University of Virginia Library

[Letter of General Henry Knox, secretary of war, to General Josiah Harmar, commanding on
the Western frontier. From transcript by L.C. Draper, in library of Wisconsin Historical Society—
Draper MSS., 2W133.]

(Secret)

Dear Sir: The subject I about stating must be retained by you as a
profound secret, and I depend on your honor not to communicate
thereon now or hereafter, excepting with the Governor of the Western
Territory[2] whom I shall refer to you.

It is important that the official information of all the Western regions
should be as precise and as extensive as the nature of things will admit.
You will therefore exercise your mind in obtaining such information.
Devise some practicable plan for exploring the branch of the Mississippi

called the Messouri, up to its source and all its Southern branches, and
tracing particularly the distance between the said branches and any of
the navigable streams that run into the Great North River which
empties itself into the Gulf of Mexico. In order that you may better
comprehend my idea, I send you a map of the said river and its conjectural
relation to the Messouri.

You will easily see that this object cannot be undertaken with the
sanction of public authority. An enterprising officer with a noncommissioned
officer well acquainted with living in the woods, & perfectly
capable of describing rivers and countries, accompanied by four or
five hardy Indians perfectly attached to the United States, would, in my
opinion be the best mode of obtaining the information requested.
Could you engage two such parties, and send them off at different periods
of one or two months distance from each other, it is highly probable
that one if not both would succeed & return. I am not authorized
to make any stipulations on this subject, but I pledge myself unequivocally
that if the parties should succeed, that I will exert myself to the
utmost that they shall not only be satisfactorily, but liberally rewarded,
on their return. Endeavor therefore by all means to find
suitable characters for this hardy enterprise, & having found them
despatch them as soon as possible. I say nothing about their equipments
or the manner of their being furnished, leaving that to your & the
Governor's judgment, & those to whom you may confide the direction
of the enterprize. Pocket compasses would be necessary to their success,
& pencils & paper to assist their remarks.

Were it practicable to make the operation with canoes, it would be
most satisfactory.