N^o 37. To Major Gen^l Knox, Sec^y of war Legion Ville 28 Dec 1792 Sir, I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of yours of the 13th instant, and agreeably to your wishes have reiterated my invitation to the Cornplanter & New Arrow to repair to Philadelphia; as you will see by my answer to the speech of those Chiefs, which I now have the honor to enclose you, authenticated upon oath by M^r Rosecrantz, who was accompanied by the nephew of the Cornplanter to this place. It is more than probable that you have seen him with the Corn planter in Phil^a. he appears to be a fellow of observation & attended the treaty of the hostile Indians at Au Glaize with his uncle & the other Chiefs of the Six Nations. It is his decided opinion that the hostile Indians will not consent to a peace so long as a white man continues upon this side of the Ohio unless they meet with some severe disaster. Nor does he think, that they, the actual hostile Indians, meant a cessation of hostilities until after the proposed treaty in the spring, or when the leaves are out — and that Peace would then depend upon the Americans ceding to the south and surrendering up all the lands & possessions on the north side of the Ohio river to the Indians. You have now before you what passed at the Grand council held at Au Claire, with the foregoing opinion or explanation of one of the young chiefs who was present during the whole time the Council continued together & upon which I shall not comment further, than to observe, that it is a most disagreeable & humiliating situation to remain with our hands tied, whilst the Enemy are at liberty to act upon the offensive, and have done it with some effect. Permit me now Sir, to call your attention to the situation of that part of the Legion now upon this ground — we have not more officers than just to afford one relief for the Redoubts & Guards necessary for the protection & internal police of the Camp — which reduces me to the necessity of mounting three Guards under non-commissioned officers, that actually requires vigilant Commissioned Officers — do request the President to fill the vacancies as soon as convenient — but let there be a little more attention to character, than was observed in too many of the late appointments. There are several Majorities vacant — I much fear that the Legion will not acquire any acquisition by the promotion of some of those next in rank — how this is to be remedied, I know not, but it is a melancholy fact — yet there are one or two who have cast upon their heels that would really be an acquisition, among whom I will take the liberty to mention Cap^t Mills — apropos, what detains Major Asheton? he has not acted with candor — he must either come forward or resign, otherwise, I will report him him absent without leave — if he is within your reach, will you have the goodness to order him to make an immediate choice — I must next beg leave to call your attention to the Pay of the troops — they have been promised under your authority to receive it monthly, when circumstances would admit — there are now five months pay due to them — many of the soldiery are in a wretched condition for want of Clothing, the hutting business has reduced them to rags — if they could receive their pay, the Officers would prevail upon them to appropriate the principal part of it to shield them from the inclemency of the weather, as several dry good stores are already established at this place from which they could be supplied with many necessary articles — and we ought to keep faith with the Soldiery. The documents now before you are I hope such as will admit of a near estimate of pay, until the 5^th of January 1793 — In fact, the present system ordered by the Comptroller Gen^l is such as cannot possibly be carried into effect in the present shattered state of the Legion, and where the Garrisons, from the nature of the service are subject to frequent & total changes, and at some seasons of the year all communication between is cut off for months at a time — circumstances, that perhaps totally escaped the attention of the Comptroller when he formed his present system.