The history of the first locomotives in America. From original ...

LETTERS FROM OFFICIALS. 197
the company were David Matthew, who first run the ' De Witt
Clinton,' John Hampson, and Adam Robinson.
"It has been said by some that the first locomotive-engine
actually, run in this country in the transportation of passengers on
a railroad, was upon the Charleston Railroad, in South Carolina,
drawn by an engine called the ' Best Friend,' but this I believe is
& mistake. The fact can easily be obtained by Mr. Brown addressing
a letter to Horatio Allen, Esq., now of the Novelty Works,
New York. Mr. Allen was the chief engineer of the Charleston
road in its commencement, and would know of this incident.
" I recollect seeing Mr. Brown's sketch of the ' De Witt Clin-
ton ' and her train of cars executed in black paper, in his peculiar
style, when he was in Albany; and I could not but admire the
wonderful correctness of his likenesses to the engine, engineer, and
the old citizens of Albany, who are represented in the cars as
passengers.
" I am very respectfully and truly yours,
"John T. Claek, Uiica."
We will now add the following letter from Jolin B.'
Jervis, Esq., tlie chief engineer of tlie road, showing that
the sketch of the engine and train of cars which appears
in our work is the " De Witt Clinton," an American
locomotive, the first ever run in the State of New York,
and not, as has been 'represented in Sage & Son's litho-
graph, the "John Bull," an English engine and the
first attached to a passenger-train in the United States,
or as published since that time, by the Antique Publish-
ing Company, of Boston, in 1870, as the " John Bull."
"William H. Brown, Esq.—
"Rome, N. Y., AprU 20, 1869.
"Deae Sie: Yours of the 15th inst. was duly received. I
but my memory serves me that
have no memoranda to refer to ;
you are correct in saying that the first engine or locomotive run
upon the Mohawk and Hudson Railroad was named the ' De Witt
Clinton,' and the date of the first trip correct, viz., the 9th day of
August, 1831. The engine was built under a contract I made (as
chief engineer of the road) with the West Point Association in
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