John Sibley to Thomas Jefferson, 27 August 1805
From John Sibley
Natchitoches Augt. 27h. 1805.
Sir,
I have Only been able to finish the Vocabulary of the Caddoquies Language. the printed Blanks I received had been wet, the Ink spread too much for the letters all to be legible.
I hope by an Early opportunity to be able to Send you the Natchitoches, & the Cances or Apaches vocabularies. the Caddo is esteemed the most Antient Language, and now Used by all the Smaller tribes. from the Best Account I can Obtain the Cances language is Spoken by the Indians On the Waters that fall into the Western Ocean of course will be important for the purpose you mentioned. I will procure all I can & as soon as I can. Should there be any other way in which I can Serve you in this Country, the Commands you honour me with, I will Strictly Observe to the best of my Capacity.
I am Sir with the greatest respect, Your Obt. Hble Servant
John Sibley.
RC (DLC); at foot of text: “Thomas Jefferson President of the United States”; endorsed by TJ as received 15 Oct. and so recorded in SJL. Enclosure: see below.
Because of the destruction in 1809 of most of the items TJ collected, it is uncertain if Sibley here enclosed a Vocabulary of the Caddo language. William C. C. Claiborne apparently obtained from Sibley a copy of the vocabulary, which he retained (American Naturalist, 13 [1879], 787-90; , 1:555–7).