RC (DLC); above postscript: “President of the United States”; endorsed by TJ as received 16 Nov. and so recorded in SJL; also endorsed by TJ: “referred to the Secretary at war to be answered as he thinks proper Th:J.”

Mr. Brown was probably a relative of Ellicott’s wife, Sarah Brown Ellicott, originally of Newton, Pennsylvania (ANB description begins John A. Garraty and Mark C. Carnes, eds., American National Biography, New York and Oxford, 1999, 24 vols. description ends ).

Ellicott hoped to observe the occultation of the star Epsilon Piscium (that is, the fifth-brightest star of the constellation Pisces) by the moon, which was in that constellation in the middle of November. Ellicott made various astronomical observations during his residence at Lancaster, Pennsylvania, with the particular intention of determining the town’s longitude. Earlier in the year he sent TJ details of his observation of another star’s occultation, which Ellicott used along with other data to find the longitude of Washington, D.C. (An Almanack, for the Year 1801; Containing, Besides the Usual Astronomical Calculations, the Gardener’s Calendar [Frankfort, Ky., 1800?]; Evans description begins Charles Evans, Clifford K. Shipton, and Roger P. Bristol, comps., American Bibliography: A Chronological Dictionary of All Books, Pamphlets and Periodical Publications Printed in the United States of America from … 1639 … to … 1820, Chicago and Worcester, Mass., 1903–59, 14 vols. description ends , No. 36804; APS description begins American Philosophical Society description ends , Transactions, 6 [1809], 61–9, 113–19; APS description begins American Philosophical Society description ends , Proceedings, 22, pt. 3 [1884], 321; Vol. 33:580–2).