This diary is a journal of a trip from Philadelphia by stage to Pittsburgh, then afoot through Franklin, LeBoeuf, and Erie to the Huron River; thence by boat to Detroit, where he remained 26-29 July, when he set out by canoe for Michilimackinac. Included are descriptions of Detroit, plants, animals, springs, Indian mounds, and notes on goitre.

The Sketches of a Tour of the Lakes, of the character & customs of the Chippeway Indians & of incidents connected with the treaty of Fond du Lac... to which is super added a vocabulary of the Algic, or Chippeway language... is a record of a journey undertaken by Thomas L. McKenney and Lewis Cass, from Washington, D.C., to Fond du Lac, Wisc., to negotiate a treaty with the Chippewa and other Indians. McKenney, the Superindenant of Indian Affairs, includes an account of travel on the Great Lakes, and more memorably, a description of the "character" and customs of the Chippewa Indians, an account of the treaty of Fond du Lac, and a vocabulary of the Algic or Chippewa language. The manuscript, a fair copy of the original sent to a London publisher, is illustrated throughout with watercolor sketches of scenes and persons. It was originally published in Baltimore in 1827.