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After I had embarked on board Le Despenser the 7th Ulto I wrote you as well as circumstances would permit a few Lines in answer to yours of the 3d which reached me on the point of departing from Falmouth, my Letter was sent on Shoar to be put into the Post office by persons who were Strangers to me, the Consideration of which had led me to this particular retrospect.
I had in the general an...
Date: 12 December 1774
Volume: Volume 1
On the 9th Inst the Inhabitants of Charles Town are to meet in order to chuse a Committee of thirty to whom on the 11th the Country Committee are to be united & the whole will then proceed to the choice of Delegates to represent this Colony in general Congress of the United Colonies at Philadelphia the 10th of May next ー mean time the Subsisting Committee exert themselves in the Duties of...
Date: 4 January 1775
Volume: Volume 1
My Dear Son I wrote to you the 4th. Inst. p L Despenser & 8th p Capt. Mattocs to which please to referー
On the 11th all the deputies from the Several parishes & districts in this province except a very few who were unable to attend, met in General provincial Congress at Pike's long Room where C[harles] Pinckney was called to the Chair & Election adjusted ー thence we adjourned to the...
Date: 18 January 1775
Volume: Volume 1
Georgia has not fully acceded to the general Continental Association, therefore our provincial Committee have Resolved to cut off all dealing & intercourse with the Inhabitants, except only such as may be unavoidable by persons who reside here & have plantations, or debts due to them, in that province . . .
Since the 1st Inst we have had three importations of Merchandize in so many...
Date: 18 February 1775
Volume: Volume 1
the people of this province are so alarmed by Lord North's conciliatory plan which they conceive is intended more effectually to enslave them, that they are, from the example of General [Thomas] Gage when he Seized Arms & Amunition which were private property, taking Such measures as "prudence & necessity" dictate ー they have removed all the provincial Muskets Bayonets &c. which...
Date: 22 April 1775
Volume: Volume 1
You may or may not have heard ere this shall reache you that the Sword of Civil War was drawn in the environs of Boston on the 19th April, there is no doubt of the fact but the Accounts which we have received are not clear . . . the New England Account will appear in the in closed paper perhaps you have a more perfect one ー if the Ministry will allow any thing like truth to be publishedー
the...
Date: 9 May 1775
Volume: Volume 1
You will have heard before this reaches you of the "actual commencement of Hostilities" in New England against the Inhabitants by the Kings Troops & more particulars of the Action of the 19th April than we yet know of in this Country ー the Associated Colonies have taken the alarm & but three days ago I put the Question "is it your pleasure Gentlemen to agree with your Committee"? when the...
Date: 15 May 1775
Volume: Volume 1
You will be anxious to know our proceedings in Provincial Congress I shall inform you as fully as time will permit.
The Congress has sat daily from the first day of this Month; so diligent have we been that have I thought my Self fortunate by an adjournment for two or three Hours after Sitting about five in one Spot Some times I have not been relieved in Seven & an half2 ー I wish...
Date: 8 June 1775
Volume: Volume 1
the Militia were turned out in order to receive Lord Wm Campbell who arrived yesterday Evening having been detained off the Bar [due] to the loss of one Tide until the restraint upon Pilots was taken off, which we could not effect without Some opposition & even a Question ー his Lordship was received by the Grenadier Company at his Landing escorted by them in front of the common Militia, the...
Date: 18 June 1775
Volume: Volume 1
. . . I have paid my one Visit to Lord William [Campbell] the little conversation we had was political, His Lordship was Sorry to find "this Country in Such confusion." "I hope we are not in confusion My Lord, we are acting out of the common line tis true ー necessity obliges us to do so ー I trust we are doing our Duty according to circumstances ー we are greatly distressed & are struggling for...
Date: 24 June 1775
Volume: Volume 1
the opportunity by which this is to be Sent is offered to me very Suddenly & unexpectedly by Capt [Alexander] Innes who assures me that my Letters Shall pass unopened ー I thank him for his politeness & friendship, but the Kings Decypherer must be very cunning if he is able to pick a plot out of any of my Epistles . . .
Some time ago we dreaded from the vast falls of Rain the total Loss of...
Date: 2 July 1775
Volume: Volume 1
Capt [John] Tolemach [Tollemache] of the Scorpion Sloop carried off a valuable black Pilot by way of Reprisal & for worse purposes perhaps ー for our refusing to return Some of his Seamen who had enlisted in the Regiments of Foot ー I was Singular in my opposition to that impolitic measure & expressly foretold the consequence ー but I added, that if I was Captain of the Man of War I would...
Date: 14 July 1775
Volume: Volume 1
from the bad opinion everybody entertains of a Vessel called the Wilhelmina I am induced to trouble you with duplicate of a Letter which I wrote the 30th Ulto & delivered to the care of her Capt. Williams . . . Since that date a bold enterprize has been carried into Execution by Some of the Friends of America & about Seven Tons of Gunn powder acquired2 while people were...
Date: 20 August 1775
Volume: Volume 1
The King's Officers have been disarmed ー Capt [Alexander] Innis banished Mr Roussell confined to his own House ー Wm Wragg to his Plantations near Dorchester ー Lord William [Campbell] is gone on board the Tamar Man of War ー the House of Assembly dissolved ー the Judges have shut up their Courts of Law ー the Custom House will probably Soon follow the example ー Fort Johnson is taken into the hands of...
Date: 18 September 1775
Volume: Volume 2
My Dear Child I trouble you with the inclosed Copy of my Letter the 18th Inst by the Swallow Packet because we are told She is gone to Boston with dispatches from Lord William . . .
My hands are so very full of employments & my mind so much engaged, as will not admit of my writing so fully as I had intended by this conveyance ー let it Suffice that I tell you our people after talking of...
Date: 23 September 1775
Volume: Volume 2
Yesterday I put the Question after three hours debate for Stopping the Ship & Lawford's Channel's by means of Sinking Schooners, & it was carried in the affirmative 32 against 14. ー I could not have thought after the clear & Sensible declarations made by Capt Thos. Tucker who twice Surveyed the breadth & depth of each Channel that so great a Majority would have been found in...
Date: 26 September 1775
Volume: Volume 2
What a Scene is there before my own Door & all around me ー behold yonder in Rebellion Road ー the Tamar & Scorpion Sloops of War ー the ー Cherokee Armed Ship ー a large North Country Ship mounted with heavy Cannon ー an armed Schooner & as Lord William [Campbell] Says two Frigates & a Bomb Ketch every hour expected ー behold Fort Johnson ordered to make a defence, which I am Sure will...
Date: 6 December 1775
Volume: Volume 2
... let me close this by a brief account of our present circumstances & prospects in Charles Town & perhaps you may wonder how there can be a tranquil Heart within our Walls. ー on Thursday the 11th. appeared in the Offing two Ships & a one Masted Sloop ー on Friday a pilot Boat & two Smaller Vessels from Fort Johnson were dispatched to reconnoitre ー the Same Morning a ten Oared...
Date: 16 January 1776
Volume: Volume 3
as I was still at trenton, I thought, that I Could employ my leasure, usefully at Cooper's ferry, and I went down to that place, to try if I could, with five or six Determined militiamen, Creep upon the ice, & set on fire one or two of the enemys ships, by means of two sulphured shirts, that I had Ready for that purpose.
but the River is not frozen at all, & I have been disapointed....
Date: 20 January 1778
Volume: Volume 11
I have send to you three days ago, one Letter datted Burlington, by which I mentioned to you, the several schemes that I have formed to set on fire the english fleet. since that time I have done some small tryals, which confirme me in the first opinion. viz. that by the fire Boats, which I intend to Construct, by the help of the commodore, the succes is almost Certain.
I ask leave to Repeat you...
Date: 23 January 1778
Volume: Volume 11