The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1883-07-31
Politics in Old Maine.
The Inside History of Some Interesting
Movements of an Earlier Day.
BY WILLIAM H. SMITH.

In the sketch of Hon. John Chandler late
ly published in the PRESS will be found a
very bitter letter written by Maj. Gen Hen
ry Dearborn in regard to the standing of Gen.
Morgan Lewis, of New York, as military
man. The cause of this bitterness was the
fact that Gen. John Armstrong, an ex-
United States Senator from New York and
Secretary of War under Madison, had in
trigued with Lewis during the attack upon
Fort George, to get Gen. Dearborn retired
from the command of the army of the United
States, and at the same time try to injure
the reputation of brother officer of the
same rank. viz, Chandler, who was at the
time prisoner of war in the hands of the
British. This Lewis was the man who beat
Aaron Burr in the race for the governorship
of New York in 1904, after bitter contest,
of which the result was the duel in which
Alexander Hamilton lost his life at the hands
of Burr Lewis was a relative of Arm
strong. Gen. Dearborn was member OF
Congress from 1898 to 1897 from the District
of Maine. He resided in that part of Pitts
ton that was afterward incorporated into the
town of Gardiner. He was Secretary of
War under jefferson, and had been appoint
ed Collector of Boston by Madison. He was
an ardent Democrat and the personal friend
of James Monroe.
When the war of 1912 broke out Madison
personally solicited him to take the position
<,f TnskN 4
and on account Of the small amount of his
worldly possessions, Madison appointed his
son, Henry A. S. Dearborn, to succeed him
as Collector Gen. Dearborn was i'll with a
temporary sickness when the siege of Fort
George took place, but such was the indom-
liable courage and endurance of the man
that against the advice of his physician and
staff, he was placed on horseback and super :
intended the embarkation of his troops. In
the report of this affair, which was published
in the papers of that date, Lewis represent
ed him to be SO sick as to be unable to take
command again, and he also tried to injure
General Chandler, whose father was cap
tain in ScammePs regiment in the revo-
lutionary war when Gen. Dearborn was its
major, and Gen. Chandler was private un-
der Dearborn when he was colonel. Gen.
Chandler had married in the town of Not
tingham friend of Gen. Dearborn. They
owned property in Monmouth, and were ar
dent Democrats in the same section of the
State. Gen. Dearborn's friends alleged that
the motive for this conduct of Lewis was to
11t r. ~ \ 4.
relative, Gen. Armstrong, who had the Pres
idential bee ia his bonnet, to succeed Madi-
son to the exclusion of Monroe. Gen. Dear
born vas relieved, and Armstrong, who
hoped to have been made Lieutenant-Gene
al, had the direction of affairs, which ended
in the capture of Washington, the burning
of the capitol, and the expulsion of Arm
strong from the Cabinet, which toppled over
all of his political castles.
Gen. Dearborn was reinstated to his rank
in the army and was to have led our forces
to the attack upon Quebec, but the war end
ed and all military operations ceased. The
letter of Lewis to Armstrong, containing the
information that caused the trouble, may be
found in the Eastern Argus of July Is, 1913.
The proofs of Lewis and Armstrong; in
trigue are in the Argus of February 25th,
1877, and several succeeding numbers. Gen.
Dearborn was the Democratic candidate for
governor that year against Gov. Brooks. In
the defense of Gen. Dearborn at that time is
all the proof needed to satisfy anybody of
the double dealing of the parties accused
Thorn ba loff r aria r. Ii
friend and ally Armstrong, of Dearborn to
Lewis, Dearborn's and Armstrong; letters to
each other, Dearborn to the President, and
Dearborn's and Monroe's letters to each 9TH
err The defense of Gen. Chandler is In the
Argus of Sept. 25, 1916. Also an account of
the battle of Stony Creek by an eye witness
intimating what Gen. Dearborn believed to
be the cause of Lewis's action.
The ability of the defense Of Gen. Chand-
Ter leads me to the conclusion that 1t might
have been the work of the Hon. James
Bridge. That the Dearborn family always
believed that Lewis and Armstrong were in
this movement is evident from the obituary
In the Salem Register of Gen. Henry A. S.
Dearborn, published in the Portland Adver-
tiser of Aug. End, 1851. The Lee family,
who were connected by marriage with him,
no doubt prepared the obituary, as they re-
sided in Salem.
Gen. Chandler's refusal to be candidate
for governor in 1921 no doubt was caused by
his regard for the Dearborn family. Gen.
Joshua Wlngste had set his heart upon that
place, and wa defeated in the caucuses and
at the polls by Judge Albion Z. Paris. Gen.
Wingate was son-in-law of Gen. Dearborn,
and Gen. Chandler, for family reasons,
Gould not consistently be a candidate against
Gen. Wingate.
In 1929 Gen. Jackson offered Gen. Chand-
Ter the position of Collector of Boston. Had
he taken it he would have been the means
of ousting Gen. Henry A. S. Dearborn, the
son of his old friend who died that year. He
declined to be party to it. Jackson re-
moved Gen. Dearborn, and did the meanest
act of his life.
Were there space to spare in your paper l
would have given to the public the letters
alluded to in this communication. Among
them is one signed by the officers of Gen.