George Washington Papers

Henry Knox to Tobias Lear, 18 May 1793

Henry Knox to Tobias Lear

War department 18 May 1793.

My dear Sir

Please to submit to the President of the United States the enclosed letters from Governor Blount of the 18th 20th and two of the 25th Ultimo, also one from Governor Shelby of the 18 Ultimo, and two from Brigadier General Wilkinson, one dated the 31st of March and the other the 10th of April.1 I am my dear Sir Your humble servant

H. Knox
secy of War.

LB, DLC:GW.

1The letters from William Blount to Knox of 18, 20, and 25 April, and their enclosures, addressed the relations in the Southwest Territory between Americans and the Creek and Cherokee nations (ASP, Indian Affairs, description begins Walter Lowrie et al., eds. American State Papers. Documents, Legislative and Executive, of the Congress of the United States. 38 vols. Washington, D.C., Gales and Seaton, 1832–61. description ends 1:449–51; see also JPP, description begins Dorothy Twohig, ed. The Journal of the Proceedings of the President, 1793–1797. Charlottesville, Va., 1981. description ends 144). The letter from Kentucky governor Isaac Shelby to Knox of 18 April, which proposed war against the Chickamauga to halt Indian depredations on the frontier, has not been identified (ibid., 143). James Wilkinson’s letter to Knox of 31 Mar. enclosed an unidentified letter from army paymaster Daniel Britt to Wilkinson of 27 Mar. “stating the rect. of 30,752⅓ dolls . . . & the deficiency thereof to pay arrearages” (ibid., 143–44). Other enclosures were copies of Wilkinson’s correspondence with Gen. Anthony Wayne about current military matters in the Northwest Territory: Wayne to Wilkinson, 13 Mar., and Wilkinson to Wayne, 27, 30 Mar. (all in PHi: Wayne Papers). Wilkinson’s letter to Knox of 10 April enclosed a copy of his letter to Wayne from Fort Hamilton of that date, where he reported that “Lt. Britt has paid up the Garrisons of St Clair & Jefferson to the 1st of November, & will finish those of this Post, & Forts Washington and Steuben, in a few Days” (PHi: Wayne Papers; see also ibid., 143–44). Wilkinson’s letters to Knox have not been identified.

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