51Henry Knox to Tobias Lear, 25 February 1791 (Washington Papers)
I omitted to day to ask the President’s approbation of Colo. Pickering, as quarter master of the proposed expedition. Will you mention it to him, and let me know the result! Because, if he should approve the idea, it will be necessary to dispatch an express to Colo. Pickering with the Offer. I am Dear Sir, Your humble Servt LS , DLC:GW ; LB , DLC:GW . Knox apparently met with GW on 25 Feb. to...
52Joshua Merryman to Tobias Lear, 15 August 1793 (Washington Papers)
As I trust you will gladly embrace an opportunity to oblige me, so there is no Man to whom I had rather lay myself under an Obligation. I apply to you, therefore, preferably to any body else, for a favor which I am extremely desireous to obtain. To wit, for you to name me to His Excelency the President of the United States as a candidate for the surveyers Office in this Town, which is Vacant...
53John Stagg, Jr., to Tobias Lear, 24 March 1793 (Washington Papers)
Please to submit to the President, the enclosed letter from general Wayne, received last evening. Your’s respectfully ALS , DLC:GW ; LB , DLC:GW . Lear’s docket and the letter-book copy both indicate that this letter was written on 24 Mar. 1793. In his letter to Henry Knox of 15 Mar., Gen. Anthony Wayne announced the arrival at Legionville of Cornplanter and other Iroquois Indians ( Knopf,...
54From George Washington to Tobias Lear, 10 November 1797 (Washington Papers)
I have received both of your letters dated yesterday; & thank you for the information given in them. If Mr Liston’s arrangement to proceed from Alexandria to this place by Water appeared to you to proceed from the want of Carriages (for I do not know in what manner he got to the City) say to him, that you are sure mine would attend upon him at any hour he wd name at that place, to bring as...
55From George Washington to Tobias Lear, 4 June 1795 (Washington Papers)
Your letters of the 26th & 29th Ulto have been duly received, but not adverting in time, that the Post returned on Wednesday I could not answer the latter, until this day. I pray you to continue your purchases in either of the Banks of Alexandria, or Columbia, or both; as you shall deem best; so far as the appropriated sums in your hands, belonging to me (to which add the three thousand...
56John Stagg, Jr., to Tobias Lear, 17 February 1791 (Washington Papers)
By direction of the Secretary of War, I have the honor to transmit you, the enclosed return of the General and Field Officers who served in the late army, for the inspection of the President of the United States. I am Sir, with great respect, Your most obedt Servt ALS , DLC:GW ; LB , DLC:GW . In the letter-book copy an asterisk is inserted at this point. A note at the bottom of the letter...
57From George Washington to Tobias Lear, 11 September 1797 (Washington Papers)
Your letter of the 8th instant was given to me yesterday by Mr Jno. Bassett. If you had intimated a wish to Lease my River Farm a month or two ago, all matters might, with ease, have been arranged before this; but as I had heard nothing in that time from the English Farmer who had been in Treaty for it, I had relinquished the idea of letting it next year, & in consequence, have engaged Stuart,...
58Dominick Lynch to Tobias Lear, 4 June 1790 (Washington Papers)
I hope you will excuse the Liberty I take in addressing you on a subject which my Inclination wou’d lead me not to interfere in, but the wish to serve a most respectable friend induces me to intrude upon you. Mr John Street of Fyal who in consideration of his services to American Prisoners &c. was by the Portuguese Senate for the western Islands appointed during the war American agent &...
59John Stagg, Jr., to Tobias Lear, 13 January 1792 (Washington Papers)
Philadelphia, 13 Jan. 1792. As directed by the secretary of war transmits the enclosed letter, dated 31 Dec. 1791, of Lieutenant Jeffers, commanding officer at Fort Franklin, for submission to the president. ALS , DLC:GW ; LB , DLC:GW . The enclosed letter from Lt. John Jeffers, presumably to Henry Knox, has not been identified. Tobias Lear returned it directly to Knox on 14 Jan. after...
60From George Washington to Tobias Lear, 13 March 1796 (Washington Papers)
Your letters of the 26th Ulto and 2d Instant, came safe to hand, after some delay. The first, with the Will of Harper, has been put into the hands of the Attorney Genl, to aid him in the conveyances. To such parts of the second, as require it, I am about to reply; first expressing my satisfaction at the happy termination of the business which you undertook, in behalf of the Public. Having no...
61Henry Knox to Tobias Lear, 24 February 1793 (Washington Papers)
I will wait upon the President as directed. I now enclose a letter and its enclosure, from Genl Wayne dated the 16th instant, which has been just received. Yours sincerely ALS , DLC:GW ; LB , DLC:GW . Knox is probably referring to GW’s request for a cabinet meeting on 25 Feb. ( Lear to Cabinet, 24 Feb. 1793 ). For the text of Gen. Anthony Wayne’s letter to Knox, see Knopf, Wayne, Richard C....
62From George Washington to Tobias Lear, 5 April 1793 (Washington Papers)
From Baltimore I acknowledged the receipt of your letter of the 29th Ulto; as I am now about to do that of the first instant from hence. I had no idea of your obtaining money from Mr de Barth, if it was even more abundant than you represent it to be—nor do I believe he had any expectation at the time we bargained to make the payments stipulated—It was, I am satisfied, a Speculation on his...
63Certificate for Tobias Lear, 25 March 1793 (Washington Papers)
I do hereby certify that I have examined the Accounts which have been kept by Mr Tobias Lear, on my behalf, from the commencement of my Administration of the Government of the United States down to the 31st day of December One thousand seven hundred and ninety two—as will appear by the Journal & Ledger which contain them—and that I am perfectly well satisfied with the clearness and justness of...
64Henry Knox to Tobias Lear, 28 June 1792 (Washington Papers)
[Philadelphia] 28 June 1792. Asks Lear to submit to GW “the enclosed letters from Governor Blount, Mr Allison and Judge McNairn, and others, by which the train of affairs with the Cherokees will be discovered.” LS , DLC:GW ; LB , DLC:GW . On 16 May, Southwest Territory governor William Blount wrote Knox that he agreed with the secretary of war that a post should not be established at the mouth...
65Henry Knox to Tobias Lear, 18 May 1793 (Washington Papers)
Please to submit to the President of the United States the enclosed letters from Governor Blount of the 18th 20th and two of the 25th Ultimo, also one from Governor Shelby of the 18 Ultimo, and two from Brigadier General Wilkinson, one dated the 31st of March and the other the 10th of April. I am my dear Sir Your humble servant LB , DLC:GW . The letters from William Blount to Knox of 18, 20,...
66From George Washington to Tobias Lear, 31 July 1797 (Washington Papers)
I am alone at present, and shall be glad to see you this evening. Unless some one pops in, unexpectedly, Mrs Washington and myself will do what I believe has not been [done] within the last twenty years by us, that is to set down to dinner by ourselves. I am Yr affectionate ALS (photocopy), Charles Hamilton catalog no. 23, 13 Dec. 1967. In his Letters and Recollections, 120, Lear added here...
67From George Washington to Tobias Lear, 30 July 1792 (Washington Papers)
Your letter from New York came duly to hand, and I was glad to find you had got that far in safety. I wish the remainder of your journey may prove equally pleasant and prosperous. My journey was not of this sort, for after I had parted with the Coach horses I was plagued with those which succeeded them, the following day; and the sick mare, by a dose of Physic which had been administered the...
68Henry Knox to Tobias Lear, 7 May 1792 (Washington Papers)
[Philadelphia] 7 May 1792. Asks Lear “to send me the Map of the tract to be reserved about fort Washington.” ALS , DLC:GW ; LB , DLC:GW . On 12 April 1792 GW had approved “An Act for ascertaining the bounds of a tract of land purchased by John Cleves Symmes,” which provided “That the President reserve to the United States such lands at and near Fort Washington as he may think necessary for the...
69Alexander Hamilton and John Armstrong, Jr., to Tobias Lear, 23 April 1793 (Washington Papers)
Do me the favor to learn from the President, & inform me by the bearer, whether mister Lee’s resignation was purely voluntary on his part, or was occasioned by any circumstance dissatisfactory to the President. The reason to the enquiry is that I may regulate my expressions to him accordingly. I presume no such circumstance has occured; but for greater caution I ask. Yrs &c. LB , DLC:GW . For...
70Henry Knox to Tobias Lear, 6 December 1792 (Washington Papers)
Please to submit to the President of the United States, the enclosed letters, from Brigadier General Wilkinson and John Belli deputy quarter master—dated Oct: 4th and 8th 1792; which I have just received. Yours sincerely, LS , DLC:GW ; LB , DLC:GW . The enclosed letters from James Wilkinson and John Belli have not been identified.
71From George Washington to Tobias Lear, 24–26 April 1791 [letter not found] (Washington Papers)
Letter not found: to Tobias Lear, c.24–26 April 1791. On 15 May Lear wrote GW that he received a letter from GW that covered one to Mrs. Washington, “which she informed me was dated at Wilmington.” GW was in Wilmington, N.C., from 24 to 26 April.
72Henry Knox to Tobias Lear, 19 November 1791 (Washington Papers)
You mention in yours of last evening, the blanks for the commissioners to run the Cherokee line will be filled by the names agreed upon this day. The following characters were mentioned by me to Mr Hawkins yesterday, who seemed to think them entirely suitable for the purpose, to wit, Judge Campbell. Daniel Smith—the Secretary of the territory. and, Colonel Landon Carter. Will you be so good as...
73From George Washington to Tobias Lear, 14 November 1790 (Washington Papers)
(Private) Dear Sir, Mount Vernon Novr 14th 1790 . Having wrote two letters to you on the subject of Page’s Stage Coach (one or the other of which, if not both, it is presumable will certainly have got to hand before this can) I shall add no more thereto than that, the Coach of Page is now my dependence. I am, I must confess, exceedingly unwilling to go into a house without first knowing on...
74John Lamb to Tobias Lear, 22 March 1792 (Washington Papers)
New York, 22 Mar. 1792. Requests Lear’s “favor, in delivering the enclosed.” ALS , DLC:GW . The enclosure was Lamb’s letter of this date to Martha Washington covering a receipt for two barrels of “Newtown Pippins” being shipped on the New York packet, for which he begged her acceptance. On 10 Dec. 1790 he had sent the first lady three barrels of apples, along with some ginger and salmon (...
75Henry Knox to Tobias Lear, 30 May 1793 (Washington Papers)
Be pleased to submit the enclosed letter just received from the Governor of Georgia. Yours ALS , DLC:GW ; LB , DLC:GW . Edward Telfair, in his letter to Knox of 8 May, reported that he had called for “immediate preparations of war,” following “horrid barbarities committed” by Indians in Georgia. For the complete text of this letter, as well as Knox’s response of 10 June, see ASP, Indian...
76Henry Knox to Tobias Lear, 17 August 1793 (Washington Papers)
Please to Submit the enclosed report from the Secretary of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania to the President of the United States. I have the honor to be Sir your humble Servant LS , DLC:GW ; LB , DLC:GW . In his letter to Knox of 17 Aug., Alexander J. Dallas wrote that the British sloop Hope , from Antigua and a prize to the French privateer Citoyen Genet , and the American sloop St. Alodia ,...
77From George Washington to Tobias Lear, 29 April 1796 (Washington Papers)
Yesterday’s Post brought me the letters which had arrived in the Commerce, Captn Tuttell; enclosing Invoice and Bill of lading for the long expected Seeds (which by the bye have cost me at least four times as much as I expected). The Invoice and Bill of lading are now sent to you, lest from the want of them, any difficulty or delay should arise on account of the duties and they are accompanied...
78From George Washington to Tobias Lear, 31 October 1790 (Washington Papers)
I have received your letter of the 24th since the date of my last to you; and am very glad to hear that the most valuable parts of the furniture have borne their transportation without receiving damage, and that your expectation of equal success with respect to the remainder, is sanguine. I am pained, however, to find there is a doubt that the House will not be completely finished & ready for...
79From George Washington to Tobias Lear, 26 September 1791 (Washington Papers)
Since my last to you I have received your two letters of the 21st instant—one dated in the morning, and the other in the evening of that day. What appeared to you to be the object of the formal enquiries of Mr Powell and the Mayor of the City, in their late interrogatories? Did they mean to convict Mr Gallatine of mis-representation—or me of an improper interference in the building of a House...
80Roger Alden to Tobias Lear, 14 July 1790 (Washington Papers)
New York, 14 July 1790. In response to Tobias Lear’s request for copies of state acts ceding lighthouses and related property to the federal government, sends a copy (not found) of an exemplified New York act, the only one transmitted to the Department of State since the receipt of those of Connecticut and Pennsylvania, which have already been forwarded to the president. ALS , DNA : RG 59,...
81Alexander Hamilton to Tobias Lear, 26 February 1793 (Washington Papers)
I have the honor to enclose to you a small account against the United States, for a Seal for the use of the District Court of the State of Vermont. As this article forms a charge against the Fund appropriated for the contingent charges of Government, I will thank you to obtain the President’s permission for paying it out of the said fund. I am, etc: LB , DLC:GW . The enclosure has not been...
82From George Washington to Tobias Lear, 8 April 1793 (Washington Papers)
Since my last to you from this place, your letter of 3d instt has been received transmitting Colo. Cannon’s Rental, and Mr de Barth’s profession of inability to discharge his Bond. The latter seems to be a more candid acct than the former; but with both, I must be satisfied—presuming, I shall never obtain better, from either. Before you say any thing to Mr C——with respect to the lands which Mr...
83From George Washington to Tobias Lear, 21 September 1792 (Washington Papers)
I have written but one letter to you since I came to this place —I was on the point of writing a second when yours of the 5th of August came to my hands informing me of your intention to leave Portsmouth about the first of this month, and expectation of reaching Philadelphia (if no unforeseen delays happened) the 20th. This information arrested my intention, as it was uncertain at what place...
84From George Washington to Tobias Lear, 21 December 1794 (Washington Papers)
Your letter of the 17th instt was received yesterday, and I am glad to find that an act of the Virginia Assembly has been obtained, for prolonging the term for the completion of the inland navigation of the Potomac. The like I hope has been, or will be obtained, this Session, in the Assembly of Maryland. A good opportunity presenting itself on thursday last, I embraced it, to enquire of Mr...
85Clement Biddle to Tobias Lear, 26 November 1792 (Washington Papers)
The prices of Stocks for Cash in this City on the 1st August last were for 6 ⅌ Cts 21/4 3 ⅌ Cts 12/6 deferred 13/4
86Henry Knox to Tobias Lear, 3 May 1793 (Washington Papers)
Please to submit the enclosed letter to the President of the U.S. ALS , DLC:GW ; LB , DLC:GW . Lear’s docket indicates that this letter was written on 3 May 1793. In the enclosed letter of 27 April 1793, Gen. Anthony Wayne suggested to Knox that in order to ensure American military success against the Indians of the Northwest Territory, the United States should take possession of Forts Niagara...
87From George Washington to Tobias Lear, 5 August 1795 (Washington Papers)
It is my intention, at present, to be in Georgetown to morrow; but as I have been sending to the post-Office in Alexandria every day since friday last, for letters, without having received any from the Officers of Government; and may, by this days mail find such an accumulation of them, as to make it impracticable for me to give them proper attention—prepare answers against Saturday...
88Henry Knox to Tobias Lear, 16 June 1792 (Washington Papers)
[Philadelphia, 16 June 1792]. Asks Lear “to submit the enclosed letter from Genl Chapin, to the President of the United States. Capt. Brant will be here by tuesday, at furthest, in the judgement of the express who has just arrived.” ALS , DLC:GW ; LB , DLC:GW . For the reasons for Joseph Brant’s delay in visiting Philadelphia, see GW to Knox, 25 Feb., source note and note 1 , Timothy Pickering...
89Henry Knox to Tobias Lear, 10 May 1793 (Washington Papers)
Mr Allison has just arrived from Governor Blount with the enclosed letters. He says he thinks the Governor may be here in about three weeks. Yours sincerely ALS , DLC:GW ; LB , DLC:GW . David Allison was often the bearer of messages between William Blount in the Southwest Territory and officials in Philadelphia ( Extracts of Correspondence on Indian Affairs, October 1792, note 21 ). Blount’s...
90Timothy Pickering to Tobias Lear, 31 December 1792 (Washington Papers)
Can you inform me of any of the facts or representations communicated to the president relative to news-papers, which led him to notice them in his speech, at the opening of the present session of Congress? It seemed generally to be understood to imply that obstructions to their transmission had arisen from the post office law. Were not the obstructions to the papers which should have passed...
91From George Washington to Tobias Lear, 30 August 1798 (Washington Papers)
I have, at length, received the President’s answer (through the Secretary of War) to my request to be allowed a Secretary, who gives it as his opinion that I have an undoubted right to one, or all of my military family, if I find it convenient, and that their pay &c. will be allowed. And the Secretary having thrown a mass of Papers upon me which I have not looked into (being this moment...
92Henry Knox to Tobias Lear, 31 May 1793 (Washington Papers)
Agreably to the directions of the President of the United States I transmit you the minutes of the proceedings on the 29th instant. Please to inform the President that Colonel Willet declines the preferred Mission to the Creeks, on the ground, that his broken leg will not admit his bearing the fatigues of the Journey. I am Dear Sir Your affectionate humble Servant ALS , DLC:GW ; LB , DLC:GW ....
93Benjamin Hawkins to Tobias Lear, 26 November 1792 (Washington Papers)
No. 37 N. Carolina 26 novr 1792 On the same day you applied to me, I had a conference wth Mr Johnston and the representatives from N. Carolina the result of which this day is that Thomas Overton of More County or Henry Waters of [New] Hanover is equal to the appointment contemplated by the President. Overton was I believe of the rank of Major in the line of the late Army, and of the State of...
94Authorization for Tobias Lear, 30 August 1790 (Washington Papers)
Whereas it may be necessary, during my absence from the Seat of Government, to pay certain monies and accounts out of the fund of ten thousand Dollars appropriated to the discharge of Contingent Expenses of Government, by a law passed on the 26th day of March 1790; I therefore do authorize Tobias Lear, my Secretary, to direct such payments to be made in my name, out of said fund, as may come...
95Henry Knox to Tobias Lear, 25 April 1793 (Washington Papers)
Please to submit the enclosed letters from Governor Telfair, & Lt Governor Wood, to the President of the United States. Yours sincerely ALS , DLC:GW ; LB , DLC:GW . Gov. Edward Telfair of Georgia, in his letter to Knox of 9 April, expressed “peculiar satisfaction” that the secretary of war was considering calling up the militia “in the event of general hostility” ( ASP, Indian Affairs, Walter...
96From George Washington to Tobias Lear, 14 May 1791 (Washington Papers)
I have not, I believe, written to you since I left Richmond. At Charleston, towards the last of my stay there, I received your letters of the 10th & 15th of Apl but the continual hurry into which I was thrown by entertainments—visits—and ceremonies of one kind or another, scarcely allowed me a moment that I could call my own—nor is the case much otherwise here. No letters North of Virginia...
97Henry Knox to Tobias Lear, 8 December 1792 (Washington Papers)
General Knox presents his compliments to Mr Lear, and begs the favor that he will submit to the President of the United States, the enclosed letters just received from the Governor of Georgia and Major Gaither. L , DLC:GW ; LB , DLC:GW . The enclosed letter from Georgia governor Edward Telfair was one that he wrote to Knox from Augusta on 20 Nov. 1792. “With respect to some late outrages...
98From George Washington to Tobias Lear, 9 January 1795 (Washington Papers)
Your letter of the 1st instt has been received, but not so soon after the date of it as might have been expected; & not recollecting in time, that this was Post day for the Southward, I shall confine myself to a single point—namely, to inform you, as I have been informed myself, that in a late meeting of the Canal Company of this State, permission was given to Mr Western to visit the Lock...
99Timothy Pickering to Tobias Lear, 14 January 1793 (Washington Papers)
The inclosed letter from Samuel Freeman Esqr. of Portland I should have presented long ago: but laying it by in my desk very safely, it has been overlooked. Perhaps it may now be of no consequence. Possibly you may know Mr Freeman. He has written to me in consequence of an acquaintance formed by his being the postmaster at Portland. I take him to be of a very respectable character there; and...
100Henry Knox to Tobias Lear, 31 January 1792 (Washington Papers)
War Department, Philadelphia, 31 Jan. 1792. Please submit to the president the enclosed papers, received this day from General St. Clair. “If it should be the judgemt of the President, the letter of Genl St Clair may be published.” ALS , DLC:GW ; LB , DLC:GW . Tobias Lear replied to Henry Knox on this date, enclosing the monthly returns, noting that the president wished to have an accurate...