William Tatham (1752-1819) was an engineer, who served under Colonel Thomas Nelson and was at Yorktown during the American Revolution. After the war, he became a lawyer in North Carolina, but went back to England in 1796 to only return for better prospects in 1805. Thomas Jefferson contacted Tatham before he left to get a Camera Obscura.^[1]

For about a month, Tatham sent reports to Jefferson during the Chesapeake Affair about British naval movements in the Chesapeake.^[2]

Footnotes

1. ↑ See 19 August 1805. Library of Congress and 24 November 1805. Library of Congress.
2. ↑ See 6 July 1807 at the Library of Congressand 28 July 1807 at Library of Congress.

Further Sources

• Jefferson-Tatham correspondence can be found at the Library of Congress