Henry Dearborn to Thomas Jefferson, 29 July 1805
From Henry Dearborn
Washington July 29th. 1805
Sir
I take the liberty of enclosing a letter from Mr. Crownenshield, on the subject of a Collector for Cape Ann—or Glocester—I have no personal knowledge of Mr. Kittredge, except that of seing him last winter when he came to this place with the votes of Massachusetts for President & V. President. he appeard to be an agreable Gentlemanly man, I know his Father & connections, his father has been one of the main props to the republican cause in the County he lives in, and is a sound respecteble charactor.—
I have received the Treaties made by Mr. C. Jouett with the Indian tribes bordering on Lake Erie, The Connecticut Company have obtained the Indian Title to the remainder of their tract, and a cession has been made to the U.S. of the lands between the Connecticut claims & the old North line of Ohio, containing about twelve or thirteen hundred thousand acres. the price will amount to about one cent pr. acre. the whole to be paid by way of annuities amounting to $825.—the Connecticut people pay part down, part by installments, and a small sum by way of annuity.—
I take the liberty of enclosing a letter received this morning from Col Hawkins.—
Before this reaches you, I presume you will have received copies of some of the most important parts of the dispatches from Col Munroe & Mr. Pinkney.—Mr. Madison having set off for Philadelphia previous to the arrival of Capt. Dulton, Mr. Wagner brought the dispatches to me, I opened them, and after having read the principle part of them, I advised Mr. Wagner to transmit without delay the more important parts of the documents to You & to Mr. Madison, which he agreed to do.
It appears to me that our Ministers have been wrought up to a higher pitch of feeling than the actual state of things required,—we have every thing to hope from time and very little to fear, unless France should be mad enough to take strong & desided steps in favour of Spain. If Spain should actually attempt to establish any new advanced posts, it may be1 proper for us to take simmilar steps,—we may advance 70 or 80 miles towards Nacogdoches; and also take post on the mouth of the Colorado—and then we may wait for events.—
with sentiments of the highest concideration I am Sir your Obedt. Huml. Servt.
H, Dearborn
RC (DLC); addressed: “The President of the United States”; endorsed by TJ as received 5 Aug. and “Kittridge. Indn. treaty. Hawkins. Span. affrs.” and so recorded in SJL. Enclosures: see below.
A letter from Jacob Crowninshield related to John Kittredge has not been found, but see Gallatin to TJ, 17 and 21 Aug.
The Treaties, signed at Fort Industry with the Wyandots, Ottawas, Ojibwas, Munsees, Delawares, Shawnees, and Potawatomis, consolidated grants to the Connecticut Land Company and a different Connecticut-based land company. In addition, the United States obtained lands lying between those grants and a previous cession line (, 7:87-9; , Indian Affairs, 1:702-3; Vol. 44:452–3; Vol. 45:581–3).
The War Department received on this day two letters from Benjamin Hawkins. The first, of 20 June, concerned the planned postal route to New Orleans, which was to pass through Hawkins’s agency station. Hawkins feared that it might prove difficult to acquire a sufficient number of horses to move the mail expeditiously and advised that heat and insects would make it difficult to operate a postal route in the summer, while rain would militate against it in January and February. Other months, however, were favorable. Hawkins also advised that Milledgeville, having been made capital of Georgia, would make a better destination for the New Orleans postal route than the location previously contemplated. In the second letter, of 26 June, Hawkins discussed a meeting he held with the Cherokees’ interpreter, who had informed him that the Cherokees “had made up their mind not to sell” lands that were sought by the United States in impending negotiations. The Cherokees distrusted the U.S. agents with whom they had been working, but still had faith in the president’s justice. If TJ sent for them and explained matters, they might “supply him with what they could spare” (RCs in DNA: RG 107, LRMS).
1. MS: “be be.”