From Thomas Jefferson to Henry Dearborn, 12 August 1804
To Henry Dearborn
Monticello Aug. 12. 04.
Th: Jefferson incloses to Genl. Dearborne more candidates for the succession to Genl. Irvine. he has just recieved a letter from mr Dupont the father in which is the following paragraph. ‘continue your friendship to me. extend it to my children. I hope you have your powder made and your saltpeter refined at their manufactory 1. because it is without comparison the best in the US. and one of the best in the world. 2. because your old powder probably needs renewing. 3. because it belongs to your faithful friend.’ perhaps the departure of Doctr. Hunter may furnish an occasion of yielding this kind of gratification to a man, who, I have no doubt, has been useful lately, & I know to have been so formerly on all occasions. Th:J. presents his affectionate salutations to Genl. & mrs Dearborne.
PrC (DLC). Notation in SJL: “Irvine’s successor. Du pont.” Enclosures (not found, but recorded in SJL; see Appendix IV): (1) Joseph Clay to TJ, 6 Aug. (2) Probably William Linnard to TJ, 7 Aug. (3) Andrew Ellicott to TJ, 3 Aug. (4) Joseph Wheaton to TJ, 6 Aug.
letter from mr Dupont: Pierre Samuel Du Pont de Nemours to TJ, 5 May.
departure of Doctr. Hunter: Philadelphia chemist George Hunter had previously refined saltpeter for the War Department before he left Philadelphia to join William Dunbar’s exploration of the lower Louisiana Purchase (Trey Berry, Pam Beasley, and Jeanne Clements, eds., The Forgotten Expedition, 1804-1805: The Louisiana Purchase Journals of Dunbar and Hunter [Baton Rouge, 2006], xii; Dearborn to Hunter, 31 Dec. 1803, Lb in DNA: RG 107, MLS; Éleuthère Irénée du Pont de Nemours to TJ, 22 Feb. 1804).