Papers of John Adams, volume 21

251 Henry Knox to John Adams, 22 January 1794 Knox, Henry Adams, John

From Henry Knox

Sir: War Department, January 22, 1794.

Communications relative to the Southwestern frontiers having been laid before Congress, the President of the United States has directed me to submit to the Senate, further information just received from James Seagrove, of his having restored peace between the United States and the Creek nation of Indians.1

I have the honor to be, with great respect, your obedient servant,

H. Knox, Secretary of War.

MS not found. Printed from Amer. State Papers , Indian Affairs, 4:471; internal address: “The Vice President of the United States.”

Irish-born James Seagrove (ca. 1747–1812), a New York City merchant, had acted as a U.S. agent to the Creeks since 1791. Knox sent Seagrove’s Nov. 1793 report on his goals, which originally included stemming southwestern tribal support for the Miami and Shawnee campaigns in Ohio. Seagrove’s 1793 mission to the Creek stronghold of Tuckaubatchee (now Elmore County, Ala.) was complex. Native peoples in the southwestern region had splintered into three factions—pro-British, pro-Spanish, and pro-American—and conducted violent raids against each other. At first, Seagrove earned little aid from Georgia state officials, who distrusted the federal implementation and enforcement of previous treaties made with the Creeks in 1783, 1785, and 1786. During the negotiations, Seagrove persuaded Creek chiefs to uphold the 1790 Treaty of New York, to end American depredations, and to make reparations to the state of Georgia. The U.S. agent stayed in Tuckaubatchee until April 1794 to supervise the implementation of the agreement (Washington, Papers, Presidential Series , 3:307; Daniel M. Smith, “James Seagrove and the Mission to Tuckaubatchee, 1793,” Georgia Historical Quarterly, 44:48, 49, 53, 54 [March 1960]).

Timothy Dwight to John Adams, 24 January 1794 Dwight, Timothy (1752–1817) Adams, John

From Timothy Dwight

Sir, Greenfield (in Connecticut) Jany 24th 1794.

I have been some time employed in writing a poem, entitled Greenfield Hill; of a rural character; in a degree descriptive; but principally didactic. In it, beside several other subjects, are treated the subjects of slavery, war, the state of society public & private, in New England, the education of children, religion, œconomy of private life, & the policy of this country.

It is written, in seven parts; connected by the situation; in which the writer is supposed to stand—on the beautiful eminence, which gives the poem it’s name. The parts are stiled—

The Prospect;

The Flourishing Village;

The Burning of Fairfield;

The Destruction of the Pequods;

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The Clergymans advice to the Villagers;

The Farmer’s advice to the Villagers; &

The Vision; or Prospect of the future state of this Country.

This poem, sir, it is my wish to inscribe to you; should the proposal meet with your approbation.1

If you think it proper, sir, you may obtain a general character of the work, by enquiring of Mr Woolcot, the Comptroller of the public Treasury, who has read it.

Allow me to observe, sir, though perhaps the observation is scarcely necessary, that I am induced to request this favour, merely from a wish to bear publicly my own little testimony of respect to a Character, to which I view America at large, & myself in particular, as under peculiar obligations. Allow me also to subscribe myself, with sentiments of the highest respect, Sir, your very / obedient, / & most humble Servant,

Timothy Dwight.

RC (Adams Papers); internal address: “The Vice-President of the United States.”; endorsed: “Dr Dwight. 24. Jan. / ansd 1. Feb. 1794.”

Dwight’s Greenfield Hill: A Poem, in Seven Parts, N.Y., 1794, Evans, No. 26925, was an ode to the natural beauty of his home and surrounding land in Fairfield, Conn., which he dedicated to JA ( AFC , 10:449).