Autograph Letter Signed, as Minister Plenipotentiary to Mexico, dated Mexico August 1, 1839, to Messrs. Clopman & Co., Bordeaux, France, concerning a large shipment of Wine.

Quarto, 3 pages, plus original mailing "envelope", formerly folded, in very good, clean, and legible condition.

Ellis writes:

"Gentlemen,

I have resumed my duties at this place as Minister of the United States and will thank you to forward me the following named wines – that is

20 Boxes of Champagne

10 " Chateaux Margaux

5 " Verde Baune

5 " Johannesberg Hock

5 " Burgundy

5 " Sauterne

I should also be glad of some good Bordeaux for common table wine – but it is doubtful whether it will come thro' a tropical climate unless it is in bottles. If you have any other wines not here mentioned that you can recommend I shall be pleased if you will send me a box of each as a sample, provided you do not intend the number of boxes beyond 5. – You must recollect that our wines have to be transported three hundred miles on the backs of mules over a mountainous country to this capital, and consequently great care must be observed in packing the bottles in boxes. The wine you forwarded to me two years ago I was pleased with, and my agent here William S. Parrott Esq was charged with the payment of the bill, which he says has been attended to. The amount for the wines now ordered will be paid in such manner as you may be pleased to direct. Seeing the great difficulty we have in getting these articles forwarded to us, I doubt not it will afford you pleasure to be useful in the selection, so that no disappointment may take place … Powhatan Ellis"

Ellis was born at Red Hill plantation in Amherst County, Virginia. He was a student in Washington College (now Washington and Lee University) for three years and attended, but did not graduate from, Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. He also attended law school at William and Mary in 1813 and 1814. During this period Ellis met Andrew Jackson, who befriended him and wrote a letter of introduction on Ellis's behalf to David Holmes, the governor of Mississippi Territory.

In 1816 Ellis went to Mississippi Territory and settled in Winchester. The next year he received a temporary appointment as judge of the Mississippi supreme court, and in 1818, won a regular seat on that court which he held until 1825. After completing his service on the court, he became active in politics as a Jackson supporter.

Following Holmes's resignation from the U.S. Senate in 1825, Ellis was chosen as temporary replacement, for four months, before losing an election to fill the remainder of Holmes's term. In 1827, he was elected to a seat of his own, where he had an unremarkable career as a steady supporter of Jackson.

Ellis resigned from the Senate in 1832 to accept judgeship in the United States court for the district of Mississippi. He held this position until 1836, when Jackson appointed him American chargé d'affaires in Mexico, however he followed instructions and closed the legation in December 1836. Martin Van Buren appointed Ellis to Mexico as minister plenipotentiary in 1837, and Ellis remained there until President John Tyler replaced him in 1842. Ellis's most significant problem in this period grew out of the ill-fated expedition sent to Santa Fe by the Republic of Texas in 1841. The entire party of 300 persons was captured and brought to Mexico City, where Ellis became their advocate. He assisted in obtaining the release of the American citizens and used his private funds to improve their conditions.

He held no public office after 1842, though he continued to work for the Democratic party. He supported the war with Mexico and presided over the Mississippi Democratic state convention in 1847. Later he moved back to Virginia and attempted to purchase Red Hill, his family's estate, unable to do so, he settled in that state and died in Richmond.

American National Biography, vol. 7, pp., 447-448; Dictionary of American Biography, Vol. III, part 2, p., 108