intelligence, (which corresponds with the observations our scouts have made,) written the Brigadier-Generals of the several districts; and supposing they may not be at home, I have again written to the Colonels of the Counties to march their men to this place immediately, unless ordered otherwise by your Committee. I am sorry to inform you that the Militia are not so ready to turn out on this important occasion as I could wish, owing, I am certain, to their being at this season engaged in the farming business. Should the enemy attempt to land at Little-River, I shall despatch off expresses to the western troops to order their march as directed by you. I shall be very much in want of good horses and wagons for the service. The powder which comes from Philadelphia cannot arrive too soon.

I am, gentlemen, your obedient humble servant,

JAMES MOORE, Brigadier-General.

To the Committee of Secrecy, War, and Intelligence.

April 29, 1776.

John Pond, master of the Sloop Polly, from ’Statia, with gunpowder, deposeth and saith, That he was taken by the Siren frigate at sea, on the 2d day of February last, and brought into this river by Captain Lindsay of the Falcon; that there are now lying at Fort Johnston eight transport vessels, one of them an old Indiaman, which he heard Captain Lindsay say had seven hundred troops on board; that they have upwards of two thousand troops in the river, and that they expect their force will be seven thousand men when the rest of the transports from Ireland comes in, and Sir Peter Parker from England, with about three thousand troops, who is expected every hour; that the Siren and Mercury are cruising, and boats are out every day looking for him; that, as soon as he arrives, they intend to lighten their vessels and run up the flats, where they are to land their men in flat-bottomed boats that will carry fifty men besides eighteen rowers; that he saw the boats on board the transports; that they have still expectations of being joined by the Regulators, and have appointed officers to command them when the forces below shall land. And further this deponent sayeth not.

JOHN POND.

Sworn to before me, this 30th day of April, 1776.

JAMES MOORE.

A true copy:

THOMAS CLARKE, Secretary.

In Convention, May 10, 1776.

Resolved, That one thousand one hundred and fifty men, consisting of Minute-men and Militia, be immediately raised in the following Counties and proportions, that is to say:

Albemarle, one hundred; Amherst, fifty; Amelia, one hundred; Brunswick, one hundred; Buckingham, fifty; Cumberland, fifty; Dinwiddie, fifty; Charlotte, fifty; Halifax, one hundred; Hanover, one hundred; Louisa, fifty; Lunenburgh, one hundred; Mecklenburgh, one hundred; Prince-Edward, fifty; Sussex, fifty; Pittsylvania, one hundred and fifty; and sent to the assistance of North-Carolina

JOHN TAZEWELL, Clerk Convention.

VIRGINIA COMMITTEE OF SAFETY.

Williamsburgh, May 10, 1776.

Pursuant to powers received from the honourable the Continental Congress, the Committee of Safety are ready to grant Commissions for making reprisals upon the property of the people of Great Britain at sea, or in the rivers below high-water mark, to any persons who shall apply for them, and comply with the terms mentioned by Congress.

The Committee of Safety desire the Commanding Officers of the several Minute-Battalions to procure and return, without delay, an exact list of the number of men in each Company, and how they are furnished with arms, that the same may be laid before the Convention.

EDMUND PENDLETON, President.

GENERAL LEE TO GENERAL WASHINGTON.

Williamsburgh, May 10, 1776.

MY DEAR GENERAL: The most compendious method to give you an idea of the state of your Province is to enclose to you the result of a council of officers, every article of which is approved by your Convention. We have just received an express from North-Carolina, informing us of the arrival of eight large transports in Cape-Fear River, on the whole containing, as it is supposed, about two thousand men. I had before, on a suspicion of their arrival, detached a battalion of Riflemen, and shall set out myself the day after to-morrow. The Convention has ordered twelve hundred Militia or Minute-men to that Province. My command (as you may easily conceive) is extremely perplexing from the consideration of the vast extent of vulnerable parts of this country, intersected by such a variety of navigable waters, and the expedition with which the enemy (furnished with canvass wings) can fly from one spot to another. Had we arms for the Minute-men, and half a dozen good field Engineers, we might laugh at their efforts; but in this article (like the rest of the Continent) we are miserably deficient. Engineers, we have but two, and they threaten to resign, as it is impossible that they should subsist on a more wretched pittance than common carpenters or bricklayers can earn. I have written to the Congress, entreating them to augment the pay: a word from you would, I make no doubt, effect it.

I wish, my dear General, you would send me Captain Smith, on condition the Congress make it worth his while, otherwise I have not the conscience to propose it. I am well pleased with your officers in general, and the men are good, some Irish rascals excepted. I have formed two companies of grenadiers to each regiment; and, with spears of thirteen feet long, their rifles (for they are all riflemen) slung over their shoulders, their appearance is formidable, and the men are conciliated to the weapon. I am likewise furnishing myself with four-ounced rifled amusettes, which will carry an infernal distance; the two-ounced hit a half sheet of paper at five hundred yards distance. So much for military.

A noble spirit possesses the Convention. They are almost unanimous for independence, but differ in their sentiments about the mode; two days will decide it. I have the pleasure to inform you that I am extremely well in the opinion of the Senatorial part, as well as of the people at large. God send me the grace to preserve it. But their neighbours of Maryland (I mean their Council of Safety) make a most damnable clamor (as I am informed) on the subject of a letter I wrote to the Chairman of the Committee of Baltimore, to seize the person and papers of Mr. Eden, upon the discovery which was communicated to me of his treacherous correspondence with the Secretary of State; it was a measure not only justifiable in the eyes of God and men, but absolutely necessary. The Committee of Safety here are indeed as deep in the scrape as myself. The Congress must, and will, I dare say, support and vindicate the measure. Captain Green and his party are upon their march, as you ordered. I was a damned blockhead for bringing them so far, as their accounts will be intricate; but I hope not so intricate as not to be unriddled.

I send you an account of the money I advanced to the different officers—to Captains Smith, Lnnt, and Green. I have taken the liberty to appoint a Sergeant Denmark, of the Rifle battalion, to do duty as an Ensign. He is a man of worth, and I beg that you will confirm his commission. Another Sergeant of the same battalion I have promoted to the rank of Second Lieutenant in the Artillery of this Province. He is a German, his name Holmer, and very deserving. If little Eustace cannot be provided for with you, I could wish, if there is a cheap method of doing it, you would send him to me, as I have it in my power to place him, and quite doat upon him. My love to Mrs. Washington, Gates, and her bad half; to Moylan; but Palfrey is a scoundrel, for not writing. Adieu, my dear General.

Yours, most entirely

C. LEE.

To General Washington.

Williamsburgh, May 8, 1776.

As General Clinton has undoubtedly landed, and some transports of the enemy are arrived in North-Carolina, General Lee thinks it his duty immediately to repair to that Province, to take measures for defeating their schemes; but before his departure he esteems it his duty to digest some plan for the safety and security of Virginia. To this end he thinks it necessary to call a Council of all the General and Field Officers at Williamsburgh.

*