N^o 61. To Major Gen^l Knox Sec^y of War. Hobsons Choice near Fort Washington 2^d. July 1793. — Sir, I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your public & private letters of the 7^th ultimo, enclosing copies or extracts of letters from the Commissioners and the British Indian Agent Col. McKee. — I wrote you fully on the 20^th of June, but the boat in which that letter was to have gone, being yet detained here in consequence of a high fresh, affords me a safe opportunity of answering your your dispatches which were delivered me on the [undecipherable] by Cap^t. Melcher. — There has not — nor will not — be any additional demonstration of troops or stores at the head of the line other than what was, is, and will be indispensibly necessary preparatory to a forward move; and such the hostile Indians had aright to expect from my speech to the Complainter on the 20^th of March, wherein I told them, that the best & only means to ensure a permanent peace was to be well prepared for war, but promised not to advance or establish any new Posts in front of those we now possess, unless compelled thereto by the conduct of the hostile Indians, until the result of the pending treaty was known — which speech has undoubtedly been communicated to them. Were we now to forbear or neglect, to forward the supplies mentioned in my letter of the 20^th ultimo, or, to withdraw any of the present Garrison from Jefferson, it would be ruinous to the Campaign, defeat the war project, and could not answer any good purpose at this late hour. — The arrangements I have already made are not equal to what I had in contemplation, and what I most naturally would, and was warrant to make by your letters of the 22^d [undecipherable] of April and [undecipherable] of May, but for the present instructions, [undecipherable] [undecipherable] In that [undecipherable] of May, you say, 'in case the force for offensive operations, your force and arrangements must be so calculated as to insure you complete success, and it is truly intended to vest you with plenary powers to obtain such fullest arrangements as possibly to be obtained.' — And in your letter now before me of the 7^th ultimo, you say, 'altho' this delay will occasion you to postpone the collection of your auxiliary force & horses until you receive the information due from me or from the Commissioners according to my letter of the 20^th April; yet it will be proper to have every other part of your arrangements in perfect readiness to move on the 20^th of August, or at furthest the first of September.' — How shall I then construe the interdiction contained in the same letter? 'that there be no movement of the troops towards the head of the line other than shall serve to the ordinary [undecipherable: probable reading "quantum"] of provision for the advanced Garrison.' — In this embarrassing situation I am rather induced to believe, that it will be the most prudent conduct to pursue the arrangements already made for completing the necessary deposits at Fort Jefferson as mentioned in my letter of the 20^th ultimo. Our troops are rather sickly — and all our hospital stores are exhausted — I have therefore been under the necessity of ordering the Surgeon General to procure a temporary supply from the merchants at this place; who charge a most exorbitant advanced price for every article. — I am just now informed by M^r. Morrison, a Gentleman of veracity, that he saw between twenty and thirty waggon loads of public stores laying at Shippensburg about five and twenty days since; that they had been there some time and that a certain Martin who brought them that far, was of so infamous a character that he could not hire a single team to bring them on to Pittsburgh — that he had uniformly defrauded every person with whom he had any dealings in that way. — I fear that we shall ultimately be the sufferers, should the water fail as last year, which we have every reason to apprehend. — Enclosed is a copy of a second letter from Governor Shelby of Kentucky with the result of a Council of the General Officers of that State upon the subject of mounted Volunteers; together with a copy of my answer. Gen^l. Scott has been with me some days so has one of the other Generals & several of the field officers, at different times, whose names are mentioned in the enclosed copy of a requisition to them & the Governor for the nomination of Captains and subalterns. — I have at last accommodated this troublesome business and put it in a fair train by the admission of a few influential characters as General and Field Officers more than the Law contemplates, but it was absolutely necessary from political considerations — Divide & conquer! — I pray you therefore, to forward with all possible dispatch the Commissions for the General and Field Officers, together with fifty or sixty blank commissions for the company Officers to be filled up by me when I shall know who they are. Permit me now to animadvert a little upon the conduct and motives of the British, in procrastinating the pending treaty, for it is evident that it is not the Indians who have done it. If I am not mistaken, the time proposed by the hostile Indians for holding the treaty was when the 'leaves were out' — not when falling — and by a subsequent message from them by M^r. Wells, they are more particular & earlier — by that they propose to meet at the lower Sandusky, when the grass is three inches high.' — M^r. McKee is made to say 'that that the time fixed by the United States [undecipherable] appears to be early for the Indians to assemble &ca. It does not require a microscopic eye to see this this insidious policy. Procrastination is the object: a little time may probably make every great change in the affairs in France; should that change be unfavorable to liberty, the Ohio at last will be insisted upon as the boundary; and a line chalked out which shall effectually exclude the United States from the waters of the lakes. — Something must also be demanded and granted to the southern or some other Indian tribes according to M^r. McKee — he says, 'the Southern Chiefs expected with the messenger who were sent last fall — he ought to have advised with seven horse loads of very valuable presents from this place, such as gold & silver laced clothing — vide May's deposition — and also those who are to attend from Michilimackinac & the Mississippi in order to accomplish a full & permanent settlement of all existing differences between the Confederated Indians & the United States. — It will certainly require some time, management and address to form that Confederacy and to teach them to be perfect & unanimous in their respective claims & demands, previously to their