Azariah C. Flagg

{{Short description|American politician}} {{Infobox officeholder |name = Azariah Cutting Flagg |image = Azariah C. Flagg Crop.jpg |caption = Portrait by [[Mathew Brady]] {{circa}} 1844–1860 |order1 = 18th |office1 = New York City Comptroller |term_start1 = January 1, 1853 |term_end1 = December 31, 1858 |1blankname1 = {{nowrap|Mayor}} |1namedata1 = [[Jacob Aaron Westervelt]] [[Fernando Wood]] |predecessor1 = Joseph R. Taylor |successor1 = Robert T. Haws |order2 = 10th |office2 = New York State Comptroller |term_start2 = February 7, 1842 |term_end2 = December 31, 1847 |governor2 = [[William H. Seward]] [[Silas Wright]] [[John Young (governor)|John Young]] |predecessor2 = [[John A. Collier]] |successor2 = [[Millard Fillmore]] |term_start3 = January 11, 1833 |term_end3 = February 4, 1839 |governor3 = [[William L. Marcy]] [[William H. Seward]] |predecessor3 = [[Silas Wright]] |successor3 = [[Bates Cooke]] |order4 = 11th |office4 = Secretary of State of New York |term_start4 = February 14, 1826 |term_end4 = January 12, 1833 |governor4 = [[DeWitt Clinton]] [[Nathaniel Pitcher]] [[Martin Van Buren]] [[Enos T. Throop]] [[William L. Marcy]] |predecessor4 = [[John Van Ness Yates]] |successor4 = [[John Adams Dix]] |state_assembly5 = New York |district5 = [[Clinton County, New York|Clinton]] |term_start5 = January 1, 1823 |term_end5 = December 31, 1824 |predecessor5 = Abijah North |successor5 = [[Josiah Fisk]] |birth_date = {{birth date|1790|11|28}} |birth_place = [[Orwell, Vermont]] |death_date = {{nowrap|{{death date and age|1873|11|24|1790|11|28}}}} |death_place = [[New York City]], [[New York (state)|New York]] |party = [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]] [[Free Soil Party|Free Soil]] [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]] [[Democratic-Republican Party|Democratic-Republican]] |spouse = Phoebe Maria Cole |alma_mater = [[Union College]] |allegiance = {{flag|United States}} |branch = [[United States Army]] |service_years = 1812–1814 |battles = [[War of 1812]] }}

'''Azariah Cutting Flagg''' (November 28, 1790 – November 24, 1873) was an American newspaper printer, editor and politician who served twice as [[New York State Comptroller]] from 1833 to 1839 and 1842 to 1847, in addition to several other posts. He was an ally of [[President of the United States|President]] [[Martin Van Buren]], and became a leading member of the [[Albany Regency]], one of the nation's earliest [[political machines]].

==Early life== Azariah Flagg was the second son of Ebenezer Flagg (1756–1828) and Elizabeth Cutting Flagg (d. 1838). At age eleven, he took five-year apprenticeship in 1801–1806 with his uncle, who was a printer in [[Burlington, Vermont]]. After learning and starting practicing trade as journeyman printer, he decided to try his fortunes in [[Plattsburgh, New York]], where he arrived in October 1811. He married Phoebe Maria Cole in October 1814; she gave birth to two daughters, Martha Maria, and Elizabeth, and a son, Henry Franklin.<ref>John Niven. [http://www.anb.org/articles/04/04-00378.html Flagg, Azariah Cutting.] ''American National Biography Online''. February 2000. Retrieved November 28, 2015.</ref> Flagg joined the [[Clinton County, New York|Clinton County]] militia, and during the [[War of 1812]] fought in the 36th Regiment of the New York Militia of the Major General [[Benjamin Mooers]]' militia division.

==War of 1812== On September 5, 1814, Flagg became a militia lieutenant in a small scouting detachment of teenage boys from the Plattsburgh Academy raised by captain Martin James Aikin (1791-1828). Underage soldiers were called the ''Aiken’s volunteers'' since they were too young to enlist, and captain's name as their sponsor was recorded instead in a muster roll.<ref>Keith A. Herkalo. (2012) [https://books.google.com/books?id=Yxe0WBQ4dUwC&pg=PA78 The Battles at Plattsburgh, September 11, 1814]. History Press. Charleston, S. C.</ref>

General [[Alexander Macomb (general)|Alexander Macomb]] praised the Aiken's Volunteer Rifle Company for not falling back in disorder with the bulk of Mooers' militia during the first encounters with the British invading force in the [[Battle of Plattsburgh]].<ref>Fitz-Enz, D. G., & Elting, J. R. (2001). [https://books.google.com/books?id=ZGOtd0UPz_sC&pg=PA110 The final invasion: Plattsburgh, the War of 1812's most decisive battle.] New York: Cooper Square Press.</ref><ref>[http://www.pressrepublican.com/news/local_news/capt-martin-aiken-led-boy-soldiers-against-british/article_78294e01-2821-500b-8b91-4742ce9faf5f.html Capt. Martin Aiken led boy soldiers against British], ''The Press-Republican'', September 14, 2014</ref> Following retreat, Aiken's volunteers manned the bank of the [[Saranac River]] to prevent the enemy from crossing it; one boy was killed in the resulting skirmish. After the British started their withdrawal from Plattsburgh, the Aiken's volunteers were disbanded. In 1826, Congress awarded each of them, including Flagg, "one rifle, promised them by General Macomb, while commanding the Champlain Department, for their gallantry and patriotic services as a volunteer corps during the siege of Plattsburgh. On each of which said rifles there shall be a plate containing an appropriate inscription."<ref>Peter Sailly Palmer. [https://books.google.com/books?id=217xCvoPgJ4C&pg=PA222 History of Lake Champlain: From it First Exploration by the French in 1609, to the close of the year 1814.] Albany, N.Y., 1866.</ref><ref>[http://www.suncommunitynews.com/articles/city-plattsburgh-dedicate-bridge-street-bridge/ City of Plattsburgh to dedicate Bridge Street Bridge], ''The Sun'', May 17, 2015.</ref>

==Career== In 1811–1813, Flagg published ''The Republican'' in [[Plattsburgh, New York|Plattsburgh]] while Colonel Melancton Smith, Jr. (1782-1818) provided the editorship. From Spring 1813 to 1826, he was the sole publisher and editor of the renamed ''[[Press-Republican|Plattsburgh Republican]]''. His war record and ''Republican's'' readership made him popular in the county, and Flagg was elected from [[Clinton County, New York|Clinton County]] to the [[New York State Assembly]] in 1823 and 1824.

He was elected [[Secretary of State of New York]] in 1826, and re-elected in 1829. By the virtue of his office, he also served as Superintendent of Common Schools and Commissioner of the Canal Fund and the Canal Board. Despite his limited schooling, Flagg was able to fulfill his duties as he was self-educating himself through life.

[[File:Disturbing a Martins nest Crop.jpg|thumb|left|upright=1.2|"Disturbing a Martin's nest," political cartoon by [[Henry R. Robinson]], 1838. Flagg is in the center, behind the curtains.]]

He was elected New York State Comptroller in 1833, a post he held in 1833–1839, and from 1842 to 1847, both times for two terms.<ref>Weed, Parsons and Co. [https://books.google.com/books?id=E3sFAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA34 ''The New York Civil List'' compiled by Franklin Benjamin Hough], 1858, pp. 33, 34 and 273.</ref> In 1839, President Martin Van Buren appointed Flagg as [[Postmaster]] at [[Albany, New York|Albany]]; he kept the job until 1841. Van Buren recommended him in 1844 to newly-elected President [[James K. Polk]] as a candidate for secretary of the [[United States Department of the Treasury|treasury office]], but to no avail. After finally losing the state comptroller's position, Flagg became president of the Hudson River Railroad Company, was a treasurer of the [[Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad|Chicago and Rock Island Railroad]] and served on several railroad boards. Flagg's final political office was [[New York City Comptroller]], in which capacity he served in 1852–1858. He retired in November 1858 after developing blindness.

During his long political career, he began as a member of the [[Bucktails]] faction of the [[Democratic-Republican Party]], then became a [[Jacksonian Democrats|Jacksonian]], a [[United States Democratic Party|Democrat]] and [[Barnburners and Hunkers|Barnburner]], then joined the [[Free Soil Party|Free Soilers]] in the late 1840s, and finally the nascent [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican Party]] in the mid-1850s.<ref>[https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1873/11/26/79057132.pdf Obituary], ''The New York Times'', November 26, 1873 (giving wrong birthplace)</ref> He was one of the leading members of the Albany Regency, who exercised a great deal of control over New York's Democratic-Republican Party, along with [[Martin Van Buren|Van Buren]], [[Silas Wright]], and [[William L. Marcy]].<ref>Sheppard, S. (2008). [https://books.google.com/books?id=2COfBQAAQBAJ&dq=Azariah++Flagg&pg=PA85 The partisan press: A history of media bias in the United States.] Jefferson, N.C: McFarland & Co.</ref> In a curious encounter, Flagg was introduced to [[Alexis de Tocqueville]] in [[Albany, New York|Albany]] in 1831, and invited him to walk during the 4th of July parade with the state dignitaries.<ref>Pierson, G. W. (1996). [https://books.google.com/books?id=LJbwV4WznGkC&dq=Azariah++Flagg&pg=PA179 Tocqueville in America]. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.</ref> Tocqueville left a mixed review of the event.<ref>Brogan, H. (2009). [https://books.google.com/books?id=Xu2prhTlW10C&dq=You+can+imagine+what+goose+each+honest+citizen+made+of+himself%3B+the+martial+turnout+was+really+ridiculous&pg=PT173 Alexis de Tocqueville: Prophet of democracy in the age of revolution]. London: Profile.</ref>

Flagg suffered blindness in his both eyes during his last fourteen years of life, but managed to keep track of the public affairs with the help of his family. He continued to publish in newspapers on political and economical issues, including finances and transportation. He died in his home in New York City and was buried at the [[Green-Wood Cemetery, Brooklyn]].<ref>[https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1873/11/29/105198527.pdf Funeral], ''The New York Times'', November 29, 1873.</ref>

==References== {{reflist}}

==Further reading== * [https://web.archive.org/web/20101124211551/http://genealogyofnewengland.com/f_7a5.htm Flagg genealogy] * [http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~nyclinto/gazetteer/notes.html Clinton County newspapers], ''Clinton County, Rootsweb'' * [https://books.google.com/books?id=QRJFAQAAMAAJ&dq=general+Benjamin+Mooers&pg=PA262 List of names of a volunteer company of riflemen who did duty in the service of the United States, on the invasion of Plattsburgh by sir George Prevost in September 1814]. Certified by M. J. Aikin, ''Captain'', and Azariah C. Flagg, ''Lieutenant''. American State Papers. Class Y. Military Affairs. Volume III. Washington, 1860, p. 262.

==External links== {{commons}} * [http://nyshistoricnewspapers.org/lccn/sn84031397/ Republican (1811-1813), Plattsburgh, N.Y.], ''NYS Historic Newspapers'' * [http://nyshistoricnewspapers.org/lccn/sn83031979/ Plattsburgh Republican, (1813-1916), Plattsburgh, N.Y.], ''NYS Historic Newspapers''

{{s-start}} {{s-off}} {{succession box|title=[[Secretary of State of New York]]|before=[[John Van Ness Yates]]|after=[[John Adams Dix]]|years=1826–1833}} {{succession box|title=[[New York State Comptroller]]|before=[[Silas Wright]]|after=[[Bates Cooke]]|years=1833–1839}} {{succession box|title=[[New York State Comptroller]]|before=[[John A. Collier]]|after=[[Millard Fillmore]]|years=1842–1847}} {{s-end}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Flagg, Azariah Cutting}} [[Category:1790 births]] [[Category:1873 deaths]] [[Category:People from Orwell, Vermont]] [[Category:Politicians from Plattsburgh, New York]] [[Category:American militiamen in the War of 1812]] [[Category:Members of the New York State Assembly]] [[Category:Secretaries of state of New York (state)]] [[Category:New York state comptrollers]] [[Category:New York City comptrollers]] [[Category:New York (state) Democratic-Republicans]] [[Category:New York (state) Jacksonians]] [[Category:New York (state) Democrats]] [[Category:New York (state) Free Soilers]] [[Category:New York (state) Republicans]] [[Category:Burials at Green-Wood Cemetery]] [[Category:19th-century members of the New York State Legislature]] [[Category:19th-century American newspaper editors]]