[Benjamin Hawkins was a member of the Continental Congress, and
interpreter for Washington with the French officers. (Washington is said
to have greatly regretted the necessity for an interpreter, as it failed
to bring the French officers in proper touch with the commander.) The
letter is dated at “Bath” presumably in North Carolina, as the writer
refers to “this state.” It is addressed to Richard Caswell, the Governor
of North Carolina. The writer was born in N. C. in 1754, and died in
Georgia, 1816. A Princeton graduate, and proficient in modern languages,
his knowledge of French made him very useful to Washington. In 1780 he
was commissioned to buy arms abroad. These he shipped in a vessel
belonging to John Stanly a merchant of New Berne. After the Revolution
he became one of the Senators from N. C. In 1797 he was Indian
Superintendent, over all the tribes south of the Ohio, and held this
office through several administrations. Although rich he left home to
establish a settlement and manufactory in the Creek Nation, near what is
now Hawkinsville, Ga. (named in his honor).]