Sir,

I have the Honour to advise you that I arrived here on Sunday [July 9] at Noon, since which Time I have been closely employed in the Duties of my office.

It is with Pleasure I remark that Intelligence from various Quarters indicates a friendly Disposition in the Indians towards us. No Efforts however are wanting on the Part of our Enemies to change these Sentiments in the Savages to Resntment & Hostility, an Evil highly incumbent on me to guard against, and of which the Come of this Place have so just a Sense that they pay it the closest Attention; whilst they look up to that respectable Body which represents the Continent of America for the Line of their future Conduct in this delicate & important Matter.

The unhappy Controversy which has subsisted between the officers at Ticonderoga relative to the Command has, I am informed thrown every Thing into vast Confusion. Troops have been dismissed ー others refuse to serve, if this or that Man commands ー the Sloop is without either Captain or Pilot, both of which are dismissed, or come away.² I shall hurry up there much sooner than the necessary Preparations here would otherwise admit, that I may attempt to introduce some Kind of Order & Discipline among them.

I am this Moment favoured with a Letter from Col. [Benjamin] Hinman and sundry Returns, Copies of which I enclose. You will perceive by the Return No 1 that on the 7th Inst. they had only one Barrel [of] Flour at Ticonderoga, twenty at Crown Point, and twenty at Fort George. By Number 2 & 3 it appears that about four Hundred and seventy seven Barrels of Flour, have been sent up amounting to about ninety five Thousand four Hundred Rations, and that about twenty Thousand remain, seventy five Thousand are expended. From the same Return it appears that about sixty five Thousand Rations of Pork have been also expended, exclusive of thirty five fat Oxen. Hence a very considerable Waste or Embezzlement has taken Place. Permit me here, Sir, to urge the Necessity of of the Appointment I recommended, in my Letter of the 28th June as indispensably Necessary, to carry on the Service with Propriety & economy, and Certainty; to which I must add another, that of Muster Masters & Deputies, without which such a scene of Confusion & Controversy must unavoidably take Place in the Payment of the Troops, as will be beyond the Power of the most able Accountant to certify. These officers are so necessary that I should not have hesitated a Moment to have made the Appointments had I not received your Orders to the contrary.

Give me Leave, Sir, to request a Copy of such Articles of War as the Congress may have adopted. The scandalous Want of Subordination, and the Low Treatment which I am informed some Officers give, & others receive merit exemplary Punishment, as they are injurious to the Army, destructive to the Service, and disgraceful to those in Command.ー

Govr [Jonathan] Trumbul has honoured me with a Letter, in which he advises me that no more than forty Half Barrels of Powder can be sent from the Colony of Connecticut. That from Pennsylvania is not yet arrived, and you will perceive there is very little with the Troops. Should Govr [Guy] Carlton know our true Situation with Respect to this Article, it would be very easy for him to use it to our Disadvantage Govr. Trumbul will send me fifteen Thousand Pounds in Money, which is so much wanted here, that the spirited Come of this Place have been under the Necessity of emitting one Thousand Pounds in small Bills as a circulating Medium to pay Troops and others employed in the Service, which, altho it passes as currently as Bank Bills in the best of Times, I shall order it to be called in, as soon as I am enabled to do it, least it should open a Door to Fraud and Confusion.

As the Transportation of Salted Meat is attended with the very heavy Expence of a sixty five Mile Land Carriage to Fort George; before I left New York I ordered one Hundred Head of fat Cattle to be purchased in Connecticut, and to be drove up to Ticonderoga, where there is a sufficiency of Pasture for them.

I enclose you Sir an Extract of a Paper received from Govr Trumbull relative to the Temper of Coghnawaga Indians marked No 4

The Paper No 5 will shew you how very weak we are with Respect to Vessels for transporting Troops across the Lake, or even with those necessary to keep the Command of the Lake in Case Mr Carlton should provide himself with a naval Force. I hope however soon after my Arrival at Ticonderoga to be in a better Condition for maintaining the Advantage we have acquired.

I hope to be at Ticonderoga on Friday or Saturday from whence I shall do myself the Honour to transmit you a full Account of the State of the Troops, and of every other Matter which may be necessary for your Information. I am Sir [&c.]

[Endorsed] Read [in Congress]; July 17th 1775.