George Washington Papers
Documents filtered by: Author="Knox, Henry" AND Period="Washington Presidency"
sorted by: editorial placement
Permanent link for this document:
https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/05-14-02-0335

To George Washington from Henry Knox, 11 December 1793

From Henry Knox

War Department, December 11th 1793.

Sir.

I have the honor to submit to you, some new propositions from the Six Nations of Indians, relatively to boundaries; and a Map, by which they explain their meaning, by black lines drawn up the River Muskinghum, and round certain spots at the mouth of the Scioto, Fort Washington, and General Clark’s Trace at the falls—And, I also submit two journals.1 I have the honor to be, Sir, with the highest respect, Your most obedt Servt

H. Knox

LS, DLC:GW; LB, DLC:GW.

1The map has not been identified. The journals were most likely the records of proceedings of the councils at Buffalo Creek on 8 and 10 Oct. (see ASP, Indian Affairs description begins Walter Lowrie et al., eds. American State Papers. Documents, Legislative and Executive, of the Congress of the United States. 38 vols. Washington, D.C., Gales and Seaton, 1832–61. description ends , 1:477–78). Israel Chapin wrote Knox on this date to clarify the Indians’ views, which were “imperfect, as stated in the written account of the proceedings.” The Indians, Chapin wrote, had “agreed to propose a boundary line, which should comprehend all the settlements made by the people of the United States over the Ohio, together with the whole of the land eastward of Muskingham as high up as the portage from the head of this river to Cayahoga, and southward of a line running from that portage to the Pennsylvania line, northward and eastward of Venango: as marked in the map which they gave me, & which I have delivered to you. The detached spots marked on the map along the Ohio, appearing small, and not to comprehend all our settlements, I asked the Chiefs for an explanation. They then said, that it was meant to comprehend all our settlements, with good pieces of land about them, so as to make good farms for the settlers. With respect to the grant to Genl Clarke, they appeared to mean that the whole of that land should be confirmed, for him & his warriors” (NHi: Henry O’Reilly Papers). For Knox’s reply to the Indians of 24 Dec., see Knox to GW, 23 Dec., n.1. General Clark’s Trace was a route between Post Vincennes and the Rapids of the Ohio River made during George Rogers Clark’s Wabash campaign of 1786 (see “Denny Journal,” description begins “Military Journal of Major Ebenezer Denny, An Officer in the Revolutionary and Indian Wars. With an Introductory Memoir. By William H. Denny.” Memoirs of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania 7 (1860): 204–498. description ends 313).

Index Entries