[N^o 84. To Major Gen^l Knox, Sec^y of war] Head Quarters Miami Villages 20. Sept. 1794. Sir, I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 11. of July; and to enclose duplicates of my letters to you of the 14. & 28. ult^o. also a copy of a second message to the Hostile Indians, which possibly may produce the desired effect. The old difficulties of supplies still exist & ever will as long as they depend upon Contracts with private individuals: the enclosed duplicates of letters to the Contractors & Q. M. General will truly shew our disagreeable situation and which has been a continued source of difficulty & perplexity to me by ten fold more than contending with all the Savages in the wilderness. General Barbee has this moment fortunately arrived with ten days supply of flour brought from Fort Recovery on the horses belonging to the Mounted Volunteers, the last particle that we had of that essential article was issued yesterday to the troops who have been for three six weeks past upon short allowance, or half a pound of flour p^r man p^r diem; and even at this moment we have but five days rations of meat in Camp without a particle of salt or a single drop of any kind of Spirits. however, I still hope to maintain my ground. Permit me now to give you a short detail of our late manoeuvres &c. In my letter of the 14. ult^o. I informed you that we had built a strong stockade Fort at the confluence of the Miamis & au Glaize, which I have since improved into a regular work surrounded by a good parapet sufficient to resist a twenty four pounder, with a fraize, projecting from the berm over the ditch, which is fourteen feet wide & eight feet deep — in addition to this, I have directed Major Hunt the Commandant to surround the whole to the water edge on each river with a thick abbatis that were ready cut and would require but little labor to compleat, agreeable to the enclosed draught: so that [underline: Fort Defiance] will support that name, even should the British & their Indian allies eventually attack it; nor can it be carried but by regular approaches, aided by a train of heavy artillery, which by recent intelligence are on their way to Fort Miamis. The Legion was employed in making this additional work from the 29. ult^o. until the 14. instant, on which day we took up our line of march & arrived at this place on the 17. cutting & opening a waggon road the whole of the distance being forty eight miles, the general course about W. S. W., without seeing an enemy or meeting with any interruption from them. How to account for the inaction or long silence I am at a loss — unless they are waiting the arrival of Governor Simcoe with the further reenforcement & heavy artillery, mentioned in the enclosed information given by a British deserter (& corroborated by three others directly) from Fort Miamis, before they ultimately decide for peace or war. Be that as it may, they are certainly sore from the late general interview with this army; nor can they support themselves but by the aid of the British Magazines, which probably cannot well supply from seven to eight thousand additional mouths including men, women and children now thrown upon them belonging to the different hostile tribes whose towns, & villages & provision are totally destroyed & laid waste & whose hunting grounds are now in our rear, so that their future prospects must naturally be gloomy & unpleasant. [g^t]