equip my company. The sum you will see by the enclosed estimate. I hope you will not delay sending the money, as we are retarded by nothing but the want of necessaries.

I am, gentlemen, your most obedient servant,

GEORGE STRICKER.

To the Honourable the Council of Safety of Maryland.

JOHN HARRISON, JUN., TO MARYLAND COUNCIL OF SAFETY.

Fredericktown, February 12, 1776.

SIR: By direction of the Committee, I transmitted to the last Convention, an account of the expenses of conveying and guarding the powder, &c., sent by order of the Council of Safety to Baltimore, which, I am told, the Convention allowed. The persons employed by the Committee look to them for their money. I am, therefore, desired to request you will be pleased to send it up by the bearer, Mr. Elia Williams. The amount you have below, exclusive of the wages to the officer of the guard, whose allowance was left to the Convention, which I presume they settled.

I am, gentlemen, your most humble servant,

JOHN HARRISON, JUN.

To the Honourable the Council of Safety of Maryland.

Officer of the Guard.

THOMAS EWING TO MARYLAND COUNCIL OF SAFETY.

Baltimore, February 12, 1776.

HONOURABLE SIRS: I now acquaint you, that agreeable to your orders directed to Major Gist and myself, I have proved all the guns made by the gunsmiths in town, as below, in company with Mr. Vanbibber, who has seen them several limes tried in England. Mr. Keener, after seeing the rest tried, refused to have his proved; but upon my threatening a good deal, he complied. We charged all the guns with one ounce of powder, and two balls. I have a proof-stamp, with which I stamped all that proved good, which stamp I will not deliver to any, without your orders.

I have the honour to be, your most obedient, humble servant,

THOMAS EWING.

To the Honourable the Council of Safety of Maryland.

WILLIAM NEILL TO CHARLES CARROLL.

Baltimore, February 12, 1776.

SIR: Before this, no doubt, you have heard of the ill fate of the schooner Nancy, at St. Eustatia. I have as yet no letters from my Captain or supercargo. I daily expect to hear from them; as soon as I do, shall advise you. As to the vessel's being taken, that account is confirmed different ways, which I am sorry for. I have provided a cargo of flour some time ago, expecting the schooner in, and had no doubt of her bringing ammunition, which would have got me a permission to have loaded her out on my own account. I have a good deal of money due me from St. Croix, a Danish Island, near to St. Eustatia. If your honourable Council would give me liberty to send a schooner I now have here, to that place, where I have a number of correspondents, which I know to be (rue friends to our cause, and will go any lengths to serve us with such things as we may want, I would load her with three or foil" thousand red-oak staves, some flour, and Indian meal, and corn, and send her immediately to St. Croix, where my Captain, with the assistance of my friends there, would get all the powder that could be got in that island, and could go over to St. Eustatia; leave my vessel at St. Croix; purchase such goods as I wanted; order powder, Sic, if to be got, and take it to St. Croix in a small craft, where it might, with great safety, be put on board my vessel. The money that is due me there, and the cargo I would send out, would, J think, buy near two thousand pounds value of a back cargo. So eligible is this plan to me, that I have laid it before you, that if you give me permission, I will risk it all on my own account, and will give all the arms, ammunition, &c, I may get in, the first offer of all, to the Council of Safety. Should you be afraid, that by granting me this permission, you would be troubled with many other applications, it need not be known to any, but that she goes on account of the Province.

Sir, you will please excuse me troubling you, as you are the only gentleman of the Council I have the honour to be acquainted with.

Pray favour me with an answer by the first opportunity, and you will much oblige, sir, your very humble servant,

WILLIAM NEILL.

To the Honourable Charles Carroll, a Member of the Council of Safety.

CHESTER COUNTY (PENNSYLVANIA) COMMITTEE.

In Committee, Chester County, February 19, 1776.

Resolved, That Benjamin Brannan, Walter Finney, and John Beaton, be, and they are hereby, appointed to attend the Saltpetre Works in Philadelphia, in order to obtain a competent knowledge of the method of making that article, as practised there, that they may be qualified to exhibit the process to such of the inhabitants of this County, whose publick virtue and patriotism may lead them to enter into the manufacture of that useful and necessary commodity; and Caleb Davis, Doctor Kennedy, and William Montgomery, are appointed to receive all the Saltpetre that shall be made in this County, and also pay for the same agreeable to the Resolve of the Committee of Safety.

Resolved, That each Member of this Committee will go through their respective Townships, to collect good Blankets for the use of Colonel Wayne's Battalion, to be delivered in Chester, to Colonel F. Johnson, who will pay such price for the same, on account of the Congress, as the said Committee have agreed for with the Inhabitants.

Resolved, That the Inhabitants of Chester, Marcus-Hook, and the adjacent neighbourhood, be requested immediately to form one Artillery Company, to consist of forty-five Privates, one Captain, a Captain-Lieutenant, and a First and Second Lieutenant, and four Sergeants, who will be supplied with the necessary field-pieces, &c, for accommodating the same.

By order of the Committee:

F. JOHNSON, Secretary.

To the Inhabitants of the Northwest District of the County of CHESTER:

Pursuant to a Resolve of the Committee of Inspection for the County of Chester, the subscriber having attended at the Manufactory, in the city of Philadelphia, and having received all the necessary information and instructions respecting the process of making Saltpetre, hereby gives notice, that be will attend at the house of Mr. Johnson, in East- Whiteland, on the 1st and 2d of March; at the house of Mr. Culbertson, at the Yellow-Springs, on the 4th and 5th; at the house of Mr. McKnight, in West-Nantmeal, on the 7th and 8th; at the house of Mr. Brumback, in Vincent, on the 11th and 12th; at the house of Mr. Gibbons, in West-Nantmeal, on the 14th and 15th of said month, in order to teach and instruct all such persons as may be influenced by patriotism to engage in this laudable undertaking, so peculiarly necessary and interesting in the present critical juncture, at which several times and places the process is intended to be shown to all who may please to attend.

JOHN BEATON.

To the Inhabitants of the Comity of CHESTER.

Pursuant to the recommendation of the Committee of Safety for the Province of Pennsylvania, to the Committee of Inspection for the County of Chester, Benjamin Brannan, Walter Finney, and John Beaton, were appointed to attend the Saltpetre Manufactory, in the city of Philadelphia, in order to perfect themselves in said art. We having complied therewith, do hereby give notice to all those whose publick virtue and patriotick spirit would excite them to such a valuable and necessary undertaking at this crisis of time, that attendance will be given at the house of