men to attend him as far as Falmouth, with me, and one Mr. Andrew Gilman, who came in with them, who also agreed to go with me.

On the sixth, attended the meeting of said river, Belfast, Benjamin’s River, and Majabigwaduce, who are all ready, on notice, and repaired to the fort, waiting for the Indians to come down the river to go to Casco with me at the same time. I informed Colonel Goldthwait what success I had met with, and who proved to me of his being contrary to what had been represented by some evil-minded person respecting his delivering up the cannon to the Governour; and I am sensible, in my own mind, he could not have acted to the contrary, not because he was obliged to obey the Governour’s orders, but that there was not sufficient ammunition to defend it.* And I am further convinced, by the conversation I had with him, he is ready to give all the assistance in his power for the good of the Province, and has been a great help to me in my tour this way; and I don’t know of any person better qualified to act in the office he holds for the good of the poor in that part, for I am sure neither I nor the Indians could have been accommodated upon the river elsewhere. He assures me that, by the advice of Congress, he will still keep up the fort and pay the soldiers off, and wait for the pay till its convenient for them, although at this time there is twelve months pay due to the garrison, and which he has paid off to the soldiers and some of the officers. And I don’t think that he ought by any means to lay under the scandalous report that has been spread abroad about his delivering the cannon.

Remainder per another opportunity.

ELISHA HEWES TO THE MASSACHUSETTS CONGRESS.

Penobscot River, June 9, 1775.

To JOSEPH WARREN, Esquire, President of the Provincial Congress of the MASSACHUSETTS-BAY.

SIR: I have had the pleasure of being well acquainted with your uniform and unalterable principles, from the first instant of your publickly engaging in the glorious cause which you now so nobly lead on in the defence of. Should your high appointment and the complicated situation of affairs under your inspection and direction, render my scrawl too minute for your notice, I shall not wonder. I now live on Penobscot River, about twenty-three miles above Fort Pownall; the settlement is very new—the first man that pitched in my neighbourhood has not been there more than five years. ’Tis true Captain John Buck began near ten years ago, but he lives not more than eight miles above the fort, the inhabitants being settled about Twenty miles above him. I find this a country very good for both tillage and grass, though at present covered with a fine growth of pine, spruce, cedar, hemlock, &c., and some oak. The river excels for fish of various kinds, and easy navigation for the largest of vessels. The people are firmly attached to the Constitution you preside in defence of, and I am confident will support it to the last moment of their lives, being willing in general to encounter any difficulty rather than yield to that band of tyrants whose plodding pates have long been projecting methods to enslave us.

I am confirmed in this opinion by an anecdote or two that have come to my knowledge since my residence on this river, for I live in the neighbourhood of Colonel Thomas Goldthwait, who was a member of our Assembly (as you may remember) for many years, and particularly in the year 1762; from whom I had the following story: Richard Jackson, Esq., was then agent for our Province. The Colonel says that then, in some of the private letters which he wrote after his appointment, he intimated his fears that it would not be in his power to do the Province much service, as there was a principle prevailing in England at that time to render the Colony Assemblies useless. The Colonel also says, that Mr. Bollan (who was agent before Mr. Jackson) was continually warning the General Court of this principle then prevailing in England, and yet no doubt you remember both these gentlemen were turned out of their agency upon a suspicion that they were not in the interest of the Province. Certainly they were faithful as touching the most important matter, whatever part of their conduct might give umbrage to their constituents. And there seems to be some degree of similarity in the case of the above gentleman and Colonel Goldthwait; for one of your members, viz: Captain John Lane, who is now here, says the Congress had received very unfavourable accounts of the Colonel’s conduct; whereas, on a fair and impartial examination, it will appear that Colonel Goldthwait has been a steady, uniform friend to our Constitution.

Should the Almighty prosper us so as to bring on an accommodation, among other grievances I think the Greenwich Hospital money, exacted from our American seamen, to be a very capital one. I hope the Congress will compassionate the case of this infant settlement, as we have not got to the years of tillage and raising our own bread and clothing, and like to be shut from the privilege of importing. We could now manufacture our own clothing, but are destitute of wool and flax, which is a very great grievance.

There is an island in the mouth of the river, owned by Isaac Winslow, Esquire, as he saith, which contains six or seven thousand acres. I first settled on it; there are ten or twelve families, of good Connecticut men, who are hearty in our cause, and should hold what they have taken in their own right; the rest should be deemed forfeit. This is my private opinion, made publick to none but you.

Pray excuse the want of order in these hints from, honourable Sir, your humble servant, in haste,

ELISHA HEWES.

P. S. I have wrote by this opportunity to Joseph Hewes, Esq., in the Continental Congress; we are brothers’ children, and were brought up together in the same family. Your favour in forwarding is prayed by, Sir, &c.

JOSEPH HAWLEY TO THE HONOURABLE JOSEPH WARREN.

Northampton, June 9, 1775.

DEAR SIR: In my letter sent yesterday in great haste, I suggested some broken hints respecting Ticonderoga. I am still in agonies for the greatest possible despatch to secure that pass. I don’t call it an acquisition, for it don’t merit that epithet; nor can it, until more is done for maintaining it than I have yet heard of. It is clear that it is necessary we should take precisely the same measures for retaining that post, as if the country of Canada was in the full possession of the French. Nay, I believe we have more to fear from that quarter than if France alone held Canada. I think there is much reason to apprehend that Britain and France will, and do act jointly against America, and nothing more probable than that they design, in their partition of America, that the Province of Quebeck, as lately defined, shall be ceded or given up to France. I most heartily wish that every member of our Congress, yea, every inhabitant of the Province, had a true idea of the infinite importance and consequence of that station. If Britain, while they are in hostility against New-England, hold that post, they will, by means thereof, be able to do more to vanquish and subdue us from that quarter, than they will be able to do in all other parts of the continent; yea, more than they could do in all other parts of the globe. If Britain should regain and hold that place, they will be able soon to harass and waste, by the savages, all the borders of New-England, eastwards of Hudson’s River and southeast of Lake Champlain and the River St. Lawrence, and shortly, by the Lake Champlain, to march an army to Hudson’s River, to subdue the feeble and sluggish efforts of the inhabitants on that river, and so to connect Montreal and New-York; and then New-England will be wholly environed by sea and land, east, west, north, and south. The chain of the Colonies will be entirely and irreparably broken; the whole Province of New-York will be fully taken into the interest of Administration; and this very pass of Ticonderoga is the post and spot where all this mischief may be withstood and resisted; but if that is relinquished or taken from us, desolation must come in upon us like a flood. I am bold to say, (for I can maintain it,) that the General Congress would have not advised to so destructive a measure, if they had recommended and prescribed that our whole Army, which now invests Boston, should instantly decamp, and march with all the baggage and artillery to Worcester, and suffer Gage’s Army to ravage what

* Only about 600 pounds of powder.