Scope and Content Note
The papers of Andrew Ellicott (1758-1820) span the period 1777-1829. The collection includes volumes of letters received, letters sent, correspondence, and papers relating to Ellicott and David Gillespie.
The volumes of letters received and sent cover the period 1796-1800 and are chiefly concerned with Ellicott's work in surveying the boundary between the United States and Florida under the San Lorenzo Treaty of 1795. Other subjects discussed are international politics, Indian affairs, and the Blount conspiracy of 1797. Correspondents include Daniel Clark, Jr., William Dunbar, Manuel Gayoso de Lemos, Benjamin Hawkins, Stephen Minor, Timothy Pickering, John Pitchlynn, Winthrop Sargent, and James Wilkinson. Additional material relating to the boundary survey is in a volume of papers relating to Ellicott's correspondence with his assistant, David Gillespie.
Ellicott's activities on other projects such as surveys of the city of Washington, the boundary between Georgia and South Carolina, the town of Presque Isle (later Erie), Pennsylvania, and the boundary between the United States and Canada under the Treaty of Ghent of 1814, are documented in the volumes of correspondence. Although consisting largely of Ellicott's letters to his wife, Sarah, this material also includes maps, charts, and reports of astronomical observations as well as correspondence with his brother, Joseph Ellicott, and with Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, Robert Patterson, and Cornelius P. Van Ness.