does not interfere under the new arrangement in the rank of officers appointed by the several States. . . . . We are, gentlemen, your most obedient servants, PHIL. LIVINGSTON, FRA. LEWIS, WM. FLOYD. 233. THE SECRET COMMITTEE TO THE MASSACHUSETTS ASSEMBLY.1 PHILADELPHIA Decr 4th 1776 Gentlemen A Committee of Congress was appointed the 25th Septr last to procure cloathing in all the States on this Continent for the use of our Army and we find they wrote to you on the 10th Octr requesting the favour of you to employ proper persons to purchase what could be obtained in your State to this letter they have not received any answer and the Congress being very anxious and impatient to have this important business duely attended to and executed have directed us to send one or more trusty persons into the Eastern States to Collect what has been bought and to make such further purchases of suitable articles as they can accomplish.* 234. BENJAMIN RUSH, DIARY.1 [December 5(?), 1776.]* A number of Indian chiefs came from Fort Pitt (where a treaty had been held with them by commissioners appointed by Congress) came to Philada in Novr 1776. They were all introduced to the congress. They took each member by the hand, and afterwards sat down. One of them (after a pause of 10 minutes) rose up and addressed the congress in the following words. Brothers. We received your commissioners at the little counsel fire at Fort Pitt We wiped the sweat from their bodies. We cleansed the dirt from their [a]nkles We pulled the thorns from [their] feet! We took their Staffs from thier hands, and leaned them ag[ainst] the tree of [233] Mass. Arch., CXCVI. 426 (copy). 2 See the Journals, Dec. 1. The clothing committee's letter of Oct. 10 to the Massachusetts assembly has not been found, but see a letter of Oct. 7 to the New York convention, Force, Am. Arch., fifth ser., II. 925. Cf. nos. 182, 215, ante, 312, post. Nov. 4 the committee drew an order on President Hancock for twenty thousand dollars in favor of the delegates of Connecticut, "to be by Them transmitted to the Governor and Council of Safety for that state, to be by Them improved to purchase Cloathing for the Soldiers in the Service of the United States". The order, in the writing of William Williams and signed by Robert Treat Paine, William Ellery, George Wythe, George Ross, Arthur Middleton, William Williams, and Lyman Hall, is in Papers Cont. Cong., no. 58, f. 409. [234]1 Library Company of Philadelphia, Ridgway Branch, Rush MSS., II. 2 Probably Dec. 5. See the Journals, Dec. 3, 5, 7, 9. peace. We took their belts from thier waists, and conducted them to the seats of peace.3 My dear Sir, 235. SAMUEL ADAMS TO JAMESs Warren.' PHILADELPA., Dec. 6, 1776 I wrote to you two days ago 2 by a Captn. Potes. This will be deliverd to you by Mr. Livingston who is employed by a Committee of Congress to repair to the Eastern States to purchase cloathing for the Army. I inclosd to you not long ago a Resolve of Congress relating to Shoes and Stockings which it is supposd can be procured in very considerable Quantities in those States. I then mentiond to you my hopes that your Committee had collected a good Stock of Cloaths. I had venturd almost to assure Congress that this had been done. My dear G-, 5 236. GEORGE READ TO MRS. READ.1 1 PHILADELPHIA, 6th December, 1776. Attendance night and morning at committees, and all day at Congress, puts it out of my power to write you so frequently as I ought, and have had opportunities, but I have no chance of a moment but when I retire out of Congress to the Committee-Room, where I now am, to write to any person; however, be assured if any [thing] very material occurs you shall hear of it. . . . . The troops belonging to the "flying camp", whose term of enlistment had expired, left the general in whole brigades,—particularly Jersey and Maryland,-as also Colonel Patterson's battalionthey would [not] serve an hour longer, so that the city is filled with the returning soldiers, though never more needed in the field. The Delegates of Maryland, with General Mifflin, harangued a great number, perhaps six or seven hundred of them, in the State House yard yesterday with In the original text a figure "2" immediately precedes the words "We wiped", and a figure "I" stands before "We took". The figures may be intended to indicate the transposition of the passages. In Rush's Memorial (p. 92) this passage from his Diary appears in the form following: "During my attendance in Congress in Philadelphia, I had the pleasure of being present at an interview between some Chiefs of the Six Nations and Congress in their hall in the State House. After a pause of ten minutes, one of the Chiefs rose from his seat and pointing to the sun said, "The business of this day will end well. Yonder sun rose bright this morning. The Great Spirit is propitious to us. Brothers, we received the commissioners you sent us, at the little council fire at Pittsburgh, we wiped the sweat from their bodies, we cleaned the dirt from their legs. We pulled the thorns from their feet. We took the staffs from their hands and placed them against the tree of peace. We took their belts from their waists, and afterwards conducted them to the seats of peace.' In retiring all shook hands with every member of Congress." [235]1 Warren-Adams Letters, I. 278. 2 A letter from Samuel Adams to James Warren, Dec. 4, is in Wells, Life of Samuel Adams, II. 452. 8 Abraham Livingston. See Force, Am. Arch., fifth ser., III. 1501, 1518. * See the Journals, Dec. 1. Cf. no. 233, ante. 5 See the Journals, Nov. 27. [236]1 Read, Life of Read, p. 219. success, and it is expected a great part will return for a month. . . . I know not when I may see you. I cannot stir, for the non-attendance of our representatives for times past has been severely animadverted upon since my return. 237. CHARLES Carroll to the PRESIDENT OF THE MARYLAND COUNCIL OF SAFETY (DANIEL OF ST. THOMAS JENIFER).1 Dear Sir We now tho in My opinion far from being entirely Secure begin to be a Little More Composed. . . . . The Inactivity of the People Here was so Great and their Disinclination to stir to oppose the Enemy so apparent that we were forced to offer Clothing to some of our flying Camp Troops Here that will amount to about four Pounds per Man to Induce them to Return and Join the Army for one Month only and to Engage that our Province will be at the Expence should the Congress refuse it, wch. Surely they will not. How many We may Get to return I Know not as from What they Have sufferd they Do not seem to Have much appetite for the Service. We Have at Present 12 states represented in Congress but many of them by one Person only so that we are Thin in Number. if the situation of Mr Stones family are such that He Can Leave it We should Have much Pleasure in Seeing him and I must request you Will write to Mr Johnson to Join us.. 238. WILLIAM PACA TO THE MARYLAND COUNCIL OF SAfety.1 Gentn: Congress is of the Opinion that the Order from the Board of War extends only to such Prisoners as are Natives of Great Britain and Soldiers from thence in the present War and therefore the Prisoners from Carolina and Residents there lately taken in Arms against us are not comprehended and are still to be detained. As to the two Gentlemen taken by Capt. Cook whether they be Prisoners or not is a Matter our State must decide and not Congress. I am told by the Delegates to the Eastward that Persons in such Predicament are set at Liberty but the 2 See the Journals, Dec. 3, and no. 237, post. [237]1 Hist. Soc. of Pa., Dreer Coll., Members of the Old Congress, I. 75. 2 See the Journals, Dec. 3 (p. 1003), and no. 236, ante. The council wrote to Stone and Johnson, Dec. 12, requesting their attendance (Arch. of Md., XII. 524). Concerning the thin attendance of Congress, see also nos. 211, 215, 222, ante, 251, post. [238]1 Md. Hist. Soc., Red Book, IV. 56; Arch. of Md., XII. 512; Force, Am. Arch., fifth ser., III. 1094. 2 The opinion of Congress must have been taken informally as there is no record of it in the Journals. The council's inquiry, to which this letter is a reply, has not been found. The occasion of the inquiry was a call from the board of war, Nov. 19, for the collection of the British prisoners to be exchanged (Arch. of Md., XII. 456; Force, Am. Arch., fifth ser., III. 762). See Washington to the board of war, Nov. 15, ibid., III. 699, and the board's reply, Nov. 19, ibid., III. 762; see also ibid., III. 778, 810, and Arch. of Md., XII. 486. Property taken is confiscated. but this is not a general Rule. Circumstances often require them to be prisoners: you must therefore (I speak my own Opinion only) exercise your Discretion in the present Case." Saturday, 7. Dec. 1776. Dear sir 239. ELBRIDGE GERRY TO JOSEPH TRUMBULL.1 PHILADELPHIA 7th Decr 1776 I wrote You the 26th Novr2 touching several Matters mentioned in the Letters received from You before that Time, and am informed by General Mifflin that he forwarded two of my Letters. You will therein find my Sentiments relative to a Contract, and the present Improbability there is that any will take place. You will also see that your Petition is referred to the Treasury; that Congress have impowered You to import Rice from the southern States, and that I have recommended your immediate Application in strong Terms for Liberty to import Flower. I find You place great Confidence in a certain Southern Friend. had he Voted with Us in this Instance, It had prevented the Necessity of a second Application, but this he rarely omits to avoid. Mention is likewise made of the Fish purchased of You to import military Stores, that the Quality was greatly reduced by age, in so much that it must be sent to the West Indies instead of Europe as was first intended, and You was desired when Oppertunity offers to send a Bill thereof. . . . . 240. THE GEORGIA DELEGATES TO THE PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS.1 10th December, 1776. Sir: We have received accounts of our reappointment to represent the State of Georgia in Congress, and will be ready to take our seats in a day or two. In the mean time we request an order on the Treasury for two thousand dollars, on account of the State we are appointed to represent.2 We are, sir, your most obedient servants, To the Honourable John Hancock, Esq. LYMAN HALL, The prisoners here referred to are probably the two passengers mentioned by Captain Cook in his letters to the council, Oct. 4, in Arch. of Md., XII. 319, 320. In the council minutes, Nov. 5 (ibid., XII. 421), they are mentioned by name, Mr. Milne and Mr. Jenkins. A letter from the council to the delegates, Dec. 27 (ibid., XII. 555), asks for the opinion of Congress as to their status. See nos. 288, 318, post. [239] Conn. State Lib., Joseph Trumbull Papers, no. 68. 2 Probably Gerry's letter of Nov. 26, from which an extract is given (no. 224, ante). Cf. nos. 124, 145, 162, 164, 166, 172, 175, ante, and nos. 266, 423, post. See the Journals, Nov. 18; also no. 548, post. • William Hooper? [240]1 Force Am. Arch., fifth ser., III. 1148. 2 The money was granted on the day of this request, and the credentials were presented Dec. 20 (that is, on the day of assembling at Baltimore). Walton however attended Dec. 12. See no. 215, ante. Sir, 241. SAMUEL CHASE TO JAMES NICHOLSON.1 It has been reported that you was coming up to this City with a Body of seamen and marines. one of the frigates is ready for the Sea, the other three may be soon ready for a short Voyage, if men could be procured. You would render essential Service, if You could immediately come up with a Body of Seamen,3 and an attempt might be made to bring round all the frigates here to Baltimore Town. It cannot be doubted the Council of Safety would lend the Hands belonging to the Defence for this very important service. you will send an Express to the Council of Safety. not one Moment is to be lost. I write this by the order of Congress. The congress will not quit this City but in the last extremity. to prevent false Reports, publish the above." Inform Mr. purviance, that Mrs. Hancock will sett off this Day. Let it be known, that arms are furnished to our Militia. Let the want of them be no excuse. Sir, 242. CHARLES THOMSON TO GEORGE WASHINGTON.1 [December 11, 1776.] The president being necessarily engaged with his family, I have the honour to inform you that your letter of the 10th was duly received and [241]1 Md. Hist. Soc., Red Book, IV. 58 (draft); Arch. of Md., XII. 520; Force, Am. Arch., fifth ser., III. 1165. Addressed to Capt. James Nicholson, Baltimore Town, Md. 2 The words "and guns" are erased. The following is erased here: "and Marines. If you could get a clever diligent and trusty officer, with a sufficient Number of Sailors and others to bring up the Guns of your frigate and the defence." See a letter from the Maryland council to Capt. George Cook, Dec. 15, Arch. of Md., XII. 530; also a letter from the Baltimore committee to the committee at Annapolis, Dec. 12, ibid., XII. 524, and Samuel Purviance, jr., to the council, Dec. 14, ibid., XII. 529 (also in Force, Am. Arch., fifth ser., III. 1179, 1212). 4 The words "guns and" are erased. 5 See the letter of the Maryland council of safety to the delegates, Dec. 15, Arch. of Md., XII. 530; also no. 250, post. 66 Congress had, on Dec. 9, resolved to adjourn to Baltimore in the event that it became necessary to remove from Philadelphia. See also the Journals, Dec. II (erased resolve), 12, and nos. 242, 243, 244, post. Samuel Purviance, jr., of the Baltimore committee wrote to the Maryland council of safety, Dec. 14: Our Commee are preparing the Court House in the best manner the time will admit for the reception of the Congress shoud they be obliged to leave Philada., in which case Mr. Chase writes it is intended to come." Arch. of Md., XII. 529; Force, Am. Arch., fifth ser., III. 1212. See no. 340, note 2, post. [242]1 Library of Congress, Letters to Washington, XC. 40; Force, Am. Arch., fifth ser., III. 1164. |