To George Washington from Pierce Butler, 8 August 1789
From Pierce Butler
[New York] Saturday the 8th of August 1789
Sir.
I request Your Excellency’s indulgence for troubling You with the perusal of the enclosed Letters—two of them are of a publick Nature, and Contain much information respecting Indian Affairs in the Southern Country; they merit attention—the third is of a private Nature from Judge Drayton, who I believe is known to You; He is a Man of Abilities, and real information in His profession—I shoud have waited on You with these letters were I not obliged to Indulge my leg.1 I have the honor to be with great respect & Esteem sir—Yr Excellency’s Most Obedt hble Servt
P. Butler
ALS, DNA:PCC, item 78.
Pierce Butler (1744–1822) of South Carolina, a member of the Continental Congress in 1787 and 1788, was elected a senator to the First Congress in 1789. The enclosures to this letter have not been identified but see GW’s reply, 10 August.
1. Butler had injured his leg in June 1789 in a carriage accident which also involved Congressman Daniel Huger of South Carolina. “Mr. Butler was much hurt but Mr Huger has one of his legs so fractured that it must be taken off to save his Life” (Henry Wynkoop to Reading Beattie, 26 June 1789, in Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, 38 [1914], 57–58).