236 HISTORY OF THE COUNTY OF WESTCHESTER. 



upon my requisition ; neither can I find any officer of the army who feels himself 

 authorized 1 > exercise any authority, or do any act which will aid me in the all 



important object of protecting the inhabitants of our extended frontier exposed 

 to the cruelty of savages, and the depredations of the enemy. If I must rely 

 upon the militia solely for such protection, I entreat you to give orders to your- 

 officers lure, to furnish upon my order — for the use of militia detachments, 

 all needful weapons and articles with which the United States are furnished, and 

 of which we are destitute. 



"You may rely upon the assistance which my talents, influence and authority 

 can furnish, in the active prosecution of the just and necessary war, which has 

 been declared by the constituted authority of our beloved country." 



From the da}- of the declaration of war, the Governor entered heart 

 and soul into the prosecution of it ; and so continued until its close. 

 Most of the frontier troops, the first campaign, were militia ; and many of 

 them were marched several hundred miles. The Quarter Master General 

 of that da)-, refused to make any advances to them ; the Governor was, 

 therefore, placed in the dilemma of providing as well as he could for 

 them, and expenses of every kind — or of permitting then\ to return home 

 for want of accommodation, disgusted both with the war and the Govern- 

 ment ; he issued orders for raising a brjgade of volunteers upon his own 

 responsibility, which greatly distinguished itself on the Niagara frontier, 

 and particularly at the memorable sortie from Fort Erie. 



The officers were all selected by Gov. Tompkins, and their gallant con- 

 duct in the field showed his admirable discrimination in this respect. He 

 had previously recommended to the Legislature to raise volunteer regi- 

 ments for the defence of our frontiers and the city of New York ; but, by 

 a perversity that seems strange to us at the present day, his patriotic 

 recommendation was rejected. A man of less firmness than Governor 

 Tompkins would have quailed beneath the storm which was raised 

 against him in Albany, in the winter of 1813-14, and the consequence 

 would probably have been that the State would have been over-run by 

 the foe. Not only was the whole western frontier in danger of invasion, 

 but Sacketts Harbor, Plattsburgh, and the city of New York. But re- 

 gardless of censure or disapprobation he called into the field large bodies 

 of militia, and organized a corps of new fencibles for the protection of 

 the city of New York, consisting of one thousand men. In September, 

 1814, the militia in service for the defence of the city amounted to 17,- 

 500 men. He was even ready to dispatch a force, under the lamented 

 Decatur, for the assistance of Baltimore, which was then menaced with 

 an attack ; and had not the news of the enemy's retreat been received, the 

 succor would have been upon the march to the relief of a sister State. In 

 1 8 1 4, from information received and corroborated by the movements of the 



