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| Field name | Value |
|---|---|
| Collection Reference Number | GLC02437.04996 |
| From Archive Folder | The Henry Knox Papers [0100] May-June 1791 |
| Title | John Brooks to Henry Knox declining a military position |
| Date | 14 June 1791 |
| Author | Brooks, John (1752-1825) |
| Recipient | Knox, Henry |
| Document Type | Correspondence; Military document |
| Content Description | Marked "private." Written by Brooks who had a medical practice in Medford and was a federal marshal to Secretary of War Knox. Says he was offered a chance to reenter the service by Henry Jackson. After some reflection he says he has to decline. Expresses gratitude for the offer and Knox's friendship. Says he has "arrived at a period of life which will not admit of hazarding my future fortune on contingencies - such contingencies at least as present themselves to me in contemplating the appointment in question, I could answer it neither to my family, nor my own mind to relinquish my prospects here, which, altho not great, are certain, with a view to a command that promises little, if at all, more than a bare subsistance [sic]." He eventually admits the real reason for his refusal: he was offered the rank of lieutenant colonel, which was the rank he possessed from 1778-1783. Says "I am not unapprehensive, should I resume the rank I held in the late army from the year 1778, to the close of the war, my friends here, & the people at large to whom I am known, would withdraw from me those marks of consideration, to which they, now suppose me to be intitled. You may perhaps now think me both vain & Squeamish: I mean to be neither. I can have no conception that a man of reflection can be insensible of his own powers, nor of the estimate made of him by the world..." |
| Subjects | Revolutionary War General Recruitment Military History Soldier's Pay Finance Children and Family Revolutionary War Continental Army |
| People | Knox, Henry (1750-1806) Brooks, John (1752-1825) |
| Place written | Medford, Massachusetts |
| Theme | Government & Politics; Children & Family |
| Sub-collection | The Henry Knox Papers |
| Additional Information | Brooks did reenter the army in 1792 as a brigadier general, having the requirements of his honor met. |
| Copyright | The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History |
| Module | Settlement, Commerce, Revolution and Reform: 1493-1859 |