To George Washington from Samuel Huntington, 29 May 1780
From Samuel Huntington
Philadelphia May 29. 1780
sir,
I have been honoured with your Letter of the 19th Instant covering duplicate Despatches for Governor Rutledge, one of which I sent forward by Express the same Hour it came to hand, and sent the other by the Post.1
Enclosed your Excellency will receive an Act of Congress of the 26th Instant submitting to your Discretion the mode of carrying into Execution the Act of Congress of the 21st of April respecting an Agent or Commissary of Prisoners.2
I have also enclosed a Copy of the Communication received from the Minister of France of the 16th Instant,3 which should have accompanied my former Despatches with the Acts of Congress of the 17th & 20th Instant;4 of which last mentioned Acts I have also enclosed Copies, there being an Error committed by the Secretary in the former Copy, which you will please to note, in the Act of the 20th, The Committee at Head Quarters are said to be requested to confer with the Minister of France, on the means of supplying the Forces of his most Christian Majesty &c., whereas it should be, the Committee who brought in the report as expressed in the Copy enclosed.5
We still remain in anxious Suspense respecting the Fate of Charles Town.6 I have the honour to be with the highest respect & Consideration your Excelly’s most obedt & most humble servant
Sam. Huntington President
LS, DLC:GW; LB, DNA:PCC, item 15.
1. Huntington is referring to GW’s letter to him of 19–20 May, in which GW enclosed duplicates of his letter of 16 May to John Rutledge.
2. A copy of the congressional resolution adopted on 26 May is in DLC:GW (see also , 17:462). The resolution of 21 April authorized GW to allow a British-appointed commissary of prisoners to reside in the United States and to hold powers similar to his Continental equivalent (see Huntington to GW, 22 April).
GW’s aide-de-camp Tench Tilghman had written Lewis Pintard, commissary of prisoners in New York, from Morristown on 21 May: “Upon considering the letters which had passed between Mr [John] Beatty and Mr [Joshua] Loring on the subject of permitting a British Agent to reside in Philada the whole of which correspondence had been submitted to Congress—it would seem by the Resolve of the 21st April that Congress expected a further application should be made by the British Commander in Chief to General Washington before he was authorized to enter upon the Business … His Excellency would wish you, as you are upon the spot, to consult the president upon the meaning of the Resolve, and if he is not clear, request him to take the sense of Congress upon the matter” (DNA:PCC, item 78).
3. See La Luzerne to the Continental Congress, 16 May, printed as an enclosure to this letter.
4. See Huntington to GW, 20 May.
5. The enclosed document contained copies of congressional resolutions passed on 17 and 20 May. Except for a short preface and the correction noted, the enclosed resolution of 20 May was identical to the resolution of that date transmitted in Huntington’s letter to GW of 20 May. The resolution of 17 May referred La Luzerne’s letter to Congress of 16 May to a committee (DLC:GW; see also , 17:433, 442–43).
6. Congress soon received authoritative reports of the Continental surrender at Charleston, S.C., on 12 May (see Nathaniel Folsom to Meshech Weare, 1 June, in , 15:225).