To Thomas Jefferson from Robert Williams, 19 August 1804
From Robert Williams
No Carolina augt. 19th. 1804
Sir;
In perusing my papers which I brought with me from the Mississippi Territory—I find the enclosed letter which I suppose to have been deliver’d to Mr. Briggs or myself before we left that quarter, but by the length of our Journey and Various modes of traveling, got misplaced
I have therefore thought proper to forward it by mail, and hope no material inconvenience has or will Occur in Consequence of its delay—Mr. Briggs tarried with me 3 or 4 days—left here on thursday. had I have known a few weeks of his intention to return so soon, would have been ready to have gone on with him—I Shall endeavour to start early in next month and expect to be in the Territory (Natchez Settlemt) as soon as he, as he will travel very slow, and go by Orleans—
Mr. Briggs is much pleased with the Country this way for the road—
I am with great resp. yr. Huml st
Robert Williams
RC (DLC); in a clerk’s hand, signed by Williams; at foot of text: “Thomas Jefferson Esq.”; endorsed by TJ as received 11 Sep. and so recorded in SJL. Enclosure: probably Richard Claiborne to TJ, 16 Feb. 1804.
Robert Williams (1773-1836) was a North Carolina lawyer who served in the House of Representatives from 1797 until 1803, when TJ appointed him a commissioner of land claims in the Mississippi Territory. Two years later TJ appointed Williams Mississippi territorial governor. His term in office was marked by dissension. He and territorial secretary Cowles Mead openly accused each other of Burrism and disloyalty to TJ. Williams fought with the military over his rights as the civil authority, twice dissolved the general assembly, and revoked at least three presidential commissions. In November 1808, Williams wrote TJ relinquishing the governorship as of 3 Mch. 1809. When he attempted to rescind the resignation a month later, TJ informed him that the administration had already selected a “most worthy & capable” successor. Williams returned to North Carolina, where he served as adjutant general of the state militia before retiring to a plantation in Louisiana (; Dunbar Rowland, Encyclopedia of Mississippi History, 2 vols. [Madison, Wis., 1907], 2:950, 972-8; John L. Cheney, ed., North Carolina Government, 1685-1979: A Narrative and Statistical History [Raleigh, 1981], 183; Williams to TJ, 10, 16 Nov., 7 Dec. 1808; TJ to Williams, 17 Jan. 1809).