1807 LETTER DESCRIBING NEW GUN CARRIAGES

Autograph letter signed by Capt. Richard C. Whiley to Col. Henry Burbeck. Fort Columbus, New York, 1 September 1807. 4 pages, 4to. Small period notation to verso. 

A letter from Capt. Whiley to Col. Burbeck regarding new gun carriages for Fort Columbus. In the letter, Whiley writes how he "received the directions of Col. Williams to have 140 Parallel Carriages made for this Fall, the parapet of which is altogether calculated for this particular Kind of Carriage." These new carriages were planned "to be erected in the Harbor" and "mounted on our ramparts." 

Whiley also describes "a new invented field carriage" that him and the Secretary plan on ordering one of "by way of experiment." Yet Whiley is confident that the carriage "will answer, for the English Artillery have used nothing else in the field for several years past.... They are much more simpler in their construction than the old ones, and are attended with less expense, besides being much stronger." 

Burbeck's (1754-1848) military service started when he helped his father make ammunition that was used at the Battle of Bunker Hill; moreover, he served as a lieutenant in this battle, eventually being assigned as a lieutenant of artillery to Col. Richard Gridley, the Continental Army's first chief engineer and artillery commander. In addition to participating in the Battles of Brandywine, Germantown and Monmouth, Burbeck also commanded a company in the 3rd Continental Artillery. 

Following the Revolutionary War, Burbeck was honorably discharged and later reappointed captain of artillery in 1786. He was promoted to major commandant of the Artillery Battalion in 1792, serving as Gen. Anthony Wayne's chief of artillery in the Northwest Indian War. Burbeck helped to establish Forts Recovery and Mackinac in 1794 and 1796, respectively. He then commanded the Eastern Department of the Army in 1800, creating a corps of engineers separate from artillerists, and later became the chief of the new Artillery Corps from 1802 to 1815. 

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