1To John Adams from James Wilkinson, 29 March 1797 (Adams Papers)
I take the Liberty to deposite in your Hands, a rude manuscript map, which embraces a part of the Spanish provinces of Louisiana, Texhas, St. Anders, & St. a Fee, in the audience of New Gallicia; & Kingdom of Mexico,— This work, accomplished by deep Intrigue, under heavy pecuniary losses, & six years of perilous Action, may be considered as a foundation of some thing more extensive & more...
2To John Adams from James Wilkinson, 20 December 1797 (Adams Papers)
To justify to our Country and to the world your protection of me at a moment when and powerful enemies were combined to destroy me by implications which dare not meet the light, I profess before God and Man is among the leading motives of all my acting— The death of General Wayne silenced an investigation which I had much at heart, because it would have unfolded Scenes and circumstances...
3To John Adams from James Wilkinson, 24 December 1797 (Adams Papers)
At the particular desire of the Bearer, the Miamis Chief called the little Turtle, I give Him this Letter of Introduction to you; His consequence among the Nations, approximate to one North Western frontier, gave Him pretensions to this distinction, I have deemed it political to indulge Him, and hope the Step may not be displeasing to you.— To the details which I have given the Secretary of...
4To John Adams from James Wilkinson, 26 December 1797 (Adams Papers)
To justify to our Country & to the World, your protection of me at a moment, when numerous & powerful Enemies were combined to destroy me, by implications which dare not meet the light, I profess before God & Man, is among the leading Motives of all my Actions. The Death of General Wayne silenced an investigation, which I had much at Heart, because it would have unfolded Scenes &...
5To John Adams from James Wilkinson, 24 February 1798 (Adams Papers)
I have received the enestimable Letter, which you condescended to write to me on the 4th of the present month—I am oppressed by your goodness to me, & I fail of utterance, adequate to my sensibilities.— Bound to you by duty, by principle, by patriotism, by gratitude, and all the subordinate Interests & attachments of the human Mind, what can be so grateful to my Heart & my Head as your...
6To John Adams from James Wilkinson, 13 August 1798 (Adams Papers)
The motives which prompt me to this intrusion, will I hope apologise for it.— Regard to the welfare of an honest Man, & in his station a faithful officer, (who has served under my observation for six Years past, & suffered much in Constitution) induces me to take the Liberty, of, presenting the Bearer Mr. Saml Henly to your consideration, who goes on furlough to his native air of Boston, for...
7To John Adams from James Wilkinson, 18 February 1799 (Adams Papers)
Ensign Peyton of the 1st. Regiment: will have the Honor to present this to you; ill Health obliges Him to retire from this Climate, more dangerous to us, than the swords of our neighbours.— A desire to be made known to you Sir, as natural as it is commendable, imboldons me to indulge Mr. Peytons request. By the medium of this note, and the assurance, that this Young officer is valuable in his...
8To John Adams from James Wilkinson, 27 September 1799 (Adams Papers)
With a sense the most respectful, I presume to intrude the documents enclosed on the President’s attention, in the hope that they may serve to amuse a leisure hour. The first is an imperfect register of the trading vessels, which passed our barrier post on the Mississippi during a short period, and is evidential of the progressive population and improvement of our Western Country, which sent...
9To John Adams from James Wilkinson, 12 September 1804 (Adams Papers)
During a Conversation which I had the Honor to hold with you, soon after your Inauguration in the Year 1797., I mentioned the circumstance of our little army being at that period, without an Established Uniform for the officers; you expressed surprise at the irregularity of the Fact, & to remedy the defect, directed me to make the necessary regulations.— I think it probable that an incident so...
10To John Adams from James Wilkinson, 12 September 1804 (Adams Papers)
I rely on your goodness to pardon me for this intrusion, which springs from my solicitude to preserve inviolate, as far as may be in my power, the sound principles by which Military institutions are governed. A single Officer (Col. Butler) not long since, resisted an order for regulating the Uniform of the Head; standing alone in apposition to his Brethren & the universal practice of armies,...
11To John Adams from James Wilkinson, 26 July 1824 (Adams Papers)
By the publick Prints I occasionally hear of your continued existence, amidst the plaudits of a grateful Country, & exemption from any of the grievous infirmities of Old Age Yet as the debt of Nature must be paid, this tresspass is directed rather at than to you, and is intended to introduce to you, Col. G. L. Dawson, The Maternal Grand-son, of your Old Antagonist the Earl of Bute; whom you...
12To Alexander Hamilton from James Wilkinson, 15 April 1799 (Hamilton Papers)
It is in consequence of an order from the Minister of War received on the 4th. Inst., that I have now the Honor to begin my correspondence with you. Accustomed to the frankness of a Soldier, nothing less than the fear of incurring the imputation of adulation or of impertinence could prevent the expression of my feelings on the occasion, but altho I wave professions, I may express the high...
13To Alexander Hamilton from James Wilkinson, 20 April 1799 (Hamilton Papers)
It was not before the last Evening, I had the Honor to receive your Letter of the 12th. Febry: altho the messenger who brought it, delivered me philadelphia Papers, as late as the 8th: Ultimo. I regret the delay but cannot account for it. I wrote you five Days since Fort Washington on the Ohio, & now enclose you a duplicate of that Dispatch, by a confidential half-bred Indian, who will bear...
14To Alexander Hamilton from James Wilkinson, 25 April 1799 (Hamilton Papers)
A confidential opportunity having offered to New Orleans, I avail myself of it, to give you the following extract from a Letter just recd. from Governor Gayoso & dated the 15th Inst. “Your instructions to Captn Shaum Burgh, are not only according to the strictest discipline, but they show your Genls. evident disposition, to cultivate the best understanding between our Nations. “The party...
15To Alexander Hamilton from James Wilkinson, 24 May 1799 (Hamilton Papers)
Natchez [ Mississippi Territory ] May 24, 1799 . “Immediately after I received your Letter of the 12th: Feby: I dispatched an Express over land to Mobile, to gain intelligence of the Detachment, which had marched to take post on that River.… The Night before the last, I had the satisfaction to receive assurances from the Commanding officer, that He had reached the point of his destination …...
16To Alexander Hamilton from James Wilkinson, 6 June 1799 (Hamilton Papers)
I arrived here on the 3rd Inst. & expect to Embark on the 10th. directly for the port of your residence. I have Offered two & would have given four hundred do⟨l⟩lars for a passage in the Sloop which bears this as she is reputed a good sailer, but find myself excluded by a band of Kentuckeans, who anticipated my application. Contrary to my expectations I do not find an armed Vessel in port, &...
17To Alexander Hamilton from James Wilkinson, 3 July 1799 (Hamilton Papers)
Balise, Mouth of the Mississippi, July 3, 1799. “I reached this place the 30th. Ultimo where we are detained for a Wind to pass the Bar.… Immediately after my Arrival At New Orleans, I droped you a line by a Sloop, bound directly to New York, and I send this by the Schooner two Brothers bound to Baltimore. I am on Board the Willm. of Charlestown bound to London, to touch at the Port of your...
18To Alexander Hamilton from James Wilkinson, 16 August 1799 (Hamilton Papers)
I send you the only Letter Book I have with me—unfortunately the most material one has been left behind. The inaccuracies of the copiest may be readily excused, but the frivolity & fallibility of Intellect, too current in my correspondence with the Minister, will require an exertion of your indulgence. My humiliation has been profound, my sufferings exquisite, whether justly or unjustly you...
19To Alexander Hamilton from James Wilkinson, [26 August 1799] (Hamilton Papers)
Brigr. Gen. Wilkinson has the Honor to transmit Majr. Genl Hamilton, an original communication from the Officer commanding Fort Massac, near the Mouth of the Ohio River, which appears to Him to merit some attention. He sends the Original, because the retention of it, is important to the Brigadier, & may be most properly deposited with the Majr. General. The debauch & consequent absence of the...
20To Alexander Hamilton from James Wilkinson, August 1799 (Hamilton Papers)
Genl. Hamilton will find in the “Reglemens pour L’infanterie Prussienne” many substantial principles of duty & of service, inapplicable perhaps to our Modes of thinking & acting, but susceptible of modification. Brig Genl. W. begs leave to refer to the Chapter on “Subordination” in the second Volume particularly—and will be obliged by General Hamiltons attention to the Letter for Lt. Boote. AL...
21To Alexander Hamilton from James Wilkinson, 2 September 1799 (Hamilton Papers)
Indisposition Sir has prevented my seeing you, since the day before the last. I have a terible Cold, caught I know not how. If the Ministers report be correct, & it accords with my own information, & that of the adjutant Generals Office—the 1st. and 2d. Regiments want each two Mates, and the 3d. and 4th. each one, to compleat the Establishment, which should I humbly conceive be appointed, &...
22To Alexander Hamilton from James Wilkinson, 6 September 1799 (Hamilton Papers)
I have the Honor to submit to your Consideration, a rough delineation of the Maritime Coast of the United States, and those parts of the interior of our Country, which lay contiguous to the Dominions of Great Britain and Spain, as far North as the “Saut de St. Marie,” with the intention to exhibit to you, at one View, the Military posts occupied at this time by the several Powers, and such as...
23To Alexander Hamilton from James Wilkinson, 12 October 1799 (Hamilton Papers)
[ Trenton, October 12, 1799. On October 31, 1799, Hamilton wrote to Wilkinson and referred to “your several communications of the 12th. 15. 19th. & 27 instant.” Letter of October 12 not found. ]
24To Alexander Hamilton from James Wilkinson, 15 October 1799 (Hamilton Papers)
[ Trenton, October 15, 1799. On October 31, 1799, Hamilton wrote to Wilkinson and referred to “your several communications of the 12th. 15. 19th. & 27 instant.” Letter of October 15 not found. ]
25To Alexander Hamilton from James Wilkinson, 19 October 1799 (Hamilton Papers)
[ New York, October 19 1799. On October 31, 1799, Hamilton wrote to Wilkinson and acknowledged receipt of Wilkinson’s “several communications of the … 13th. 15. 19th. & 27 instant.” Letter of October 19 not found. ]
26To Alexander Hamilton from James Wilkinson, 27 October 1799 (Hamilton Papers)
[ New York, October 27, 1799. On October 31, 1799, Hamilton wrote to Wilkinson and acknowledged receipt of Wilkinson’s “several communications of the … 13th. 15. 19th. & 27 instant.” Letter of October 27 not found. ]
27To Alexander Hamilton from James Wilkinson, 12 November 1799 (Hamilton Papers)
I arrived here on Saturday & shall proceed on my Journey the 15th., and expect to reach Norfolk on the 20th. I take the Liberty to submit the enclosed to you from Lt Claiborne, who stands for a Company in place of Kreemer disgraced, and to advise that He should receive recruiting Instructions, in order to compleat his Command—altho unauthorized I can not forbear offering the Opinion, that the...
28To Alexander Hamilton from James Wilkinson, 21 November 1799 (Hamilton Papers)
Your Letter respecting Hamtramck & Lt Claiborne, has come to Hand & is the last I have received from you. I left Phila. the 16th. Inst, arrived here the 17th. & shall sail Tomorrow in the Vessel intended for me, requiring so much time for equipment. From some conversation with the Secy of War, the Day before I left Phila. I fear the proposed organization of the four old Regts: will be cut up,...
29To Alexander Hamilton from James Wilkinson, 21 November 1799 (Hamilton Papers)
It is a truth, that in the variety of my Life, I have very seldom experienced so essential a privation, as the loss of your Society. I should find difficulty in the discrimination, but you have Interests about you, which I have never discovered in another, matter to captivate the understanding, & manner to charm the Heart—pardon this effusion of grateful Friendship, since it gives pleasure to...
30To Alexander Hamilton from James Wilkinson, 15 December 1799 (Hamilton Papers)
Soon after writing you from Baltimore on the 21st Ulto. I discovered that Capt Geddes, who commands the vessel in which I sail, had been deceived in his calculation of time necessary to prepare for Sea, and he did not leave Baltimore until the 29th, nor reach this place until the 9th Inst., where the Store Brig had been waiting for us more than two weeks. Capt. Geddes found it necessary to...