1. Daniel Murray (d. 1784), a business associate of William Murray, his more prominent brother, died as the result of a bullet wound received in a dispute over the collection of a debt (Clarence Walworth Alvord, ed., Kaskaskia Records, 1778–1790 [Springfield, Ill., 1909], pp. 359 n., 428–30). A lengthy summary of his memorial is in Calendar of Virginia State Papers description begins William P. Palmer et al., eds., Calendar of Virginia State Papers and Other Manuscripts (11 vols.; Richmond, 1875–93). description ends , II, 675.

2. In 1768 William Murray (d. ca. 1787), a kinsman of Governor Dunmore of Virginia, moved with his wife and two children from Philadelphia to the Illinois country as the representative of the mercantile firms of Barnard and Michael Gratz and of David Franks and Company of that city (Clarence Walworth Alvord and Clarence Edwin Carter, eds., Trade and Politics, 1767–1769 [Springfield, Ill., 1921], pp. 292–93, 341–44, 442, 605, 642–45). The earlier career of Murray is obscure. Often called “Captain Murray,” he may have been the Captain William Murray of the Royal Highlanders, a British regiment stationed briefly in the mid-1760’s at Lancaster, Pa., which Barnard and Michael Gratz frequently visited, and later at Fort Pitt. If this is the William Murray in question, he evidently had resigned his commission to engage in “land conveyancing” (William Vincent Byars, ed., B. and M. Gratz, Merchants in Philadelphia, 1754–1798: Papers of Interest to Their Posterity and the Posterity of Their Associates [Jefferson City, Mo., 1916], pp. 33 n., 103 n.). After living for some years at Fort de Chartres, William and his brother Daniel settled in Kaskaskia. Retaining the confidence of his business correspondents in the East, William prospered and became “the leader of all enterprises” in his neighborhood (Clarence W. Alvord and Clarence E. Carter, eds., Trade and Politics, p. xv). By purchasing extensive tracts of territory from Indians in 1773 and 1775, he became a principal founder of the Illinois and Wabash land companies. These groups, which included men of much political and economic weight in Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia, claimed an enormous acreage within the boundaries of Virginia as defined by the London Company’s charter of 1609 (Transactions of the Illinois State Historical Society, XXVI [Springfield, 1920], 188–212; Thomas P. Abernethy, Western Lands and the American Revolution, pp. 118, 122).

Leaving his brother to care for their trading post, William went to New Orleans on business in 1776 and probably lived there during most of the years of the Revolution (Clarence W. Alvord, ed., Kaskaskia Records, p. xx). In that city he cooperated with Oliver Pollock, a merchant who would soon be the commercial agent both of the Continental Congress and Virginia, in inducing the Spanish officials to provide George Rogers Clark with the powder and other supplies necessary for mounting his expeditions against the British garrisons north of the Ohio River. In the autumn of 1778, shortly after Clark’s dramatic success in his first campaign (Papers of Madison description begins William T. Hutchinson, William M. E. Rachal, et al., eds., The Papers of James Madison (2 vols. to date; Chicago, 1962——). description ends , I, 219 n.), Murray reached Philadelphia with messages to Congress from Pollock pleading for military reinforcements in the West and his own reimbursement (JCC description begins Worthington Chauncey Ford et al., eds., Journals of the Continental Congress, 1774–1789 (34 vols.; Washington, 1904–37). description ends , XII, 1083–84, 1084, n. 1; James A. James, Oliver Pollock, p. 128).

While Murray was in Philadelphia, the shareholders of the Illinois and Wabash land companies pooled their interests and delegated him to inform the government of Virginia that, as soon as possible, they planned to establish a settlement on their property in the Old Northwest. On 26 December 1778 Governor Patrick Henry received Murray’s memorial to this effect but seems never to have referred it to the General Assembly (Calendar of Virginia State Papers description begins William P. Palmer et al., eds., Calendar of Virginia State Papers and Other Manuscripts (11 vols.; Richmond, 1875–93). description ends , I, 314; Thomas P. Abernethy, Western Lands and the American Revolution, pp. 202, 234–35). By strengthening Virginia’s title to the area, Clark’s victories made it even less likely than before that the government of his state would recognize as valid the western land claims of any “foreign” company (Papers of Madison description begins William T. Hutchinson, William M. E. Rachal, et al., eds., The Papers of James Madison (2 vols. to date; Chicago, 1962——). description ends , II, 75–76). The present memorial permits no doubt, however, that the Murrays continued as late as 1780 to sell goods to Clark and help him in other ways. Except that the Murrays had been direct suppliers of Clark rather than speculators in his bills of exchange, their position as creditors, like that of Simon Nathan, was complicated by their involvement in land companies and by the fluctuating and uncertain value of paper currency in terms of specie. See Jefferson to Virginia Delegates, 15 March 1781, n. 1.

3. George Gibson of that portion of Frederick County, Va., later to be incorporated in Pennsylvania, was a captain of militia in 1776. In July of that year he and Lieutenant William Linn left Fort Pitt on their successful mission to New Orleans to procure powder from the Spanish governor. Upon their return to the Illinois country in 1777, Gibson carried a letter from William Murray to Daniel in Kaskaskia (McIlwaine, Official Letters description begins H. R. McIlwaine, ed., Official Letters of the Governors of the State of Virginia (3 vols.; Richmond, 1926–29). description ends , I, 77 n.; James Alton James, ed., George Rogers Clark Papers, 1771–1781 [Springfield, 1912], pp. lxvi, 21, n. 1; James A. James, Oliver Pollock, pp. 61–62, 70; Clarence W. Alvord, ed., Kaskaskia Records, pp. xviii, xx). In 1780 Gibson was a colonel in command of the garrison at Fort Nelson (Louisville). Believing that his services had merited greater recognition, he resigned his commission in the summer of 1781 (McIlwaine, Official Letters description begins H. R. McIlwaine, ed., Official Letters of the Governors of the State of Virginia (3 vols.; Richmond, 1926–29). description ends , II, 322, and n. 242; Calendar of Virginia State Papers description begins William P. Palmer et al., eds., Calendar of Virginia State Papers and Other Manuscripts (11 vols.; Richmond, 1875–93). description ends , II, 283–84). Ten years later he was mortally wounded in Governor Arthur St. Clair’s defeat by the Miami confederacy of Indians in the Northwest Territory.

4. In his memoirs, Clark wrote that Daniel Murray “who proved to have been in the American interest … had plenty of Provitions prepaired.” The “other Merchandize’” included buffalo meat, corn, hay, Indian meal, and wood (James A. James, ed., George Rogers Clark Papers, 1771–1781, p. 229; ibid., 1781–1784 [Springfield, 1924], pp. 255, 260, 262, 266).

5. On 25 June 1783 the commissioners who had been appointed on 20 July 1781 by the Governor in Council to examine western claims against Virginia allowed “Daniel Murray for his service as a Commissary in the Illinois department from 17 July 1778 till 17th July 1780–730 days at 6/4 P. Day— £. 231.3.4–also for his services as a Quarter Master from 15th August 1778 till first March 1779–198 days at 3/2 is £. 31.7.” Clark had given Daniel Murray a draft for $600 on 15 August 1778 and another for $192 on 20 December of the same year, but these must have been in exchange for military supplies rather than for his service as a commissary (ibid., pp. 274, 275, 400; Journal of the House of Delegates description begins Journal of the House of Delegates of Virginia, March 1781 Session in Bulletin of the Virginia State Library, XVII, No. 1 (January 1928). description ends , May 1781, p. 27; Journals of the Council of State description begins H. R. McIlwaine et al., eds., Journals of the Council of the State of Virginia (Richmond, 1931——). description ends , II, 361–62; III, 62–63).

6. The opening of this paragraph, which in its entirety is merely a preamble to the service mentioned in the next paragraph, would have been clearer in meaning if Murray had written. “Both during Clark’s residence in the country and after his departure, when Montgomery succeeded to immediate command, your Memorialist.…” For John Montgomery, see Papers of Madison description begins William T. Hutchinson, William M. E. Rachal, et al., eds., The Papers of James Madison (2 vols. to date; Chicago, 1962——). description ends , I, 277, n. 11.

7. On 16 May 1779 Clark appointed Leonard Helm to be superintendent of Indian affairs in the Department of Vincennes (James A. James, ed., George Rogers Clark Papers, 1771–1781, p. 307). Although the Kickapoos lived principally in the region between the Rock and Illinois rivers, they ranged eastward to the Wabash River within the district of Vincennes (Clarence W. Alvord, ed., Kaskaskia Records, pp. 333–34; James A. James, ed., George Rogers Clark Papers, 1771–1781, p. 431).

8. Probably the accounts of Montgomery were still unsettled, because the bills of exchange bearing his signature had not yet been countersigned by the absent Clark, as the governor and Council of State required. The General Assembly would not determine the scale of depreciation to be applied to previously contracted debts until 5 January 1782 (Hening, Statutes description begins William Waller Hening, ed., The Statutes at Large; Being a Collection of All the Laws of Virginia, from the First Session of the Legislature, in the Year 1619 (13 vols.; Richmond and Philadelphia, 1819–23). description ends , X, 471–74; Journal of the House of Delegates description begins Journal of the House of Delegates of Virginia, March 1781 Session in Bulletin of the Virginia State Library, XVII, No. 1 (January 1928). description ends , October 1781, p. 74).

9. This was late in the spring of 1780 (James A. James, ed., George Rogers Clark Papers, 1771–1781, pp. cxxiv, 404–6, 422).

10. After serving two years as a lieutenant in Tidewater Virginia, John Rogers (1757–1794), a cousin of George Rogers Clark, was transferred to Captain Helm’s company in the West. In the spring of 1779 he returned to Virginia as a member of the guard escorting Lieutenant Governor Henry Hamilton and other British prisoners of war to Williamsburg. Promoted to the rank of captain, Rogers recruited a troop of cavalry for service in the West. During much of the autumn of 1780 and throughout the winter of 1781, he commanded the military forces in the Illinois country. Neither his rule nor that of John Montgomery, whom he had succeeded, was relished by the inhabitants. Rogers resigned his commission in February 1782 and returned to Virginia (Journals of the Council of State description begins H. R. McIlwaine et al., eds., Journals of the Council of the State of Virginia (Richmond, 1931——). description ends , II, 438; III, 268; Papers of Madison description begins William T. Hutchinson, William M. E. Rachal, et al., eds., The Papers of James Madison (2 vols. to date; Chicago, 1962——). description ends , I, 262; McIlwaine, Official Letters description begins H. R. McIlwaine, ed., Official Letters of the Governors of the State of Virginia (3 vols.; Richmond, 1926–29). description ends , II, 86, 94; James A. James, ed., George Rogers Clark Papers, 1771–1781, pp. 362, 372–73, 391, 408–9, 545–46; ibid., 1781–1784, pp. 12, n. 2; 21, n. 1; Clarence W. Alvord, ed., Kaskaskia Records, pp. 206–42, passim, pp. 338–40).

11. Not found.

12. Either Pedro Piernas or, if Murray reached New Orleans late in May 1781, Estevan Miró. These two men served successively as acting commandants and acting governors of Louisiana during the absence of Bernardo de Gálvez (Stanley Faye, “The Arkansas Post of Louisiana: Spanish Domination,” Louisiana Historical Quarterly, XXVII [1944], 665–79).

13. The circumstances of Daniel Murray’s capture and release have not been determined.

14. “Brother in this City” may mean that William Murray had returned, at least temporarily, from the Illinois country. Although a William Murray was allegedly living in Kaskaskia in 1786 (Clarence W. Alvord, ed., Kaskaskia Records, p. 423), “W. Murray of Philadelphia,” while on his way to that city from Richmond, on 22 January signed a letter which was published in The Virginia Gazette, or, the American Advertiser (Richmond: Hayes) on 4 February 1786. Murray undoubtedly was in Philadelphia in January and June of that year, but thereafter no certain trace of him has been found (William V. Byars, ed., B. and M. Gratz, Merchants in Philadelphia, pp. 232, 374). Mr. Byars assumed that the William Murray who became a leading Federalist lawyer in Kentucky in the 1790’s was the same person as “W. Murray of Philadelphia” (ibid., p. 376, and n. 2), but the present editors have found no primary source material to support this belief.

On 23 June 1783 the western commissioners, mentioned in n. 5 above, accepted for payment by Virginia six bills of exchange totaling $8,074⅔, drawn by Colonel Montgomery in favor of Daniel Murray on various dates in July and October 1780. This total included the $1,590 referred to by Murray in his next paragraph. By adding the $1,590 to $6,484⅔, Murray’s total agrees with that of the bills laid before the commissioners. After applying to each of the separate bills either the “State” or the “Illinois Scale of Depreciation” (Journal of the House of Delegates description begins Journal of the House of Delegates of Virginia, March 1781 Session in Bulletin of the Virginia State Library, XVII, No. 1 (January 1928). description ends , May 1783, p. 73), the commissioners recommended to the treasurer of Virginia that Murray be paid about £44 in specie (James A. James, ed., George Rogers Clark Papers, 1781–1784, pp. 397–98).

15. In response to a petition from Murray asking for the above sum and further remuneration, the General Assembly in December 1785 referred the matter to the governor and Council of State for decision (Journal of the House of Delegates description begins Journal of the House of Delegates of Virginia, March 1781 Session in Bulletin of the Virginia State Library, XVII, No. 1 (January 1928). description ends , October 1785, pp. 75, 94). On 12 January 1786 they advised the auditors of Virginia to issue Murray a warrant for £44 2d., together with interest on that sum from 23 June 1783, when the western commissioners had reached their decision about his bills of exchange. He was asked to present vouchers within “a reasonable time” for any additional sums which the state might justly owe him (Journals of the Council of State description begins H. R. McIlwaine et al., eds., Journals of the Council of the State of Virginia (Richmond, 1931——). description ends , III, 503, 508, 511, 535–36).