[No. 51 From Major Gen'l Knox Sec't of War] War Department April 20^th 1793 Sir I enclose you a duplicate of my letter of the 13^th instant and I have to acknowledge yours of the same date. All the powder requested has been and is sending forward— peculiar care shall be taken to separate the finest part of that which is in the public possession. The considerable rains that have happened for ten days past it is expected will swell the Ohio sufficiently for your purposes. The President of the United States having arrived and his directions having been received relative to the Troops you will not be detained any longer per orders. But you will defend the Ohio immediately. As this will probably be the last Letter you will receive on the upper parts of the Ohio and as future opportunities by the way of the Ohio may sometimes be precarious the President has directed me to communicate to you the following general Ideas. That all possible caution and vigilance agreeably to my letter of the 13^th be observed to prevent the incursions of any parties of whites towards the Indian Country during the continuance of the Treaty and until further permission from you. That the Commissioners are instructed to use every exertion to bring the treaty to a close on or before the first of August next so that in case of an unsuccessful issue you may have time to carry on your operations. That in case of a successful treaty the Commissioners will inform you directly thereof. But that in case of an unsuccessful issue they are directed to send you a letter with many copies thereof signed by themselves of the following form "We were at Sandusky [blank] days although we did not affect a peace yet we hope that good may hereafter arise from the Mission the tranquillity of the Country North west of the Ohio during the continuance of the Treaty obliged your care of our safety, and we could not leave this quarter without returning you our unfeigned thanks. That you are to have every thing prepared for vigorous offensive operations and in perfect readiness to move forward from the Ohio by the twentieth of July or at furthest by the first of August and immediately upon receiving any of the letters from the Commissioners you will commence your March.. You will be well acquainted with the force you will have by that time which of Regulars ought not with the present prospects to be estimated higher [strikethrough: [undecipherable]] [strikethrough: [undecipherable]] than three thousand efficient men Commissioned and private independent of Garrisons in different places on the Ohio. To your force whatever it may be you will add such numbers of mounted Volunteers of Kentucky or other parts of the frontiers as shall make your real force superior to the highest force of the Enemy, so that as little as possible be left to [undecipherable]. It has been conceived that one thousand prime mounted Volunteers from the frontiers acting cordially with your army would render all your movements certain and irresistable and enable you to strike the Enemys Towns at a considerable distance. That the general plan of conduct as laid down in your instructions the 25^th day of May 1792 seems still the most proper to be pursued in the present political circumstances of [strikethrough: the] this Country. That is a strong post to be established at the Miami Village with a large garrison of at least one thousand efficient Troops with chains of subordinate posts of communication down the Miami river of [strikethrough: [undecipherable]] Erie on the right to or as far as the rapids and down the Wabash on the left; provided the Indians of the said Wabash would cordially assent to the measure of which there is not [undecipherable] doubt. That in your advance from Fort Jefferson (or any other part on the upper parts of the Miami of the Ohio which you may choose to establish as your advanced post of departure) you will establish posts of communication every fifteen or twenty miles until you reach the Miami Village. But in the erection of such posts it will be of importance that you do not halt your main force above one day for each, it being conceived that the labour of your Troops for one day would put said [strikethrough: [undecipherable]] posts in such a state of defence that the garrison destined for the same would be able to render it complete. The President expresses his Confidence that you will conformably to your original instructions observe the highest degree of caution in your modes of marching and encamping and keeping out incessant patroles so as to preclude a possibility of being compelled to engage in a disagreeable situation. The intelligence of the numbers and situation of the Enemy being so extremely essential to all proper movements and conduct it is expected that you will use every practicable device to obtain this object in the pursuit of which no thinkable or reasonable expense should be avoided. Having delivered these general principles it is consequently unnecessary to add any thing further thereon, than to say that the execution of the objects entrusted to you are considered as intimately blended with the welfare and reputation of the Government and that a successful issue to this war well enhance your reputation and that of the troops under your command. The Quarter Master General has demanded Sixty five thousand dollars in addition to the purchase of a considerable quantity of flour in his department until the first of July. The Secretary of the Treasury has issued his warrant for forty thousand dollars and the other Twenty five will be issued seasonably— But there is one article that compounds all calculation, after he has enumerated the pay of the horse drivers and all the people thereon attending he adds the astonishing sum of Twelve thousand dollars for the pay of his department. This extraordinary demand must be explained and I have written to him for that purpose. This sum is at a rate, nearly equal to one quarter of the whole sum appropriated to the quarter master department for the present year. The times for which some of the Troops near Fort Washington were inlisted will expire this year— It will be of might importance that the best of those old Soldiers should be enlisted if possible and money shall be forwarded for their bounties. As you have not made any demand for money for intelligence it is supposed that you may still have part of the three thousand dollars delivered the last year on hand— But if this should not be the case a further sum shall be forwarded upon my being informed thereof. Brigadier General Posey is expected here daily in his way to join you— Major Hunt and Captain Melcher are also about setting out. Captains Carberry Buchanan have resigned I hope Prestons company may have reached the Great Kenhawa. The other recruits amounting to about three hundred will be ordered to march in the next month— The objects of employment in the States are such and the wages so high that I dare not hope that we shall exclusively of the above recruits more than three hundred faces to join you before the first day of July next. If any thing further occurs previously to the departure of Brigadier General Posey it shall be forwarded to you. It is of high importance that regular information should be received from you during the Summer Season and I pray you to make efficient arrangements for that purpose— The port by Kentucky may be uncertain if the present hostile disposition of the Cherokies should continue— Enclosed are the real signatures of the Commissioners Enclosed is a letter from Captain Gassaway of the late Maryland Line to which you will attend so that I may give you an answer thereon. The President approves of your calling the provisional Ensigns with the army into actual Service— you will please as soon as possible to return their names that Commissions may issue— the remainder of the Ensigns will be called into Service according to the directions of the President