January 31, 1782

Shaw, Samuel, 1754-1794

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Henry Knox

Written by Major Shaw, formerly Knox's aide-de-camp, to Brigadier General Knox. Reports that his brother arrived safely in France after a 23 day voyage. Says his brother's ship was the first to arrive with news of Cornwallis's defeat at Yorktown. It "was received with the most heartfelt satisfaction by our good Allies and it was expected would be productive of the greatest good consequences." Waiting to hear about the response from England. Says the legislature has been meeting for the last 8 days. Says the governor gave a good speech and that the legislature wants to comply with the…

GLC02437.01346

5 August 1781

Scammell, Alexander, 1747-1781

Manuscript letter

Title: to Henry Knox

Encloses a return (not included) for "drums & fife wanting in [his] Detachment." Date inferred from GLC02437.01119. File copy in Knox's hand of letter received from Scammell.

GLC02437.01118

22 August 1781

Knox, Henry, 1750-1806

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Thomas Seward

Written by Brigadier General Knox to Captain Seward. Orders Seward to proceed to New Windsor and to bring all the garrison carriages for 18 pounders. Says if there are not 10 there, he is to take some of the French 18 pounder carriages that Colonel Crane had placed on a ship lying off New Windsor. Also wants 3 carriages for English 24 pounders. Needs them to be at Verplanck's Point by tomorrow. Says General McDougall will assist him in this mission with men and boats. Captain Mitchell will also help him. Expresses confidence in Seward's ability carry out the mission.

GLC02437.01152

5 December 1781

Shaw, Samuel, 1754-1794

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Henry Knox

Comments that after a pleasant trip, though a little bit "zig-zag/ by way of Booneton and Mount Hope," he has arrived near Fishkill, New York at the lodgings of Lord Stirling. Discusses various friends he has visited, including Mr. Mitchell, the Quartermaster. Comments that he will soon go to Boston where he will be able "to receive and execute your commands." Sends regards to Knox and Mrs. Knox from Stirling as well as from himself.

GLC02437.01300

December 27, 1781

Shaw, Samuel, 1754-1794

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Henry Knox

Relates that he has confirmed the loss of ships Knox invested in by speaking both to McGee and Col. Sears (see GLC02437.01306). Comments that Col. Sears would like him to invest in another ship McGee will be sailing, upon returning from transporting flour to Havana; adds, "If you do, I wish most heartily that Fortune may be in a better humor, and by prospering the next voyage, make you ample amends for last disappointments." Declares that he wrote a letter to Knox's brother and gave it to the Marquis Lafayette who was waiting to set sail from Boston. He writes, "Nothing has been done, or is…

GLC02437.01311

January 10, 1782

Shaw, Samuel, 1754-1794

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Henry Knox

Comments that he hoped he would receive news that Knox had gotten the promotion he deserved, but was disappointed to find that Congress had decided not to consider it at present. Comments, "However disagreeable it would be for an officer in your station to quit the army, especially at a juncture so promising as the present, yet I am to well persuaded of your inflexibility in a resolution taken upon the clearest grounds, that I look on your resignation as a certain consequence, Should they refuse or unnecessarily delay to comply with the reasonable expectations of yourself and friends." Adds…

GLC02437.01331

5 March 1782

Shaw, Samuel, 1754-1794

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Henry Knox

Written by Major Shaw, Knox's former aide-de-camp, to Brigadier General Knox. Says he was mistaken when he told Knox the lower house of the Massachusetts legislature has passed an act for payment of notes for 1782 for officers and soldiers who still remained in the service. Tells how they decided against the measure. Feels himself lucky as he had already disposed of his notes. Sends this letter by General Benjamin Lincoln, whose stay in Boston started "much speculation. Whether New York or Canada is the object of the ensuing campaign is not fully determined, though the knowing ones seem to…

GLC02437.01364

21 March 1782

Shaw, Samuel, 1754-1794

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Henry Knox

Written by Major Shaw, Knox's former aide-de-camp, to Brigadier General Knox. Letter expresses the touchiness Revolutionary officers had about rank. Says no word on Knox's promotion is to be had. Hopes "The period, however, cannot be remote when Congress must decide - and either do you justice or dispense with your further services." Goes on to express dismay at Knox not receiving the promotion. References the letter he sent on 5 March as well as another he sent a week earlier. Says since his 5 March letter he has been able to reach a settlement with Massachusetts for his pay for 1780.…

GLC02437.01370

16 May 1782

Knox, Henry, 1750-1806

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Isaac Sears

Written on paper of two sizes: the smaller measures 25.7 x 20.4 cm, and the larger measures 32 x 23 cm. Asks Sears to discharge a specified amount of money to Colonel Clement Biddle and to Colonel Samuel Griffith. Thanks him "heartily, for your kindness to myself and Mrs. Knox, and for that substantial friendship and assistance, without which the service in which I have been engaged, would have been peculiarly different. I anxiously wish for some opportunity to convince you or yours how deeply impressed I am with a sense of your kindness." Briefly discusses his recent business at…

GLC02437.01407

16 May 1782

Sears, Isaac, 1730-1786

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Henry Knox

Written by Sears, who was known for his early and vehement support of the patriots in New York, to Major General Knox. References Knox's letters of 23 January and 1 May. Says his first "orders" are paid and the other will be paid when due. Is happy he could offer his services to Knox and his wife. Refrains from speaking on political matters, but hopes to be able to see Knox in New York soon. Says "it appears to me the heart of the American War is near at an end, but don't believe we shall have a peace very soon, unless the French and Spanish gains some great advantage over the British in the…

GLC02437.01418

24 September 1782

Knox, Henry, 1750-1806

Manuscript letter

Title: to Thomas Seward

Written and signed for Knox in the hand of Samuel Shaw, Knox's aide-de-camp. Writes, "I have directed a company under Capt. Lt. [Isaac] Guion from Col. [John] Lamb's regiment to relieve yours now Stationed in the Northern department. You will therefore obtain permission from Maj. Gen. [William Alexander] Lord Stirling to collect your men and repair to this post as soon as possible. You must carefully examine all the waggons and other carriages which were taken from General [John] Burgoyne in 1777, and such of them as are fit for Service must be brought here in their present state - the…

GLC02437.01626

4 June 1782

Knox, Henry, 1750-1806

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Comfort Sands

Informs Sands, a previous supplier of military goods [see GLC02437.01301], that a "few barrells of neats foot oyl are wanted for the musquets & cartridge boxes of the Army," and he wants to know whether Sands can supply them, and what the terms might be.

GLC02437.01439

8 August 1782

Knox, Henry, 1750-1806

Autograph letter signed

Title: to William Snow

Written by Major General Knox to British POW Captain Snow. Informs Snow that Washington has consented to exchange him immediately. He is being exchanged for an American officer of equal rank.

GLC02437.01521

13 August 1782

Snow, William, 1753-1834

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Henry Knox

Writes, "I was honor'd this day with your letter for which I return you my most sincere thanks shall be happy shou'd it ever be in my power to show you how sensible I am of the obligation." See GLC02437.01521, in which Knox informs Snow, a British officer, that General George Washington has consented to arrange for his exchange.

GLC02437.01525

28 April 1782

Steuben, Friedrich Wilhelm Ludolf Gerhard Augustin, Baron von, 1730-1794

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Henry Knox [in French]

Mostly written in French, introducing Brigadier General Le Comte De Bennofsky , of the French Army. Short paragraph in English reads: "Lt. Philips is taken. A Treaty of diffensiv & offensiv alliance signed between France & Holland. Huza my friend all goes well."

GLC02437.01397

1 May 1782

Snow, William, 1753-1834

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Henry Knox

Asks Knox to facilitate an exchange, to allow him to return to duty from being held prisoner. Writes, "You know my critical situation and of what consequence it must be to me, to be at liberty to serve." Signed W. Snow, Captain. Docketed "from Capt Snow 64th regiment British."

GLC02437.01405

14 May 1782

Snow, William, 1753-1834

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Henry Knox

Refers to an earlier letter he sent to Knox regarding his exchange. Writes, "I was induced to take that liberty [to write], from the polite manner you were pleased to express to Gen Dalrymple your wishes to serve me." As he is afraid his letter might not have been delivered, he hopes Knox will forgive him for writing again to ask for his exchange. Docket reads "Capt. Snow, a prisoner in New York for our exchange."

GLC02437.01417

10 June 1782

Snow, William, 1753-1834

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Henry Knox

Writes, "The honor you confer'd on me by expressing to General Dalrymple your wishes to serve me with respect to my exchange, induced me to take the liberty of writing to you to request your interest. But I fear, as I have not been favored with an answer, me letters must have miscarry'd. Our slight acquaintance will perhaps not justify the liberty I take, but when I inform you that the future prospect of my life in great measure depends on my being now exchanged (and as you are the only person to whom I can have the least pretensions to apply) I am sure you will not deem it impertinence I…

GLC02437.01446

13 June 1782

Knox, Henry, 1750-1806

Autograph letter signed

Title: to William Snow

Writes, "I have received your favor of the 10th instant by Mr. Skinner. It would have given me real pleasure to have contributed in any degree to your exchange, but the existence of certain circumstances, to which you can be no stranger will unhappily retard it for the present. The moment these can be removed, I am persuaded there will not be the least impediment on our part to your immediate exchange."

GLC02437.01451

20 June 1782

Knox, Henry, 1750-1806

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben

Written by Major General Knox to Major General von Steuben. Says he is ashamed he does not have as much money to send von Steuben as he requested. Hopes "three half Johannes" will be enough for the present. Says he will send more when he gets it.

GLC02437.01459

17 July 1782

Snow, William, 1753-1834

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Henry Knox

Written by Captain Snow of the British 64th Regiment of Foot (Light Infantry) as a POW to Major General Knox. References Knox's letter of 13 June. Thanks him for the letter and says nothing but the critical situation he is in would excuse his troublesomeness. Says "be assured shou'd I even be so unfortunate as to remain prisoner for life, I shall ever remember with the greatest gratitude your civility to me." Tear has been repaired with tape on verso.

GLC02437.01490

30 August 1782

Knox, Henry, 1750-1806

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Benjamin Tupper

Writes, "His Excellency the Commander in chief has informed me (the Quarter Master having represented to him the scarcity of tents) that your regiment must go into barracks on the point. You will therefore select the twenty best in repair, and put your regiment into them, and place your officers in the most contiguous buildings." Informs Tupper about that laborers encamped at the point might have "stripped the barracks of boards and other appendages," and has asked Colonel [John] Crane to work with Tupper on stopping them (see GLC02437.01550 for more information). Also mentions that he…

GLC02437.01552

2 October 1782

Tupper, Benjamin, 1738-1792

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Henry Knox

Written from Camp Pitt, present day Pittsburg, Pennsylvania. Reports that he knows Knox must have been worried about Tupper's regiment for having marched in so severe a storm. Assures Knox that "we made ourselves very happy by encamping in a thick grove of wood in a valley by good fires sweetened by your honour signifying your approbation of our conduct we forgot our sorrow and remembered our misery no more, and thought our[selves] some of the happiest of men, that we faired no worse, we are now agreeably encamped on the sunny side of a grove & want only a little provision to make us…

GLC02437.01637

4 November 1781

Trumbull, Jonathan, Jr., 1740-1809

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Henry Knox

Jonathan Trumbull Jr. communicates a request from George Washington asking Knox to send a copy of the information Washington is to incorporate into a letter to Governor of Virginia Thomas Nelson. Washington also wants a list of the cannons Knox proposed be sold to reimburse William Ross. Possibly concerns indemnification for impressed supplies needed for the siege of Yorktown. Washington recently wrote a letter to the Governor of Maryland under similar circumstances (see GLC02437.01273). Trumbull was Washington's military secretary. Knox's reply appears in GLC02437.01286.

GLC02437.01282

4 November 1781

Knox, Henry, 1750-1806

Autograph letter

Title: to Jonathan Trumbull

Responds to Trumbull's letter requesting information for George Washington to incorporate into a letter to Governor of Virginia Thomas Nelson (see GLC02437.01282). Explains plans to establish an artillery magazine in Virginia, containing the ordnance remaining after the siege of Yorktown. The artillery would be for the use of the Southern Army and protection of Virginia in case of a British invasion. Washington needs to make requests to Governor Nelson for a location to store the munitions, preferably in Westham, and a party for the transport. Discusses the channels through which the…

GLC02437.01286