RC (DNA: RG 233, PM, 8th Cong., 1st sess.); endorsed by a clerk. PrC (DLC). Recorded in SJL with notation “Zachariah Cox.” Enclosures: (1) Extract of a letter from Governor Winthrop Sargent to Secretary of State Timothy Pickering, Mississippi Territory, 20 Aug. 1798, stating that an armed party under the command of Zachariah Cox was planning to assume control of the territory for the state of Georgia; Sargent arrested and confined Cox and requests instructions from the president on how to proceed; in support of his actions, Sargent encloses copies of six documents: a letter from James Wilkinson to Sargent, Massac, 2 Aug. 1798, informing the governor that boats carrying Zachariah Cox and 35 men have passed the post by river, but that Cox had also landed an armed force to pass overland below the post in violation of the act regulating trade with the Indians, also warning that Cox is a “usurper” at the head of an “extensive confederacy” and urging his arrest before passing Natchez; R. Buntin to Wilkinson, Fort Massac, 1 Aug. 1798, in response to Wilkinson’s command to investigate the town of Smithland, Kentucky, on the Ohio River between the mouths of the Tennessee and Cumberland, found that six militia companies had been formed there under Kentucky law and were fortifying the place in expectation of an attempt by the United States to dislodge them under the pretext that the town is on Indian territory, that Cox was determined to force his way past Massac if necessary, that settlers have been promised a town lot in Smithland and 1,000 acres at Muscle Shoals; Major Thomas Gist to the commandant at New Madrid, from Smithland, 30 May 1798, stating that he is in command at Smithland, which was founded by Cox in February and which now contains 350 inhabitants who plan to pursue agriculture and commerce and to establish friendly intercourse with all their neighbors; Colonel Moses Shelby to Captain William Compton, 5 July 1798, authorizing Compton to muster his company when he thinks proper to maintain good order, and in all cases of insurrection or invasion to hold himself in readiness “to pursue the enemies of the regiment,” but also to remain accountable to Kentucky law and Shelby’s immediate orders; warrant signed by M. Mitchell, Smithland, 1 June 1798, appointing Jeremiah Wheeler a sergeant in Mitchell’s “company of emigrants” at Smithland and allowing him 500 acres of land in addition to the “common allowance” of land granted on the great bend of the Tennessee River; Sargent to Captain Isaac Guion, Concord House near Natchez, 18 Aug. 1798, requesting that he immediately apprehend and confine Cox and hold him at Natchez until he receives further instructions. (2) Sargent to Governor Manuel Gayoso de Lemos, Natchez, 28 Sep. 1798, informing Gayoso that Cox, who had been arrested at Natchez “for the most atrocious misdemeanors, some of them tending to involve the United States in a war with Spain,” escaped his confinement on 26 Sep. and is said to have fled to New Orleans; Sargent requests that Gayoso arrest Cox if found in Spanish territory and return him to the United States. (3) Proclamation by Sargent, Natchez, 7 Nov. 1798, offering a $300 reward for the apprehension and return of Cox, who had been arrested and confined “for high crimes and misdemeanors against the United States.” (4) Extract of a letter from Pickering to Sargent, 10 Dec. 1798, stating that Cox’s actions, as described by Sargent, appear to be infringements on Indian lands in violation of law, and Cox and his followers may be arrested in any state or territory in which they are found; the “only question that occurs is, whether the warrant of arrest was issued on adequate proof of the offence,” asks Pickering, adding that such proof, “it is hoped, will be timely found” (Trs in DNA: RG 233, PM, 8th Cong., 1st sess.; printed in ASP description begins American State Papers: Documents, Legislative and Executive, of the Congress of the United States, Washington, D.C., 1832-61, 38 vols. description ends , Miscellaneous, 1:358-61).