Wmsburg 29 July 1778
Gentlemen
From a particular change of circumstances it is thought proper that the Sloop Congress, and the Peace & Plenty are to deliver their loads of Tobacco along side the Lyon Capn Michell,1 therefore it is my request that you do it without loss of Time, and pay due attention to this Order—After you have done this, it is my desire that you next proceed up to Alexandria and wait on Mr Benjamin Day2 who will furnish you with Loads and give such Orders as the situation of matters require; but it is my most earnest desire that you do with your Vessels give every possible assistance and dispatch to Capn Michel, to whom we have engaged five hundred Hogsheads on Potowmack to be delivered along side his Ship, he paying proper Freight, the price of which I shall determine I am [&c.]
Thomas Smith
LB, Vi, Thomas Smith Letter Book, 1777–1778, p. 100. Addressed at top: "Captn Robert Pulley of the Sloop Congress & Capn Pharoah Fitzpatrick of the Schooner Peace & Plenty."
1. Armed French merchant ship Lyon, Jean Michel, master. For a description of Lyon, see Nathaniel Shaw Jr., to Gov. Jonathan Trumbull, 13 Mar. 1778, NDAR 11: 629. Lyon had arrived at New London, Connecticut, on 7 Mar. In a letter to Benjamin Day of 29 July, Smith calculated that Congress could transport 110 hogsheads of tobacco and Peace and Plenty 70 hogsheads; Vi, Thomas Smith Letter Book. According to Smith's Tobacco Invoice Book, 334 hogsheads of tobacco were delivered to Lyon. Vi, State Agent Tobacco Invoice Book, 1776-1779.
2. Day was an Assistant Virginia State Agent; Smith was State Agent.