Original manuscripts and a few contemporary copies of papers dated in 1782 and 1783. Subjects reflected in Clark's incoming correspondence for 1782 are the massive Indian threats to the Ohio Valley, the efforts made by Clark and his loyal officers to construct the forts and row galleys ordered by the Virginia government for the defense of Kentucky, the siege of Bryan's Station, the battle of Blue Licks, the plans of Clark and William Irvine for a two-pronged retaliatory expedition against the Shawnee towns and Sandusky, and the countermanding of Irvine's participation. More than a dozen letters by John Floyd detail the attempts to mount an adequate Kentucky defense in the face of such formidable obstacles as lack of money, arms, tools, and raw materials, as well as reluctant, impetuous, and sometimes mutinous militia; that Kentuckians could be resourceful was demonstrated by Floyd's report that ropes were being made of pawpaw bark because there was no hemp. One letter (April 14) by John Nevill brought news of the massacre of the Moravian Indians, an act which Nevill feared correctly would bring a “verry Troublesome summer.” Reports of the Bryan's Station and the Blue Licks engagements are found not only in Floyd's letters, but also in a narrative containing copies of letters by Levi Todd and several other officers. Draper attributed the authorship of the narrative to Todd, although this copy is in Clark's handwriting. Aside from two letters early in 1783, one bearing congratulations from Jonathan Clark, the other from Bartholomew Tardiveau relaying a proposal that an Indian woman prisoner had made to return to her people to intercede for peace, there are few allusions to Clark's campaign against the Shawnee in Ohio in the fall of 1782.

Frequently mentioned in 1782 letters and dominant in the 1783 correspondence are fiscal claims to Virginia for supplies and services and the financial problems and sacrifices incurred by Clark and some of his correspondents-John Gibson, J.M.P. Legras, and Oliver Pollock-during the earlier Revolutionary campaigns in the West. Several writers in these years-John Crittenden, Walker Daniel, and John Marshall-also discussed Clark's land interests.

From Governor Benjamin Harrison of Virginia, Clark received eight letters giving instructions, criticisms, optimistic expectation that the western Indians would abide by the peace terms between the United States and Great Britain, and finally (July 2, 1783) the cancellation of Clark's commission as a Virginia officer accompanied by thanks for his many services. From two other notable Virginians there are also letters. Three from James Monroe sought information on western settlement and social conditions; in one Monroe also alluded to reports that Clark was engaging in undesirable private speculation and was drinking to excess. Three from Thomas Jefferson expressed interest in obtaining fossils and other natural history specimens, as well as observations about the western Indians; Jefferson also proposed (December 4, 1783) to Clark the leadership of an expedition to explore the country between the Mississippi River and California, a region which Jefferson feared would be colonized by the British.

Another document signed by Clark is a certificate (1782) concerning the settlement of an account held by Edward Worthington. A draft of a letter (June 1783) to the governor of Virginia, requesting redress for creditors of the state of Virginia, Thwaites ascribed to Clark but believed it to be in the handwriting of John Crittenden. Other miscellaneous papers found in the volume include lists of officers in the Illinois Regiment with dates of their enlistment; a petition concerning the payment of judges; a letter on behalf of civil and military officers of Fayette County, Kentucky, signed by Daniel Boone; and a contemporary copy of a proclamation (March 24, 1783) by Caesar Anne de la Luzerne, French minister to the United States, announcing the arrival of official news that Great Britain acknowledged the independence of the United States. Writers of letters in 1782-1783, not previously mentioned include: John Campbell, Valentine T. Dalton, William Davies, John Dodge, Pierre Gamelin, Robert George, Charles Gratiot, William Irvine, Benjamin Logan, John McDowell, Thomas Marshall, Michel Perrault, Jacob Pyeatt, Edmund Randolph, Jacob Rubsamen, Israel Ruland, George Walls, and John Williams.