Rensselaer William Foote

Artifacts in the Collection

• Materials that were part of the uniforms worn by R.W. Foote consist of a black felt hat, epaulets, a belt and a velvet cadet's cap. These were in two small trunks, mentioned in his last letter to his sister, to be shipped to Delhi, New York.

Journal and Letters

The Journal of Rensselaer William Foote was written, mainly in central Florida at various U. S. Army encampments, in 1839-42 when Foote was a young man, in his 20s. He was a Captain, 6th Infantry U.S. Army, in the Seminole Wars.

The letters of R.W. Foote represent a substantial collection full of detail of army life in the middle of the 19th century. Spanning the entire United States, they are written both to Foote, and from him, in New York City, Florida, Oklahoma and the "Territories" and California.

Read the Journal here...

Biography

Rensellaer William Foote, spent his life as a soldier, battling ill health and living in a succession of army outposts built during warfare with various Native American nations, from Florida to present-day Oklahoma to California. A common theme in his letters is his expressed wish to have a small, quite cabin to live in. He also laments, later in his career, that he is not likely to be promoted to the rank of Major. In his last battle however, the Major he was serving under as Captain, was killed by Confederate fire, and Foote was therefor a Major, for a few hours, until he himself was killed.

Chronology of the Life of Rensselaer William Foote

U.S. 6th Infantry

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grattan_Massacre

Genealogy

Charles Augustus Foote born 1785 to Ebenezer Foote and Jerusha Purdy. He died at Delhi, N. Y. 1828 and is buried “in the private burying ground at “Arbor Hill.” He married 1808, Maria Baldwin, daughter of Jesse Baldwin and Margaretta de Hart of New York City, or Newark, New Jersey.
Their children and genealogy can be found here.

The Removal of the Seminole People/Seminole wars

The US government committed almost $40,000,000 to the forced removal of slightly more than 3,000 Maskókî men, women, and children from Florida to Oklahoma. This was the only Indian war in US history in which not only the US army but also the US navy and marine corps participated. Together with the desultory Third Seminole War, a series of skirmishes that took place between 1856 and 1858, the United States spent much of the first half of the 19th century in trying, unsuccessfully, to dislodge about 5,000 Seminoles from Florida.

References

• http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/home.html
• John D. Clarke, Congressman Thirty-fourth District, 1921–1925, Arbor Hill, 1797–1925, with pl. Reprinted from an article by Floyd H. Lincoln and published in “The Walton Reporter,” June 6, 1925.
• Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1744–1989, Bicentennial Edition, Washington, U S Government Printing Office, 1989 [alphabetical entries]
• Dorman S. Purdy, “Descendants of Francis Purdy”, ms., New York Genealogical and Biographical Society, date, folder number.
• Ebenezer Foote and Spencer, 1802, nypl ms.
• Margaret Maxwell Marvin [Maynard], through Frances Maynard [Ford] pp., copies of Bible of other records of births and marriages. Collection Main Street Museum.
• Katherine Adelia Foote, Ebenezer Foote, the Founder; Being an Epistolary Light on His Time as Shed by Letters From His Files; Selected by his Great Granddaughter... Delhi, 1927.
• Foote Family Record, embroidered sampler showing the children of C. A. Foote, ms. Main Street Museum.
• Abram W. Foote, The Foote Family, Comprising The Genealogy and History of Nathaniel Foote Of Weathersfield, Conn. And His Descendants..., two vols. Rutland, 1907.
• W. H. Munsell & Co. [publishers], History of Delaware County, N.Y., With Illustrations, Biographical Sketches and Portraits of Some Pioneers and Prominent Residents, N.Y.C., 1880.
• Henry R. Stiles, History of Ancient Wethersfield, N. Y., 1904.
• Jay Gould, History
• Mr. Abbot, “The Crisis of the Revolution”

http://www.dcnyhistory.org/cemdelhiwoodland.html

From Woodland Cemetery, Delhi, New York:

• Foote, Katherine, Charles Augustus, Adelia, Capt. Rensselaer W.
• Ford, Frances Maynard, Louisa
• Harris, Lucy Ford
• Maynard, Isaac Horton, Margaret Marvine
• Marvin, Charles Augustus, Francis, Charles, George E., Charles Augustus, (Babies)
• Marvine, Francis, Charles, Charles E., George E.
• Maynard, Isaac Horton, Margaret Marvin