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Subject Area: Political Theory
Topic: The American Revolution and Constitution

TO J. McHENRY, SECRETARY OF WAR. - John Adams, The Works of John Adams, vol. 8 (Letters and State Papers 1782-1799) [1853]

Edition used:

The Works of John Adams, Second President of the United States: with a Life of the Author, Notes and Illustrations, by his Grandson Charles Francis Adams (Boston: Little, Brown and Co., 1856). 10 volumes. Vol. 8.

Part of: The Works of John Adams, 10 vols.

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TO J. McHENRY, SECRETARY OF WAR.

Quincy, 5 June, 1799.

Sir,—

I have received your favor of the 27th May, and have read the inclosures. The discipline of the army will require the punishment of death for desertion in many cases, and none perhaps will deserve it more than that of Richard Hunt; and I should not hesitate to sign the warrant for his execution, serious as is the act of depriving a fellow of his life, but I wish to know, whether the officers who composed the court-martial were commissioned, and if not, what evidence we shall rely upon of the appointments, in case the legality of this business should be examined by a grand jury.2

I wish the members of courts-martial would consider themselves counsel for the prisoner, and admonish him against the plea of guilty, and even assert that, if he persists in it, they would still examine witnesses to the fact of desertion.1

[2 ]See the letter of Mr. Hamilton to the Secretary of War, of the 20th of April, stating the case of Hunt, and urging a confirmation of the sentence. Hamilton’s Works, vol. v. p. 249. Another also at a later period urges upon Mr. McHenry to “bestow great pains upon satisfying the President that severity was indispensable.” It bears the same date with Mr. McHenry’s. Hamilton’s Works, vol. v. p. 263.

[1 ]In this case the man pleaded guilty, and but a single witness was examined. In a later letter of the 13th Mr. McHenry says;

“I think it probable that some of the officers composing the court, at least, were of the twelve new regiments, and consequently without commissions.”

The fact was that not a single officer had received a commission.