[copy] Extracts from General Knox's Instructions to General St. Clair. "The Post at the Miami Village is intended for the purpose of awing and curbing the Indians in that Quarter & as the only prevention of future hostilities. It ought therefore to be rendered secure against all attempts & insults of the Indians. The Garrison which should be stationed there ought not only to be sufficient for the defence of the place, but always to afford a Detachment of five or six hundred men either to chastise any of the Wabash or other hostile Indians or to secure any Convoys for Provisions. The Establishment of said Post is considered as an important object of the Campaign & is to take place in all Events. Having commenced your march upon the Miami Position, and the Indians remaining hostile, you will use every possible exertion to make them feel the effects of your successes, and after having arrived at the Miami Village & put your work in a defensible state, you will seek the enemy with with the whole of your remaining force, and endeavour by all possible means to strike them with great Severity. "The force contemplated for the Garrison of the Miami Village, and the communication has been from a thousand, to twelve hundred Non Com Officers & Privates." "The Establishment of a Post at the Miami Village will probably be regarded by the British Officers on the frontier as a circumstance of Jealousy. It may therefore be necessary that we should at a proper time, make such intimations as may remove all such dispositions. This intimation had better follow than precede the Possession of the Post, unless circumstances dictate otherwise, as it is not the inclination or interest of the United States to enter into a contest with Great Britain. Every measure tending to any discussion or altercation must be prevented. The delicate situation of Affairs may therefore render it improper at present to make any formal arrangements upon upon Lake Erie. Given at Philadelphia 21^st March 1791. (Signed) H. Knox Sec^t of War. A.C. a true Copy (Signed) [undecipherable] Smith Major 5^th Reg^t. [Indorsed] C. 5. In St. Clair's No. 2. of 26 Jany 1792.