1. Anthony Wayne had defeated the northwest Indians at the Battle of Fallen Timbers on 20 Aug. 1794. Wayne was currently involved in creating a formal peace agreement expected to take place on 15 June. For additional details, see Edmund Randolph to GW, 30 Sept. 1794, and n.1; GW to Edmund Pendleton, 22 Jan. 1795, and n.3; and Pickering to Bartholomew Dandridge, Jr., 28 February.

Wayne’s letter of 12 Feb. (number 92) to Henry Knox, then secretary of war, announced that on 24 Jan. “the Chepawas Ottawas, Pulawatimes, Saukeys & Miamis, had sued for peace.” In addition, Blue Jacket and several chiefs and warriors of the Shawnees and Delawares had arrived at his headquarters at Fort Greene Ville on 7 Feb. with the intent of establishing peace.

Wayne enclosed a summary of the Indians’ speeches and a copy of the preliminary articles he had made with those nations “in behalf of themselves & the Miamis lately inhabiting the banks of The Miamis & AuGlaize Rivers.” Wayne considered the accompanying documents “the best criterian for you to form a judgment—whether they are sincere in their professions of peace & friendship or not.” The general then confided to Knox that he was “rather inclined to believe that they now seriously wish for a Permanent peace, altho’ Tarhe’s signal flag has not yet arrived, however I am confident it will soon appear.”

Wayne cautioned Knox: “The only thing now to be apprehended is the want of a sufficient number of troops to hold their posts & to cover the treaty.” He confessed that such a concern “gives me much uneasiness—For at this late hour I have no information of anything being done by Congress for the Completion of the Legion—or for reenlisting or retaining the troops now on this spot—or for supplying their places with Militia—which wou’d be a wretched—perhaps a Dangerous substitute, at this Crisis” (PHi: Wayne Papers; see also Knopf, Wayne, description begins Richard C. Knopf, ed. Anthony Wayne, a Name in Arms: Soldier, Diplomat, Defender of Expansion Westward of a Nation; The Wayne-Knox-Pickering-McHenry Correspondence. Pittsburgh, 1960. description ends 384–85).

On 4 April, Bartholomew Dandridge, Jr., wrote Pickering: “by the Presidents order Bw. Dandridge respectfully returns to The Secy of War Genl Wayne’s Letter of the 12. Feby with its enclosures” (ADf, DLC:GW).

2. Pickering was referring to “An Act in addition to the act entitled ‘An act to regulate the pay of the non-commissioned officers, musicians and privates of the Militia of the United States, when called into actual service, and for other purposes.’” The earlier act of 2 Jan. provided a bounty paid to soldiers who re-enlisted, but only after the “first day of January next.” The act of 29 Jan. arranged for the effective date of the bounty to begin on 2 Jan. 1795 (1 Stat. description begins Richard Peters, ed. The Public Statutes at Large of the United States of America, from the Organization of the Government in 1789, to March 3, 1845 . . .. 8 vols. Boston, 1845-67. description ends 409, 414). Pickering’s letter to Wayne of 31 Jan. is in PHi: Wayne Papers.