Western Spy

September 19, 1812 

MANSFIELD, CAPTAIN JOHN FENNO  - Obituary - Died, on Monday the 15th inst., of a malignant fever, Captain John Fenno Mansfield, in the 25th year of his age.  On Tuesday his remains were interred in the new burying ground, with the honors of MASONRY and WAR.  A numerous procession of respectable citizens and military characters, conducted with unusual solemnity and order, evinced the deep and general regret excited by the unexpected event.  Captain Mansfield belonged to the sacrificed army of Gen. Hull; and returned from Detroit, with his company, reputable inhabitants of our town, on Monday the 7th inst.  At the time of his arrival, he labored under the disease which carried him off.  It was excited by an undefended exposure, in an open beat, to the rays of the sun by day, and the chilling and noxious vapors of a river atmosphere by night; acting on a constitution enfeebled by sickness in Canada, and predisposed to disease, by the depressing sensations of disappointed ambition and mortified patriotism.  And thus his death maybe ___ enumerated among the melancholy consequences of the inglorious and disgraceful surrender of our gallant little band of citizen soldiers.  Long will the edious name, of the commander of that first army of Ohio, be associated in our minds, with this premature death of one of its most valuable officers.  To delineate in character of an ordinary man, common talents are sufficient.  But the subject of this iceble tribute of respect, with no ordinary man; and the writer, therefore, entertains not the slightest expectation of exercising his melancholy task with competent success.  As an officer Captain Mansfield had merits of the highest order.  His intimate acquaintance with those sciences which illustrate the theory of war; his perspicucious knowledge of tactics, his extensive and minute information concerning the geography of our frontier, and the precise and exact discipline of his company, conspire to excite the highest respect for his military talents, and the profoundest target for his death, in the flower of youth and at the commencement of the war.  His bravery was unquestionable; and he was, not in the principal action of the campaign, only because his solicitations were not granted.  He was frequently appointed to perform the duties of a Major, which he accomplished with characteristic facility and precision.  His integrity and impartiality were so justly appreciated, that he was made the presiding officer of almost every Court Martial of moment that was held during the expedition; and we are fully warranted in asserting that no officer of any rank or any age was more beloved or respected.  In science, the attainments of our departed friend, were, for his age of the very firm degree.  His inclination spontaneously lead to what his understanding was adapted.  The whole circle of mathematical learning had already been trodden by his unwearied footsteps that he delighted chiefly to range amidst the highest and purer branches, where investigation is conducted solely by efforts of their understanding independent of external objects.  This was labor as commensurate with his powers and he was consonant with his refined taste.  But his learning was not restricted to the mathematics.  In natural philosophy, general politics political economy and moral sciences, favorite object of pursuit, his acquirements were highly respectable.  The civil, political and military history of our state had received much of his attention; and had he lived at a distant time a desideratum would have been supplied, which as it is, we shall probably continue to want.  His accurate and ____ of our state, compiled before he was __ years old, is a promising specimen of what he would have done for our domestic ______.  On the scale of mental endowment Captain Mansfield occupied an elevated grade.  He had the exaltation of genius without its excentricites; the granduer, without its pomp; the sensibility, without its sickliness.  No angle quality of his mind shot forth above the rest to dazzle the view; his acquaintances were not misled in estimating his character, by that irregularity or disproporation in mental abilities, which is so often mistaken for greatness.  Every faculty of his mind was placed on an equality  ____, and  rose to an equal height.  It was not the elevation of a single column above the rest of the tempe, but an elevation of the tempe himself--From this ________a ______________.  It was characteristic of Captain Mansfield to execute whatever he undertook in _______ possible.   It was with __ a favorite maxim, that whatever is to be performed should be performed well; and hence whether employed in trivial or important ____ in great or little things he equally executed.  The rest is unreadable.