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JOSEPH H. CRANE TO WORTHINGTON

Dayton July 2d 1813

Dear sir,

I should hesitate in making my present request, were it not for the recollection of your goodness on a former occasion. I will therefore without apology state the nature of my application. iiy brother Ichabod B. Crane is a captain in the third Regiment of Artillery, I am informed he is the oldest officer of his rank with two men raised regiments & if promotion goes by seniority will be entitled to the first vacant majority. I have seen a legis- lation which give priority of rank to officers in the army raised in 1812 who were in service at the time of their appointment. If this regulation extends to Captains' subalterns it w 11 strengthen my brother's claim to promotion, for at the time he was appointed Captn of Artillery, to he was a first Lieut- enant in the Marine Corps, & had been in that Corps about two years -- If on enquiry you find my brother's claim to promotion a well founded one, & his character such as will justify your interference, you will greatly add to the obligation which I and our family are already under by giving him your aid & influence It may not be improper to add that he has a kind of heriditary claim upon Goverment for his father served in Canada under Montgomery & was wounded at the siege of St Johns, in consequence of that wound he has been a cripple for upwards of thirty years & this spring as the last resource to save his life his physicians were obliged to amputate the leg in which he was wounded. He is now I learn recovering fast & I trust the remainder of his days will be easy & comfortable, at least in comparison to the torments he has sustained for many years past. I have been requested by C;aptn Abraham Edwards to solicit your aid, if it be in your power to render any to procure his exchange. At the particular request of Genl. Hull he went with him to Detroit & from that campaign I believe acted as surgeon to the Fourth Regiment. He had been appointed a Captain in the spring of 1812 He is recruiting here He expresses a strong desire to be exchanged & get into service, & will feel very grateful for any assistance you may be able to render in effecting his exchange -- While he remains in this situation he can render little service to Government & is deprived of the opportunities of bringing himself forward in his profession There is a re)ort that Col. Johnson's detachment has been defeated by the Indians & the greater part killed or taken. I doubt whether any reliance is to be placed on it. It is said to have been first brought by a Delaware Indian. who went with Johnson.

With much regard & esteem I am yr obedt servt

Joseph H Crane

Thos Worthington Esqr.

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