Henry Knox to Tobias Lear, 16 June 1792
Henry Knox to Tobias Lear
[Philadelphia, 16 June 1792].1 Asks Lear “to submit the enclosed letter from Genl Chapin, to the President of the United States.2 Capt. Brant will be here by tuesday, at furthest, in the judgement of the express who has just arrived.”3
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 to GW, 21 Mar., and Knox to GW, 22 April 1792, n.3.
1. Although the dockets on the ALS and the letter-book copy both read 17 June 1792, Knox wrote “Saturday Morng” at the bottom of the ALS, indicating that this letter was written on 16 June.
2. Israel Chapin’s letter to Knox has not been identified.
3. The “judgement” of the express notwithstanding, Knox was forced to write Lear again on Wednesday, 20 June, to inform him that “Captain [Joseph] Brandt will be here to morrow. I have made arrangements for his reception—Colonel [Thomas] Procter and Major [John] Stagg will meet him at Bristol with four of the City horse—upon his arrival 13 Guns” (DLC:GW). Knox informed Lear on the next day that “Capt. Brant and myself will have the honor to wait on the President at 12 oClock today—The President can then arrange any other day he shall judge proper” (DLC:GW; because the ALS of Knox’s letter to Lear of 21 June was mistakenly docketed as having been written on Tuesday, 26 June 1792, both the ALS and the letter-book copy of this letter in DLC:GW are filed under that date).