Brooks, John (1752-1825) to Henry Knox
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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC02437.04996 Author/Creator: Brooks, John (1752-1825) Place Written: Medford, Massachusetts Type: Autograph letter signed Date: 14 June 1791 Pagination: 4 p. ; 18.7 x 15.8 cm. Order a Copy
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..."
Brooks did reenter the army in 1792 as a brigadier general, having the requirements of his honor met.
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