[WAR OF 1812]. A group of two letters both describing the arrest of the author by American troops on suspicion of being a British spy and the Battle of Plattsburgh.
RUSSELL, Isaac. Autograph letter signed ("Isaac Russell"), to William Keith. Albany, Vermont, 7 September 1814. 4 pages, 8vo, with address panel on integral leaf, small loss from seal, toning.
Russell writes to his friend with "the pleasure now to inform you I am about entering the dominion of Gt. Britain." He recounts his difficult journey, "I have been taken up at Plattsburgh, carried to the main guard, kept all night in the open field almost devoured by mosquitoes and kept til 1 o'clock next day without victuals on a charge of suspicion of a spy. ... I was then marched for the first time in my life a prisoner encircled by fixed bayonets while the soldiers in the camp vociferated in audible language -- 'a spy' -- 'a spy' however I marched along without any emotion or without fear calm as the unruffled water when the storm subsides." He details his eventual release and shipment to Burlington, however, he "play'd a Yankee trick & slipp'd into a boat to Grand Isle in Vermt."
In a postscript, he provides his thoughts on the military engagements at Lake Champlain: "All yesterday as I walk'd from Grand Isle to Albany (not being able to prcure a boat) we heard a severe action at the New York side of the lake, by this time they must be in Plattsburgh where the Amern. are determined to defend themselves...There will be hard fighting."
RUSSELL, Isaac. Autograph letter signed ("Isaac Russell"), to William Gates. Montreal, [Canada], 24 September 1814. 3 pages, folio, with address panel on integral leaf, large loss on integral leaf, some brown spotting and toning.
Having arrived in British Canada, Russell writes to another friend, William Buckminster Gates (1771-1854), a son of Captain Benjamin Gates (1737-1797), a Revolutionary War veteran who fought at the Battle of Bunker Hill. William's brother Horatio lived in Monreal and assisted Russell upon his arrival.
Russell writes to Gats and includes another account of his imprisonment, suspected spyhood, his "Yankee trick," and "all the firing between fleet and army." He further recounts that he was "taken up by a British major at Odell Town on acct of quitting chaplain without a passport, but when I mentioned whom I knew in Ireland, he was acquainted with them all, (being from Waterford) & instead of "Durance vile" [a long prison sentence] he invited me to breakfast next day.
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