. Swift 39 
 
 Pratt, 19 
 
 Pratt, , m. EUzabeth Swift 7 
 
 Pratt, Eliza A., ra. John Swift 16 
 
 Pratt, Elizabeth 9, 10 
 
 Pulcifer, Hannah H., m. John Hollis . ... 15 
 
 Purpoon, John, m. Abigail Swift 51 
 
 Putnam, Col., m. Sarah Swift 20 
 
 Putnam, Sarah 22 
 
 Rainsford, Elizabeth, m. William Greenough . 5 
 
 Read, Anna, m. Highinbottom .... 5 
 
 Read, Elizabeth, m. Samuel Durham 5 
 
 Read, Luther F., m. Lizzie F. Swift 16 
 
 Read, Obadiah, m. Anna Swift 5 
 
 Rhoades, Hannah, m. Benjamin .Swift .... 54 
 
 Rhoades, Jacob 54 
 
 Rhodes, Ebenezer 52 
 
 Rhodes, Jacob 52 
 
 Rice, Martha, m. Ebenezer Swift 31 
 
 Richards, Peter, m. Louisa J. Swift 32 
 
 Richards, Peter 33, 34 
 
 Richards, Peter, m, Sarah D. Swift 32 
 
 Richards, Sarah D. S t,2, 
 
 Richardson, Mary, m. Henry Swift 53 
 
 Roberdeau, Ann, m. Jonathan Swift 27 
 
 Roberdeau, Daniel 27 
 
 Robinson, John, m. Mary White 5 
 
 Roby, Eben, m. Sarah Swift 10 
 
 Robye, Ebenezer 13 
 
 Robye, Sarah 13 
 
 Rockwell, William, m. Susan Capen .... 58, 59 
 
 Rogers, Fanny, m. J. A. Veasie 28 
 
 Rogers, George B., m. 2S 
 
 Rogers, John S., m. 28 
 
 Rogers, Judith, m. E. P. Porter 28 
 
 Rogers, P. B., m. Elizabeth Swift 28 
 
 Scott, Winfield 34 
 
 Sewall, .Samuel 10 
 
 .Seward, Edee, m. Elijah Swift 52 
 
 Shaw, Abigail, m. William Pitt Swift .... 16 
 
 Shearer, ."Vnn 32 
 
 Sherman, 24 
 
 Shore, .Sarah, m. William Greenough .... 5 
 
 Sloan, Francis, m. Mary Swift 52 
 
 Sloan, Mary, m. Avery 52 
 
 Smith, Jeremiah 18 
 
 Smith, Joseph 26 
 
 Smith, Richard 6 
 
 Sprague, Edward 15 
 
INDEX TO THE GENEALOGY. 
 
 V. 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 Sprink, Charles, rn. Annie Swift i6 
 
 Spurr, Ann 3> ^ 
 
 Spurr, Robert 6 
 
 Stearns, Marshall 55 
 
 Stearns, Anna C, m. Wm. J. Swift 55 
 
 Stearns, William, m. Margaret Swift 55 
 
 St. John, Orestes H., m. Mary Swift 40 
 
 Stoddard, Elijah, m. Philomela Swift 20 
 
 Stone, Elizabeth 13 
 
 Stone, Rev, James, m. Elizabeth Swift .... 10 
 
 Stoughton, Israel 3 
 
 Stuart, Charles 34 
 
 Stuart, Mary, m. WiUiam H. Swift 34 
 
 Sumner, Benjamin 18 
 
 Sumner, Deacon g 
 
 Sumner, Mary, m. Dean M. .Swift 41 
 
 Sumner, William 3, 6 
 
 Swain, Elizabeth 24 
 
 Swain, Shubart 24 
 
 Swan, Martha 38 
 
 Swift, Abigail 15 
 
 Swift, Abigail, m. Apply 50 
 
 Swift, Abigail, m. French 16 
 
 Swift, Abigail, m. Reuben Ferry 23 
 
 Swift, Abigail, m. John Purpoon 51 
 
 Swift, Alex. J 32 
 
 Swift, Ann 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 26 
 
 Swift, Ann, m. Samuel Berry 23 
 
 Swift, Ann E., m. John W. Martin 42 
 
 Swift, Ann Foster, m. Jonathan T. Patten ... 27 
 
 Swift, Anna, m. Obadiah Read 5 
 
 Swift, Anna, m. Solomon Hersey 17 
 
 Swift, Anne, m. PhiUips Payson 10 
 
 Swift, Annie, m. Charles Sprink 16 
 
 Swift, Benjamin, m. Hannah Rhoades ... 54 
 
 Swift, Caroline, m. Abraham Andrews .... 54 
 
 Swift, Catharine, m. Dr. Whitman 15 
 
 Swift, Catharine, m. John F, Trow 38 
 
 Swift, Charles W., m. Margaret Howard ... 45 
 
 Swift, Charlotte, m. Charles ¥. Little 40 
 
 Swift, Dean 11,28 
 
 Swift, Dean M., m. Mary Sumner 41 
 
 Swift, Ebenezer 18, 19 
 
 Swift, Ebenezer, m. Judith Clapp 23 
 
 Swift, Ebenezer, Jr., m. Sally Greenwood ... 31 
 
 Swift, Ebenezer, m. Martha Rice 31 
 
 Swift, Edmund L 43 
 
 Swift, Elijah, m. Nancy Brown 53 
 
 Swift, Elijah, m. Edee Seward 52 
 
 Swift, Eliphal 22 
 
 Swift, Eliphal, m. John Baker 23 
 
 Swift, EHza Hester, m. Thomas M. Woodruff . 40 
 
 Swift, Eliza R., m. Abraham Andrews .... 45 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 Swift, Elizabeth 3, 4, 8, 22 
 
 Swift, Elizabeth m. Samuel Babcock 23 
 
 Swift, Elizabeth, m. James Hutchinson .... 52 
 
 Swift, Elizabeth, m. John Newhall 20 
 
 Swift, Elizabeth, m. Pratt 7 
 
 Swift, Elizabeth, m. P. B. Rogers 28 
 
 Swift, Elizabeth, m. Rev. James Stone . . 10 
 
 Swift, Elizabeth C, m. Geo. H. Janeway ... 42 
 
 Swift, Elizabeth R 4, 41 
 
 Swift, Eunice, m. Josiah Wadsworth 31 
 
 Swift, Fanny 29 
 
 Swift, Foster 22, 26, 34, 43 
 
 Swift, Foster, m. Deborah Delano 23 
 
 Swift, Foster, m. Alida C. Fitzhugh 43 
 
 Swift, Frances, m. Edward Holbrook 56 
 
 Swift, General 21,29 
 
 Swift, Geo. B., m. Mary B. Warren 46 
 
 Swift, Geo. L., m. Mary L. Watson 16 
 
 Swift, George M 39 
 
 Swift, Hannah, m. Thomas M.Thompson ... 54 
 
 Swift, Harriet, m. Henry O. Nichols 40 
 
 Swift, Henry, m. Sarah Brown 54 
 
 Swift, Henry, m. Mary Coffin 55 
 
 Swift, Henry, m. Elizabeth Glover 55 
 
 Swift, Henry, m. Agnes McKean 54 
 
 Swift, Henry, m. Emma Potter 55 
 
 Swift, Henry, m. Mary Richardson 53 
 
 Swift, Isabella S., m. Robert J. Woodruff ... 40 
 
 Swift, James Thomas 34 
 
 Swift, James Thomas, m. Margaret Weston . . 32 
 
 Swift, James, m. Silence Butt 51 
 
 Swift, James, m. Winifred Davis 52, 53 
 
 Swift, James, m. Mary .Mayer 51 
 
 Swift, James Foster 34 
 
 Swift, James F., m. Mary F. Jephson 32 
 
 Swift, Jane, m. James Young 51 
 
 Swift, Joane 58 
 
 Swift, Joan, m. John Baker 4 
 
 Swift, John 9, 10, 18 
 
 Swift, Capt. John 29, 30 
 
 S%vift, Rev. John 8,11,12,13,14,15 
 
 Swift, Rev. John, m. Abigial .\dams 14 
 
 Swift, John, m. EUzabeth Babcock 28 
 
 Swift, Dr. John, m. Catharine Davis 15 
 
 Swift, John, m. EHzabeth Parker 41 
 
 Swift, John, m. Eliza A. Pratt 16 
 
 Swift, John, m. Sarah Tileston 10,11 
 
 Swift, John B., m. Hettie Potter 39 
 
 Swift, John Hollis, m. Hannah H. Pulcifer . . 15 
 
 Swift, John J., m. Mary Hitchborn 55 
 
 Swift, Jonathan 22 
 
 Swift, Jonathan, m. Almena Jacobs 47 
 
 Swift, Jonathan, m. Ann Roberdeau 27 
 
VI. 
 
 INDEX TO THE GENEALOGY. 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 Sivift, Jonathan, m. Silence White 23 
 
 Swift, Jonathan W 34 
 
 Swift, Jonathan W., m. Isabella Fitzhugh ... 42 
 
 Swift, Joseph A 16,32 
 
 Sivift, Gen!. Joseph G 33, 42, 43 
 
 Swift, Joseph Gardner, m. Louisa M. Walker 31, 32 
 
 Swift, Judith, m. Henry Crane 23 
 
 Swift, Lawrence C, m. Mabel B. Griffith ... 42 
 
 Swift, Lewis, m. Maria A. Engleman 49 
 
 Swift, Lizzie F., m. Luther F. Read 16 
 
 Swift, Lizzie F., m. William F. Hale 16 
 
 Swift, Louisa J., m. Peter Richards 32 
 
 Swift, Lucretia, m. John Lovering 20 
 
 Swift, Lucy W., m. Joshua W. Carr 16 
 
 Swift, Luther, m. Hannah Brown 15 
 
 Swift, Lydia, m. William Pierce 23 
 
 Swift, Margaret, m. William Stearns 54 
 
 Swift, Maria J 36 
 
 Swift, Martha, m. John Farrar 17 
 
 Swift, Martha E., m. W. B. Dickernian .... 40 
 
 Swift, Mary 13,14,22,25,26 
 
 Swift, Mary, m. John White 5 
 
 Swift, Mary, m. Col. Burt 28 
 
 Swift, Mary, m. Joseph Bennett 23 
 
 Swift, Mary, m. George Ironside 34 
 
 Swift, Mary, m. Orestes H. St. John 40 
 
 Swift, Mary, m. Moses C. Chapman 41 
 
 Swift, Mary, m. Francis Sloan 52 
 
 Swift, Mary, m. J. H. Lombard 56 
 
 Swift, Mary B., m. John Farrar 54 
 
 Swift, Mary C, m. Lewis W. Tappan 55 
 
 Swift, Mary F 41 
 
 Swift, Mary R., m. George \V. Whistler ... 24 
 
 Swift, Mary S., m. Henry Allison 27 
 
 Swift, McRee 4,18,24,29,33,34 
 
 Swift, McRee, m. Abby H. Chew 42 
 
 Swift, Nathaniel 18, 19 
 
 Swift, Nathaniel, m. Rebecca Tucker 23 
 
 Swift, Nathaniel, m. Mary Baker 28 
 
 Swift, Nathaniel, m. Sarah Abbott 37 
 
 Swift, Nathaniel, m. Martha Jane Kidder . . 45, 46 
 
 Swift, Obadiah 6,31 
 
 Swift, Obadiah, m. Abigail Blake 50 
 
 Swift, Obadiah, m. Rest Atherton 50 
 
 Swift, Patience, m. Ebenezer Wadsworth ... 17 
 
 Swift, Patience, m. Daniel Newell 23 
 
 Swift, Peggy R., m. Thomas Adan 53 
 
 Swift, Philomela 26 
 
 Swift, Philomela, m. Elijah Stoddard 20 
 
 Swift, Priscilla, m. Henry Ledbetter 51 
 
 Swift, Rebecca, m. James Tucker 23 
 
 Swift, Robert 3 
 
 Swift, Ruth, m. William Grcenough 5 
 
 PAGB. 
 
 Swift, Samuel 4,7,9,10,18,20,21,22 
 
 Swift, Samuel, m. Ann Holman 17 
 
 Swift, Samuel, m. Ann Foster 20 
 
 Swift, Samuel, m. Eliphal Tilly 20 
 
 Swift, Samuel, m. Abigail Pierce 30 
 
 Swift, Samuel, m. Ehza H. Willkings .... 39 
 
 Swift, Samuel, m. Polly Cheney 41 
 
 Smft, Samuel, m. Emma Newberry 47 
 
 Swift, Samuel, m. Mary Phelps 47 
 
 Swift, Samuel, m. Lucy Davies 49 
 
 Swift, Sarah 9, 28 
 
 Swift, Sarah, m. Eben Roby 10 
 
 Swift, Sarah, m. John Adams 17 
 
 Swift, Sarah, m. Col. Putman 20 
 
 Swift, Sarah, m. Samuel Henshaw 23 
 
 Swift, Sarah, m. James Leeds 51 
 
 Swift, Sarah, m. Samuel Makin 52 
 
 Swift, Sarah D , m. Eli Adams 24 
 
 Swift, Sarah D., m. Peter Richards 32 
 
 Swift, Sarah Frances, m. Rev. Jeffries Hall . . 37 
 
 Swift, Silence, m. Desire Hawes 51 
 
 Swift, Silence, m. Paul Ingerfield 52 
 
 Swifr, Susanna, ni. Hopestill Clapp 5 
 
 Swift, Susannah, m. William Bartlett 23 
 
 Swift, Susanna, m. Henry Newell 51 
 
 Swift, Susanna, m. Joseph Whiston 51 
 
 Swift, Susannah, m. Robert Jones 52 
 
 Swift, Thomas i, 3, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, iS, 31, 57 
 
 Swift, Thoma'^, m. Sarah Clapp 7 
 
 Swift, Thomas, m. Elizabeth Vose 7 
 
 Swift, Thomas, m. Elizabeth Crehore 17 
 
 Swift, Thomas, m. Elizabeth Capen 58 
 
 Swift, Thomas D. 42 
 
 Swift, William 13.26 
 
 Swift, William, m. Martha E. Phelps .... 38 
 
 Swift, William, m. Ruth F. Wood 40 
 
 Swift, William, m. Maria King 48 
 
 Swift, WiUiam, m. Fanny M. Umstead .... 49 
 
 .Swift, William, m. Addie W. Jacobs 49 
 
 Swift, William A., m. .^nna Young Alwood . . 49 
 
 Swift, William J., m. Maria A. Jacobs .... 39 
 
 Swift, William J., m. Anna C. Stearns .... 35 
 
 Swift, WiUiam H., m. Mary E. Walcott .... 16 
 
 Swift, William H , m. Mary Stuart 34 
 
 Swift, W. H., m. Hannah W. Howard .... 34 
 
 Swift, WiUiam P., m. Abigail Shaw 16 
 
 Swift, William R., m. Mary I). Harper .... 27 
 
 Tabor, Patience 24 
 
 Tappan, John 55 
 
 Tappan, Lewis W., m. Mary C. Swift .... 55 
 
 Tappan, Lewis W., Jr 7i 3' 
 
 Tappan, Lewis W., Jr., m. Olivia B. Lothrop . 55 
 
 Tappan, Rebecca Waldo 49 
 
INDEX TO THE GENEALOGY. 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 Thatcher, Oxenbridge 1 8 
 
 Thatcher, Thomas . . • " lo 
 
 Thompson, Thomas M., m. Hannah Swift ... 54 
 
 Tileston, Thomas 3 
 
 Tilestone, James 10 
 
 Tilestone, Sarah, m. Rev. John Swift .... 10 
 
 Tilestone, Timothy 3. 10 
 
 Tilly, Eliphal, m. Samuel Swift 20 
 
 Tilly, Samuel 20, 22 
 
 Tobey, Pierre 24 
 
 Trott, Thomas 18 
 
 Trow, Catharine S., m. James B. Cutter . ... 38 
 
 Trow, John 38 
 
 Trow, John F., m. Catharine Swift 38 
 
 Trow, J. F., m. Cora Munn 38 
 
 Trow, Martha E., m. Hugo Peiper 38 
 
 Trow, Sarah F., m. A. Carter 38 
 
 Tucker, James, m. Rebecca Swift 23 
 
 Tucker, Jeremiah 18, 23 
 
 Tucker, Rebecca, m. Nathaniel Swift 23 
 
 Tully 33 
 
 Umstead, Fanny M., m. William Swift .... 49 
 
 Upsale, Nicholas, m. Dorothy Capen 58 
 
 Van Baal, Helena 32 
 
 Veasie, J. A., m. Fanny Rogers 28 
 
 Vose, Elizabeth, m. Thomas Swift 7 
 
 Wadsworth, Ebenezer 18 
 
 Wadsworth, Ebenezer, m. Patience Swift ... 17 
 
 Wadsworth, John 7 
 
 Wadsworth, Josiah, m. Eunice Swift 31 
 
 Wadsworth, Patience 19 
 
 Waldo, Henry S., ra. Catharine E. R. Adan . . 53 
 
 Walcott, Mary E., m. William Henry Swift . . 16 
 
 Walker, pedigree 32 
 
 Walker, George 32 
 
 Walker, James 32 
 
 Walker, Robert 32 
 
 Wareham, Rev. Mr 3 
 
 Warkman, Samuel, m. Martha White 5 
 
 Warren, Mary 24 
 
 Warren, Mary B., m. Geo. B. Swift 46 
 
 "Warren, Nathaniel 24 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 Washington, Gen 27, 28 
 
 Watson, Mary L., m. George L. Swift .... 16 
 
 Welch, John, m. Elizabeth White 5 
 
 Weston, Judge 32 
 
 Weston, Margaret, m. James Thomas Svrift . . 32 
 
 Whistler, Deborah 26 
 
 VVhistler, Deborah D., ra. Seymour Hayden . . 25 
 
 Whistler, Geo 26 
 
 Whistler, George W., m. Mary R. Swift ... 24 
 
 Whistler, George W., m. Ducatel .... 25 
 
 Whistler, George W., m. Julia Winans .... 25 
 
 Whistler, Joseph 26 
 
 Whiston, Joseph, m. Susanna Swift 5 ' 
 
 Whistler, \Vm 25 
 
 White, Edward, m. Martha King 5 
 
 White, Edmond, m. Elizabeth 5 
 
 White, Edward B., m. DeUa Adams 24 
 
 White, Elizabeth, m. John Welch 5 
 
 White, James 5 
 
 White, John 23 
 
 White, John, m. Mary Swift 5 
 
 White, Martha, m. Samuel Warkman .... 5 
 
 White, Mary, m. John Robinson 5 
 
 White, Peter 7 
 
 White, Sarah, m. Edward Martyn 5 
 
 White, Silence, m. Jonathan Swift 23 
 
 Whitman, Dr., m. Catharine Swift 15 
 
 Winkings, John 39 
 
 Willkings, Eliza H., m. Samuel Swift 39 
 
 Winans, Julia, m. George W. Whistler .... 25 
 
 Winans, Ross W 25 
 
 Willard, John 12 
 
 Wirt, William 22 
 
 Wood, Ruth Frances, m. William Swift ... 40 
 
 Wood, Susannah, m. Hopestill Foster .... 20 
 
 Woodward, Abigail 51 
 
 Woodward, John 5' 
 
 Woodruff, Mary J., m. A. B. Carbonnel ... 40 
 
 Woodruff, Robert J., m. Isabella Swift .... 40 
 
 Woodruff, Thomas M., m. Eliza H. Swift ... 40 
 
 Young, James, m. Jane Swift 51 
 
INDEX TO THE MEMOIRS. 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 Abert. 12S, 176, 189, 233, 234, 238, 244, 248, 249, 
 
 250, 264, 269, 273, ?74, 275, 28c 
 Adams, 17, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 32, 50, 75, 83, 85, 
 130, 140, 142, 151, 160, 161, 173, 174, 17S, 
 182, 197, 199, 201, 211, 212, 216, 217, 220, 
 224, 226, 232, 233, 234, 236, 244, 252, 261, 
 262, 264, 265, 269, 270, 272, 275, 279, 2S4 
 
 Addison 44 
 
 Adrian 190 
 
 Alden 12 
 
 Alexander 34-63 
 
 Allen 34, 195, 204, 224 
 
 Allston 24 
 
 AIsop 163 
 
 Ames 159 
 
 Amhurst, Lord 32 
 
 Anderson 181, 272, 286, 2S9 
 
 Andre 27 
 
 Andrews 270 
 
 Angus 226, 257, 273, 275 
 
 Anthony 12, 276 
 
 Archer 1S2 
 
 Armistead, 29, 34, 37, 53, 56, 98, 102, 104, 106, 108, 
 109, 120, 121, 127, 141, 170, 171, 173, 
 174, 180, 193 
 
 Armitage j86, 191, 252, 263 
 
 Armour 183 
 
 Armstrong, 79, 108, 109, 113, 114, 115, 119, 120,121, 
 122, 123, 124, 126, 127, 131, 133, 136, 222, 
 262 
 
 Arnault 230 
 
 Arnold 27, 30, 31, 79 
 
 Artiguenave 166 
 
 Ashe 64 
 
 Asmus 57 
 
 Aspinwall 279 
 
 Astor 262 
 
 Atkinson 118 
 
 Auchmuty 22 
 
 Audubon 249 
 
 Austin 77 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 Avery 158 
 
 Ayrault 288 
 
 Azalon 222 
 
 Babcock 108, 154 
 
 Bache 155, 191, 261 
 
 Bachus 288 
 
 Backus 114, 218 
 
 Bainbridge, 107, 139, 148, 156, 158, 160, 162, 168, 
 242, 243 
 
 Bailey 158, 258 
 
 Baldwin 243 
 
 Ball 224, 225 
 
 Bancroft 251 
 
 Bankhead 232, 256 
 
 Baptist 65 
 
 Barbour 199 
 
 Barclay 162, 208,210 
 
 Bard 185,225, 230 
 
 Barker 140 
 
 Barnard 61, 62, 256, 283, 286 
 
 Baron 27, 28, 31, 40, 43, 44 
 
 Barron .... 32, 34, 36, 37, 46, 53, 56, 66, 67, 70 
 
 Barrow 273 
 
 Barry 205, 223, 262 
 
 Bartlett 275, 277, 287 
 
 Bates 229 
 
 Baum 35 
 
 Bautatz 245 
 
 Bayard 214, 219 
 
 Baylis 16, 275 
 
 Beach 76, 78, 193, 198 
 
 Beale 76, 78 
 
 Beardsley 221 
 
 Beauregard 288 
 
 Beck 260, 273 
 
 Bee 57 
 
 Beebe 43 
 
 Beers 230 
 
 Bell 92, 23S, 244, 285 
 
 Bellasis 46 
 
 Bennet 194, 277 
 
INDEX TO THE MEMOIRS. 
 
 PAGB. 
 
 Bentalon 154 
 
 Benjamin 260 
 
 Bernard, 143, 144, 145, 146, 147, 149, 170, 174, 175, 
 
 176, 178, 179, 180, 181, 18S, 192, 196, 204, 
 
 210, 255, 269 
 
 Bethune 283 
 
 Beton 234 
 
 Bibby 216 
 
 Biddle . 48, 180, 183, 223, 233, 234, 254, 267, 280 
 
 Birdsell 230 
 
 Birney 278 
 
 Blair 45-213 
 
 Blake 52, 159 
 
 Blaney, 52, 53, 60, 66, 85, 88, 102, 147, 167, 16S, 
 
 170, 172, 173 
 
 Bloomfield Ill, 128, 158 
 
 Blount 216 
 
 Blunt 279, 281 
 
 Bodisco 245 
 
 Bogardus 237 
 
 Bogoot 188 
 
 Bogert 21, 206 
 
 Bolinbroke 46 
 
 BoUman 70, 196 
 
 Bomford 40, 67, 82, 105, 108, 113, I49, 153, 254, 263 
 
 Bonaparte 63, 82, 156 
 
 Bonneville 165 
 
 Boone 46, 185 
 
 Boot 41 
 
 Booth 154 
 
 Borland 256 
 
 Boss 21 
 
 Botetout 174 
 
 Botts 60 
 
 Bowditch 85, 105, 161, 165 
 
 Boyd . 117 
 
 Braddock 49 
 
 Bradford 38 
 
 Bradley 55< 67 
 
 Bradshaw 90 
 
 Brayton 277 
 
 Brent 288 
 
 Brewerton 268 
 
 Brooks . . 78, 126, 129, 130, 159^ 160, 161, 166, 255 
 
 Brown, 92, 94, 104, 105, 109, 113, 114, 117, 122, 131, 
 
 172, 187, 19s, 198, 235, 253, 261, 263, 273 
 
 Brownwell 183 
 
 Bruff 42, 63 
 
 Brynon 1:2 
 
 Buchanan 243, 285 
 
 Buck 273 
 
 Bull 194 
 
 PACK, 
 
 Burbeck 42, 76, 79, 85, 86, 90, 98, 130 
 
 Burgwin 58,65,86,111,113,135,172 
 
 Burgoyne 47, 241 
 
 Burke 181 
 
 Burr 31, 36, 52, 60, 70, 96, 97 
 
 Burt 80, 276 
 
 Burtsell 212 
 
 Bush 146 
 
 Butler ...... 42, 43, 82, 155, 183, 225, 230, 236 
 
 Cabot 78 
 
 Cadwallader, 45,48, 154, 155, 180, 183, 201, 254, 267 
 
 Cady 13, 16, 166, 252 
 
 Cahoon : 158, 182 
 
 Caldwell 88, 23S, 239 
 
 Cales 265, 267 
 
 Calhoun, 149, 175, 176. 180, 184, 186, 187, 1S9, 192, 
 199, 202, 219, 227, 232 
 
 Callender 52 
 
 Camman 271 
 
 Campbell 42, 67, 208, 210, 240, 242 
 
 Canfield 233, 234 
 
 Canon 237 
 
 Canova 172 
 
 Carew 279 
 
 Carondelet 96 
 
 Carroll 153, 159, 215, 250 
 
 Carter 238 
 
 Casey 199 
 
 Cass 222, 269, 286 
 
 Chase 45, 213, 244, 269, 282, 283, 286 
 
 Champlin 22, 24 
 
 Channing 160 
 
 Chauncey 113, 171, iSo, 191 
 
 Chapman 204 
 
 Charles V 222 
 
 Chatham 249 
 
 Cheeves 105, 183 
 
 Chesterman 192, 252 
 
 Chew 187,209,211,243,246,252,255 
 
 Chrystler 117 
 
 Church 229, 266 
 
 Churchill 241 
 
 Clark 193, 19S, 266 
 
 Clasby 277 
 
 Clay . . . .140,189,195,201,207,209,243,269 
 
 Clayton 261 
 
 Cletherall 65, 210 
 
 Clinton .... 30, 67, 113, 131, 133, 156, 188, 197 
 
 Clitherow 243 
 
 Clive, Lord 242 
 
 Cobb, 13, 14,15,16,18,19,78,81,84,85,130, 160,275 
 
INDEX TO THE MEMOIRS. 
 
 m. 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 Cobbet 194, 195 
 
 Cobham 65 
 
 Cochrane 26, 91 
 
 Cockburn 153 
 
 Coffin 277 
 
 Colden 1S3, 192 
 
 Colebrook 240 
 
 Coleman 151 
 
 Coles 56, 70, 171, 219 
 
 Collins 159. 171 
 
 Conde 55 
 
 Conrad 192 
 
 Conway 50 
 
 Cook 210, 21 1, 225, 226, 260 
 
 Cooper Ill, 226, 2S2 
 
 Cope 91 
 
 Cornwallis 53, 154 
 
 CoWngton 113, 117, I iS 
 
 Cox 62, 173 
 
 Cozzens 2S7 
 
 Craig 53. 66, 179 
 
 Crane 232 
 
 Craven 49, 2S7 
 
 Crawford 142, 143, 178, 186 
 
 Creighton 193 
 
 Crocker 130 
 
 Croes 215 
 
 Cromwell 52 
 
 Cronkhite 274, 279, 2S5 
 
 Cropsy .110, 2S2 
 
 Crosby 277 
 
 Crowninshield 175 
 
 Croysdale 261 
 
 Crozet 151, 211 
 
 Cruger 181 
 
 Cuidozo 15 
 
 Cullum 268, 271, 290, 291 
 
 Cummings 136 
 
 Cunningham 219 
 
 Curtis 102 
 
 Cushing 43, 129, 130 
 
 Cushraan 16 
 
 Custis 195 
 
 Cutbush 108, 206, 208, 230, 247 
 
 Cutler 246 
 
 Dachkoff icc 
 
 Dahlgren 219 
 
 Dak 267 
 
 Dallas 192 
 
 Dante 29 
 
 Davies 122, 194, 237, 246, 270 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 Davis, 51, 55, 91, 160, 206, 274, 276, 287 
 
 Dearborn, 18, 25, 26, 28, 40, 43, 48, 49, 76, 78, 79, 
 
 80, 84, 86, 87, 123, 131, 132, 159, 211, 
 
 239, 240, 243, 257, 276 
 
 Decatur loi, 107, 132, 133, 134 
 
 Delafield, 192, 197, 215, 229, 230, 246, 248, 251, 252, 
 
 253, 258, 266, 272, 275, 284 
 Delano, 10, 11, 17, 38, 83, 95, 107, 142, 182, 258, 
 
 262, 276, 277, 281 
 
 Deniston no 
 
 Denning 31, 60, 72 
 
 Dent 102, 103 
 
 Derby 262 
 
 Devereu.\ 102 
 
 De Bernier 93^ 100 
 
 De Kalb 7, 
 
 De Lancy 247, 249, 252, 259, 283 
 
 De Lemos 96 
 
 De Leng 247 
 
 De la Marche cc 
 
 De Masson 40, 46, 53, 67 
 
 De Peyster 163 
 
 De Rosset, 53, 54, 59, 64, 66, 74, 173, 204, 246, 247, 
 
 256, 257 
 
 De Russy 108, 1 14 
 
 DeWoIf jjg 
 
 DeZeng 224 
 
 Dibden jg 
 
 Dickinson 230, 246 
 
 Dinwiddle 128,219 
 
 Dixwell 8 J 
 
 Doddridge loi, 173 
 
 Doggett 16, 20, 72, 73, 130 
 
 Donnel i^i 
 
 Donop icr 
 
 Douglass 115,266,275,285 
 
 Drake 256 
 
 Drayton 103, 136 
 
 Drefortail 29 
 
 Droasy 21, 24, 32 
 
 Drummond 241 
 
 ^^y 52 
 
 Dryden 84 
 
 Duane 82 
 
 DuBois, 53, 54, 66, 178, 179, 247, 251, 252, 256, 262, 
 266, 273, 288 
 
 Ducatel 262, 268 
 
 Duche 24 
 
 Duncan 206, 225, 227, 235, 236, 244, 260 
 
 Dunlap 233 
 
 Duvale 09 
 
 Dwight 229, 280 
 
IV. 
 
 INDEX TO THE MEMOIRS. 
 
 hAGE. 
 
 Eagle 172 
 
 Eakin 254 
 
 Eaton 45. 192. 205 
 
 Eccleston 205 
 
 Eckford, 1S9, 195, 198, 199, 200, 201, 214, 215, 237, 
 238, 246 
 
 Eddy 113 
 
 Edmonson 235 
 
 Edwards 81, 173, 192, 233, 260, 261, 286 
 
 Ellery 22, 159 
 
 Ellet 258 
 
 Ellicott 45 
 
 Elliot 170, 174, 175, 180,279 
 
 Ellison 72 
 
 Empie 123, 130, 131, 138, 146, 219 
 
 Enfield 32. 3^ 
 
 England 223 
 
 Erickson 61 
 
 Ernst 217 
 
 Erskine 82 
 
 Eustis . . 76, 77, 79, 81, 84, 86, 106. 109, 124, 207 
 Evans . . 61, loi, 162, 168, 185, 187, 211, 217, 254 
 
 Everett 59,61,284,285 
 
 Ewing 99, 103, 104 
 
 Fairbanks 235 
 
 Fairley 133 
 
 Falkland 239 
 
 Fanning 65 
 
 Farquhar 114,182,208,211,221,287 
 
 Farrar 177 
 
 Fay 198 
 
 Fellow 223, 229, 236, 281 
 
 Feltus 181, 194 
 
 Fenwick 136, 181 
 
 Fergus 5'. 55- ^3 
 
 Ferguson 219 
 
 Findley loS 
 
 Fish 131, 135, 195 
 
 Fisher 267 
 
 Fitch 83 
 
 Fitzhugh, 44, 192, 211, 212, 215, 218, 221, 231, 235. 
 242, 257, 265, 266, 269, 288 
 
 Fleming 29, 47, 93 
 
 Folger 38. 277 
 
 Foote 237, 278 
 
 Forsyth 147 
 
 Foster 61,81, iii, 197 
 
 Fowler 61 
 
 Fox 164 
 
 Frances 41 
 
 Franklin 34. 37. 38 
 
 Franks 258, 259 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 Eraser 242, 258, 259 
 
 Freeman 42, 87, 96, loi, 102, 160 
 
 Fremont 278 
 
 Frink 213, 219 
 
 Fuller 275 
 
 Fulton io5, 126, 132 
 
 Gadsden, 100, 114, 132, 134, 138, 140, 141, 149, 255, 
 260, 283 
 
 Gage 68, 161 
 
 Gailliard 105 
 
 Gaines 71, 116, 194, 227 
 
 Gales 215 
 
 Gallagher 214 
 
 Gallatin, . . 69, 71, 107, 127, 140, 143, 149, 156, 196 
 
 Gallaudet 157 
 
 Gamble 96 
 
 Gansvoort 36, 71, 96 
 
 Gard 150 
 
 Gardner .... 10, 13, 19, 38, 68, 69, So, 249, 286 
 
 Garnet 69, 71, 97, 181, 2S2 
 
 Gaston 59, 171, 192 
 
 Gates 28, 34, 47, so, C41 
 
 Gautier log 
 
 Gay 156 
 
 Genet 14 
 
 George III 239 
 
 Girard 183 
 
 Germain 244, 245 
 
 Gerry 83 
 
 Getting 254 
 
 Gibbon 26, 96, 99, 107 
 
 Gibbs 22,66,72,112,113,183,184, 191 
 
 Gibson 67, 192, 234 
 
 Gillespie 20 
 
 Gilman 106, 108, 113 
 
 Gilmore loi 
 
 Gist 235 
 
 Glassell 136, 139 
 
 Glover 229 
 
 Gold 22 
 
 Goldsborough loi, 177 
 
 Godwin 41 
 
 Goff 81 
 
 Goodwin 35, 193 
 
 Gookin 174 
 
 Gore 78, 84, 160 
 
 Gorham 164 
 
 Gouverneur, 36, 175, 176, 193, 194, 199, 204, 206, 216, 
 219, 237, 251, 265, 270 
 
 Grafton 279 
 
 Graham 147, 171, 231 
 
 Grange 58 
 
 Gratiot 205, 216, 221, 275 
 
INDEX TO THE MEMOIRS. 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 Gray 159, 265,286 
 
 Greeley 270 
 
 Green 22, 29, 2S2 
 
 Gregory 123 
 
 Greig, 206, 211,224,226, 227, 231,234, 236, 259, 260 
 269, 272, 281 
 
 Gridley 42 
 
 Griffin 5'. 52, 53. 55- 57. S^, 59- 8S, 172 
 
 Grime 264 
 
 Griswold 193 
 
 Grozet 151 
 
 Glassel 139 
 
 Glover 229 
 
 Guest 269 
 
 Guile 279 
 
 Guilles 182 
 
 Guion 63, 171 
 
 Hale 275 
 
 Haley 8i 
 
 Halsey 102 
 
 Hall . 215, 224, 230, 260 
 
 Hallam 81 
 
 Haliburton 240 
 
 Hamilton, 22, 36, 37, 43, 46, 52, 70, 97, 103, 107 
 
 175, 185,192,222,275 
 Hampton . . 114, 115, 116, 118, 119, 120, 122, 210 
 
 Hancock 159 
 
 Hanover 256 
 
 Harbeck 251 
 
 Hardy 131, 158, 232 
 
 Harney 103 
 
 Harper 100, 154, 182 
 
 Harris 257, 279 
 
 Harrison .... io6, 121, 122, 123, 238, 243, 244 
 
 Hart 12, 276 
 
 Hartshorn 76 
 
 Harvey 234, 239 
 
 Hassler, 67, 69, 71, 72, 86, 95, loi, 105, 127, 128, 
 
 140, 151, 184, 185, 189, 219, 226, 229, 254 
 
 267, 272, 282 
 
 Hatfield 273 
 
 Havens 28 
 
 Hawkins no, 135, 184 
 
 Hawley 113 
 
 Hawks 247, 256, 268, 279 
 
 Hayne 192 
 
 Hay ward >2, 59 
 
 Haywood 95 
 
 Head 155, 228, 230 
 
 Heileman 35, 130 
 
 Helm 261 
 
 Hemminway 206 
 
 Henderson, 31, 207 
 
 Henry 24, 243 
 
 Herbert 44, 242 
 
 Heth 49 
 
 Hill 58, 64, 88, 172 
 
 Hobart 123, 128, 185, 252 
 
 Hodges 85, 166, 174 
 
 Hoffman 206, 210, 246 
 
 Hogarth 37, 57 
 
 Holford 266, 267 
 
 Holland 135, 138 
 
 Holly 157 
 
 Holmes 54, 221, 224 
 
 Hooper 64, 93, 172 
 
 Hopes 263 
 
 Hopkins 184, 225, 241 
 
 Horace 156 
 
 Horn 133, 135 
 
 Horry 103 
 
 Hossack 41 
 
 House 43 
 
 Houston 219, 254, 269 
 
 Hove 69 
 
 Howard 27, 28, 192, 199, 207, 208, 275 
 
 Howe 81, 95, 155, 280 
 
 Howland 194 
 
 Hoxie 237, 264 
 
 Hoyt . . 216, 219, 220, 223, 224, 226, 231, 233, 273 
 
 Huger 196 
 
 i Hull 107, 129, 160 
 
 Humphrey 7°, 81, 220, 223, 225, 263 
 
 Hunt 227, 248, 270 
 
 Hunn 258 
 
 Hunter 22, 25 
 
 Huntington . . . 158, 246, 254, 255, 275, 278, 279 
 
 Hussy 277 
 
 Hutton 27, 32, 36 
 
 Hyatt 193, 261 
 
 Ingalls 16, 72 
 
 Ingersoll 42, 85, 155, 267 
 
 Ireland 181, 187, 189, 191, 219, 258 
 
 Irvine . 155 
 
 Izard 35.40, 102, no, 112, 283 
 
 Irving 43,247,251,259 
 
 Jackson, 20, 24, 34, 80, 97, 137, 141, 203, 205, 210, 
 214, 237, 238, 240, 242, 244, 251, 279 
 
 Jaggar 186, 187 
 
 Jarvis 138,139,173,194,248 
 
 Jasper 100 
 
INDEX TO THE MEMOIRS. 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 Jay 15, 164, 200 
 
 Jefferson, 15, 17, 23, 24, 25, 31, 32, 34, 41, 44, 45. 
 
 48, 49, 50, 57, 60, 63, 69, 70, 73, 77, 81, 
 
 148, 163, 164, 193, 237, 265 
 
 Jeffrey 81 
 
 Jennings 128, 220 
 
 Jephson 207 
 
 Jessup 1S7 
 
 Jewett 240 
 
 Jocelyn 80, 88 
 
 Johnston ... 42, 54, 133, 186, 223, 253, 258, 260 
 
 Jordan 239 
 
 Jones, 29, 64, 78, 91, 93, 96, 163, 188, 189, 206, 248 
 
 Judd 272 
 
 Judkins 231 
 
 Judson 234 
 
 Jumonville 12S, 220 
 
 Kain 149 
 
 Kater 19' 
 
 Kearney 162,170,174,250 
 
 Kellock <i6 
 
 Kelly 189 
 
 Kemble, 36. 135, 1 38, 150, 151, 177, 234, 254, 255, 
 
 267, 275, 277, 279, 287, 289 
 
 Kent 192 
 
 Kent, Duke of 239 
 
 Kernan 54 
 
 Keys 231 
 
 Kimball 42, 43 
 
 Kimble 214 
 
 King, 16, 140, 141. '43. '57. '63. 192, 203, 204, 222, 
 
 231, 270 
 
 Kingsbury 42, 43 
 
 Kingsley 29, 64 
 
 Kirby 235 
 
 Kirkland 78, 84, 161 
 
 Kirkwood 221,261,280,282 
 
 Kittredgc 76 
 
 Knight 24, 26 
 
 Knox 28, 43, 47 
 
 Kortwright 163 
 
 Kosciusko 29, 30, 35, 46, 71, 156 
 
 Lacy 233 
 
 La Fayette 143, 195, 196 
 
 Lake 239 
 
 Lane 149 
 
 Langdon 7(1, 78, 84, 86, 129, 162 
 
 Lansing 238 
 
 La Place 85, 165 
 
 PACK. 
 
 Latrobe 149, 153 
 
 Law 190, 212 
 
 Lawrence 246, 270 
 
 Leavenworth 37 
 
 Le Clerc 157 
 
 Le Conte 176, 187 
 
 L'Enfent 45 
 
 Le Trevor 192 
 
 Ledyard 158, 280 
 
 Lee . . ..50, 104, 130, 157, 196, 234, 256, 270, 287 
 
 Leeds 93 
 
 Lefferts 186. 237, 254 
 
 Leiber 283 
 
 Leonard I5i 17. 72, '83, 130, 165 
 
 Leslie 255 
 
 Levens 194 
 
 Levy 34, 36, 37i 4°, 47. 79 
 
 Lewis, 49, 102, 108, 111,115,116,122, 132, 195,272 
 
 Lightfoot 55 
 
 Lillington 53 
 
 Lincoln 10, 69, 285, 287, 288, 289 
 
 Lind 266 
 
 Linton 207 
 
 Little 171 
 
 Uvingston 24, 34, 156, 223, 225, 263 
 
 Lloyd 78 
 
 Lockwood 34 
 
 Logan 82, 155 
 
 Lomax 225 
 
 London 88, Ib8, 172 
 
 Long . . 128, 142, 155, 177, 181, 187, 191, 204, 207 
 
 Lord ." 48.52,88,172,283 
 
 Loring 81 
 
 Loss 184. "85, 189 
 
 Loud 235 
 
 Louis XVI 45 
 
 Louis Phillippe 269 
 
 Lovel 5°. 58, 68 
 
 Lovering 12, 129, 146, 168, 184 
 
 Lowdais 25 
 
 Lowe '46 
 
 Lowndes 102, 142 
 
 Lummis 206, 212 
 
 Madison . 48, 63, 70, 79, 82, 83. 98, loi, 106, 107, 
 
 108, 124, 125, 136, 142, 147, 148, 156, 164, 
 
 237. 265 
 Macomb, 29, 30, 34. 35. 39. 4" • 43.46,47, 53, 56, 66, 
 
 92, 96, 97, 98, 104, 106, 113, 116, 117, 166, 
 
 183, 185, 193, 238, 267 
 
 Macy 258 
 
 Magruder 186 
 
INDEX TO THE MEMOIRS. 
 
 PAGE, 
 
 Mahan 256 
 
 Malbone 24 
 
 Malen 218 
 
 Manners 68 
 
 Mansfield, 32, 34, 36, 37, 41, 123, 142, 167. 246, 2S7 
 
 Mapes 133, 134 
 
 March, 86, 156, 181, 182, 185, 187, 189, 192, 194, 204, 
 217. 234. 254, 255, 258, 259, 265 
 
 Marcy 217, 250,251,258,259 
 
 Marie Antoinette « . . 45 
 
 Markoe 261 
 
 Marshall 50, 96, 97, 107, 275 
 
 Martin 45 
 
 Marvin 179 
 
 Mason 67, 126, 142, 153, 162, 177, 238 
 
 Massinger 84 
 
 Mattoon 197 
 
 Maurice 64, 208 
 
 Maxey 192, 249 
 
 Maxwell 135, 200 
 
 May 38, 68 
 
 Mayo 96, 80 
 
 McBride 230 
 
 McClelland 43 
 
 McClullock 190 
 
 McDonald 51, 64, 221 
 
 McDonnell 24I 
 
 McDonough 119 
 
 McDuffie 192 
 
 McGregor 269 
 
 McHoon 212 
 
 McHenry 20 
 
 McLaren 232 
 
 McLean 64, 127, 154, 22S, 273 
 
 McNab 242 
 
 McNeill, 63, 64, 68, 72, 100, loi, 109, 135, 192, 193, 
 204, 206, 211, 221, 224, 227, 229, 230, 237, 
 238, 244, 245, 260, 265, 267, 271 
 
 McPherson . 42 
 
 McRea 24, 26, 32, 43 
 
 McRee, 40, 51, 100, 102, 103, 104, 108, iii, 121, 
 127, 138, 139, 162, 166, 167, 16S, 170, 175, 
 176, 179, 180, iSi, 184, 188, 215. 222, 223 
 
 McYlhenny 60 
 
 Meek 51 
 
 Melville 261 
 
 Mercein 134, 139 
 
 Mercer 124 
 
 Middleton 103 
 
 Michel 250 
 
 Miflin 50, 185 
 
 Miller, 55, 57, 58, 59, 81, 92, 94, 102, 109, iii, 160, 
 172, 222, 271 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 Millman loi 
 
 Mills 279 
 
 Mimeenitz 71 
 
 Mitchell 16, 1S3, 187, 242, 266, 277 
 
 MLx 177, 186, 189 
 
 Monroe, 136, 148, 149, 153, 154, 155, 156, 157. 159, 
 160, 161, 162, 163, 164, 174, 175, 179, 1S8, 
 205, 2i6, 231, 237, 243, 254, 258, 265, 272 
 
 Montalembert 67 
 
 Montezuma 207 
 
 Montgomery 54 
 
 Moore .... 13, 53, 58, 64, 88, loi, 172, 191, 240 
 
 Mordecai loi, 102 
 
 Moreau 211 
 
 Morton 83, 133, 134, 156, 166 
 
 Morgan 220, 2S4 
 
 Morley 171 
 
 Morris . . . 113,216,250,251,260,264,267,273 
 
 Morse 151 
 
 Mott 194 
 
 Mulcaster Ii7 
 
 MuUer 20, 21 
 
 Murdock 42 
 
 Murphy 256 
 
 Murray 133, 154, 266, 267 
 
 Napoleon 144 
 
 Nelson 165, 175 
 
 Newman 273 
 
 Nicholas 206, 222, 245, 247, 249, 262 
 
 Niex 102 
 
 Noah 181, 187 
 
 Norbon 174 
 
 Norcomb 173 
 
 North 30,34,190,211,219,221 
 
 Nourse 116 
 
 Oakey 186, 191, 194, 202, 252, 265 
 
 O'Connor 230 
 
 Ogden ••.... 22, 156, 185, 199 
 
 Ogilvie 84 
 
 Oldfield 241, 243 
 
 Oliver 66, 140, 159 
 
 Onderdonk 194. 250 
 
 O'Neal 101, 102 
 
 Orme 92, i77. '78, 192 
 
 Osborne . . 27, 28, 29, 41, 58, 81, 93, 138, 192, 210, 
 213. 249, 273 
 
 Osgood i6l 
 
 O'SuUivan 219 
 
 Otis 78, 127, 159 
 
 Owen 54 
 
INDEX TO THE MEMOIRS. 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 Padelford I9 
 
 Paine 16,83, 165 
 
 Palmer 158. 228 
 
 Parker 100, 130 
 
 Parr 268 
 
 Parrot 287, 288 
 
 Partridge, 97, 106, 108, no, in, n3, 141, 142, 144, 
 
 147, 157, 167, 168, 169, 170, 278 
 
 Pattens 281 
 
 Patterson 181, 267 
 
 Payer 9* 
 
 Pazzy 75 
 
 Peal 281 
 
 Peduson '55 
 
 Pell 188 
 
 Pemberton 279 
 
 Penniman 86 
 
 Pentr 270 
 
 Perkins 160 
 
 Perry 22, 139, 158, 162, 168 
 
 Peters 234 
 
 Peyton I94 
 
 Phelps 192, 237, 252 
 
 Phillips 25, 160 
 
 Phillipse 150. '5»i 264 
 
 Pickens 103 
 
 Pickering 79,97,124,161 
 
 Pickett 181 
 
 Pickings 192 
 
 Picolomini 282 
 
 Pierce 213 
 
 Pierre 35 
 
 Pierrepont 283 
 
 Pierson I97i '99 
 
 Pillow 280 
 
 Pinckney, 17, 23,70, 71, 100, loi, 102, 103, 104, 105, 
 
 107, 126, 148, 164, 292 
 
 Pinnels 261^ 
 
 Pintard 5°! «28, 220 
 
 Pitcairn 84 
 
 Pitts 42, 88, 97 
 
 Pizzaro 256 
 
 Poinsett 232, 235, 254 
 
 Polk loi, 250, 259 
 
 Pool 12, 23 
 
 Porter .... 34, 76, 127, 129, 154, 196, 217, 242 
 
 Post 192. 226 
 
 PotU 44, 49, 52, 234 
 
 Poulson 15 
 
 Poussin '74 
 
 Prentiss 2'9 
 
 Presbury '61 '7 
 
 PAGB. 
 
 Prescott n6, 256 
 
 Preston 207, 227 
 
 Price 70 
 
 Prime 186, 194, 199 
 
 Prince 184 
 
 Pringle 283 
 
 Proctor 135, 138 
 
 Proveaux 34 
 
 Pulaski 71 
 
 Quince 64, 173 
 
 Quincy 78, 279, 280, 284, 289 
 
 Radcliffe 213 
 
 Randall 114, 260 
 
 Randolph i5i "5 
 
 Rannie 37 
 
 Rathbone 199, 237 
 
 Read 168, 187, 
 
 Record 214 
 
 Redemker 155 
 
 Reed 57. 275, 2S4 
 
 Rees . . 206, 2n, 220, 226, 234, 247, 249, 250, 266 
 
 267 
 
 Reeves 17 
 
 Reimsowitz 46 
 
 Renwick .... 135, 138, 181, 187, 190, 191, 192 
 
 Revere 21 
 
 Rhodewald 265 
 
 Rice 19 
 
 Richards, 247, 254, 255, 263, 270, 272, 277, 278, 279, 
 
 284, 285 
 
 Richmond '6, 223 
 
 Ricketts 46 
 
 Ridgely 226 
 
 Riley • 61 
 
 Rivardi 29, 33, 36, 75 
 
 Robbins 25, 219 
 
 Roberdeau, 44, 45, 69, 82, 128, 141, 170, 186, 192, 
 
 204, 205, 213, 216, 279 
 
 Roberts 67, 88, 89, 90, 94, 96, 99, 102 
 
 Robinson 31. 128,220,239,283 
 
 Rochambeau 21, 154 
 
 Rochefontaine 21, 29, 33, 36, 37, 74, 75 
 
 Rodney '54. '82 
 
 Rogers 182, 187, 190 
 
 Romeyn '88 
 
 Rose 257 
 
 Rosins 44 
 
 Ross 153. '54. '82, 194 
 
 Rudd '68, 173 
 
 Rudee 210 
 
INDEX TO THE MEMOIRS. 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 Ruggles 260, 265 
 
 Rush 267 
 
 Rusk 254 
 
 Russell 12, 31, 127, 202, 203, 215, 217 
 
 Rust 5° 
 
 Rutledge 103 
 
 Ryder 203 
 
 Sabine 191 
 
 Sackett "6 
 
 Sampson 88 
 
 Sands, 113, 135, I43i 'S^. «94. I97. 201, 212, 214, 
 240, 265 
 
 Sanger 283 
 
 Saunders 43 
 
 Savage 279 
 
 Sawyer '75 
 
 Scanlan 26 
 
 Schuyler 36, 37 
 
 Scott, 58, 116, 136, 156, 168, 191, 192, 193, 198, 202, 
 216, 229, 231, 234, 237, 238, 239, 240, 241, 
 243, 244, 248, 250, 251, 253, 254, 255, 258, 
 259, 260, 262, 270, 272, 274, 276, 279, 280, 
 281, 285, 287, 289 
 
 Seabury 185 
 
 Seaton 192, 215, 256, 273 
 
 Sehly 244 
 
 Selby 241 
 
 Sentell 208, 210 
 
 Shakspeare 84 
 
 Shay 14 
 
 Sharp 116 
 
 Shaw 165, 280 
 
 Sherwood 116 
 
 Shepard 14 
 
 Sherman 18 
 
 Shields 255 
 
 Shight 178 
 
 Shingsley S3 
 
 Shine I73 
 
 Shipherd 228, 261 
 
 Shippen 213 
 
 Sider 14 
 
 Sigourney 289 
 
 Silliman ... .22,271,283 
 
 Simmons -25, 106 
 
 Simonds 7' 
 
 Sinclair 92 
 
 Smelt 239 
 
 Smoot 174, 175 
 
 Snowden no, 184. 185, 197, 199 
 
 Southard 192 
 
 FAGB. 
 
 Spatts 210 
 
 Smith, 12, 47, 48, 51, 52, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 61, 
 82, 85, 91, 92, roi, 106, 109, 115, 123, 
 '54i '55! 167, 168, 172, 174, 177, 184, 187, 
 190, 193, 196, 202, 205, 215, 222, 223, 
 228, 229, 230, 231, 232, 233, 235, 246, 
 250, 253, 256, 261, 271, 273, 276, 282, 
 283, 284, 286 
 
 Spear 82 
 
 Spencer 243, 244, 253, 256 
 
 Sprague 84 
 
 Spring 91 
 
 Stagg 201 
 
 Stanley 171, 224 
 
 St. Clair 33. 48 
 
 Steel 19, 20, 21 
 
 Stelle 30, 43 
 
 Steritt 154 
 
 Sterling 154, 163 
 
 Stevens 133, 157 
 
 Stevenson 241 
 
 Stewart, 107, 127, 148, 154, 155, 156, 161, 199, 223, 
 229, 240, 274 
 
 Stockton 249 
 
 Stoddard 19, 20, 23, 24, 2i8 
 
 Stokes 212 
 
 Stone 162, 206 
 
 Storm 36 
 
 Story 159, 266 
 
 Strang 47 
 
 Striker 154 
 
 Strong 33. 47. 235 
 
 St. Simon 17S 
 
 Styles 81 
 
 Sullivan 77, 129, 130, 201, 205, 246 
 
 SuUy 205, 256 
 
 Summers 233 
 
 Summer 159, 194, 201, 260, 261 
 
 Sutherland 235 
 
 Swain 38, 277 
 
 Swann 58, 64, 172 
 
 Swartwout, 70, no, 113, 114,' 11 7, 133, 183, 222, 267 
 Swift, 10, 17, 18, 36, 37, 38, 44, 48, 61, 63, 64, 66, 
 71, 74, 76, 82, 85, 87, 90, 93, 96, loi, 112, 
 n3, 120, 121, 123, 127, 128, 129, 130, 131, 
 132, 133, 136, 138, 140, 143, 146, 150, 151, 
 156, 161 
 
 Talleyrand 18, 23 
 
 Tallmadge 245, 248 
 
 Tallman 257 
 
 Taney 42, 96, 192 
 
X. 
 
 INDEX TO THE MEMOIRS. 
 
 PAGE, 
 
 Tarleton 19° 
 
 Tathem S^. 57 
 
 Taylor, 48, 157, 186, 192, 252, 259, 260, 261, 262, 263 
 
 Tazuell lOl 
 
 Ten Gate 155 
 
 Telford 253 
 
 Terry 180, 188, 242, 264 
 
 Thayer, 67. 74 76, 78,83,87,88,108,111,121, 
 
 13S, 139. 157< 167. '76, I77i 189. 194. 196, 
 198, 202, 205, 229, 239, 240, 244, 269, 270, 
 
 27'. 273. 276, 279 
 
 Thomas 42, 96, 204, 285 
 
 Tompkins, 113, 121, 122, 131, 133, 156, 180, 193, 194 
 
 Thompson 232, 254, 260, 261 
 
 Thorndike 159 
 
 Thorp 214, 216, 229, 246 
 
 Tilford 66 
 
 Tillinghast 16, 130 
 
 Tillotson 1 84, 262, 273 
 
 Tisdale no 
 
 Tivoli de 25 
 
 Todd 155 
 
 Toomer 172 
 
 Totten, 41, 74. S3, :oS, 114, 115, 145, 147, 162, 181, 
 
 187, 1S9, 192, 209, 212, 215, 216, 238, 246, 
 
 250, 251, 253, 256, 264, 269, 2S0 
 
 Tounay 259 
 
 Tonsard 20,21,23,30,32,46,75 
 
 Townsend 22, 124 
 
 Towson 234 
 
 Travers 289 
 
 Treadwell 171 
 
 Trenchard 185 
 
 Trevor 192 
 
 Trott 279 
 
 Troughton 128 
 
 Trumbull 194, 275 
 
 Tucker, 65, 112, 113, 156, 166, 181, 182, 1S6, 187, 
 
 191, 194, 202, 204, 214, 216, 218,219, 222 
 ■237, 242,243, 246, 252, 254, 255, 258, 265! 
 
 271, 272, 273, 274 
 
 Truxton 23 
 
 Tudor 78 
 
 Turner 108 
 
 Tyler 243, 245, 248 
 
 Upshur 248 
 
 Valentine 14 
 
 Vance 92, 172, 1 73 
 
 Vanbau 36 
 
 Van Buren 136, 227, 234, 235, 236 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 Van Buskirk 195 
 
 Van Derventer . . . .211, 214, 215, 228, 242, 281 
 
 Van Doren 209 
 
 Vaneaudier 98 
 
 Van Rensselaer 41, 194 
 
 Van Zant 252 
 
 Verbryck 246 
 
 Viomenil 175 
 
 Voltaire 166 
 
 Wadsworth, 34, 37, 39,47, 51, 52, 56, 76, 105, 108, 
 162, 234 
 
 Wainwright 192, 215, 252, 265 
 
 Walbach .... 76, 78, 84. 86, 113, 117, 127, 280 
 
 Walker. 52, 53, 54, 56, 57, 59, 60, 62, 66, 74, So, 84, 
 
 S6, 87, 90, 107, 129, 167, 173, 177, 178, 
 
 186, 187, 193, 196, 203, 204, 218, 219, 233, 
 
 247, 248, 249, 256, 257, 267, 271, 2S0 
 
 Wallace 218 
 
 Warren 131, 279 
 
 Waring 171 
 
 Warrington 171 
 
 Washington, 10, n, 12, 14, 15, 16, 19, 22, 23, 26, 
 29,30,36,42,45,48,49, 50, 69, 74, 81, 104, 
 124, 128, 154, 155, 159, 160, 162, 163, 170, 
 i7'i 172. 175. 176- I95> 211, 219, 220, 250, 
 275, 281 
 
 Watson 113,269 
 
 Watts 213, 258 
 
 Way 190 
 
 Wayne 24, 26, 33, 43, 107, 122 
 
 Webb 36, 282 
 
 Webster 13, 160, 195. 199, 257, 262, 266 
 
 Weeden 162 
 
 Weir 255, 256 
 
 Welborn 103 
 
 Welles 267 
 
 Wesley 138 
 
 West 258 
 
 Western 36 
 
 Weston 260, 289 
 
 Whalley 81 
 
 Whistler, iSS, 196, 201, 202, 203, 204, 205, 206, 211, 
 213, 218, 225, 229. 240, 244, 250, 255, 257, 
 262, 263, 264, 267, 268, 270 
 
 Whitehouse 22 
 
 Whiting 37, 231, 247 
 
 Whitingham 244 
 
 Whitney 257 
 
 Wickham 96, 206, 272 
 
 Wilbur 38 
 
 Wilder 206 
 
INDEX TO THE MEMOIRS. 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 Willard 74. 83, loS 
 
 Wilkinson, 24, 42, 43, 55, 56, 83, 96, 97, 98, 106, 
 107, uo, 112, 114, 115, 116, 118, 119. 120, 
 121, 122, 127, 136, 169, 182, 218, 291 
 
 Willet Si, 82, 230 
 
 William IV 
 
 Williams, 16, 19, 29, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 
 40, 41, 46, 48, 51, 52, 56, 58, 63, 66, 67, 69, 
 71, 74, 82, 83, 84, 92, 96, 97, 98, 101, 102, 
 104, 106, 107, 109, no, 126, 127, 138, 146, 
 182, 252, 253, 258, 268, 271, 279, 282 
 Williamson, 156, 185, 218, 227, 258, 259, 260, 261, 
 
 263, 269, 272, 274 
 Wilson, 27, 28, 29, 31, 34, 37, 39, 46, 53. 56. 255 
 
 Wilton 259 
 
 Winans . 244, 245, 257 
 
 Winchester 204, 205, 219, 220 
 
 PAGB. 
 
 Winder 192 
 
 Wise 187 
 
 Wiseman 273 
 
 Wyatt 136, 244, 266 
 
 Wolfe 241 
 
 Wolstoncroft 41, 42, 46, 57 
 
 Wood 67, 72, 106, 195, 255. 266, 273 
 
 Woods 232, 247, 25S, 259. 263 
 
 Woodford 116 
 
 WoodhuU 195 
 
 Woodruff 151 
 
 Wool 240 
 
 Wolcott 132, 143. 203, 204 
 
 Worth 220, 235, 255, 263 
 
 Worthington 129 
 
 Wright 48, 64, 88, 172, 203, 280 
 
 Wurmsur 63