Azariah Cutting Flagg | |
---|---|
10th New York State Comptroller | |
In office February 7, 1842 – December 31, 1847 |
|
Preceded by | John A. Collier |
Succeeded by | Millard Fillmore |
In office January 11, 1833 – February 4, 1839 |
|
Preceded by | Silas Wright |
Succeeded by | Bates Cooke |
11th Secretary of State of New York | |
In office February 14, 1826 – January 12, 1833 |
|
Preceded by | John Van Ness Yates |
Succeeded by | John Adams Dix |
Personal details | |
Born |
Orwell, Vermont |
November 28, 1790
Died |
November 24, 1873 (aged 82) New York City, New York |
Political party |
Republican Free Soil Democratic Democratic-Republican |
Spouse(s) | [Phoebe Maria Cole]] |
Alma mater | Union College |
Military service | |
Allegiance | United States |
Service/branch | United States Army |
Years of service | 1812–1814 |
Battles/wars | War of 1812 |
Azariah Cutting Flagg (November 28, 1790 – November 24, 1873) was an American newspaper printer and editor, and politician.
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. Flagg joined the 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.
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.
General Alexander Macomb praised the Aiken's Volunteer Rifle Company for not falling back in disorder with the bulk of Mooers' militia during the fist encounters with the British invading force in the Battle of Plattsburgh. 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 Plattsburg. On each of which said rifles there shall be a plate containing an appropriate inscription."
In 1811-1813, Flagg published The Republican in 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 Plattsburgh Republican. His war record and Republican's readership made him popular in the county, and Flagg was elected from Clinton County to the New York State Assembly in 1823 and 1824.