To Thomas Jefferson from James McPherson and Isaac Zane, 22 October 1804
From James McPherson and Isaac Zane
Mad River October 22d 1804
Worthy Sir
As an Additional Information to Your Exelency act1 of the Revd. Mr. Woods Address: Assure you that a more Favorable time has never Appeared for the Civilization of the Indian Tribes than the present. in this Quarter of the World, from Some Cause they are Universally Alarmed, and fear that the Great Spirit is going to Destroy them from the face of the Earth for their wickedness. & have had a General meeting to offer a kind of Sacrifice in Order to Appease Gods Displeasure. & are apparently in great distress. But poor Creatures, they want Instruction, and Some one to Guide them, for their Superstitions are Strong, and great Ignorance is their Guide. Your Excellency may Rest Assured, the Motives from which we Write are pure & the Information we give True. As we have been a long time Acquainted with the poor Savages, And have our present Information from their own mouths, And we discover a great alteration in their Conduct. we hope therefore that Divine Wisdom may so order that Something may be done for their Benefit and the General good of our Country. Excuse our freedom & accept the best wishes
of Your Excellencys Most Obedient Hume Servants
James Mcpherson
Isaac 
Zane
RC (CSmH); in McPherson’s hand. Recorded in SJL as received 29 Nov.
James McPherson was a native of Pennsylvania and was captured while on a frontier expedition with militia in 1781. Eventually adopted by the Shawnees, he lived among them into the 1790s and later worked as a trader on the Great Miami River. As part of an 1817 treaty, McPherson was granted a parcel of land in the Shawnee reservation around Lewistown, where he acted for a number of years as an intermediary between Indians and state and national officials (John Sugden, Blue Jacket: Warrior of the Shawnees [Lincoln, Neb., 2000], 310-11; Henry Howe, Historical Collections of Ohio [Cincinnati, 1847], 304-5; , Indian Affairs, 2:132; Lexington Kentucky Gazette, 21 June 1803; Cincinnati National Republican, 9 July 1831).
Isaac Zane (c. 1744-1816), who was related to a friend of TJ’s with the same name, was captured as a youth from his home on the Virginia frontier and adopted by the Wyandots. He remained with the nation for the rest of his life but often aided white settlers and combatants. He served as an interpreter during negotiations for the treaty of Greenville in 1795. Five years later, Congress granted him a tract of land on Mad River, which previously had been reserved for him by the Wyandots (John Gerald Patterson, “Ebenezer Zane, Frontiersman,” West Virginia History, 12 [1950], 6-7; Howe, Historical Collections of Ohio, 304-5; , Public Lands, 1:83, 110-11; , Indian Affairs, 1:582; Lexington Kentucky Gazette, 21 June 1803; Vol. 40:619-20).
the Revd. Mr. Woods Address: see Edward Tiffin and Others to TJ, [before 22 Oct. 1804].
1. That is, “account.”