Henry Knox papers

1779-1800 D

Henry Knox (1750-1806), United States Army general, was chief artillery officer of the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War, and first United States Secretary of War from 1789 to 1794. The Henry Knox papers consist of letters sent by Knox to military officers and government officials on various matters, as well as a few personal letters and miscellaneous military documents. The bulk of the letters are written in his capacity as Secretary of War, mainly to state governors and U.S. Commissioners of Loans in several states. These concern strengthening frontier defense, pension payments to invalid soldiers, and instructions on naval matters such as the repatriation of prizes seized by proscribed privateers and maintaining the embargo of 1794. Letters written during the Revolutionary War, chiefly to Army Quartermaster General Timothy Pickering, concern requests for ordnance, horses and drivers, and payroll matters. Personal letters to General Henry Jackson and M.M. Hays pertain to Knox's land purchases and related debt. A letter to U.S. Vice President Thomas Jefferson dated March 9, 1800 introduces Mr. Pope, inventor of improvements to a horizontal wind mill, and expresses disappointment with the path of his son Henry's naval career. Documents signed by Knox consist of a certificate of debt settlement and military discharge, and a warrant to survey land for a soldier's military bounty.