necessary for the government of those Forces. Upon these heads the Congress wish to be favoured with the result of your deliberations as soon as possible, as the time of enlistment in Connecticut draws to a conclusion.

The Congress desire you will take the proper steps to provide your Troops with necessary cover and fuel for the winter, as it is highly probable that the service of the Army will be wanted during that whole season, at least; and that you lay before Congress an estimate of the expense which may be necessary for these services.

As making any alterations in the present appointment of the officers of different Colonies, and the reduction of those Regiments which cannot be completed to their full establishment, may create great jealousies and uneasiness, the Congress are of opinion, at present, no step should be taken therein, as the new modelling the whole is so soon expected, when those inconveniences may be remedied without danger.

The Congress desire you will give them your opinion, whether the pay of the private men, which is considered as very high, may not be reduced, and how much.

Agreeable to the order of the Congress, I enclose you a copy of a letter from General Schuyler, with sundry papers enclosed.

Application having been made to Congress for the discharge of Colonel John Fenton, at present confined at Hartford, they passed a resolution that he be allowed to proceed to New-York, and from thence to London, upon his giving his parole not to take up arms against the Continent during the present contest.

It is determined by Congress that you issue a commission to Mr. Gridley as Colonel only, and suspend the appointment of a Brigadier-General for the present. They recommend to you to grant commissions to Messrs. Bose, Scammell, and Samuel Brewer, as Brigade-Majors.

The memorial from Mr. Tudor, the Judge-Advocate, was laid before the Congress; and, upon consideration, it was resolved that he be allowed and paid fifty dollars per month, for himself and clerk, from the time of his appointment; and I transmit him, by this express, his commission, and the resolution of Congress.

Some difficulty having arisen in the settlement of the account of the several Rifle Companies, as to supplies of money, and particularly with respect to Colonel Thompson, and the Congress having, on the 29th of July last, advanced to Colonel Thompson five thousand dollars, for the service of his Battalion, I am directed to desire you will order Colonel Thompson to exhibit to you an account of the expenditure of the said five thousand dollars, which you will please to transmit to me, to be laid before the Congress, by which the several accounts may be easily accommodated.

I have nothing farther in charge to communicate. You will please to return Fessenden as soon as you conveniently can.

I have the honour to be, with great respect and esteem, Sir, your most obedient humble servant,

JOHN HANCOCK, President.

To General Washington.

P. S. I have sent you eleven bundles, containing five hundred and fifty commissions.

RICHARD HENRY LEE TO GENERAL WASHINGTON.

Philadelphia, September 26, 1775.

DEAR SIR: Two days ago I arrived here, from Virginia, which the late short adjournment just allowed me time to visit and return from. I brought two letters from thence, for you, which come with this. Having some business with Colonel Mason, I travelled that road; and having sent to your lady, to know if she had any commands this way, had the pleasure to learn that all were well at Mount Vernon. As I suppose it will be agreeable to you to know what is passing in Virginia, I have enclosed you the proceedings of our last Convention, with two of Purdie’s Gazettes. I am greatly obliged to you for your favour of August the 29th, and you may be assured I shall pay great attention to it. When I mentioned securing the entrance of the Harbour of Boston, it was more in the way of wishing it could be done, than as conceiving it very practicable. However, the reasons you assign are most conclusive against the attempt. I assure you that, so far as I can judge from the conversation of men, instead of there being any who think you have not done enough, the wonder seems to be that you have done so much. I believe there is not a man of common sense, who is void of prejudice, in the world, but greatly approves the discipline you have introduced into the camp; since reason and experience join in proving that without discipline armies are fit only for the contempt and slaughter of their enemies. Your labours are no doubt great, both of mind and body; but if the praise of the present and future times can be any compensation, you will have a plentiful portion of that. Of one thing you may certainly rest assured, that the Congress will do every thing in their power to make your most weighty business easy to you. I think you could not possibly have appointed a better man for his present office than Mr. Mifflin. He is a singular man, and you will certainly meet with the applause of all good men by promoting and countenancing real merit and publick virtue, in opposition to all private interests and partial affections. You will see, in the proceedings of our Convention, that they have agreed to raise the pay of our Rifle officers and men to the Virginia standard. It may, perhaps, encourage them to be told this.

We have no better accounts from England; but from what we have had, that can be relied on, it seems almost certain that our enemies there must shortly meet with a total overthrow. The entire failure of all their schemes, and the rising spirit of the people, strongly expressed by the remonstrance of the Livery of London to the King, clearly denote this. The Ministry had their sole reliance on the impossibility of the Americans finding money to support an Army, on the great aid their cause would receive from Canada, and consequent triumph of their forces over the liberties and rights of America. The reverse of all this has happened; and very soon, now, our commercial resistance will begin sorely to distress the people at large. The Ministerial recruiting business in England has entirely failed them. The ship-builders in the royal yards have mutinied; and now they are driven, as to their last resort, to seek for soldiers in the Highlands of Scotland. But it seems the greatest willingness of the people there can not supply more than one or two thousand men—a number rather calculated to increase their disgrace than to give success to their cause.

I beg your pardon for engaging your attention so long, and assure you that I am, with unfeigned esteem, dear Sir, your affectionate friend and countryman,

RICHARD HENRY LEE.

SAMUEL ADAMS TO ELBRIDGE GERRY.

Philadelphia, September 26, 1775.

MY DEAR SIR: I arrived in this City on the 12th inst., having rode full three hundred miles on horseback, an exercise which I have not used for many years past. I think it has contributed to the establishment of my health, for which I am obliged to my friend Mr. John Adams, who kindly offered me one of his horses the day after we sat off from Watertown.

I write you this letter principally to put you in mind of the promise you made me to give me intelligence of what is doing in our Assembly and the camp. Believe me, Sir, it is of great importance that we should be informed of every circumstance of our affairs. The eyes of friends and foes are attentively fixed on our Province, and if jealousy or envy can sully its reputation, you may depend upon it they will not miss the opportunity. It behooves our friends, therefore, to be very circumspect, and in all their publick conduct to convince the world that they are influenced not by partial or private motives, but altogether with a view of promoting the publick welfare.

Some of our military gentlemen have, I fear, disgraced us; it is then important that every anecdote that concerns a man of real merit among them, and such I know there are, be improved, as far as decency will admit of it, to their advantage, and the honour of a Colony which, for its zeal in the great cause, as well as its sufferings, deserves so much of America.

Until I visited Head-Quarters at Cambridge, I had never heard of the valour of Prescott at Bunker’s Hill,

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