N^o 76. To Maj. Gen. Knox Sec^y of war. — Head Quarters, Greeneville 7. may 1794 Sir, I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of yours of the 31st march, with the several enclosures, including a Commission & instructions for holding a treaty with the Indian tribes N.W. of the Ohio, — to every part of which due attention shall be paid to the utmost of my power & abilities. — Permit me now Sir, to offer you my most gratefull thanks for the very polite manner in which you have been pleased to communicate the approbation of the President of the United States of my conduct in general since I have had the command. — Tomerit the approbation of that great & good man & to serve my Country with effect has been my constant study & highest ambition; and I fondly hope that the discipline & prowess of the troops will produce a conviction to the world that the trust & confidence reposed in me by the President when honored by his nomination to command the American Legion was not misplaced. — Before this reaches you the muster & pay rolls of the mounted Volunteers of Kentucky must have been received at your office; by the second or last muster at Fort Washington it would appear that the greatest part of the men enrolled for the purpose of being mustered, but there were between Eighty and a ninety who did not attend, and who were considered by their officers as deserters. I am therefore decidedly of opinion that the forfeiture of their pay is not only just but also wise & politic; as it will have a powerful tendency to prevent those kind of characters from desertion in future: on the contrary should they not only pass with impunity — but rewarded by receiving full pay to the time of their desertion, it would encourage a general dereliction upon some other occasion perhaps at a critical & fatal moment. In consequence of your order of the 31st march I have directed the D.Q.M. General to collect a sufficient number of boats for the purpose of transporting the troops & stores to [strikethrough: Massac] & have appointed major Doyle of the 4^th Sub Legion to that command, who will descend the Ohio — immediately with a select detachment of about eighty good men — that marched from hence this morning consisting of Infantry & matross, and ordered to be furnished with ammunition & provision for six months. But if any dependence is to be placed on the enclosed copy of a letter from the Governor of the state of Kentucky, dated the 10. February last there is nothing to be apprehended from that quarter — be that as it may the force under Major Doyle who is a good and vigilant officer will be adequate to every purpose. The garrisons of Forts Steuben & Knox are composed of invalids selected from the Legion at large as totally unfit for the field & scarcely equal to common Garrison duty; and as such they are now mustered, being struck from the muster & Payrolls of the respective companies to which they formerly belonged in pursuance of a general order of 6. Sept 1793 therefore the idea of garrisoning the post of Massac with part of those garrisons is out of the question. the total number of the first dont exceed 40. & that of the second not more than fifty men. In fact I made a point of garrisoning all the posts on the river & in our rear with the description of troops, in order to advance with as respectable a force as possible — the aggregate of which will not amount to two thousand effectives, as you will observe by the field return which I have now the honor to enclose, together with the general Return of the Legion also the Quarterly returns of the ordnance, Quartermaster & hospital departments up to the 4^th ultimo. — The enclosed copy of the correspondence between the Contractors & myself, will but demonstrate the difficulties I have constantly labored under in consequence of their non compliance with the most positive, pressing and oft repeated orders for providing a constant & plentiful supply of provision for the support of the troops in every direction, particularly at the head of the line. — It would appear by their letter of the 2^d. instant that the 200000 rations of Cattle, (which they informed you on the 25. of January last) were still feeding in Kentucky agreeably to my orders in addition to 27000 rations in advance, are yet to be purchased, at least the greater part — nor have they sufficient means of transport even from hand to mouth — on the contrary I have been under the disagreeable necessity of employing the horses belonging to the Q.^r M.^r Generals department at different periods since our arrival on this ground on the transport of flour to the amount of