Kentucky Gazette

HISTORICK SKETCH OF
MAJOR-GEN. IZARD.

The following letter, which embraces the outlines of General Izard's history, is from a gentleman who had the best opportunities of correct information on the subject of which he writes.-Ken. Gaz.
July 22, 1814.

DEAR SIR,

You requested me to give you a sketch of General Izard's history- I therefore beg leave to communicate such particulars as present themselves to my recollection, and which are as follows:-

General George Izard was born at Charleston, in the month of September, 1777, & is the second son of Ralph Izard, Esq. who was a gentleman of large fortune and high respectability in South Carolina. Mr. Izard having been charged by Congress during the revolution, with a secret mission to one of the courts of Europe, carried his family to Paris, where they resided until the peace of '83. Here George commenced his studies under the care of a private tutor in the family, and shewed great aptitude in the acquirement of classical learning. He was particularly distinguished for a turn for the Mathematics, in which he made great proficiency at an early age. His father having returned with his family to America, at the conclusion of the war, was, on the adoption of the federal constitution in 1789, elected to represent South Carolina in the senate of the U. S. He therefore removed to New-York, and entered George at Columbia College, where he was placed, on examination, at the head of his class, although the youngest boy in it. As he was always intended for a military life, his father obtained from the president in 1792, a subaltern's commission for him in the regiment of artillerists and engineers, (as it was then called) with permission to send him to Europe for the purpose of qualifying him for his profession. He was accordingly sent to England, under the care of General Thomas Pinckney, who was appointed minister plenipotentiary to the court of St. James. By General Pinckney he was placed at a military school near London, until arrangements could be made for sending him to Germany, where the best military institutions were then supposed to be. He was after some time transferred to one of these institutions of great celebrity on the continent where he passed two years. Great attention was there paid to the exercise of the body, in which the young American was soon found to excel; nature having endowed him with an uncommon degree of strength and activity. On Mr. Monroe's appointment as minister to France, his influence was used to obtain permission for young Izard to enter the corps of French Engineers, and as the American government was then high in favor, the request was granted. This is said to be the only instance of a foreigner having been admitted into that corps. In this situation he had the best means afforded him of acquiring a knowledge of the most useful branch of military knowledge. Having completed his studies, & received from the officer at the head of the institution, ample testimonials of approbation, he returned to America in the year 1797, and joined the regiment. On the commencement of hostilities between France and the United States, in 1798, Capt. Izard was appointed engineer for the harbor of Charleston, and erected with great despatch some work for its defence. In 1799 he was appointed aid-de-camp to the inspector general (the late Alexander Hamilton) in which station he remained until the disputes between France and America were compromised by treaty. No active service offering at that time, capt. Izard was indulged with a furlough to accompany our minister to the court of Lisbon, in the capacity of private secretary, but in reality to afford him an opportunity of travelling on the continent of Europe, various countries of which he visited. On his return to America in 1802, finding the army of the U. States placed upon a very reduced establishment, Capt. Izard resigned his commission, married a lady from the state of Virginia, and fixed himself in the vicinity of Philadelphia, where he continued to reside until his nomination to the command of a regiment of artillery. With his subsequent rise you are acquainted. I have nothing to add but my warmest wishes for the General's success in discharging the duties of the important command to which he has been appointed.