A letter to which the inclosed is an answer, was accompanied by one from you—the load of business, & constant hurry which attends me, obliges me to have recourse to shifts to avoid writing, & to husband time. to this you are to ascribe the expedient of sending the Letter of Colo. Lee under a flying seal to you, as it will answer the end of a seperate communication of the same sentiments.

I wait in anxious expectation of the Reinforcements demanded of the surrounding States. the enemy, we are told, are also waiting for the whole, or part of their Troops from Virginia; which will obtain them first is as uncertain, as it is interesting. It is long since I wrote to you—in truth our affairs during the whole Winter & spring, laboured under such complicated embarrassments, & distress, that I had no time to write, or think of any thing but the means most likely to extricate them. I offer with much sincerity & truth, my best wishes to my Sister & the rest of your family & with every sentiment of affectionate regard I am Yrs