From Henry Knox to John Adams, 4 September 1791
From Henry Knox
Bush Hill 4th Septr 1791
My dear Sir
I wrote you last Week informing You of the sickness of your Steward and his Children. I have now the pleasure to say they are on the recovery. He is much better and the children are in a fair train— Their disorder appears to have been the worm fever, and he participated of the same sort of fever, although evidently mixed with the bilious fever—1
The sick part of our family consisting of myself and several servants, who have had the intermittent & remittent fevers are also on the recovery.
We shall leave bush Hill and move into town in the course of the week— Both Mrs Knox and myself experience the most lively gratitude to you and Mrs Adams for your kindness in permitting us, to occupy your house during the Summer, and we pray to accept our sincere thanks for the favor— Bush Hill is indeed a pleasant summer residence, but the fact is too well established by our experience, that from certain Causes it is liable to vapours, morning and evening which are productive of ill health, and Unhappiness— perhaps this year may be singular on that account, and therefore in tenderness to the owner one would not wish to speak loudly on this subject—
Mr Cox has taken for you Mrs Keplies house the Corner of fourth and arch street— the situation is excellent, and the house tolerably good without having any large rooms. but the rent 900 Dollars is extravagantly high— It was however that house or none, for there was not another good house to be let in the City, and there were a number of persons after it— there are no coach house or Stables to it, but they may be obtained in the Neighborhood—
Affairs on the frontier are going on well although but slowly— The troops are about setting out upon the Main expedition from Fort Washington—2 and it is to be hoped the measures which are pursuing will establish tranquillity with the Indians on the basis of Justice and Humanity—
The President will set out in a few days 10 for Mount Vernon to return about the middle of October. Mr Jefferson set out Yesterday for Virginia to return about the same period.3
With Mine & Mrs Knoxs’ affectionate respects to Mrs Adams I am Dear sir / with great affection and / sincerity, Your friend and / humble servant
H Knox
RC (Adams Papers); internal address: “The Vice President of the United States”; endorsed: “1791”; docketed by JA: “Knox.”
1. John and Esther Field Briesler’s children were Elizabeth (b. 1788) and Abigail Briesler (b. 1789). According to eighteenth-century doctors, intestinal worms migrated in children’s bodies and caused fever. They treated the condition with purging (, 8:227, 335; Samuel Musgrave, An Essay on the Nature and Cure of the (So Called) Worm-Fever, London, 1776, p. 4, 20).
2. Plagued by low enlistment, desertions, and poorly trained militia, the U.S. expedition against the Miamis and the Shawnees finally proceeded on 4 Oct., headed by Gen. Arthur St. Clair. On the morning of 4 Nov., Native Americans surprised 1,400 U.S. forces near the Wabash River. American casualties totaled 900 while Native losses were estimated at thirty. Rumors of the defeat first circulated in Philadelphia on 8 Dec., and St. Clair’s official report to George Washington arrived by 14 December. The president sent a short message to Congress on 12 Dec., enclosing St. Clair’s 6 Oct., 1 and 9 Nov. dispatches to Henry Knox, along with a list of the officers killed and wounded. AA lamented the “dreadfull blow this defeat,” and “all our Boston youths who were officers are amongst the slain” (Colin G. Calloway, The Victory with No Name: The Native American Defeat of the First American Army, N.Y., 2015, p. 115, 116, 117, 128; , Indian Affairs, 1:136–138; , 9:167, 274–279; , 9:245, 247).
3. Washington departed Philadelphia on 15 Sept. and returned on 21 October. Thomas Jefferson left on 3 Sept. and returned by 22 Oct. (, 9:4; Philadelphia Federal Gazette, 21, 22 Oct.).