From Peregrine Fitzhugh to Thomas Jefferson
December 2 1807
Historic background for this Letter
Peregrine Fitzhugh saw it coming. With his military experience in the Revolutionary War, he saw the build up of British troops in Canada and the arming of the native Americans and realized that hostilities might very well break out again soon. On our side of the lake, he realized that Sodus Bay would be a target because of its harbor. Troupville was woefully unprepared with barely enough gun powder for one round for each of the few fowling guns that are available. Our village is almost defenseless from attack and could easily be ransacked and burnt by either the British or their Native American allies. This letter is sent to Thomas Jefferson who is in his second term as the third president of the United States. In this letter, Fitzhugh begs for more gun powder and rifles as well as troops to be garrisoned in 3 or 4 spots along the lake. His concerns about the fate of our village are eerily prophetic to events that will actually occur 5 1/2 years later! Peregrine would not live to see his worse fears realized as he died in 1811.
In this letter, Fitzhugh also mentions the attempted assassination of Red Jacket. Red Jacket was a Native American Chieftain for the Seneca tribe of the Iroqouis Confederacy that supported the American side during the War of 1812.
You can read this haunting dire letter of things that will come to pass by clicking the link below:
