MARYLAND COUNCIL OF SAFETY TO CHARLES CARROLL.

GENTLEMEN: Half-past three o’clock this afternoon the Otter, with her tenders, hove in sight. Half-past five a flag was sent with a letter to the Governour, a copy of which, with his answer, you have enclosed. We informed you last night that very little provision would fall to their share. This we confirm. We are well prepared to repel any attempt they may make to land. You will now have no occasion for Strieker’s Company; therefore, if you have ordered him to Baltimore Town, countermand it. The President and Mr. Tilghman conferred with two officers that came on shore to attend the flag. They confessed one of their tenders was in great danger of being taken; but that Captain Squire bore away to prevent great effusion of blood: but we conceive that he will loiter about till he is reinforced. We perceive a small vessel making down the bay, and not unlikely with intelligence to the Kingfisher, who, the flag said, might be expected to relieve the Otter. Therefore you will be pleased to provide against the worst. We cannot sufficiently commend those brave sons of liberty who this day stood forth so gallantly in defence of their country. Be assured we shall afford them every assistance in our power; and are, yours, &c.

To Charles Carroll, Esq. and the Committee of Observation for Baltimore County.

MARYLAND COUNCIL OF SAFETY TO GOVERNOUR EDEN.

SIR: Your Excellency will be pleased to inform Captain Squire, that the time has been when we should have thought it an honour, and would with pleasure have supplied any of his Majesty’s ships with provision; and are still not destitute of a hope that a time may yet come when we may enjoy that satisfaction.

We have always considered Captain Squire as a man of humanity and a gentleman; and as such, cannot account for the burning of a vessel in full view of the people of this city, as if meant to add insult to misfortune already too severely felt by the people of this Province, who were always attached to his Majesty and his family, and who cannot be reprobated for defending themselves against any invasion of their native and chartered rights. We are willing to believe, and shall be glad of being confirmed therein, that this step was not in consequence of any order from him.

We are much obliged to your Excellency for the pains you have taken to preserve the peace of this Province, and that you will still exert your endeavours for the restoration of those happy days that we enjoyed under a constitutional dependance on the mother country.

We are, &c.

To His Excellency Robert Eden, Esquire.

MARYLAND COUNCIL OF SAFETY TO CHARLES CARROLL.

GENTLEMEN: We are much hurried. The hostile fleet have sailed down the bay, and we are confident they will return in two or three days; therefore prepare for your defence. We ordered part of Colonel Weems’s Battalion at twelve o’clock last night to guard West-River; and at twelve o’clock to-day, which was the time the Otter was weighing anchor, ordered the remainder of that battalion to hasten down along the bay side, towards the mouth of Patuxent, and to show themselves ready to oppose any attempt at landing; and if they should land without a flag, to fight it out to the last with them.

The one thousand pounds you mention shall be sent by the first opportunity. We have a great deal to say to you, and shall be glad to see you to-morrow, or next day. We are all worn to the stumps.

Yours, &c.

To Charles Carroll, Esq. and the Committee of Observation for Baltimore County.

LORD STIRLING TO COLONEL DAYTON.

New-York, March 10, 1776.

SIR: You are instantly to use your utmost endeavours to put the Third Regiment of New-Jersey Troops in the Continental service into the best condition for marching you possibly can, and as well armed and accoutred as the time will admit of. There will be a necessity of their moving out of the Province of New-Jersey on Tuesday at farthest.

I am, sir, your most humble servant,

STIRLING.

To Colonel Dayton, Elizabethtown.

LORD STIRLING TO GENERAL SCHUYLER.

New-York, March 10, 1776.

MY DEAR GENERAL: General Lee communicated to me your letter of the 29th February. Since the date of which, Congress have made a new arrangement of the commands in America, of which you will doubtless be informed before this reaches you. However, lest by any accident that should not be the case, I shall just recapitulate what our friend Duane writes me on the subject. General Lee is to command in the Southern Department, comprehending Virginia, the Carolinas, and Georgia. The Middle Department, (comprehending New-York, New-Jersey, Pennsylvania, the Lower Counties, and Maryland,) is under the command of yourself, with Thompson and myself, Brigadier-Generals. The New-England Colonies compose the Eastern Department; and Canada the Northern. Who is to command in the latter was not yet determined. In consequence of this arrangement, General Lee set out from this place on Thursday evening for Philadelphia, and has left me in a situation not a little perplexing, especially to a young beginner, as I now may call myself, after twenty years retirement from the busy scenes of life. It will require at least eight thousand men to put this place and Long-Island in any posture of defence by the month of May. We have not above eighteen hundred; of these, about one thousand Connecticut Troops will leave us on the 25th of this month; of the remainder, three hundred are Minute-men, from Dutchess County, without arms; so that we shall then be reduced to about five hundred. I have indeed ordered Colonel Dayton to get the Third Battalion of New-Jersey Troops in readiness to march as soon as possible. But before I order him to march to this place, I must wait to know his destination from yourself or Congress. The battalions raising in this Province I know not the state of, but I believe they are backward in their recruiting, especially those in this quarter. Their Field-Officers are not yet appointed.

I most sincerely wish you were here, for when Brigadier-General Thompson arrives, he will be equally at a loss what to do until we have your particular orders. However, as I have General Lee’s ideas about the fortifying this place, I shall pursue the plan as far as possible until I receive further orders.

A copy of your letter to General Lee is sent to the Convention of this Province, in order that they may co-operate with you in the preparations for the campaign in Canada. It is high time the General who is to command in that department was on his way to it.

By General Lee’s directions I have engaged in New-Jersey two companies of carpenters, each consisting of one Captain, one Lieutenant, and twenty-five men, designed for Canada;* but as I observe you have fifty ready to go at a

*You are hereby authorized and empowered to raise and inlist a Company of Artificers in the service of the United Colonies, which company is to consist of twenty-five men, all of whom are to be good able house-carpenters, ship-carpenters, boat-builders, or wheel-wrights, whom you are to command as their Captain and foreman. They are to have the pay and allowance and are to be equipped as specified in the subjoined articles. They are to enter into pay from the day they arrive at New-York, and are marched and reviewed by order of the General, with an allowance of three days for arriving at that place.

You and they are to follow such orders or instructions as you shall receive from myself or the commanding General in the Province of New-York or in Canada.

Given under my hand and seal, this fourth day of March, 1776.

STIRLING.

To Caleb Bruen, Esquire.

Articles and conditions on which a Company of Artificers is to be raised in the service of the United Colonies by CALEB BRUEN, as Captain thereof.

The company is to consist of one Captain, who is to be paid at the rate of one dollar per day; one Lieutenant, at three-quarters of a dollar per day; and twenty-five good able house-carpenters, ship-carpenters, boat-builders, or wheel-wrights, at half a dollar per day. They are to