To Thomas Jefferson from Hezekiah Rogers, 21 August 1804
From Hezekiah Rogers
Philadelphia 21. August 1804.
Sir,
I have the honor to inform you that this day Capt. Chouteau with the Chiefs of the Osage nation of Indians took their departure from this city for Pittsburgh, on their way to their own country.
We proceeded on our tour as far North as the city of New York, where we continued eight days.
During our journey the party enjoyed perfect health, and no untoward circumstance occurred to mar the pleasure of the natives, or to frustrate the object contemplated by government.
The principal villages and cities through which we passed, and individual citizens vied with each other in acts of hospitality and kindness and I am persuaded the impressions which have been made on the minds of the Indians are most favorable to the views and wishes of the Executive.
In executing the trust committed to me I have assiduously endeavored to effect the object intended, with as much frugality in my expenditures, as circumstances and the nature of that object would permit; and if, Sir, my well-intentioned exertions shall meet your approbation it will amply compensate me for the trouble and fatigue which I have experienced.
Tomorrow I purpose leaving this city for Washington.
I am, Sir, with very sincere Respect, Yr: obt: Servant
Hez: Rogers.
RC (ViW: Tucker-Coleman Collection); at foot of text: “The President of the United States”; endorsed by TJ as received 28 Aug. and so recorded in SJL.
Hezekiah Rogers (1753-1810) of Norwalk, Connecticut, was an aide-de-camp during the Revolutionary War and a delegate to the 1788 Connecticut ratifying convention. From 1789 until his resignation in 1793, he served as surveyor of the port of New Haven. Sometime before the federal government’s removal to Washington, Rogers took a post in the comptroller’s office of the Treasury Department. In 1801, he transferred to the War Department. He also served as the city’s military storekeeper throughout his time in Washington and was a member of the United States Military Philosophical Society (Linda Grant De Pauw and others, eds., Documentary History of the First Federal Congress, 22 vols. [Baltimore, 1972-2017], 2:487; , 1:10, 129; Merrill Jensen, John P. Kaminski, Gaspare J. Saladino, and others, eds., Documentary History of the Ratification of the Constitution, 28 vols. to date [Madison, Wis., 1976- ], 3:437, 561; , 9 [1906], 228-9; , 349; 3:63; Vol. 35:703, 706n; Rogers to TJ, 21 Nov. 1808).
During their visit to New York, the Osage delegation attended some demonstrations of the local militia, met with representatives of a missionary society who presented them with a Bible, and became star attractions at a pleasure garden in the city, where on the evening of 13 Aug. the Osages performed a war dance for “an immense concourse of people” and witnessed a fireworks display. One account of the event noted the “king’s deportment” as “majestic and easy” and described how White Hair “manifested a mark of civilization which we scarcely expected” in doffing his cap and bowing to the spectators. The reporter emphasized, however, “it was the singular and savage appearance of the other Indians naked and painted patria more, that excited principal attention.” Starting slow to the beat of a drum, the Osage dance culminated in what the reporter termed a “frantic” scene replete with “wild and frightful gestures.” The event fostered a “general impression” of “pity for our fellow creatures,” who seemed “strangers to those principles and sentiments which ennoble our nature and elevate us to a near relation with the Supreme Being” (New York Daily Advertiser, 10 and 15 Aug.; New-York Commercial Advertiser, 15 Aug.).
Rogers reported expenditures of about $5,200 for hosting the Osage delegation (Letter from the Treasurer of the United States, Accompanying His General Accounts of Receipts and Expenditures; As Also, His Accounts for the War and Navy Departments, from the 1st October, 1803, to the 30th September, 1804, Inclusive [Washington, D.C., 1805], 167-8).