Massachusetts Governor Gerry Accepts Resignation of Surgeon's Mate Just Before War of 1812

Massachusetts Governor Elbridge Gerry accepted the resignation of Surgeon's Mate Alpheus F. Stone and provided him with an honorable discharge through this document. Stone was a physician in Greenfield in Franklin County in the northwest part of the state.

[WAR OF 1812.] William Donnison, Partially Printed Document Signed, Discharge of Alpheus F. Stone, February 12, 1812, Boston, Massachusetts. 1 p., 10" x 7.5". Some toning; expected folds; irregular right edge, not affecting text; very good.

Complete Transcript
Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
Head-Quarters, Boston, February 12th 1812.
THE GOVERNOR and Commander in Chief, has accepted the Resignation of Alpheus F. Stone, Surgeons Mate of the (now) First Regiment of Infantry, in the Militia of this Commonwealth; and he is hereby honourably discharged, at his own request, from the Office of Surgeon's Mate in the Regiment aforesaid, lately called the Second Regiment in the Second Brigade and fourth Division.
By Order of the Commander in Chief,
Wm Donnison Adjutant General.

Historical Background
Democratic-Republican Elbridge Gerry (1744-1814) served as governor of Massachusetts from June 1810 to June 1812, when he was defeated for reelection by Federalist Caleb Strong. During his second year as governor, Gerry purged much of the state government of Federalist appointees and the Democratic-Republican-controlled legislature adopted new electoral district boundaries designed to benefit their party. Gerry's name became part of the political vocabulary when a Federalist newspaper critic called one of these districts a "Gerry-mander." When Vice President George Clinton died in office in April 1812, the Congressional nominating caucus selected Gerry to be President James Madison's running mate for the 1812 election, and he served as vice president from March 1813 until his death in November 1814.

Whether Dr. Stone's resignation from the militia had anything to do with Governor Gerry's purge of Federalist officeholders remains unclear. There is no evidence he served in the army during the War of 1812.

William Donnison (ca. 1756-1834) was born in Rhode Island and became a merchant. He served in the Revolutionary War. In 1783, he married Mary Quincy, with whom he had at least four children. Donnison became an aide to Governor John Hancock in 1786. In 1788, he was appointed Adjutant General of the Massachusetts militia, a position he held until 1813. In 1797, Governor Samuel Adams appointed him as a judge of the Court of Common Please, and he served in that capacity for 25 years.

Alpheus F. Stone (1778-1851) was born in Massachusetts and briefly taught school in Connecticut. He then began training as a physician in the practice of his brother Dr. John Stone. In 1807, he adopted the middle name "Fletcher." For fifty years, he practiced medicine in Franklin County, Massachusetts, and he was also a member of the Massachusetts Medical Society and the Franklin Society for the Suppression of Intemperance. He married Rachel Willard in 1807 but they had no children before her death in October of the following year. He married Harriet B. Russell in 1809, and they had five children before she died in 1817, including Charles P. Stone (1824-1887), an 1845 West Point graduate who became a brevet captain in the Mexican War and a brigadier general in the Civil War. In 1822, Alpheus F. Stone married Fanny Lincoln Cushing Arms (1791-1851), with whom he had five more children.

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