Providence, Decr 7th 1776. 5 O'clock, P.M.
Sir — By Expresses & other Channels I have certain intelligence that between 10 & 11 o'clock, A.M. 30 sail of Ships were seen .coming into the Harbor of Newport, and that upwards of 100 sail were between two & three o'clock between Canonicut & the Main Land steering directly up the River. The General Court must be fully apprised of our dangerous situation, and of the fatal consequences of the Enemy's effecting a lodgment upon the Continent & need not any argument to excite them to exert the force of Massachusetts Bay upon this most important occasion, upon the event of which the fate of America may depend. Your most obedt Servant,
Nicholas Cook.
[Endorsed] (Copy sent to New-Hampshire)
1. Bouton, ed., Documents and Records of New Hampshire, VIII, 411-12.
