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Early Access > 1800s > 1807 > February 1807 > February 6, 1807 > From Thomas Jefferson to Henry Dearborn, 6 February 1807
| Th:J. to Genl. Dearborne | Feb. 6. 07. |
The H. of Representves. ask what particular ports are proposed to be furnished with gunboats, & how
many to each. I will give a list of the ports, but instead of saying how many to each, I will throw them into groupes as
below, & say how many boats to each groupe. will you be so good as to state how many you would think necessary for each
of the ports below mentd. to give them a reasonable measure of protection in time of war? also to strike out & insert
ports in the list as you think best.
| Misipi river | } | 12 | } | 22 |
| L. Pontchartrain | 6 | |||
| Mobille River | 4 | |||
| St Mary’s | } | 2 | } | 32 |
| Savanna | 8 | |||
| Beaufort | 4 | |||
| Charleston | 12 | |||
| Cape Fear | 4 | |||
| Ocracock | 2 | |||
| Chesapeak bay & waters— | 40 | |||
| Delaware bay— | 12 | |||
| New York | } | 25 | } | 43 |
| N. Haven | 2 | |||
| New London | 6 | |||
| Newport | 8 | |||
| Boston | } | 12 | } | 38 |
| Salem & Marblehead— | 4 | |||
| Newbury port | 2 | |||
| Portsmouth | 6 | |||
| Portland | 4 | |||
| Kennebeck | 2 | |||
| Penobscot &c. &c. | 2 | |||
| Passamaquoddy | 4 | |||
| 187 | ||||
| in long Island Sound | } | 10 | ||
| above Hell Gate | ||||
| 197 | ||||
[Dearborn’s reply]:
Sir—
the numbers I have put down, being mere opinnion, are a subject which admits of so wide a range for consideration, I cannot pretend to attach any considerable weight, to what is rather the result of the immediate impuls of the moment, than, of a mature judgment formed on a full discussion of the subject.
H. Dearborn
DLC: Papers of Thomas Jefferson.
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