Providence Letters for the years 1775 thru 1803

Providence, RI - 12 July 1775

I beg leave to congratulate your Excellency upon your being appointed General of the Armies of the United Colonies, which hath given sincere pleasure to every friend of America

Providence, RI - 31 July 1775

I desire your Excellency to oblige me with a return of the army ; and when any thing of importance occurs, I shall esteem an early communication of it a favor.

Providence, RI - 8 August 1775

This Colony, the last fall, not confiding entirely in the precarious supply of powder that might be expected from the merchants, imported a considerable quantity, though not so large as was ordered.

Providence, RI - 11 August 1775

some of the Bermudians had been at Philadelphia, soliciting for liberty to import provisions for the use of the Island. They gave information of the powder mentioned in your letter to me, and were of opinion it might be easily obtained.

Providence, RI - 30 August 1775

She hath since returned. The sending her on the enterprise you propose could not be done without some new and further powers from the General Assembly, which sat here last week

Providence, RI - 2 September 1775

The Committee, appointed to act during the recess of the General Assembly, have given your proposal for taking the powder from Bermuda a full consideration, and have come to a resolution to make the attempt.

Providence, RI - 9 September 1775

zealous to do every thing in our power to serve the common cause of America, the Committee have determined, instead of the small armed sloop, to send the large vessel, with fifty men, upon the Bermuda enterprise

Providence, RI - 14 September 1775

This, Sir, is the time to exert ourselves in sending to Europe for powder, as the vessels may perform their voyages and return upon this coast in the winter, when the enemy's ships are unable to cruise.

Providence, RI - 26 September 1775

The time for which the combined army was enlisted being nearly expired, it is of great importance to provide some method of reenlisting them, in order to keep up a sufficient force to restrain the enemy

Providence, RI - 10 October 1775

I think it my duty to inform your Excellency, that the large sloop hath not yet returned from her Bermuda expedition, and that the small one is unfit for service

Providence, RI - 25 October 1775

Captain Whipple returned here from his voyage to Bermuda on Friday last. He had received authentic intelligence of the arrival of the packet at New York

Providence, RI - 19 December 1775

Should the force sailed from Boston be destined for Rhode Island, I tremble for the consequences, as the Colony, in its present exhausted state, cannot, without assistance, defend the Island.

Providence, RI - 21 January 1776

We had procured upwards of an hundred blankets, which were designed for the army under your immediate command; but the descent upon Prudence obliged us to send forty of them to our troops upon that Island

Providence, RI - 6 May 1776

I also inclose a copy of an act, discharging the inhabitants of this Colony from allegiance to the King of Great Britain, which was carried in the House of Deputies, after a debate, with but six dissentient voices

Providence, RI - 6 September 1776

The necessity, which caused the unexpected evacuation of Long Island, hath alarmed the General Assembly of this State, as it seems that communications cannot be kept open with an island where the enemy's ships can approach.

Providence, RI - 13 January 1777

There are, at this place and in the vicinity, about two thousand men, part of six thousand ordered from the New England States. The others are on their march, and expected in, a few days.

Providence, RI - 31 January 1777

By the best intelligence we have been able to procure of the enemy's force on Rhode Island, it consisted of about six thousand men; eleven regiments of British, and four of Hessians.

Providence, RI - 11 March 1777

The new levies of the Massachusetts Bay being all ordered to Ticonderoga, and those of Connecticut inoculated for the smallpox, deprives us of the aid of Continental troops, on whom we had placed our chief dependence.

Providence, RI - 26 March 1777

I was made very unhappy, a few days since, by hearing your Excellency was exceedingly ill with a fever.

Providence, RI - 1 May 1778

I found, upon my journey home, That there was not the least probability of the enemy's attempting to rescue General Burgoyne and army. I therefore went to New Hampshire, where I tarried about twelve days.

Providence, RI - 25 July 1778

General Sullivan estimates the enemy's land force here at seven thousand. The state of their shipping, he informs me, is as follows...

Providence - 4 August 1778

Upon my delivering Gen'l Washington's dispatches, and Gen'l Sullivan's containing a plan of operations, the Admiral informed me his intention had been to proceed immediately into the main channel of Newport and attack the enemy's batteries.

Providence, RI - 6 August 1778

General Lafayette letter to General Washington...I willingly part with the half of my detachment, though I had a great dependence upon them, as you find it convenient to the good of the service.

Providence, RI - 2 September 1778

The movements which your Excellency has observed at New York, the arrival of seventy sail of vessels in the road of Newport, the appearance of twenty sail off Boston, are circumstances which keep us in suspense

Providence, RI - 3 September 1778

I found means to restore the former harmony between the American and French officers of the army. The Count D Estaing and myself are in the same friendship as heretofore. The reason of the protest has been explained to him

Providence, RI - 8 November 1779

Thursday night I had the honor to receive your Excellency's letter of the 1st instant, and immediately gave orders for moving the Continental troops over the bay to Greenwich

Providence, RI - 1 August 1803

All those you saw when you were last here inquire about you with great civility and interest, and say pretty things of you. Don't be vain, madam, for I take this to be a kind of flattery to me, or to be so intended.