To Thomas Jefferson from Richard Stanford, 30 December 1803
From Richard Stanford
House of Rep. Dec. 30—1803
Dear Sir,
By request of Mr. J. Gales of Raleigh, N.C. I do myself the pleasure herewith to cover you a letter from Docr. Sibley, which, he thinks, may possibly throw some additional light on the subject of Louisiana.
I have the honor to be, Sir, with highest respect yr. hble. Sert.
R Stanford
RC (MHi); endorsed by TJ as received 30 Dec. and so recorded in SJL. Enclosure: probably John Sibley to Joseph Gales, dated Louisiana, 15 Aug. 1803, providing a lengthy and highly detailed account of the population, geography, flora, fauna, and natural resources of Louisiana, which Gales received 11 Dec. from Sibley’s son in Fayetteville; Sibley also states that he has been the conduit through which much of the French population learned of the sale of Louisiana to the United States and that he has worked to convince them of the “mildness of the American government” (Raleigh Register, 2, 9 Jan. 1804; National Intelligencer, 13, 16 Jan. 1804; New York American Citizen, 19, 21, 23 Jan. 1804).
A Republican, Richard Stanford (1767-1816) of North Carolina served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1797 to 1816 ().
Joseph gales was editor and publisher of the Raleigh Register (Vol. 32:60n; Vol. 37:312n). For earlier information received from John Sibley on the subject of louisiana, see William C. C. Claiborne to TJ, 28 Oct.