1Henry Knox to Tobias Lear, 24 January 1791 (Washington Papers)
I send by the bearer for the use of the President of the United States, a set of the Atlantic Neptune in three volumes folio, and a volume of the West India Atlas, which I imported from the England for public service—I have only to request that your would please to sign the duplicate receipts herein enclosed. I am Dear sir Your humble servant LS , DLC:GW ; LB , DLC:GW . This letter accompanied...
2Henry Knox to Tobias Lear, 25 February 1791 (Washington Papers)
I omitted to day to ask the President’s approbation of Colo. Pickering, as quarter master of the proposed expedition. Will you mention it to him, and let me know the result! Because, if he should approve the idea, it will be necessary to dispatch an express to Colo. Pickering with the Offer. I am Dear Sir, Your humble Servt LS , DLC:GW ; LB , DLC:GW . Knox apparently met with GW on 25 Feb. to...
3Henry Knox to Tobias Lear, 11 July 1791 (Washington Papers)
Philadelphia, 11 July [1791]. Requests that “some information just received by express” be submitted to the president; “After he shall have perused them I will wait upon him to receive his orders.” LS , DLC:GW ; LB , DLC:GW . A docket on the original receiver’s copy and a note at the bottom of the letter-book copy identify the enclosures as dispatches from Maj. Gen. Richard Butler at Fort...
4Henry Knox to Tobias Lear, 19 November 1791 (Washington Papers)
You mention in yours of last evening, the blanks for the commissioners to run the Cherokee line will be filled by the names agreed upon this day. The following characters were mentioned by me to Mr Hawkins yesterday, who seemed to think them entirely suitable for the purpose, to wit, Judge Campbell. Daniel Smith—the Secretary of the territory. and, Colonel Landon Carter. Will you be so good as...
5Henry Knox to Tobias Lear, 30 November 1791 (Washington Papers)
I transmit, enclosed, a letter intended for General St Clair, which is submitted for the approbation of the President of the United States; and I will call upon the President, to morrow, after he has returned from riding, about half after twelve, to receive his commands thereon, and upon another subject. I am, Dear Sir, Yours sincerely LS , DLC:GW ; LB , DLC:GW . The enclosed draft has not...
6Henry Knox to Tobias Lear, 13 December 1791 (Washington Papers)
Philadelphia, 13 Dec. 1791. “Mr Kirkland seems desirous that the President . . . should peruse his plan relatively to the Oneida indians, and I therefore send it accordingly.” LS , DLC:GW ; LB , DLC:GW . The enclosed plan of the Rev. Samuel Kirkland, missionary to the Oneida Indians since 1766, probably was his “Plan of Education for the Indians, Particularly of the Five Nations,” which he...
7Henry Knox to Tobias Lear, 21 January 1792 (Washington Papers)
Philadelphia, Saturday Evening, 21 Jan. 1792. Please submit the enclosed to the president; “I suspect the letter signed by the Cornplanter to have been written by the Mr Baldwin therein named.” ALS , DLC:GW ; LB , DLC:GW . The enclosed letter from Cornplanter has not been identified. It might have been a reply to the letter Henry Knox sent Cornplanter on 7 Jan. 1792 by Lt. John Jeffers...
8Henry Knox to Tobias Lear, 31 January 1792 (Washington Papers)
War Department, Philadelphia, 31 Jan. 1792. Please submit to the president the enclosed papers, received this day from General St. Clair. “If it should be the judgemt of the President, the letter of Genl St Clair may be published.” ALS , DLC:GW ; LB , DLC:GW . Tobias Lear replied to Henry Knox on this date, enclosing the monthly returns, noting that the president wished to have an accurate...
9Henry Knox to Tobias Lear, 3 February 1792 (Washington Papers)
Philadelphia, Tuesday Evening, 3 Feb. 1792. Submits to the president the bill that has passed the House for his remarks as well as a letter from Mr. Kirkland of 17 Jan. and reports “All quiet at Fort Pitt on the 27th ultimo.” ALS , DLC:GW ; LB , DLC:GW . On 1 Feb. 1792 the U.S. House of Representatives passed by a vote of 29 to 19 a bill “for making farther and more effectual provision for the...
10Henry Knox to Tobias Lear, 16 February 1792 (Washington Papers)
I will wait upon the President after Breakfast, and at half past eight tomorrow Morning being desirous of finishing all things relative to the cherokees this evening—They will depart on Saturday, will it be Convenient for the President to bid them farewell at 12 oClock tomorrow? I am Yours sincerely ALS , DLC:GW ; LB , DLC:GW . For the background to this letter, see Henry Knox to GW, 17 Jan....
11Henry Knox to Tobias Lear, 17 February 1792 (Washington Papers)
Philadelphia, 17 Feb. 1792. Submits a draft of a letter to Alexander McGillivray for the president’s approval or correction; “please to return it as it is necessary to be given to Mr Shaw.” ALS , DLC:GW ; LB , DLC:GW . Leonard Shaw was about to leave for the Southwest with the departing Cherokee delegation (see Knox to Lear, 16 Feb. 1792, source note ). Tobias Lear returned to the secretary of...
12Henry Knox to Tobias Lear, 19 March 1792 (Washington Papers)
Will you be so good as to inform the President of the United States, that French Peter, who was in France with the Marquis, died last night, and that he will be buried to morrow —This event will prevent, according to their customs, their waiting on the President until thursday 12 o’clock. I am Dear Sir, Yours LS , DLC:GW ; LB , DLC:GW . The Pennsylvania Gazette (Philadelphia) reported on 28...
13Henry Knox to Tobias Lear, 27 April 1792 (Washington Papers)
[Philadelphia] 27 April 1792. “I am unwilling to trouble the President with so many papers, but it seems necessary he should be acquainted with those what are now enclosed from Mr Seagrove, and from Govr Blount.” ALS , DLC:GW ; LB , DLC:GW . Knox had sent Lear on 26 April some unidentified papers to be submitted to the president ( DLC:GW ). The enclosures to this letter have not been...
14Henry Knox to Tobias Lear, 7 May 1792 (Washington Papers)
[Philadelphia] 7 May 1792. Asks Lear “to send me the Map of the tract to be reserved about fort Washington.” ALS , DLC:GW ; LB , DLC:GW . On 12 April 1792 GW had approved “An Act for ascertaining the bounds of a tract of land purchased by John Cleves Symmes,” which provided “That the President reserve to the United States such lands at and near Fort Washington as he may think necessary for the...
15Henry Knox to Tobias Lear, 3 June 1792 (Washington Papers)
[Philadelphia] 3 June 1792. Asks Lear “to inform the President of the United States that I propose to avail myself of his permission to go to New York by the early stage tomorrow Morning, and to return on thursday or at furthest on friday evening next.” ALS , DLC:GW ; LB , DLC:GW . Knox’s journey north apparently was a business trip. On Thursday, 7 June, Knox wrote his wife, Lucy Flucker Knox,...
16Henry Knox to Tobias Lear, 16 June 1792 (Washington Papers)
[Philadelphia, 16 June 1792]. Asks Lear “to submit the enclosed letter from Genl Chapin, to the President of the United States. Capt. Brant will be here by tuesday, at furthest, in the judgement of the express who has just arrived.” ALS , DLC:GW ; LB , DLC:GW . For the reasons for Joseph Brant’s delay in visiting Philadelphia, see GW to Knox, 25 Feb., source note and note 1 , Timothy Pickering...
17Henry Knox to Tobias Lear, 28 June 1792 (Washington Papers)
[Philadelphia] 28 June 1792. Asks Lear to submit to GW “the enclosed letters from Governor Blount, Mr Allison and Judge McNairn, and others, by which the train of affairs with the Cherokees will be discovered.” LS , DLC:GW ; LB , DLC:GW . On 16 May, Southwest Territory governor William Blount wrote Knox that he agreed with the secretary of war that a post should not be established at the mouth...
18Henry Knox to Tobias Lear, 5 July 1792 (Washington Papers)
[Philadelphia] 5 July 1792. Asks Lear to submit “the enclosed important papers from Mr Seagrovet” to GW. ALS , DLC:GW ; LB , DLC:GW . These enclosures have not been identified.
19Henry Knox to Tobias Lear, 27 October 1792 (Washington Papers)
The statement relatively to the Cherokees shall be made tomorrow, or next day at furthest —The intelligence received, this afternoon from Governor Blount renders alterations necessary. I submit this intelligence to the President in Governor Blounts Letter of the 7th instant, received at 3 oClock P.M. , together with certain Letters which I have written in consequence, to the Governors of South...
20Henry Knox to Tobias Lear, 23 November 1792 (Washington Papers)
Please to submit the enclosed letters from M. Genl Wayne to the President of the United States. When he shall have perused them, I pray they may be returned, with any remarks he may think proper, as I must answer them this day. Yours sincerely, ALS , DLC:GW ; LB , DLC:GW . “Your letters of the 14 and 16 instant,” Knox wrote Wayne on 24 Nov., “have been received and submitted to the president”...
21Henry Knox to Tobias Lear, 1 December 1792 (Washington Papers)
Be pleased to submit the enclosed letter to the President of the United States from Colonel Willet which I have just received. Yours sincerely ALS , DLC:GW ; LB , DLC:GW . The enclosed letter from Marinus Willett has not been identified.
22Henry Knox to Tobias Lear, 1 December 1792 (Washington Papers)
Be pleased to submit to the President of the United states, the enclosed from Genl Wayne. Yours sincerely ALS , DLC:GW ; LB , DLC:GW . In his letter to Anthony Wayne of 1 Dec., Knox acknowledged receiving on the previous day “your letter of the 23d November with the enclosures of a letter from Capt. Hughes and your correspondence with the Contractors” ( Knopf, Wayne, Richard C. Knopf, ed....
23Henry Knox to Tobias Lear, 6 December 1792 (Washington Papers)
Please to submit to the President of the United States, the enclosed letters, from Brigadier General Wilkinson and John Belli deputy quarter master—dated Oct: 4th and 8th 1792; which I have just received. Yours sincerely, LS , DLC:GW ; LB , DLC:GW . The enclosed letters from James Wilkinson and John Belli have not been identified.
24Henry Knox to Tobias Lear, 8 December 1792 (Washington Papers)
General Knox presents his compliments to Mr Lear, and begs the favor that he will submit to the President of the United States, the enclosed letters just received from the Governor of Georgia and Major Gaither. L , DLC:GW ; LB , DLC:GW . The enclosed letter from Georgia governor Edward Telfair was one that he wrote to Knox from Augusta on 20 Nov. 1792. “With respect to some late outrages...
25Henry Knox to Tobias Lear, 25 December 1792 (Washington Papers)
½ after ten oClock Xmas Evg My dear Sir [Philadelphia, 25 December 1792 ] Be pleased to submit some letters, or rather copies of Letters received this Evg from Genl Wilkinson. I beleive these are his highly confidential dispatches mentioned to Genl Wayne. In addition there are some returns of stores which I do not send. The Wabash Indians will Arrive tomorrow. Yours sincerely ALS , DLC:GW ; LB...
26Henry Knox to Tobias Lear, 4 January 1793 (Washington Papers)
Please to submit the enclosed letter of General Wayne —Two month’s pay will go as soon as the Bank can prepare the notes. The further pay must depend upon the settlement of accounts, or the payments will get into great disorder—As general Wayne has again sent for the cornplanter, the question is shall Col. Procter go upon that business? Please to return the papers after the President shall...
27Henry Knox to Tobias Lear, 11 January 1793 (Washington Papers)
Will you please to submit to the President of the United States the enclosed letters from major general Wayne, and to inform him that as the paymaster has arrived at head quarters, pay, to complete the army for the last year, will be prepared, and forwarded instantly. I am, dear Sir, Yours sincerely— LS , DLC:GW ; LB , DLC:GW . An entry in GW’s executive journal for 11 Jan. 1793 indicates GW’s...
28Henry Knox to Tobias Lear, 29 January 1793 (Washington Papers)
Please to submit to the President of the United States the enclosed draft of a speech for the Wabash indians. Yours sincerely— LS , DLC:GW ; LB , DLC:GW . Neither the enclosed draft nor the final version of GW’s address to the Wabash and Illinois Indians of 1 Feb. has been found. These Indians sent a delegation to Philadelphia following a council with Gen. Rufus Putnam in September 1792. After...
29Henry Knox to Tobias Lear, 3 February 1793 (Washington Papers)
Of the numerous petitions referred by Congress to me, very few on the first blush, have the appearance of equity so strongly as the enclosed. If the President would have the goodness to look at it, as his name is mentioned, he may perchance recollect something, which may be of service to a man, who states, that he did upon the strength of faith, perform good works for the United States, when...
30Henry Knox to Tobias Lear, 6 February 1793 (Washington Papers)
Please to submit the enclosed letters from Governors Moultrie and Blount to the President of the United States. Yours sincerely LS , DLC:GW ; LB , DLC:GW . Knox’s clerk dated this letter “6 April” on the LS . Lear correctly docketed it as having been written on “6 Feby 1793” and inserted “Feby” above “April” in the dateline. Gov. William Moultrie of South Carolina, in his letter to Knox of 14...
31Henry Knox to Tobias Lear, 9 February 1793 (Washington Papers)
Please to submit to the President of the United States, the enclosed proposed draft of a letter to Governor Blount. I am Sir Your humble servant LS , DLC:GW ; LB , DLC:GW . In the draft of his letter to William Blount, dated 8 Feb., Knox requested that the governor of the Southwest Territory convince “John Watts & other influential Chiefs of the Cherokee Nation” to come to Philadelphia for a...
32Henry Knox to Tobias Lear, 11 February 1793 (Washington Papers)
Colonel Louis of the Cagnahwagnas has come to town, he says with some information from Canada, which he is to let me know today. Shall I ask him to dine with the senecas, at the Presidents to day? Yours I have just recd yours, and the speech shall be submitted. ALS , DLC:GW ; LB , DLC:GW . For the information provided by Louis Cook, see Knox to Lear, 14 Feb., n.1. While in Philadelphia, Cook...
33Henry Knox to Tobias Lear, 14 February 1793 (Washington Papers)
As every thing explanatory of the disposition of the Northern and Western Indians is of importance at this moment, I submit to the President Colonel Louis’s speech, and also Hendricks information to Colonel Pickering and the opinion of the Colonel thereon. I also submit to the President Brigadier General Putnams resignation. I am Dear Sir Your humble servant LS , DLC:GW ; LB , DLC:GW . On...
34Henry Knox to Tobias Lear, 17 February 1793 (Washington Papers)
Please to submit the enclosed letters of the 27th ultimo from Genl Chapin, to the President, which I have just received. Yours ALS , DLC:GW ; LB , DLC:GW . Gen. Israel Chapin’s letters of 27 Jan. 1793, which contained information about “his Journey to Buffaloe Creek” in December 1792, have not been identified ( JPP, Dorothy Twohig, ed. The Journal of the Proceedings of the President, 1793–1797...
35Henry Knox to Tobias Lear, 24 February 1793 (Washington Papers)
I will wait upon the President as directed. I now enclose a letter and its enclosure, from Genl Wayne dated the 16th instant, which has been just received. Yours sincerely ALS , DLC:GW ; LB , DLC:GW . Knox is probably referring to GW’s request for a cabinet meeting on 25 Feb. ( Lear to Cabinet, 24 Feb. 1793 ). For the text of Gen. Anthony Wayne’s letter to Knox, see Knopf, Wayne, Richard C....
36Henry Knox to Tobias Lear, 28 February 1793 (Washington Papers)
I enclose you a copy of the President’s Note of this morning, and also two letters from Governor Blount—one dated the 24th of January, and the other the 1st of February, and also a letter from General Sevier of the 6th of February 1793. I am, Dear Sir, Your very humble Servt LS , DLC:GW ; LB , DLC:GW . See GW to Knox, 28 Feb. 1793 . William Blount, in his letter to Knox of 24 Jan., enclosed...
37Henry Knox to Tobias Lear, 24 March 1793 (Washington Papers)
Please to submit the enclosed letter, from Major Hamtramck previously to the Presidents departure. excuse my not endorsing them. ALS , DLC:GW ; LB , DLC:GW . Lear’s docket and the letter-book copy indicate that this letter was written on 24 March 1793, which was a Sunday. John Francis Hamtramck wrote two letters to Knox, both dated 6 February. Although neither letter has been identified, they...
38Henry Knox to Tobias Lear, 25 April 1793 (Washington Papers)
Please to submit the enclosed letters from Governor Telfair, & Lt Governor Wood, to the President of the United States. Yours sincerely ALS , DLC:GW ; LB , DLC:GW . Gov. Edward Telfair of Georgia, in his letter to Knox of 9 April, expressed “peculiar satisfaction” that the secretary of war was considering calling up the militia “in the event of general hostility” ( ASP, Indian Affairs, Walter...
39Henry Knox to Tobias Lear, 27 April 1793 (Washington Papers)
I submit to the President of the United States the enclosed draft of a message to the chickasaw Nation. If approved I propose to enclose it in a letter to General Wayne to go by the post this Morning. Yours ALS , DLC:GW ; LB , DLC:GW . GW ordered no alterations to Knox’s message. However, the president’s executive journal states that if given time, GW would have added an appeal for an alliance...
40Henry Knox to Tobias Lear, 3 May 1793 (Washington Papers)
Please to submit the enclosed letter to the President of the U.S. ALS , DLC:GW ; LB , DLC:GW . Lear’s docket indicates that this letter was written on 3 May 1793. In the enclosed letter of 27 April 1793, Gen. Anthony Wayne suggested to Knox that in order to ensure American military success against the Indians of the Northwest Territory, the United States should take possession of Forts Niagara...
41Henry Knox to Tobias Lear, 10 May 1793 (Washington Papers)
Be pleased to submit to the President of the United States the enclosed letters from General Wayne and Major Gaither —the former descended the Ohio on the 30th Ultimo and in all probability was at Fort Washington on the 6. instant. I am Dear Sir Your humble servant LS , DLC:GW ; LB , DLC:GW . For Anthony Wayne’s letter to Knox of 29 April, in which he reported on his army’s preparations to...
42Henry Knox to Tobias Lear, 10 May 1793 (Washington Papers)
Mr Allison has just arrived from Governor Blount with the enclosed letters. He says he thinks the Governor may be here in about three weeks. Yours sincerely ALS , DLC:GW ; LB , DLC:GW . David Allison was often the bearer of messages between William Blount in the Southwest Territory and officials in Philadelphia ( Extracts of Correspondence on Indian Affairs, October 1792, note 21 ). Blount’s...
43Henry Knox to Tobias Lear, 14 May 1793 (Washington Papers)
Please to submit to the President of the United States the enclosed letter, just received from Governor Lee, dated the 7th instant. Please to return it as soon as the President is done with it. I am, Your’s sincerely LS , DLC:GW ; LB , DLC:GW . Henry Lee, in his letter to Knox of 7 May, described the danger of Indian depredations along Virginia’s southwestern frontier and explained the need...
44Henry Knox to Tobias Lear, 18 May 1793 (Washington Papers)
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. I am my dear Sir Your humble servant LB , DLC:GW . The letters from William Blount to Knox of 18, 20,...
45Henry Knox to Tobias Lear, 25 May 1793 (Washington Papers)
Be pleased to submit the enclosed letters from Major Habersham, and Major Gaither to the President of the United States. Yours ALS , DLC:GW ; LB , DLC:GW . The letters from John Habersham to Knox of 23 and 29 April, which have not been identified, concerned the readiness of the Georgia militia ( JPP, Dorothy Twohig, ed. The Journal of the Proceedings of the President, 1793–1797 ....
46Henry Knox to Tobias Lear, 30 May 1793 (Washington Papers)
Be pleased to submit the enclosed letter just received from the Governor of Georgia. Yours ALS , DLC:GW ; LB , DLC:GW . Edward Telfair, in his letter to Knox of 8 May, reported that he had called for “immediate preparations of war,” following “horrid barbarities committed” by Indians in Georgia. For the complete text of this letter, as well as Knox’s response of 10 June, see ASP, Indian...
47Henry Knox to Tobias Lear, 30 May 1793 (Washington Papers)
Be pleased to submit to the President of the U.S., the enclosed reply of the accountant of the War department, to the accusation of Christian Beackly. Yours sincerely ALS , DLC:GW ; LB , DLC:GW . The complaint of Christian Beackley (1754–c.1801–3) of Philadelphia, who had served as a lieutenant in the Continental army during the Revolutionary War, has not been identified, but it may have been...
48Henry Knox to Tobias Lear, 31 May 1793 (Washington Papers)
Will you please to submit to the President of the United States, the enclosed extract of a letter from major Craig, dated at Pittsburg the 24th instant. Your’s sincerely LS , DLC:GW ; LB , DLC:GW . Maj. Isaac Craig (1746–1826) of Pennsylvania, a Revolutionary War veteran, served as deputy quartermaster general 1792–96. Craig’s letter to Knox of 24 May contained information on the state of...
49Henry Knox to Tobias Lear, 31 May 1793 (Washington Papers)
Agreably to the directions of the President of the United States I transmit you the minutes of the proceedings on the 29th instant. Please to inform the President that Colonel Willet declines the preferred Mission to the Creeks, on the ground, that his broken leg will not admit his bearing the fatigues of the Journey. I am Dear Sir Your affectionate humble Servant ALS , DLC:GW ; LB , DLC:GW ....
50Henry Knox to Tobias Lear, 4 June 1793 (Washington Papers)
please to inform me how the Presidents health is in this bad weather, and whether he can receive company today. Yours sincerely ALS , DLC:GW . For GW’s illness, see Lear to Jefferson, 31 May . The precise state of GW’s health is not known, but GW’s executive journal indicates that on this date Knox “put into my hands a letter” ( JPP Dorothy Twohig, ed. The Journal of the Proceedings of the...