Gen [Israel] Putnam has just shewn me a letter from a gentleman in Salem, which very much concerns your place. The writer informs the General that Capt. Chapman is arrived there (Salem) from St. Croix, who says that on the tenth instant in latitude 54, longitude 67:24, he fell in with a brig, the Capt. of which told him that he sailed in company with a fleet of seventy sail of transports, under convoy of two sixty-four, four forty-gun ships, and two bomb ketches, from which he parted the fifth in a hard gale of wind. The fleet had on board a large number of Hessians, Brunswickers and English troops, all bound to Philadelphia, in order to disperse (as the Capt. expressed himself) that hornets' nest the Congress, after which they were certain the continent would become a very easy prey. God grant that you may be prepared to receive this armament. Gen. Putnam thinks that some troops will immediately march from here to your assistance.