The river press. [volume] (Fort Benton, Mont.) 1880-current, 1910-06-29
SAVING THE
DECLARATION,

COMPARATIVELY few of the
present generation know how
~ near to being lost was once
the most precious of our ma.
donal documents, the Declaration of
Independence. 1t was during the war
of 1872. The Declaration Of Independ-
ence hung for many years in a frame
In the state department in the room
then occupied by Stephen Pleasonton,
who moved to Washington in 1900
with the government. Mr.. Monroe,
when he was elected president, created
q new Office, which was conferred
upon Mr.. ~Pleasonton, that Of chief
Of the lighthouse establishment, to
which was added the auditing Of the
ministerial and consular accounts. This
Office was retained by Mr.. Pleasonton
under all the succeeding administra-
lions until his death, which occurred
in 1855.
Mr.. Beaseley, commissary Of prison.
ers Of war in London, forwarded to the
state department some London news
papers stating that the English fleets
and transports were receiving troops
at Bordeaux. France, with the inten-
ton of operating against Washington
and Baltimore. Soon after it was
learned that the British fleet was in
the Chesapeake bay and that it was
ascending the Patuxent. The officials
and citizens Of the little Capital City
were hourly expecting an attack.
Mr.. Pleasonton purchased some
coarse linen and had it made into bags
Of suitable size, in which he, assisted
by the others Of the Office, placed the
books and other papers.
While engaged In this work General
Armstrong, then secretary Of war,
passing the state department on his
way to his own Office, remarked that
he thought they were unnecessarily
alarming themselves, as he did not
think the British were serious in their
Of coming to Washington.
Fortunately Mr.. P%leasonton was of a
different opinion.
For the papers which Mr.. Pleasonton
had placed in the coarse linen bags
the secret journals Of N
gress, then not published; the corre-
of General Washington, his
resigned at the close Of
the war; the correspondence of Gen.
eral Greene and other officers Of the
as well as laws, treaties
and correspondence Of the department
Of state from the adoption of the con-
stitution down to that time.
Mr.. Pleasonton had the bags carted
to a gristmill, which he selected as a
depository, two miles above
The last load had left and Mr.. Pleas
onton was just quitting the vacant
rooms when, turning back suddenly to
whether anything had been left
behind, to his CONSERVATION he saw
the Declaration of independence, which
had been overlooked, still hanging
upon the wall. He hastily cut it out
If the frame and carried it away with
he other papers.
He then began to be uneasy about
he place he had chosen, for if the
took Washington, which he
irmly believed they would do, and
very soon at that, they would in all
detach a force to destroy
foundry for the making of cannon
md shot in the neighborhood and, Of
would consider a gristmill too
a thing to be left standing
n a country they meant to subdue.
Mr.. P%leasonton therefore visited some
# the Virginia farmhouses, whose
'wners We're only too willing to lend
him wagons in which to convey the
to Leesburg, a distance of
miles. There they were de-
in an empty house.
Worn out with his labors, Mr.. Pleas.
'nton states in a letter, he retired early
bed that night and slept soundly.
Next morning he was informed by the
people of the little tavern where he
lad stayed that evening that they had
'een during the night, the same being
he Gath Of August, a large fire In the
of Washington, which proved
o be the light from the public build
ngs, which the enemy had set on fire
md burned to the ground.
When he returned to Washington on
he Goth he found the public buildings
till burning and learned that the Brit
sh army had evacuated the city the
preceding evening.