Nourse, Joseph (1754-1841) [Various documents related to Arthur St. Clair's 1791 Western expedition]
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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC02437.10357 Author/Creator: Nourse, Joseph (1754-1841) Place Written: s.l. Type: Manuscript document Date: 1790-1791 Pagination: 14 p. ; 41 x 25 cm. Order a Copy
Copies of documents written by various persons related to Arthur St. Clair's failed 1791 Western expedition. Pages 1-5 contain the copy of a report written 10 January 1793 by Joseph Nourse, Register of the Treasury. Discusses the enlistment of levies and the debts and rations owed to officers who participated in the "March of the Army from Fort Washington into the Indian Country." Pages 6-7 contain letters from General Arthur St. Clair and Josiah Harmar to Henry Knox, Secretary of War. Page 6 contains a preface to the correspondence: "The report states the delay of furnishing the estimates for passing the Act for the protection of the frontiers as part of one of the causes of the failure of the expedition." St. Clair's letter to Knox was written 6 November 1790 at Fort Washington, Pennsylvania. Harmar's letter was written 4 November 1790 at Fort Washington. Pages 7-9 contain excerpts from various correspondence related to the expedition and "injustice being done the public service by the recruiting officers of the levies." George Washington comments on recruits in a 29 July 1791 letter to Henry Knox: "It is a very good body of men, and many old officers with them, and very genteel men." Pages 10-13 are partially illegible, but contain the comments of Samuel Hodgdon, Quartermaster General, on provisions related to the expedition. Letterpress copy.
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