[No 63.] Head Quarters Hobsons Choice near Fort Washington 8. August 1793. Sir, I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 28^th of June as also your two letters of the 20^th ultimo with their respective enclosures — which came to hand yesterday: due attention shall be paid them. — Having already fully explained the causes and motives which influenced me to open a road and increase the deposits of Corn & provisions at the head of the line by my letters of the 27^th of May, 20^th of June and 2^d. of July to which I must beg leave to refer you — I hold it useless to trouble you with any other or further explanation upon those interesting subjects; and have only to regret, that those [underline: preparatory arrangements] should have occasioned such unnecessary alarms & apprehensions in the minds of our Commissioners & the hostile Indians: especially after the assurances given by me to the [underline: Corn Planter] and [underline: New Arrow] and with which they were well acquainted. — The fact is: that no road has been opened beyond Fort Jefferson, nor in any other direction but towards it except to avoid impracticable [underline: ground] such as swamps & precipices; nor have there been any new works erected advanced of that post: therefore that part of the Indian information mentioned by the Commissioners is unfounded. The accumulation of Flour & grain [at the head of the line] had been too much neglected by the Contractors and Q.M. General's Department previously to my arrival, as mentioned in my letters before received — the state of provisions was and is truly alarming at the head of the line, as you will observe by the enclosed returns / to which I beg leave to call your attention/ On the 28^th ultimo there was but [underline: ten days] rations of Flour at Fort Jefferson for the aggregate of the Army in place of [underline: sixty]; and but little more than one days allowance at St. Clair on the 29^th. — I had ordered the Quarter Master Gen^l the Contractors to increase their means of transport; and they have just got into operation when I am under the necessity of calling them in, agreeably to your positive orders of the 20^th ultimo. — These returns I trust will convince you that, that part of the Indian intelligence is also unfounded which says — "that large quantities of provisions are accumulated at the Forts, far exceeding the wants of the Garrisons" — I sincerely wish it had been true; as its more than probable we shall feel the bad effects of too small a quantity at another day and perhaps that day not far distant. — The Savages may have discovered some few Cattle & pack horses feeding on the prairie in the vicinity of Fort Jefferson and which they were [underline: prevented from stealing] by what they term "considerable bodies of troops" which was nothing more than a covering party from the Garrison to guard them and the haymakers in the day time; at night the Cattle were secured by a small enclosure or fence under the guns of the Fort. — the Savages may therefore not be so well pleased as if we had been [underline: less cautious] in cutting down the grass, under cover of which they used to kill our people & steal our horses and Cattle. They have however been more successful in a recent alarm at Fort Hamilton as you will see by the enclosed communications from General Wilkinson. — In place of numerous herds of Cattle assembled beyond Fort. Jefferson — there were very few indeed until the 28^th ultimo when an escort arrived with eighty two head; at that moment the Garrison was in a starving condition as you will see by the enclosed copy of a letter from Col^t. Strong of the 23 July upon that subject. — Need there Sir! be a stronger proof of the fallacy of hostile Indian intelligence or of credulity upon the part of our Commissioners? I shall now beg leave to state the exact additional number of troops to the Garrisons of the advanced Posts.— those Garrisons were sanctioned by you in your letter of the 17^th. of November 1792. by a recurrence there to and to my letter of the 12^th October with its enclosures and the 9^th of November 1792. you will find to as follows, viz — Fort Hamilton 200 Fort S^t Clair 200 Fort Jefferson 350 ________ Total. 750 men The total aggregate at those Posts by return of the 7^th inst. 937 Deduct the ordinary Garrisons 750 ________ Excess or surplus — 187 Officers included This Sir, is that tremendous additional force & Army which has occasioned all those serious alarms and apprehensions, and this was the re-enforcement which Col^t. Strong had with him on the road cutting party with the addition of part of those Garrisons, who have since served as escorts & covering parties. — Its a very unpleasant task to be compelled to enter into those kind of minutia — [underline: from the idle and fallacious, reports of hostile Savages.] I had presumed that as Commander in Chief of the [underline: Legion of the United States,] some [underline: confidence] ought to have been placed in my [underline: honor,] as well as [underline: conduct;] when I promised not to advance into the Indian Country or to establish any new Posts in front of those we then possessed, until the result of the pending treaty was known. — The orders of the 20^th ultimo with which you have been pleased to honor me "in the name of the President of the United States"; I have obeyed with promptitude, by ordering Gen^l. Wilkinson to withdraw the one hundred and eighty seven Officers & men from the advanced Posts and to send them together with all the waggons, teams & packhorses in the Quarter Master Gen^l's & Contractors employ to this place upon sight. — May I therefore pray you to make the minds of the Commissioners & hostile Indians [underline: easy] upon this subject; I also request you to inform the [underline: Commissioners] that I have never yet [underline: forfeited] either [underline: my word] or [underline: honor] to living man. I have one other favor to request i.e. that your orders may be always as explicit as those of the 20^th ultimo; and I pledge you my honor they shall be obeyed with equal promptitude if in my power. I now take the liberty to enclose you a copy of the communications from Gen^l. Wilkinson before mentioned together with a copy of a letter from General Posey, with other intelligence from different quarters of the depredations and murders committed by the savages — I however hope that they have not been able to detach the Chickasaws from us; but that there is a general confederacy forming against us. I have not a doubt — and that, that confederacy if not openly stimulated is most certainly countenanced both by the British & Spaniards. I am therefore very uneasy for the fate of L^t. Clark and should the Stores with which he is charged arrive safe at the Chickasaw Bluffs they may eventually be made use of against us. — In that event, I have [undecipherable] information that upwards of five hundred Creeks & Cherokees passed on the latter end of May, the Chickasaw nation [undecipherable] on their way to the Grand Council of hostile Indians lately assembled at the rapids of the Meame of the Lake: this would appear to corroborate the report of M^r. Wilson "that the Chickasaws had taken the Creeks by the hand." I have the honor of transmitting herewith the General Return of this Legion up to this day 3^d of the advanced Military Posts at this place up to the 1^st ultimo and of Forts Hamilton, S^t Clair and Jefferson up to the 1^st instant: likewise duplicates of my letter of the 10^th of July and of the recruiting instructions for non-commissioned officers and privates belonging to Captain's Ford's, Peters, Kingsbury, Pasteur & Prior's companies amounting to three hundred & sixty six men, many of whose times of service have already expired and the whole will expire between this and the last of December. — of those already expired, few appear to have any inclination to re-enlist — however I hope we shall have better success with those who have yet some months to serve. — I should esteem the loss of so many old Soldiers as a very serious disaster and have therefore taken time by the forelock & directed that all such as are fit for service be re-enlisted altho' their present time of service should not expire until the last day of December ensuing; for I hold it to be a true principle, that two years & a half, may even two years service of a veteran Soldier on the full powers of health is better than three years of a raw recruit. — nor ought we to hesitate to estimate their term of three years from and after the day of their re-enlistment, agreeably to the enclosed recruiting instructions. Money has been furnished & proper Officers appointed accordingly. — I have not received an official Return of the number re-enlisted, but from report the officers have been tolerably successful at the advanced Posts where those companies are at present stationed except Ford's. Brant Glenn has arrived with about sixty Recruits, ten of the flying howitzers and a few Quarter Masters stores. — it is reported that Cap^t. Pike is somewhere between this place & Pittsburgh with a detachment of recruits. — But what I dreaded more than I do almost — Indians of the wilderness, I fear has come to pass i.e. the failure of the waters of the Ohio, which at this period must be too low for any boats to descend from Pittsburgh and may account for the delay of Cap^t. Pike — thus unless an uncommon heavy fall of rain should fortunately intervene we have but a very gloomy prospect, and scarce a hope of seeing or receiving any other re-inforcement of troops or supplies from Pittsburgh before October or November and if a consequence out of the question for this campaign should any take place. Under those impressions I am using every possible exertion to supply the defects — (first) in perfecting the troops in every necessary manoeuvre of Indian Warfare with respect to them with a confidence of success; 2^dly by making & improving a sufficient number of cartridge boxes so as to contain a proper number; those in use will not; and by hooping and making iron trunnions for our six howitzers in place of the brass ones — the whole of which gave way, with only blank cartridges; — Lastly by a call for fifteen hundred mounted Volunteers from Kentucky as mentioned in my letters of the 20^th June & 2^d. July — that number by recent information were complete & ready & anxious to advance — but this will not be the case, should the grass fail on the prairies before the result of the pending treaty is known — and I fear that the present demur will make a bad impression. — However I hope & trust that should the war proceed you have or will give the necessary orders for the expedition from Pittsburgh &c^a — mentioned in my letter of the 2. ultimo; as much is to be expected from it. — The Legion shall not retrograde from the field of action; and the blow must be followed and repeated from different quarters. — Our greatest difficulty will result from the want of [underline: timely supplies at the head of the line.] — With every sentiment of esteem & regard I am Sir, your most obed^t hum: Serv^d Wayne N.B. Since writing the foregoing letter & whilst in the act of closing & sending it off by the post — I have rec^d. the enclosed reports; and by Captain Howells Lewis this moment arrived — the woods & roads are infested by savages. — Would to God that my hands were untied! — the Hon^ble Major Gen^l. Knox Sec^y of War