To the Agent for the department of War in Knoxville (Colonel David Henley.) Sir, M^r Silas Dinsmore, Indian temporary Agent, who resides at Ustinakali, one of the Cherokee Towns, is instructed to give you certain information relative to infractions of the law passed the nineteenth day of May 1796 entitled "An act to regulate trade and intercourse with the Indian Tribes, and to preserve peace on the frontiers," which I enclose for your information and government. In co-operation therewith the President vests you with the following powers. 1. To grant permits to such persons as may appear to you to have business in the Cherokee Nation, to pass into the same. And 2^d To grant Licences to purchasers horses or trade in the said Nation, agreeably to the conditions of the law. In order to make this arrangement known, you will give notice in the Newspapers, that you are authorized to grant them, and the place where application is to be made to you for that purpose. Enclosed are blank Passes, Licences and Bonds. You will make quarterly Returns to the Secretary of War of the names of all persons which you may licence, and will require of the traders that they shall not carry into the Indian Country for sale, any spirituous or distilled Liquors. You will also cause to be inserted in the Newspapers, the annexed advertisement relative to injuries done the property of Citizens of the United States by Indians, and will report to the Secretary of War all cases referred to you within the purview of the fourteenth Section of the aforesaid Act, to which it refers, for the examination and orders of the President. That the law may be duly executed, it is necessary that a mode should be adopted for the discovery of Infractors. With this view M^r Dinsmore is instructed to report to you the names of all persons coming into the place where he resides, or of whom he has knowledge in the Nation before mentioned, with or without a pass; as also the names of all Persons found trading without or without a Licence; and the names of all violators, or Infractors of the 2, 3, 9, and 4^th Sections of the law. He is to report in like manner all cases of offences committed under the fourth Section of the Act, and the value of any property that may be taken or destroyed belonging to an Indian. He is also to report to you all neglects or refusals for compensation required from the Indians, agreeably to the 14^th Section. On your part you will transmit to M^r Dinsmore from time to time, the names of all persons to whom you may have granted Passes and Licences, and to the Secretary of War the cases of offences committed under the 4^th Section, with which he will furnish you, that order may be taken thereon. It being important to the maintenance of peace with the Indians, that all offences against the provisions of this Act, should be punished, you will as often as any case may require it and documents be in your possession to prove the offence, advertize a reward of ten Dollars for the apprehending the Offender, so that he may be brought to Trial. Heretofore the mode of delivering the Goods promised to the Indians, has produced a very unequal distribution. M^r Dinsmore has been directed to agree with the Cherokees, upon a more equitable mode, of which he is to inform you. It is hoped that it may be so arranged, that the Indians will point out to him, who, and how much, each is to receive, upon which he will give them respectively, an order upon you for the portion each is entitled to receive. You will as often as their Stipend in Goods arrives, furnish him with a duplicate Invoice of the same. M^r Dinsmore will submit to you certain documents to prove that three horses were stolen by the Cherokees. You will be pleased to pass them through the hands of the deputy Paymaster for report, and pay for them agreeably to the additional Articles of the Treaty of Holston, one hundred and fifty Dollars. The account of all payments of this kind is to be deducted from their annuity Goods, and the Goods turned over to the Factor, who is to give you a receipt therefor. M^r Dinsmore being instructed to endeavour to introduce the manufacture of Cotton among the Cherokees, you will upon his requisition procure for, and forward to him the necessary Implements, and Machines, and one or two women well qualified to instruct the Indian women in spinning and weaving. The Indian Goods composing the Stipend to the Cherokees agreeably to treaty, for the Year 1796, will be forwarded to you immediately. Given at the War Office of the United States, this 9^th day of September 1796. — signed, James McHenry. To whom it may concern: The Subscriber being authorized by the President of the United States to receive Claims against the United States, arising under the law of Congress passed the 19^th of May 1796 entitled "An act to regulate trade and intercourse with the Indian tribes, and to preserve peace on the frontier," hereby makes known that documents and proofs substantiating the loss of any property taken, stolen or destroyed by any Indian, or Indians, within the purview of the 11^th Section of the said law are to be lodged at the Office of the deputy Paymaster and Storekeeper for the department of War at Knoxville.