Col. Charles Kitchell Gardner

CHARLES KITCHELL GARDNER (1787 - 1869) SERVED WITH DISTINCTION AS A COLONEL IN THE WAR OF 1812 CARRYING GENERAL SCOTT OFF THE FIELD DURING THE WAR!! GARDNER ALSO SERVED AS 1st ASSISTANT POSTMASTER GENERAL IN THE 1830s IN BOTH TERMS OF PRESIDENT ANDREW JACKSON and AUDITOR OF THE TREASURY FOR THE POST OFFICE DEPARTMENT UNDER VAN BUREN! APPOINTED BY POLK AS POSTMASTER OF WASHINGTON, D. C.

'S AN 1836 POST OFFICE DEPARTMENT FREE FRANK FOLDED COVER SIGNED BY GARDNER WHILE SERVING AS POSTMASTER GENERAL AT WASHINGTON!!

T ARE NO LETTER CONTENTS, A DOCKET ON AN INTERNAL LEAF READS, "P.O. Dept 4 May, 1836, J. Guist for Chief Clerk"

At the Battle of Niagara, in which General Winfield Scott was severely wounded, Colonel Gardner carried Gen. Scott off the field!

The Cover is in very good condition and bears Gardner's autograph signature below a manauscript "P. O. Dept., with partly struck May 6 [1836] CITY of WASHINGTON circular date stamp postmark and red FREE handstamp, on a folded cover to William P. Smith, Esq., Gloucester Court House Virginia.

<<::>> BIOGRAPHY OF CHARLES KITCHELL GARDNER <<::>>

Gardner was born in Morris County, New Jersey in 1787. He entered the army in the 6th U. S. Infantry in 1808. In the War of 1812 he was promoted Captain of the 3rd Infantry, and was Adjutant General of the Division of the North, under General Jacob Brown. He participated in the Battles of Chrystler's Field, Chippewa, and Niagara, was at the siege of Fort Erie, and in February 1815, was promoted Lt. Colonel for distinguished services. At the Battle of Niagara, in which General Winfield Scott was severely wounded, Colonel Gardner carried him off the field!

During both terms of General Jackson's Presidential administration, he was First Assistant Postmaster-General, and he was Auditor of the Treasury in the Post Office Department under President Van Buren from 1836 to 1841. During the administration of President Polk, he was Postmaster of the City of Washington. In 1850 he was transferred to the U. S. Treasury Department w he remained till 1867.

Gardner authored, "A Dictionary of Commissioned Officers Who Have Served in the Army of the United States from 1789 to 1853" and "A Compendium of Military Tactics," as well as other military reference works. Gardner died in Washington, D. C. on November 1, 1869.

Major Charles K. Gardner of the 3d U.S. Infantry first suggested the practice of using letters of the alphabet to indicate companies in a regiment in 1816. The Infantry branch adopted the crossed rifles insignia in 1875.

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Colonial war of 1812