Williamsburg, Mar. 19, 1780.
SIR,
Since writing to Your Excellency on the subject of the
expedition against Detroit, the want of men, want of money, and difficulty of
procuring provisions, with some other reasons more cogent if possible, and
which cannot be confided to a letter, have obliged us to decline that Object. I
thought it therefore necessary to notify this to Your Excellency that no
expectations of our undertaking it may prevent any enterprize of that kind
which you may have had in contemplation. That nest is too troublesome not to
render the relinquishment of the attempt to destroy it very mortifying to us.1
I have the honor to be with all possible esteem and respect,
Your Excellency’s
most obedient humble servt.
TH. JEFFERSON
_______________
* This letter
came from the Washington Papers, bearing the usual endorsement of Tench
Tilghman for filing. It also has, in the writing of Jared Sparks, the following
note: “Wrote the Declaration of Independence; succeeded Franklin as minister to
France; Secretary of State under Washington; chosen President of the United
States in 1800.”
l However desirable the taking of Detroit was,
the means available by either the continent or Virginia would not permit it.
Even before this letter was written Washington had informed Brodhead at Fort
Pitt, that no force could be sent from the continental army, and the expedition
must be composed of a union of Colonel Clark‘s troops with those of Brodhead.
Owing to disputes over jurisdiction a proper force could not be collected even
by that method. Letters to Washington (Sparks), II. [137; George Rogers Clark
Papers, 382. etc.
SOURCE: William Keeney Bixby, Thomas Jefferson
Correspondence: Printed from the Originals in the Collections of William K.
Bixby, p. 2-3
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