The Address of the Moravian Church to George Washington (August 1789) was the most specific of the letters to GW from religious organizations. They asked that the government and Washington personally help to support the mission of the church to bring the "saving knowledge of Christ our Saviour" to the "great multitudes of poor benighted heathen" (particularly the Petquotting at Lake Erie). They also sent him a "small treatise," 'an account of the manner, in which the Protestant church of the Unitas Fratrum, or united Brethren preach the gospel and carry on their missions among the Heathen.'

In his reply, Washington expressed a view not uncommon in 18th century America: Native Americans were godless people who needed to be converted to Christianity. He was also personally aware of the possibility of violent warfare with Native Americans, and perhaps thought that a "Christianized" group would be less likely to attack new settlements. He wrote:

"It will be a desirable thing for the protection of the Union to co-operate, as far as the circumstances may conveniently admit, with the disinterested endeavours of your society to civilize and Christianize the Savages of the Wilderness."