Enclosed your Excellency will receive the documents relative to my last confidential expedition, made by your Excellency’s order, on the Ohio, of which I have already given you a narrative, as well verbal as in writing. The remarks which follow will serve for its elucidation.
I left New Madrid with ten oarsmen and a patron; the provisions which were delivered to the crew were, biscuit for a month; meat for a month; rum for fifteen days.
To disguise, as far as possible, the true object of the expedition, we had hired the people under the same conditions as are common in commercial voyages, so that the monthly rations allowed by the King did not even last fifteen days. The reason why I issued to the crew two extraordinary allowances of liquor daily, counting from the day we left Red Bank until our arrival at the falls of Ohio, was to encourage them to row with vigor, that Lieutenant Steel, whom I thought in pursuit of me, might not again take me, because, had I fallen into his hands a second time, I was lost. As respects the one hundred and fifty dollars, for the horse which I bought to make the journey from Frankfort to Cincinnati, and the expenses which accrued on this journey, they were indispensable for a double motive: to carry my complaint against Steel, for having offered so great an insult to our flag, and to give advice of my arrival to the American General, Mr. James Wilkinson, that he might take the necessary measures. I have to add that, the motive which has induced me to dispose of the merchandise which I received of J. and A. Hunt, in exchange for the coffee and sugar, was to give credit to the opinion which I myself had raised, that I had come to purchase horses to take to Natchez, in order to better the breed in that district. Besides this, as the occurrence with Steel had awakened suspicions, excited apprehensions, and attracted the attention of the inhabitants of the Western country, all had their eyes directed on me, so that I found myself obliged to do something which should please them, that it might serve me as a safe conduct to quit those parts, which by the this means I happily effected. The mare, of which statement No. 1 makes mention, was lost on my arrival at New Madrid in the woods, where she died of thirst, the excessive frosts having entirely frozen up the waters. The stud-horse I delivered on going down to Don Manuel Gayoso de Lemos, but he returned him to me a short time since, and I have him carefully kept until your Excellency is pleased to make some disposition respecting him. Of the sum of $9,640, which I was to deliver to Mr. James Wilkinson, I have only delivered him nine thousand, having retained the six hundred and forty dollars to avoid the unfortunate result with which I was threatened, and likewise to provide what was necessary for the crew during the voyage. The following are the documents which are enclosed:
No. 1. The account sale of the merchandise, laden, &c.
No. 2. Account of the expenses for the crew.
No. 3. Account and expenditure of the six hundred and forty dollars.
No. 4. Statement which shows in what manner the merchandise has been made use of.
No. 5. Statement which shows what is due to me.
No. 6. Invoice of J. and A. Hunt.
All which are accompanied with the obligation of Mr. N. Welch for one hundred and five dollars, and the two receipts of Mr. Boyd, the one for four hundred and sixty-six dollars and two-thirds, for the value of a horse; the other for two hundred dollars, for the value of a mare. The balance which appears in my favor, according to the statements Nos. 3 and 4, as well as the account of my monthly pay for fourteen months, I beg your Excellency will be pleased to direct that it should be remitted to me, or delivered to Mr. Philip Nolan, to whom I have given advice on the subject.