To George Washington from George Morgan White Eyes, 8 August 1789
From George Morgan White Eyes
New York August 8th 89
Sir,
The disappointment which I fear Mr Thompson will undergo grieves me very much as it is on my Account he is so much involved in Debt,1 better had I received no Encouragement to get any Articles & I to have went naked home with Mr Cotoney, than I to involve him in such a Debt & no likelihood of his desolving it unless through your Assistance.
If you conceived the pain I feel when I hear that the Commissioners have objected every article, it makes me of Opinion that I am not of as much Consequence as a Dog: & that I must run on foot behind Mr Peters, if you think it proper I will endeaver to undertake it.
I must indeed always be thankful for the Education that Congress have been pleased to bestow upon me, & the Usages that are naturally to be expected from such a Kindness—But I am very sorry that the Education you have given & Views that you must have had when you took me into your Possession, & the Friendship which my Father had for the United States (which I suppose is the chief Cause) are not sufficient Inducements, to your further providing for me.
I do not ask or expect your Continuance over me, but that you would take this into Consideration, & see that all these Things be so ordered, that it will make me by the Ties of Honour and Justice always indebted, & allways endeavor with Efforts becoming my Education, to be worthy to be subscribed Your Excellencys Most Obt Hume Servt
G.M. White Eyes
ALS, DNA:PCC, item 78.
For background to this letter, see White Eyes to GW, 2 June and 8 July 1789.
1. On 11 Aug. 1789 the House of Representatives received a “petition of Atcheson Thompson, of the city of New-York, praying that he may receive payment for sundry articles of clothing and other supplies furnished to George M. White Eyes, an Indian youth of the Delaware tribe, by order of the President of the United States” ( 3:144). Thompson’s certificate for clothing provided White Eyes, 8 July 1789, is in DNA:PCC, item 78. For an appeal by Thompson’s wife, see Elizabeth Thompson to GW, 18 Aug. 1789.