From George Washington to Henry Knox, 4 April 1794
To Henry Knox
Philadelphia 4th Apl 1794
Sir,
Your letter of this date, enclosing one from Captn Williamson, is received. I have never entertained any doubt myself of the genuineness of the Speech which is published as Lord Dorchester’s; nor of the intentions of the B—— Government to keep this Country in a state of disquietude With the Indian nations; and also to alter the boundary between them and us, if, by any means, they can effect it.
For this reason, I repeat in this manner, what I have two or three times done before, verbally, that Genl Chapin should be instructed to leave no means unessayed to keep the Six Nations well disposed towards the U.S.—and to buy Captn B——t off at almost any price.1 Captn Williamson affords, I presume, a Safe conveyance to him Yrs &ca
Go. Washington
ALS, sold (1973) by Kenneth W. Rendell, Inc., catalog 86, item 155, p. 67; ADfS, DLC:GW; LB, DLC:GW.
1. Israel Chapin, Sr., served as the U.S. Indian agent to the Iroquois Indians. Mohawk leader Joseph Brant, who had fought on the side of the British during the Revolutionary War, was involved in the U.S. attempt to negotiate a peace treaty with the Indians in the Northwest Territory (Knox to Tobias Lear, 19 July 1793, n.1, and Knox to GW, 10 Aug. 1793, n.1).