I hesitated some time in determining whether I could, with propriety, select them from the rest, considering in what manner they came to my hands; but as there are some, things in each which may serve to irritate, I concluded it best to send not only the one directed to you, but the other also, (to Doctor Franklin,) under cover to you, as you may communicate and secrete such parts as you like. I have no time to add the necessity of vigorous exertions; they are too obvious to need any stimulus from me.

Adieu, my dear sir; I am, most affectionately, your obedient

GEORGE WASHINGTON.

P. S. Upon second thought, knowing that Doctor Franklin is in Canada, I send you a copy only of the letter to him, (which I take to be from Doctor Lee,) and the original to the Doctor.

JOHN LANGDON TO GENERAL WASHINGTON.

[Read May 21, 1776.]

Portsmouth, New-Hampshire, May 10, 1776.

SIR: This will be handed you by George Merchant, who says he is one of the riflemen that went from Cambridge under General Arnold to attack Quebeck; was taken prisoner crossing the river at that place, sent to England in irons, has just returned by way of Halifax, from whence he made his escape, with some others, in a small boat. He arrived at Old-York yesterday, when he informed the Committee of that place of his having letters from England, which he had concealed in the waistband of his breeches. They thought fit to open the letters, and sent them on to the Committee of this place, who have directed me to despatch the man with the letters to Congress, after having called on you in the way there; I have, therefore, furnished him with necessaries, and given strict directions to proceed with all possible despatch to Head-Quarters at New-York, as express to your Excellency, with the enclosed letters; and as they contain matters of importance, no doubt you will think proper to forward them to Congress. This man informs us that the troops at Halifax are in a most deplorable condition for want of provision; this is confirmed by several others who have escaped from thence and arrived at this place within these few days.*

I am, with the greatest respect, your most obedient servant,

JOHN LANGDON.

To General Washington.

DOCTOR FOSTER TO GENERAL GATES.

New-York, May 18, 1776.

SIR: According to your orders, I have inquired after the small-pox, and find that Lieutenant-Colonel Johnson Moulton, Captain Samuel Draper, Doctor John Hart, and Lieutenant Benjamin Brown, (all of Colonel Prescott’s Regiment,) were inoculated on the 11th instant at the house of one Fisher, in Stone street; they were inoculated by one Bates; they know not where he lives, but I believe the woman of the house can tell if she was disposed; they are not yet attacked with the symptoms, and may, in my opinion, be safely removed.

I am, with much respect, your most humble servant,

ISAAC FOSTER,
Surgeon in the Hospital.

To the Honourable Horatio Gates, Esq.

GENERAL SULLIVAN TO GENERAL WASHINGTON.

Albany, May 18, 1776.

MAY IT PLEASE YOUR EXCELLENCY: I cannot but esteem it my duty to inform your Excellency of the horrid abuse to the publick by keeping up the two regiments of Van Schaick and Wynkoop. Those regiments are said to be in this quarter; but, upon the strictest inquiry, can be found nowhere. Colonel Van Schaick is here himself, but has never furnished a man for guard or any other duty since my arrival. I have been applied to by Lieutenant-Colonel Cortlandt, of Wynkoop’s Regiment, for pay for two companies. I inquired where they were. He said, in Tryon County, to keep the Tories in awe: he at the same time told me that they had not now, nor have they ever had, any arms or ammunition. I suppose they have been employed on their farms all the year, and I believe that is the case with the principal part of the two regiments. I called on Colonel Cortlandt for a return, which, being incomplete, I returned it to him again. I found in some companies not a man present fit for duty, or sick present, in some there were eleven, in others less. I desired him to make out the number on command and where, which he is now about, a copy of which return I shall forward to your Excellency. I should take the same steps with Colonel Van Schaick’s, but am ordered to march, as we have conveyed forward a sufficiency of provisions for the relief of our Army in Canada; my brigade is now on their march for the Lake. Stark and Reed, I suppose, will pass Lake George to-morrow; Winds the day after; Irvine and Wayne on Tuesday or Wednesday. Colonel Dayton, with three hundred of his men, set off yesterday for Tryon County, and will not return under six days. I shall leave orders for him to follow on as soon as possible with that detachment and the rest of his regiment, which I have ordered to remain here till his return to assist in forwarding the provisions, &c.

Every kind of abuse is practised here that men long versed in villany could devise. I found at Stillwater a number of barrels of pork that the wagoners had tapped and drawn off the pickle to lighten their teams. This pork must inevitably be ruined before it can reach Canada. As General Schuyler was absent, I ordered the Commissary not to receive any such from the wagoners, and the Commissary at Half-Moon not to receive out of the boats any, or deliver out such to the wagoners. I ordered the wagoners not to receive any such, as it would eventually be thrown on their hands. I then directed the Commissary here not to send any barrels forward that had lost the pickle, which would be only taking up batteaus and wagons to carry provisions which, when brought to Canada, could not be eaten. By this step I hope to prevent any further fraud in the wagoners, who, it is said, learned this piece of skill in the last war, for which some of them were well flogged, and I hope some of them may share the same fate again.

The application I made to the Committee here for teams to pass on loaded to Lake George is of great advantage, for it makes an addition of near two hundred barrels a day more than we could have forwarded by water-carriage, which will afford an ample supply to our Army, unless the stores here should be exhausted, which will soon be the case if we are not supplied from below. I hope that matter will be thought of and remedied in season.

Dear General, I am, (in extreme haste,) with much respect, your Excellency’s most obedient servant,

JOHN SULLIVAN.

To His Excellency General Washington.

BROTHERS: I hope you are all well, and that we are met together to smoke our pipes like friends.

BROTHERS: We would go to Philadelphia, to the Congress; we have no shoes to walk upon; we hope the General

* WILLIAMSBURGH, VIRGINIA, June 14, 1776.—George Merchant, a private in Captain Morgan’s Company of Riflemen of Virginia, who went to Canada with Colonel Arnold last fall, was taken prisoner soon after landing on the plains of Abraham, and, after being confined several days in irons, was sent to England to be hanged; but meeting with friends in London, he was set at liberty, and sent to Bristol, from whence he got a passage, on the 24th of March, in a schooner, to Halifax, where he tarried ten days, when he, with several masters of vessels that had been taken by the Ministerial cruisers, hired a small fishing schooner to bring them to Newbury, but, by reason of contrary winds, put into Old-Tork, in New-Hampshire, where he landed and pushed for Boston, and was sent express from thence to General Washington, and by him to the Continental Congress, and arrived here on Monday evening. By him we have the following important advices:

Extract of a letter from an eminent gentleman in LONDON to his friend in AMERICA, dated FEBRUARY 7.—“Lord Howe is appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Fleet. The commander at land is not yet determined. Lord Cornwallis is now ready to sail from Cork with three thousand men for Virginia to meet General Clinton. The plan is to march through that Colony and attack Philadelphia by land, if impracticable by sea. They reckon, upon paper, to have an army of thirty thousand, mostly Germans, in America, by June. Burgoyne is to retake Canada with ten thousand men; if the passage over the Blue-Midge is fortified, that way will be impracticable. If offers of settlement, &c., are prepared, to fling into the camp, in German, when the Germans arrive, it must have a great effect. They trust to the slaves, but more to the Scotch, among you. The Generals talked of are Amherst, Count La Lippe, or Harvey; the last is most probable A General of the first abilities has offered to go over, if I could assure him of being received by the Congress. If the Ministerial efforts do not succeed this campaign, it is over with them.”

*