[N° 80. To Major Gen'l Knox, Secretary of War. —] Head Quarters Greeneville 7. July 1794. Sir, At 7. o'Clock in the morning of the 30. ultmo, one of our escorts consisting of ninety riflemen & fifty Dragoons commanded by Major McMahon was attacked by a very numerous body of Indians under the walls of Fort Recovery followed by a general assault upon that Port & Garrison in every direction. — The Enemy were soon repulsed with great slaughter; but immediately rallied and reiterated the attack keeping up a very heavy and constant fire at a more respectable distance all the remainder of that day, which was answered with spirit & effect by the Garrison & that part of Major McMahon's command that had regained the Port. — The Savages were employed during the night which was dark & foggy in carrying off their dead by torch light which occasionally drew a fire from the Garrison; they nevertheless succeeded so well that there were but eight dead bodies left upon the field & three close under the influence of the fire from the Fort. The enemy again renewed the attack on the morning of the 1. instant, but were ultimately compelled to retreat about one o'clock of that day with loss & disgrace from that very field where they had upon a former occasion been proudly victorious. — Enclosed is a particular & general return of the killed, wounded & missing. — among the killed we have to lament the loss of four good & gallant officers viz. Major McMahon Cap^t Hartshorne, Lieut Craig of the rifle corps & Cornet Torrey of the Cavalry; who all fell in the first charges; among the wounded are the intrepid Cap^t. Taylor of the Dragoons and Lieut Drake of the Infantry. — It would appear that the real object of the enemy was to have carried that Port by a coup de main; for they could not possibly have received intelligence of the escort under Major McMahon which only marched from this place on the morning of the 29. ultimo, & deposited the supplies the same evening at Fort Recovery, from whence the escort was to have returned at revellie the next morning — therefore their being found at that Post was an accidental, perhaps afortunate event — by every information as well as from the extent of their encampments, which were perfectly square & regular and their line of march in seventeen columns forming a wide & extended front, their numbers could not have been less than from 1500. to 2000. warriors. — it would appear also that they were rather short of provision as they killed & eat a number of pack horses in their encampment the evening after the assault & also at their next encampment on their retreat which was but seven miles from Fort Recovery where they remained two nights, probably from being much encumbered with their dead and wounded. — a considerable number of the pack horses were actually loaded with the dead. — Permit me now Sir, to express my highest approbation of the bravery & conduct of every officer & soldier of the Garrison & escort upon this trying occasion; and as it would be difficult to discriminate between officers equally meritorious & emulous for glory I have directed the adjutant General to annex the names of every officer of the garrison & escort who were fortunate enough to escape uninjured, being equally exposed to danger with those who were less fortunate. — But I should be wanting in gratitude were I to omit mentioning in particular Cap^t. Alex^r. Gibson of the 4^th Sub Legion the Commandant & gallant defender of Fort Recovery. — Here it may be proper to relate certain facts & circumstances which almost amount to positive proof that there were a considerable number of the British and the militia of Detroit mixed with the Savages in the assault upon Fort Recovery on the 30. ultimo & 1. instant. I had detached three small parties of Chickasaw & Choctaw Indians a few days previous to that affair towards Grand Glaize in order to take or obtain prisoners for the purpose of gaining intelligence; — one of those parties fell in with a large body of Indians at the place marked Girty's town on Harmar's route on the evening of the 27. ultimo, apparently bending their course towards Chilacothe on the Great Miami — this party returned to Greeneville on the 28^th. with this further information that there were a great number of white men with the Indians. — The other two parties got much scattered in following the trails of the hostile Indians at some distance in the rear & were close in with them when the assault commenced on Fort Recovery. — these Indians all insist that there were a considerable number of armed white men in the rear, who they frequently heard talking in our language & encouraging the Savages to persevere in the assault. — that their faces were generally blacked except three British officers, who were dressed in scarlet & appeared to be men of great distinction from being surrounded by a large party of white men & Indians who were very attentive to them — they kept a distance in the rear of those engaged. — another strong corroborating fact that there were British, or British Militia in the assault is that a number of ounce balls & buckshot, were lodged in the blockhouses & stockades of the Fort. — some were delivered at so great a distance as not to penetrate, & were picked up at the foot of the stockades. — It would also appear that the British & Savages expected to find the artillery that were lost on the 4. November 1791. & hid by the Indians in the beds of old fallen timber or logs, which they turned over & laid the cannon in, & then turned the logs back into their former birth. — it was in this manner that we generally found them deposited. — The hostile Indians turned over a great number of logs during the assault in search of those Cannon & other plunder which they had probably hid in this manner after the action of the 4^th Nov^r. 1791. I therefore have reason to believe that the British & Indians depended much upon this artillery to assist in the reduction of that Port. — fortunately, they served in its defence. — The enclosed copies of letters & intelligence from Port Vincennes, & the examination of the Putawatimes & Shawanoe prisoners, will demonstrate this fact & that the British have used every possible exertion to collect the Savages from the most distant nations with the most solemn promises of advancing & co-operating with them against the Legion. nor have the Spaniards been idle upon this occasion. — It is therefore more than probable that the day is not far distant when we shall meet this Hydra in the vicinity of G^d. Glaize & Roche de bout without being able to discriminate between the white & red savages: in the interim I am in hourly expectation of receiving more full & certain intelligence of the number & intention of the enemy. — I have no further or other information respecting the mounted volunteers of Kentucky, than what you will observe in the enclosed copy of the correspondence between Major Gen. Scott & myself. I hope they may be completed to their full number, because it would appear that we shall have business enough for the whole of them. You will herewith receive the General & Field Return of the Legion, the Quarterly Return of Ordnance & Ordnance stores at this place, the D^r M^r. Generals return & the return of the Hospital department. The horses that were killed, wounded & missing in the assault against Fort Recovery will not in the least retard the advance of the Legion after the arrival of the mounted volunteers; because I had made provision for those kind of losses and contingencies, which from the nature of the service must be expected & will unavoidably happen. — I have the honor to be &c. &c. &c. [Written. M. G. Knox, Sec^y of War] [signed] Wayne