Excerpt of a letter from Samuel McDowell, Jr, of Mercer County, Kentucky, to his brother-in-law General Andrew Reid of Rockbridge County, Virginia, dated 22 September 1813:
- "There were seven of the family out last fall and winter [i.e., in the war], and they all behaved well . . . Brother Joseph is [Isaac Shelby's] adjutant-general, and my son John his assistant. William McD.'s sons, Sam. and Madison, and James McDowell's son John are also with him . . . My son Abram was out with the army all last winter; he was with Colonel Campbell at Massasineway. He went out last spring as assistant quartermaster-general from this state; he was taken down with the fever in July last, and has not yet entirely recovered. I could hardly prevent him from going out with Shelby . . . I believe it is the wish of all Kentuckians that the war should be prosecuted with vigor."
