(I) DS and draft DS (incomplete); (II) ADS : all University of Pennsylvania Library The context of these resolutions is the commissioners’ memorandum to Vergennes of February 1, in which they urged France to enter the war. Their instructions gave them almost no practical leverage for achieving that end, and they were considering how far they could stretch the instructions. Congress had...
2John Adams to Abigail Adams, 2 February 1777 (Adams Papers)
Last Evening We arrived safe in this Town after the longest Journey, and through the worst Roads and the worst Weather, that I have ever experienced. My Horses performed extreamly well. Baltimore is a very pretty Town, situated on Petapsco River, which empties itself into the great Bay of Cheasapeak. The Inhabitants are all good Whiggs, having sometime ago banished all the Tories from among...
3The Committee of Secret Correspondence to the American Commissioners, 2 February 1777 (Franklin Papers)
LS : American Philosophical Society; LS : Rutgers University Library ; draft: Harvard University Library; copies: National Archives (two), Library of Congress You will recieve inclosed copies of our letters of the 21st. and 30th. Decemr., and of the Resolves of Congress accompanying them. It concerns us not less than we are sure it will you, that you should have heard so seldom from us, but...
4To Benjamin Franklin from M. and Mme. de Saint Wast, 2 February 1777 (Franklin Papers)
L : American Philosophical Society Monsieur franklin et monsieur son petit fils sont priés de la part de Mr. et Made. de st. Wast de leur faire l’honneur de venir diner chés eux mercredy prochain 5. fevrier. M. de St. Wast had been a secretary of Louis XV and later, under Turgot, a tax official for the royal domain: Yves Durand, Les Fermiers généraux au XVIIIe siècle (Paris, 1971), p. 141;...
5General Orders, 2 February 1777 (Washington Papers)
Varick transcript , DLC:GW .
6To George Washington from James Bowdoin, 2 February 1777 (Washington Papers)
Boston, 2 February 1777 . “The Council being much crowded with public business could not write to you by this Opportunity but as I apprehended it proper your Excy should be made acquainted with the Contents of their Letter to Congress of the 30th Ulto I have enclosed it for your Perusal: After which You will please to forward it by the Express which brings it to you.” ADfS , M-Ar : Revolution...
7Orders to Lieutenant Colonel Adam Comstock, 2 February 1777 (Washington Papers)
You will proceed to Rhode Island and use yr utmost Industry and Influence in raising the Regiment on the Continental Establishmt to which You was appointed by the Genl Assembly of that State, on the Condition & Terms prescribed by Resolve of Congress on that subject. You will appoint some place to which the Recruits may conveniently repair to be disciplined, and omit no Opportunity of...
8From George Washington to Nicholas Cooke, 2 February 1777 (Washington Papers)
In a Letter which I did myself the honour of writing to you on the 20th Ulto I could not help expressing my Sentiments of the Impropriety—as it appeard to me—of raising Troops on a Colonial establishment & thereby setting up a kind of seperate Interest, before your quota for the Continental Army was compleated. At the time of my writing that Letter, I was unacquainted with the terms on which...
9From George Washington to Major General William Heath, 2 February 1777 (Washington Papers)
I have not been favd with a line from you since the 24th Ulto. Anxious for the Success of the Troops with You, I wish to hear from you frequently; An Express may meet with a ready Passage across the North River. While You are lying in that quarter I would by all means have the Forage & Provisions removed to some interior parts of the Country, entirely out of the Enemy’s reach; For altho’ the...
10To George Washington from Major General William Heath, 2 February 1777 (Washington Papers)
Since I wrote you last 12 more Ships have come down the Sound—4 of which were supposed to be of 40 Guns. We are informed from Long Island that General How is arming the Militia for the Defence of the Island—and that such as refuse to take arms are imprison’d. I have formed our Line on this Side from Tarry Town to Maroneck, with our Guards as far down as Stephen Wards, from which we scout &...