To Thomas Jefferson from William Dunbar, 28 January 1804
From William Dunbar
Natchez 28th. Jan: 1804
Dear Sir
I have the pleasure of transmitting you a few imperfect notes relating to the Missisippi and the Alluvial Country thro which it passes. I am sensible they contain remarks of trivial importance, but believing almost every thing relating to this Country to be now very interesting to the United States, I have considerably enlarged my notes since the cession of Louisiana, & do now suffer them to escape from my hand, flattering myself that their imperfections will be veiled by your indulgence. Should you think them not unworthy of being read before the Philosophical Society, you will be pleased to transmit them, at your leisure, to that respectable body.—I have added the results of three years meteorological observations, but have forborn to subjoin any notes concerning the influence of Seasons, as they would be little more than a repetition of what the Society is already in possession of. I have only noticed two Phenomena, one produced by the Sun, the other by the Moon.—My Amanuensis being a frenchman little acquainted with english, you will be pleased to excuse errors hastily corrected.
I am concerned to observe that a resolution has been submitted to Congress by a Committee, of which our own Delegate is a Member, which resolution goes to deprive Jefferson College of 30 acres of land granted by the late Congress and to give the same to the City of Natchez: The Town of Natchez is not in distress, the Corporation has been empowered by this legislature to levy taxes, more than sufficient for their expences, upon all property within the liberties of the town.—The College is in absolute poverty: The Trustees, reckoning upon the thirty acres (near the town) as an object immediately productive, have passed a resolution, to prepare plans & contract for the erection of the most necessary buildings; if the 30 acres are taken away, the progress of the College must be arrested. Our public treasury has been so poor (& so unreasonable an aversion from paying taxes prevails) that the College has received no aid from the territory: private Contribution has not gone beyond the narrow Circle of a few public spirited individuals; the section reserved by Congress will not very speedily be productive; hence if our newly created town Corporation obtains a victory over the College, the poor Seminary will be absolutely nipped in the bud.
With the highest Consideration I have the honor to be Your most Obedt. Servant
William Dunbar
RC (DLC); endorsed by TJ as received 29 Feb. and so recorded in SJL. Dft (Lb in Ms-Ar: William Dunbar Papers). Enclosures not found, but see below.
TJ forwarded Dunbar’s enclosed notes on the Mississippi River and his meteorological observations to the American Philosophical Society, which read them at its meetings of 6 and 13 Apr. 1804. The society subsequently published both papers in the sixth volume of its Transactions as “Description of the river Mississippi and its Delta, with that of the adjacent parts of Louisiana” and “Monthly and annual Results of Meteorological Observations made by William Dunbar, Esq. at the Forest, 4 Miles East of the River Mississippi, in Latitude 31°. 28s. North, and Longitude 91°. 30s. West of Greenwich” (, Transactions, 6 [1809], 165-89; , Proceedings, 22, pt. 3 [1884], 350; TJ to Dunbar, 13 Mch. 1804; TJ to Caspar Wistar, 24 Mch. 1804).
resolution has been submitted: on 9 Nov. 1803, the House of Representatives received a petition from the mayor and aldermen of the city of Natchez, asking that title to certain vacant property in and adjacent to the city be confirmed to them. The land in question, however, had already been set aside for the support of Jefferson College, as authorized under section 12 of the 3 Mch. 1803 act “regulating the grants of land, and providing for the disposal of the lands of the United States, south of the state of Tennessee.” A House committee reported in favor of the Natchez petition on 15 Dec. and presented a resolution to repeal the portion of the 1803 act regarding lands set aside for Jefferson College. Dunbar, however, challenged the city’s authority to determine land titles in Natchez and subsequently presented his own petition, which the House received on 26 Jan. 1804 and which claimed that a lot in Natchez had been granted to him by the Spanish government in 1797. The House referred assorted papers to a new committee, which on 10 Mch. recommended that the portion of the 1803 act that set aside lands for the benefit of Jefferson College “be suspended until further order be taken thereon by Congress” (, 4:440, 489, 553, 565, 632; , Public Lands, 1:162-3, 185-7, 194-6; , 2:234, 305; , 5:426-7).
our own delegate: William Lattimore.
newly created town corporation: the Mississippi Territory legislature incorporated the city of Natchez on 10 Mch. 1803 (Harry Toulmin, The Statutes of the Mississippi Territory, Revised and Digested by the Authority of the General Assembly [Natchez, 1807], 128-35).