January 3 1812: Captain Nathaniel Sherman

Captain Nathaniel Sherman died on January 3, 1812, aged 79 years, a veteran of the War of 1776 and is buried in Wilson Cemetery, Barre, Vermont. 

His headstone reads: 

In memory of
Capt. Nathaniel Sherman who died
January 3, 1812
Aged 79 years

Death is a debt to nature due
As I have paid
And so must you

The deaths of the veterans of the American Revolution begins to shape the nineteenth century. Absences created by death are sometimes more powerful than the presences of the living.

January 3 1812: James Barbour

In 1811, James Barbour lost the election for governor of Virginia to the incumbent governor George William Smith.  However, on December 26, 1811, before he could take office, Smith died in a fire at the Richmond Theatre. 

On January 3, 1812, James Barbour, then serving as Speaker of the House of Delegates, was appointed governor of Virginia by the legislature.