At a Council held in the Council Chamber
at Pensacola on Thursday the 19^th. day of March 1778—

His Excellency laid before the Board a Letter which he had received from Joseph Nunn Esq^r. Commander of His Majestys Sloop of War Hound in Answer to the Governors Letter of Yesterday and the same being read was ordered to be entered on the Minutes in the Words following

Hound Sloop Pensacola March
19^th 1778—

Sir

At Eleven oClock last night I was honored with a Letter from your Excellency¹ inclosing a Copy of a Letter from Lord George Germain to the Lords of the Admiralty together with three Extracts from Lord George Germains Letters,² informing me that a Party of Rebels under a M^r James Willing Joined by a large Body of Banditti who have plundered the Inhabitants of the Province on the Mississippi and carried their Negroes and other property to New orleans to be disposed of re- questing me to proceed up the Mississippi with His Majestys Sloop under my Command in order to protect the Province from further Incursions of the Rebels, and that one of His Majestys Ships may be sent to Manchack to protect that post and to Intercept such of the Rebels as may attempt to Escape up the River.

In answer to which I am to acquaint your Excellency that I shall most readily Comply with your request by using my utmost Efforts for the protection of the Province and am in return to request that your Excellency will be pleased to furnish me with such Extracts of the Treaties between Spain and this Colony as may be necessary for my Guidance and also Copies of all such Letters &C which have Passed since this Invasion as may be necessary for my Information And that an Experianced Pilot for the Mississippi may be Immediately sent on Board. I have the Honor to be &c.

(signed) Jos Nunn

His Excellency also laid before the Board a Letter from the Honorable Colonel Stuart the Superintendant answering the Governors Requisition to him for his Sloop and the same was read & ordered to be entered as follows—

Sir

Lieutenant Governor Durnford³ has acquainted me with Your Excellencys wish that my Sloop could be Spared to Cooperate with Lieutenant Burdon⁴ in the Lakes—under the Command of Lieut: Osborne⁵—I have the Honor to assure your Excellency that I shall upon this and every other Occassion most Chearfully comply with what you & the Honorable Council may Judge right for His Majestys Service. at the same time I have Immediate Occassion for a Vessel for the Service of my Department which I expect will be provided for me I have the Honor to be &C

Jn^o Stuart.

Pensacola 18^th March 1778.

Whereupon the Board Recommended to His Excellency the Governor that he do write a Letter to Captain Nunn of the Hound Sloop of War answering his Letter now upon the Table and making a requisition that Lieutenant osborne of the Armed Sloop Florida (now Condemned) be sent with his Seamen in Colonel Stuarts Sloop to the Lakes to Cooperate with Lieut: Burdon agreeable to the Minute of Yesterday His Excellency accordingly wrote the following Letter to Captain Nunn

Sir/

The Honorable Colonel Stuart having Offered his Sloop to be employed in the Service of Government in the Western parts of the Province I have therefore to request of you to order the officers and Men of His Majestys Armed Sloop Florida now Condemned & unfit for Service to be put on board Coll. Stuarts Sloop and sent into the Lake PontChartrain to Cooperate with Lieutenant Burdon in defending the passes of the Lakes and gaining Intelligence of the Strength & designs of the Enemy

I have had the Honor of receivingYour Letter of this days date and thank you for your ready Compliance with my request to proceed to the Mississippi and have ordered the same Pilot on Board of you who Piloted the Atalanta into the Mississippi last fall.

The 7^th. Article of the Treaty of Paris together with the Copy of a Letter from the Governor of Louisiana to Captain Lloyd⁶ & a late Letter written by me to the Spanish Governor demanding restitution of the Ship Rebecca Seized by the Rebels⁷ are Papers I Furnished Captain Ferguson⁸ Copies of which & of such other Correspondence or paper as you are Pleased to point out & I can procure shall be Immediately forwarded to you, as also a Copy of the Marine Treaties if You want them. I have the Honor to be &C

To which His Excellency soon received an answer which was ordered to be en- tered on the Minutes of the day Immediately Subsequent to the Governors Letter—and is as follows

Sir/

In answer to the Letter you was pleased to Honor me with Yesterday, I am to acquaint you that the officer Commanding the Sloop Florida is Charged with the Vessel and all her Stores, consequently cannot be ordered from her untill some of the Kings Ships going toJamaica shall receive the Stores and gve him receipts for them agreeable to the directions of the Commander in Chief 

The rest of the Company of the Florida are only five Men fit for service, two of which are Americans the other part of her Complement were before my arrival part lent to Lieut: Burdon, part discharged to the Atalanta to Strengthen her Company which is now far short of Complement.

If you think it necessary to send Col: Stuarts Sloop to Lake Pontchartrain; and that the few men belonging to the Florida can be of any use I will order them to be lent.

For my own part if I may take the Liberty of giving my opinion I think the force Lieut: Burdon has is more than Sufficient to repel any Force he may have to oppose him.

Your Excellency was pleased last night to Signify to me, that you thought the Florida might be Converted to the use of a Floating Magazine; I have since en- quired Particularly into the State of the Vessel and find she is entirely Rotten and very leaky of Course unfit for the purpose abovementioned I have the Honor to be &C

Joss. Nunn

Hound Pensacola 28th March 1778—9

Henry Smith who came Yesterday with the express from Lieut: Burdon being looked upon as a man who could be trusted and very fit to be employed as a Scout upon the lakes—in the River Amit¹⁰ and up to Orleans to discover the designs of the Rebels and gain Intelligence—was called into Council and his Excellency demanding of him the Terms upon which he would undertake the Service required. Smith assured his Excellency that he expected no other reward than what such Services as he Should perform might be thought Worthy of—and it being mentioned that one Bellisle a Frenchman of whom said Smith had hired a large Boat for the late Service he had come upon, would be willing to sell him said Boat for the use of Government, and also to go with Smith in her upon the proposed Expidition of gaining Intelligence His Excellency was pleased by the advice of the Board to offer the said Belisle (by a Letter which was wrote to him) Two hundred Dollars for his said Boat and for himself one Dollars per day so long as he should continue in the Service of Government with Henry Smith

His Excellency then wrote the following Letter to Lieut: Burdon in the lakes with which Smith was ordered Immediately to set off.

Council Chamber Pensacola 19^th March 1778

Sir—

I received your Letter of the 3^d March Ins^t. by M^r. Smith¹¹ I hear the greater part of the Rebel Banditti were at New Orleans on the 8^th. Instant with the Plunder they took on the Mississippi.

They Report there is an Army of Rebels to follow them down the Mississippi—The Florida Sloop is so Rotten that she is Condemned but I shall endeavour to get another Vessel with the Officers and Seamen of the Florida and send her to your Assistance—I have purchased the Boat Smith returns in and engaged him with one Belisle, to be under your orders for the purpose of obtaining& forwarding Intelligence I therefore hope you will keep him Constantly employed over at Orleans or up the River Nitabanie¹² or amit. To this place I expect you will Instantly dispatch him upon receiving any Information of Consequence I am &C.

P.S. You will be pleased to Victual these Two Men during the time they are employed on this Servicewhich will be Settled with you hereafter

Agreeable to the Minute of Yesterday that a Letter should be wrote by His Excellency the Governor to John M^cGillivray Esq^r. of Mobille a draught thereof having been prepared was now read & the same being approved was ordered to be entered on the Minutes in hoc Verba

Sir

Colonel Stuart having acquainted me that you had expressed a desire of being employed at this time & exerting your Influence in raising a Number of Men to Act against the Rebels who have penetrated into the Western parts of the Colony. I accordingly Communicated the same to His Majestys Council who have unanimously joined with me in Opinion that you should be thanked for your Zeal and Laudable Exertions upon this Occassion and that you should be appointed Lieutenant Colonel Commandant of a Provincial Corps to be raised by you and such other officers as may be appointed to Act under you to be employed for the purpose of driving the Rebels out of the Colony with the Assistance of such Indians as can be raised in the Indian Nations

It is intended that the officers & Men of this Corps shall receive the same pay & Provisions as the officers and Men of Col: Stuarts Rangers—That they shall also have the like Quantity of Lands granted them in the Colony upon the determination of the Rebellion as the Provincial Troops serving under General Howe are to have and that they shall continue Embodied during the present Invasion or if they can be Engaged longer for such time as the Kings Service may require it—and the better to enable You to Compleat this Corps, a Number of Blank Commissions will be sent to be filled up by you with the Names of such Persons as officers who you think can be depended upon and have Influence to raise men—Arms & ammunition will be furnished at Mobille for such Number of Men as you are of opinion can be raised and whatever Contingencies are requisite shall be defrayed by the Crown—and all such other Expences as you shall Judge necessary for the Kings Service.

M^r Alexander M^cIntosh of the Natchez District who is on his way thither is recommended to me to be appointed first Captain in your Corps & is charged with this Letter; after Consulting with you he will proceed to the Natchez and indeavour to engage good men in that District for the Corps taking your directions for that purpose and receiving such Orders as you shall give him—I shall wait with Impatience for your answer to this Letter, and desire that you will Transmit the same by Express in the most Expiditious manner The Commissions shall be sent by return of the Express with the names inserted of the Persons you nominate as officers I hope you will Immediately begin to act as no time is to be lost. I have the Honor to be with great Regard. &c &c &c.

Council Chamber 19th. March 1778—

M^r Alexander Cameron a Commissary for the Cherokee Nation and a Captain in Colonel Stuarts Corps of Rangers sent in his name and desired to be heard be- fore His Excellency in Council and being admitted mentioned to His Excellency & the Board that as he had been Informed by Colonel Stuart the Superintend^t. that it was the request of this Board to send him with the Party of Rangers under his Command to the River Mississippi—he thought it his Duty to acquaint His Excellency that not having any officers under him and only Thirty five Men in the whole of whom but Twenty were at Present in Town the remaining fifteen being ordered upon different Services he could not think of going upon this Service but that if he had men enough he would readily go upon any Expedition that could tend to promote the Kings Service and it being Mentioned to M^r Cameron that a Body of Indians had been promised by Colonel Stuart to Join him on the Expidition He thought proper to Inform His Excellency that no dependence could be put upon any Body of Indians notwithstanding the repeated assurances they might themselves give of their Attachment to His Majestys Interest and farther said that he would not go with a Serjeants Command—and then M^r Cameron withdrew) whereupon His Excellency was pleased by the advice of the Board to order that a Copy of this Minute be Immediately Transmitted to Colonel Stuart the Superintendant & that M^r Bruce¹³ and L^t Colonel Dickson¹⁴ (Two Members of this Board) be requested to Deliver the same to Colonel Stuart.

It being then made known to His Excellency the Governor that a Petty officer belonging to His Majestys Sloop of War Atalanta attended without He was ordered to be called in and delivered a Letter from Captain Lloyd in answer to His Excellencys Letter of Yesterday¹⁵ and the same being read was ordered to be entered in hoc Verba

Sir—

In answer to your Excellencys of the last evening inclosing Extracts of Letters from Lord George Germain¹⁶ &C I am to inform You that I have orders from Vice Admiral Gayton to sail for England with the Convoy on the 25^th. Instant. Consequently the Atalanta must remain till then at this Place. If at that time it shall appear to your Excellency that the State of the Province renders her stay necessary, you will be pleased to inform me and I shall take my Resolution accordingly. I have the Honor to be—Sir Your Excellencys &c &c &c—

T Lloyd.

Atalanta Pensacola Harbor 19th. March 1778

M^r Bruce and Lieut Col: Dickson the Two Members who were sent to Colonel Stuart as above mentioned returning acquainted His Excellency that they had in obedience to his directions delivered the Copy of this days Minute respecting M^r Cameron to Colonel Stuart who had requested them to Inform his Excellency that he would Immediately send for M^r Cameron and after hearing him upon the Subject Transmit a Written answer to His Excellency

His Excellency then desired the Opinion of the Board whether as we had received Reports that the Rebels were coming down the River Mississippi in a large Body most probably with a design to attack Mobile or this place it would not be proper that the Ships and Vessels (which are mostly well armed at Present within any of the Ports or Harbours of this Province & particularly in those of Pensacola and Mobille should be prevented from leaving the same until1 such farther Intelligence could be received as might render that measure unnecessary? The Board were unanimously of Opinion that such a Step was highly proper at this time and therefore Recommended that an Embargo be laid upon all the Shipping within this Province untill farther orders And that His Excellency do Issue his Proclamation accordingly

And then the Board Adjourned