DOCUMENTS & MAPS - 1783

George Washington to Clement Biddle, June 11, 1783

Newburgh, June 11, 1783.

Dear Sir: Your favor of the 28th of May in answer to my Letter of the 15th. of the same Month, is at hand. I shall rely upon your care and attention for the purchase of the Articles mentioned in the lattr; Those most wanted, and which are most essential to me are the Blankets and Ticklinburg for my Negros, and these are not in immediate demand.

Apropos, did I not when the Army was leaving the Cantonment of Middle Brook, in June 1779, put a Theodilite into your care to be conveyed to Mr. Rittenhouse⁷ to receive some repairs? It is like a dream to me; You, or Mr. Irskine,⁸ I am not sure which undertook this business; and I have not heard since what was done with the Instrumt. Will you be so good as to enquire whether it ever reached Mr. Rittenhouse, and to prevail on him to afford it the necessary repairs without delay if he has it.

[Note 7: David Rittenhouse.]

[Note 8: Robert Erskine.]

My Complimts, in which Mrs. Washington joins, is offered to Mrs. Biddle, and I am etc.

Journals of the Continental Congress, 1774-1789
MONDAY, OCTOBER 20, 1783

That in settling the accounts of Mr James Elliot, Assistant Geographer to the U.S., he be allowed the pay of two Dollars per day and one ration according to the resolution of March the 8th, 1782, in his favor, until the 20th of October 1783 and no longer.

That the Geographers to the U.S. be instructed to deposit in the office of the Secretary at War a copy of whatever surveys have been made in their respective Departments.¹

[Note 1: 1 This report, in the writing of Hugh Williamson, is in the Papers of the Continental Congress, No. 19, III, folio 225. The indorsement adds: Mr. Hutchins' affair settled May 1785. Elliot agreed 30 June, 1786.]

The Committee [Mr. Hugh Williamson, Mr. Arthur Lee, Mr. Richard Peters] to whom was referred a letter from Mr Simeon De Witt, Geographer to the U.S., submit the following report:

That though a map of the principal theatre of wax in the middle states from actual surveys on a large scale is much desired, such a work cannot in prudence be undertaken at the public expence in the present reduced state of our finances.²

[Note 2: 2 This report, in the writing of Hugh Williamson, is in the Papers of the Continental Congress, No. 19, II, folio 89. It was delivered and read this day, the indorsement states.]

The Committee [Mr. Hugh Williamson, Mr. Samuel Osgood, Mr. James Tilton] to whom was recommitted the memorial of General Knox of the 2nd July [June], 1783, submit the following report,

That in consideration of the extraordinary expences which have necessarily attended the command at West Point Major General Knox be allowed the pay of a Major General commanding in a separate department from the time that he has commanded at West Point, exclusive of his extra allowance as commanding officer of artillery, the resolution of the second of April, 1782, notwithstanding, and that the Superintendant of Finance be instructed to cause his accounts to be settled accordingly.³

[Note 3: 3 This report, in the writing of Hugh Williamson, is in the Papers of the Continental Congress, No. 19, III, folio 377. The indorsement states that it was delivered this day and negatived. See post, October 30.]

William Scull, another Pennsylvania surveyor, owned land in Northumberland County near Fort Augusta . He was sheriff of Northumberland in 1775 and later became a captain in the 11th Pennsylvania Regiment. From Jan. to Sept. 1778 he was an assistant to the geographer and surveyor general of the Continental Army. However, ill health forced him to resign from the service, and he sought a position in the newly created Pennsylvania land office (William Scull to Joseph Reed, 26 Jan. 1780, PA. ARCH., 1st ser., 8:94). Scull's map of Pennsylvania, which covered the state from Philadelphia west to Fort Pitt, was based on his own work and on that of other surveyors, including his grandfather Nicholas Scull (1687--1761), who was surveyor general of Pennsylvania from 1748 to his death (GARRISON, 277--79).

DANIEL SMITH, a Senator from Tennessee; born in Stafford County, Va., October 29, 1748; attended William and Mary College, Williamsburg, Va.; became a surveyor; moved to Augusta County, Va.; deputy surveyor of Augusta County in 1773; fought in the Indian wars 1774; major of the Washington County militia; high sheriff of Augusta County in 1780; commissioned colonel in the Second Battalion and fought in several battles of the Revolution; moved to Sumner County, Tenn., at the close of the war; laid out the town of Nashville; member of the North Carolina convention which ratified the United States Constitution 1789.
     In 1790, President George Washington appointed Daniel Smith as Secretary of the U. S. Territory South of the River Ohio (a.k.a. Southwest Territory ). He was a member of the constitutional convention of 1796 to draw up a constitution for the new State of Tennessee .

     He made the first map of Tennessee, he was a Brigadier General of the Mero District (State Militia); appointed as a Republican to the United States Senate to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Andrew Jackson and served from October 6, 1798, to March 3, 1799; elected as a Republican to the United States Senate and served from March 4, 1805, to March 31, 1809, when he resigned; engaged in agricultural pursuits; died at his home, “Rock Castle,” near Hendersonville, Sumner County, Tenn., June 16, 1818; interment in the family burial ground near his home.

Bibliography

Sources: Durham , Walter. Daniel Smith: Frontier Statesman. Gallatin , Tenn. : Sumner County Library Board, 1976; Sioussat, St. George, ed. ‘The Journal of Daniel Smith.’ Tennessee Historical Magazine (March 1915): 40-65.

Also see: Daniel Smith, by Jay Guy Cisco, 1909. (On Sumner Co. TNGenWeb)