[N^o 42 To Major Gen^l Knox Sec^y of war] Legion Ville 31^st Jan^y 1793 Sir, I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 19^th instant with the enclosures. Col^l Procter arrived at this place the evening of the 24^th since which I have received a letter from M^r Rosecrantz I now enclose the copy. Col^l Procter will therefore remain here untill we hear further from M^r Rosecrantz or rather see him accompanied by the corn planter & New Arrow which will probably be the case in the course of a week, provided that Red Jacket has gone on, unless prevented by the present fall of snow. In the interim, the Colonel is industriously engaged in making some improvements upon the new carriage of one of the Howitzs that remains fit for tender use — and I have not a single doubt but that he will produce a conviction to the Artillery Gentlemen that those kind of pieces are the best calculated for our present service of any that have heretofore been invented, my only want a proper reenfass and a proportional trunnion with a small alteration in the carriage to render them very compleat. You You ask me in confidence, would Col^l Sproat make a good Adjutant General and be acceptable to the army? I really have not the honor to know Col^l Sproat except merely by sight — I believe that he was not much with the operating part of the late Army whether he will be acceptable to the Legion is a question that I cannot answer. I believe that he is as little known to the Officers in general as he is to me, and I am totally unacquainted with him as an Officer. It is however a place of much trust & [underline: confidence] — and I will candidly acknowledge that had I a choice, it would be a gentleman of whose military abilities I had some knowledge & in whom I could place confidence in every vicisitude of fortune — and one from local situation would not be subject like the late Governor of New Jersey to conclude that every movement of the Enemy was directed against his family or person, nor the fond of a frontier militia — but all this in [underline: confidence] Perhaps I may have omitted to transmit a copy of your instructions of the 23 July to Gen^l Wilkinson respecting a boat & escort for the Governor & Judges of the Western Territory, from the circumstance of the Governor and one