WILLIAM BALDWIN 107 



The State of Delaware alone, amongst all others, 

 has contributed nothing to my Herbarium, and 

 I am certain it contains many new and curious 

 plants . . . ." 



Darlington, when writing the life of Baldwin, 

 got possession of the letters which followed and 

 happily includes them in his Reliquiae Bald- 

 winianae. 



In 1811 Baldwin reluctantly had to leave Del- 

 aware. Hereditary tuberculosis of which all 

 his family eventually died made him take to 

 an open-air life in long foot journeys over Savan- 

 nah and St. Mary's, Georgia, within Indian terri- 

 tory, " his gentle, inoffensive demeanour " over- 

 coming any hostility. 



The lurid light of war in 1812 flashed across 

 the path of our perambulating botanist, and 

 American scientists, though zealous for their 

 country, openly lamented the cessation of letters 

 and exchange of specimens with their trans- 

 atlantic brothers. Baldwin was requisitioned as 

 navy surgeon, the pay being not unwelcome, in 

 view of his young family. 



He served chiefly at St. Mary's, Georgia, and 

 when war ceased, seems to have taken to botany 

 as a profession; for, after installing his family 

 again in Wilmington, he spent the winter and 

 spring of 1816-1817 exploring in East Florida, 

 only recalled by the news that he had been 



