Harry ALEXANDER: Book Notes

The following citations are from books (and other sources) which mention Harry ALEXANDER by name in reference to his life in British West Florida.

Each book (or other source) is noted as the SOURCE after each citation.

Harry ALEXANDER is named as one of several large slaveholders in the province of British West Florida. On page 46 of the book referenced below, it states that Harry ALEXANDER arrived in the province with between twenty and thirty slaves. The footnoted source of this information is listed as CO5/634, Council Minutes for 26 December 1776. [NOTE: CO5 refers to Colonial Office 5, a series of documents relating to British West Florida.] SOURCE: "The Economy of British West Florida, 1763-1783" by Robin F. A. FABEL

Harry ALEXANDER is mentioned as having written a letter in 1779 to Major-General John CAMPBELL in British West Florida, "for and in the name of all Inhabitants of the Settlement" of Baton Rouge expressing appreciation for the defensive stand of the English troops and assuring continued confidence in General CAMPBELL for his efforts in behalf of the province." SOURCE: "Major-General John CAMPBELL in British West Florida" by George C. OSBORN. THE FLORIDA HISTORICAL QUARTERLY, Volume XXVII, April 1949, Number 4. Page 328. [NOTE: The letter itself is sourced: Harry ALEXANDER to CAMPBELL, September 21, 1779.]

In 1778, the American James WILLING staged a raid on English interests in the area between present-day Natchez, Mississippi and Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Harry ALEXANDER's property was in the area, somewhere in the vicinity of present-day Pointe Coupeé parish. Three sources have been found which give details of what happened and how Harry ALEXANDER was affected: SOURCE 1: "The motivation behind the proclamation was of little concern to the Englishmen fleeing the Americans. Some of the English sought refuge out of fear for their lives. Such was the case with Henry STUART, a person named ALEXANDER, and Alexander ROSS. STUART 'had a very narrow escape being obliged to fly in his shirt to the Spanish Fort at Manchac.' The rebels offered a reward for STUART to the corporal at Spanish Fort, but he refused the bribe. One witness reported that if the rebels caught ALEXANDER he 'was to have been cut into a hundred pieces' and that 'Alexander ROSS will be flayed alive if they catch him.' [27] Footnote 27 footnote info states: "Alexander ROSS to STUART, Mar. 5, 1778, BHP, 989, reel 5; Donald CAMBEL to John STUART, Mar. 5, 1778, C. O. 5/79; [?] to John CAMBEL, Mar. 1, 1778, BHP, 968, reel 5. The reward for STUART was variously estimated, from $500 to $1,000. The ALEXANDER referred to is probably Harry ALEXANDER who had lands on the Mississippi, but it is possible that it was William or George ALEXANDER." SOURCE1: "Tories, Dons, and Rebels: The American Revolution in British West Florida" by J. Barton STARR. Chapter titled "The Late Rascally Transaction of Mr. Willing". Page 90. SOURCE 2: Another source recounts the above incident in a similar but identifies Harry ALEXANDER outright: Rumor had it that the Americans planned to slice Harry ALEXANDER “into a hundred pieces” and to flay Alexander ROSS alive when they captured him. Fortunately both men remained a step in front of WILLING’s band. Although [William] DUNBAR and the other victims refused to admit it at the time, WILLING was not completely indiscriminate in his choice of victims to plunder. Those known to be sympathetic to the American cause were spared the same fate met by those who were outspoken British partisans. SOURCE2: "Mississippi and the American Revolution", by Robert V. HAYNES, as found in the pamphlet Mississippi July 4, 1976, the Mississippi Celebration of the Bicentennial of the American Revolution." SOURCE 3: In regards to this incident, and the fact that the Spanish Governor of Louisiana granted him and others refuge, Harry ALEXANDER wrote to Don Bernardo de GALVEZ that "It is our duty to proclaim to all the world.....the Beneficient part which you have so generously and Seasonably taken." Thirty six others attached their names or marks to a letter expressing "very gratefull thanks for the Succor you have had the goodness to afford us." SOURCE3: Harry ALEXANDER to Galvez. March 15, 1778, copy in A. G. I., Audiencia de Santo Domingo, 2596.

Harry ALEXANDER is named as the seller in two slave sales from May 2, 1780 in New Orleans, Louisiana. On that day he sold two male slaves for 1600 Spanish pesos each to Etiene BORE. This is likely the same as Etienne BORE, who was later a mayor of New Orleans. The slaves were identified as "Malborough", age 26 and "Keneday", age 25. Both were further described as carpenters who were "mulatto rouge." The original documents are in Spanish. SOURCE: http://www.ibiblio.org/laslave/individ.php?sid=12979 and http://www.ibiblio.org/laslave/individ.php?sid=12978

NOTE: The information below involves another individual from St. Vincent, namely William WALKER. Harry ALEXANDER is mentioned in a lawsuit recorded in the Spanish Judicial Records of Louisiana for the year 1781. The case was filed on February 15, 1781 as "Evan JONES and James JONES vs. William WALKER." The JONES' were seeking to recover 1927 pesos, 7 1/2 reales the Spanish equivalent of 1500 milled dollars, which defendant WALKER promised to pay on December 6, 1776, as the purchase price of 500 acres of land in English Pointe Coupee/West Florida on the Mississippi River opposite French Pointe Coupee. The obligation was claimed to have been executed in Baton Rouge before English Judges Daniel HICKEY and Francisco [Francis] PONSET. Harry ALEXANDER is mentioned several times in the petition as follows: 1) "It is alleged that Harry ALEXANDER, now in New Orleans, has property in his possession belonging to the defendant (WALKER) sufficient to meet this debt. By the wording of this section, it appears that WALKER is not presently in the area. The prayer is that ALEXANDER be ordered to answer whether he has such property and for execution against defendant for the full amount of 1927 pesos, 7 1/2 reales, and for court costs. 2) ALEXANDER was ordered to appear before the court within six days. He appointed Francisco BROUTIN to represent him, and challenged the debt. 3) In testimony, Evan/Estevan JONES states that "he made demand for payment of the obligation to William WALKER's agents, Messrs. ALEXANDER and POUSSET." James/Santiago JONES testifies that "he has heard by word of mouth from Mr. WALKER's agents, ALEXANDER and POUSSET, confirmed by them in letters, that they have not paid the obligation for want of funds, although the terms were completed. WALKER had given them some bills of exchange without endorsing them." 4) Francisco BROUTIN filed an answer for ALEXANDER it which he says it should be noted that "while ALEXANDER appears in his own name, he is defending for his principal, WALKER. 5) ALEXANDER was ordered to remodel his plea to some form of Spanish law, and is warned by the Alcalde that he "must answer within one day without any more 'representations'." ALEXANDER then "filed an answer protesting against the action of the Alcalde and the treatment he has received in the Spanish courts as he is a lawyer and consequently he is entitled to more respect than he has received." 6) Mention is made of letters from WALKER dated Saint Vincent on November 4, 1777 and Manchac (near Baton Rouge, Louisiana), on December 4, 1776. Another letter is from "Harry ALEXANDER and Francis PONSET as attorneys for William WALKER dated 'Richmond February 8, 1778'." [Note: Richmond might be the name of a British fort near Baton Rouge]. 7) In testimony, James/Santiago JONES is asked if he wrote a letter on October 20, 1778 to Harry ALEXANDER, seeking advice about the case. JONES answers that he wrote to ALEXANDER to request payment and not advice. JONES states further that he "transmitted to Harry ALEXANDER, as a lawyer all the documents that he had thinking they were titles in good form to be examined by him so as to conclude the affair", and that he understood ALEXANDER, was only an agent for WALKER. JONES goes on to say that "the said deeds were explained in detail by ALEXANDER as a man skilled in law and then he offered to put his advice in writing for them as a lawyer"...but that "they never consulted him as a lawyer"...and only as a debtor. 8) Mention is made that William WALKER appointed Harry ALEXANDER, Phillip COMMEYNS and Francis POUSSET as his agents while he was in Saint Vincent, in the matter of his freehold estate on the banks of the river opposite Pointe Coupee, called Melville Plain containing 1,000 acres of land and also a tract on Thompson's Creek running through to the plains containing 2750 acres and another tract of about 500 acres on the English side of Pointe Coupee, adjoining Phillip COMMEYNS which is more than he can at present cultivate and improve and it is his wish to settle on the Plains on his return from Saint Vincent. 9) In WALKER's testimony he states that he knows Harry ALEXANDER "has practiced as a lawyer but it does not seem clear if he was qualified one or not, and added that he thought he has been President of the Court of St. Vincent during eleven years and it occurs to him that he could not exercise this function without holding his patents of lawyer that belong to the office." SOURCE: Index to Spanish Judicial Records of Louisiana, XXXVII. February, 1781. February 15, 1781, No. 3497. 146 pp. Court of Alcaldes Jacinto PANIS, Josef LeBRETTON, Francisco Maria REGGIO, Assessor, Postigo. Escribanos, L. MAZANGE, Fernando RODRIGUEZ. [Note: These documents are in Spanish, Evan JONES is recorded as "Estevan", James JONES, as "Santiago", and William WALKER, as "Guillermo."

"At Pointe Coupée, a Mr. ALEXANDER, who had escaped with his slaves, said that WILLING intended, with few exceptions, to plunder every English plantation that had anything of value and that he had a list of those to be given special treatment. DUNBAR, WILLIAMS, and POUPPET were among those on the list." [NOTE: Footnoted source given as Eron ROWLAND "Life, Letters and Papers of William Dunbar, 60 - 63. One wonders if "Pouppet" was the same as the Francis POUSSET elected to the first West Florida Assembly.] "One of the most interesting of the cases to be judged during the administration of Commandant FAVROT was the case of Marie GLASS, a mulatto, who was tried for murder. This crime, in which a fifteen-year-old white girl was tortured to death, was committed in the District of Baton Rouge in 1779. FAVROT worked closely with Judge Harry ALEXANDER, a British judge, who submitted depositions from different people in the case. Reports were made in three languages -- French, English, and Spanish. FAVROT permitted the case to be tried before three British judges and three jurors". SOURCE: "A History of Baton Rouge 1699 - 1812". By Rose MEYERS. Page 34 & Page 50. [Note: "Trial of Mary GLASS for Murder, 1780,"Louisiana Historical Quarterly, VI (October, 1923), 591 - 93, 642 - 43.]

One of the most prominent landholders in the Pointe Coupée [present-day Louisiana] area was William DUNBAR. He was the apparent neighbor of Harry ALEXANDER, and mentioned ALEXANDER in a journal that he kept in the late 1700's. The entries which mention Harry ALEXANDER are as follows: 1) Page 57 - 24 December 1777 - "On Saturday the 10th Mr. CAMPBELL arrived from Orleans and next Day I set out with him for Pt. Coupee & c. Went as far as McINTOSH & returned on Thursday being indisposed, leaving Mr. CAMPBELL at Mr. ALEXANDER's. 2) Page 60 - 1 May 1778 - *this entry was two months after James WILLING's attack on the Pointe Coupee area, in which slaves and other property belonging to British subjects was seized and sold for profit by the Americans during the American Revolution. --- "Upon my arrival at Mr. METHOD's at Pt. Coupee about a league below the fort, I there found Mr. ALEXANDER with his negroes, having just made his Escape from the English side, he informed me that he had learnt that the intention of the Americans was to Rob & plunder Every English subject who had property of any value Some few excepted, & that several obnoxious people were to meet with particular marks of their displeasure in this latter black list were Mr. ALEXANDER, myself, Mr. POUSETT, WILLIAMS & several others; and further I was informed that...the Party was commanded by James WILLING of Philadelphia, a young man who had left this Country the year before...." 3) Page 66 - Monday, 21 December 1778 - "Saturday last being the Election Day for a member of the Assembly, Mr. ALEXANDER was elected. None of the gentlemen of Richmond [present day Baton Rouge, Louisiana] attended." 4) Page 69 - Thursday, 22 April 1779 - "Made a trip to Pt. Coupee last week in order to buy Cattle in partnership with Mr. ALEXR. & Mr. WATTS. bot. for my share 4 pr. oxen." 5) Page 71 - Friday, 18 February 1780 - "....the men clearing the woods between me and Mr. ALEXANDER & making a post & rail fence upon the division line." 6) Page 71 - Monday, 21 February 1780 - "Dined yesterday at Mr. ALEXANDER's where were present the Commandant [FAVROT], Mr. D. ROSS, HOLLY & several others." 7) Page 72 - 73 Wednesday, 19 April 1780 - "Sent by Mr. ALEXR. to Mr. STROTHER in Town 624 Carrots Tobacco for sale.....sent by Mr. Harry ALEXANDER 99 Carrots." SOURCE: "Life, Letters and Papers of William Dunbar", comp. Mrs. Dunbar Rowland (Jackson: Press of the Mississippi Historical Society, 1930).

Harry ALEXANDER and a son by the same name are mentioned in the following citation:

This article recounts a letter that was read before the Continental Congress in Philadelphia on June 20, 1782, in which a number of British subjects in the Pointe Coupee area were identified as either "Moderate" or "Violent Royalist". On the "Moderate" list we find, Harry ALEXANDER, Sr., and Harry ALEXANDER, Jr., along with William DUNBAR, Thomas COLLINSON, and a few others.

SOURCE: "Louisiana Loyalists in 1781" by Mary Smith FAY, C. G., as included in "Mississippi Valley Melange, Volume II, Page 57."