The collection consists of a letter from Major General Thomas Metcalfe to Governor Joseph Desha concerning military matters.
Collection is arranged by format.
Collection is open to researchers by appointment.
The physical rights to the materials in this collection are held by the University of Kentucky Special Collections.
2011MS199: [identification of item], Thomas Metcalfe to Joseph Desha, 1825 October 5, University of Kentucky Special Collections.
Thomas Metcalfe (1780-1855) was born in Fauquier County, Virginia, but came to Kentucky with his parents at an early age. He became a stonemason and worked on courthouses and other buildings. During the War of 1812 he led a company of volunteers in the battle of Fort Meigs, Ohio. He was elected to the Kentucky General Assembly in 1812 and held his seat until 1816. He served in the U.S. Congress from 1819 to 1828, where he was allied with the faction supporting Henry Clay. He was nominated by the Clay-John Quincy Adams party to oppose the Jacksonian Democrat candidate, William T. Barry, in the 1828 Kentucky gubernatorial race. Metcalfe won the contest and served a four year term. He later returned to the General Assembly and became active in the new Whig Party. He served briefly as U.S. Senator, replacing John J. Crittenden when he ran for governor. Metcalfe retired to his Nicholas County farm, where he died in 1855.
Joseph Desha (1768-1842) was the governor of Kentucky from 1824 to 1828.