George Washington Papers

To George Washington from Henry Laurens, 20–21 November 1778

From Henry Laurens

20th[–21] November [1778]

Sir

I beg leave to refer to what I had the honor of writing to Your Excellency under the 18th Instant by Humphrey.

I was Yesterday honor’d with Your Excellency’s Letters of the 11th and 12th which were immediately presented to Congress, the former is committed to the Board of War, the other to the Committee on the Marquis de la Fayette’s Letters.

Inclosed with this will be found an Act of Congress of the 17th Instant for a general Thanksgiving to be observed throughout the United States on Wednesday the 30th of December next.1 An Act of the 19th for exchanging Officers of the Convention Troops for American Officers in the actual possession, or within the power of the Enemy;2 and also three Copies of the Treaties of Amity and Commerce, and of Alliance eventual and defensive between His Most Christian Majesty and the United States of America. The transmission of this Paper to Your Excellency in particular, is a circumstance which I have long wished for. I have the honor to be &c.

P.S. I detained this Bearer all yesterday, hoping Congress would have enabled me to have made necessary returns to Your Excellency’s unanswer’d Letters—’tis now early the 21st.

LB, DNA:PCC, item 13. The letter was carried “by Dodd.”

1. See JCC description begins Worthington Chauncey Ford et al., eds. Journals of the Continental Congress, 1774-1789. 34 vols. Washington, D.C., 1904–37. description ends , 12:1138–39.

2. See JCC description begins Worthington Chauncey Ford et al., eds. Journals of the Continental Congress, 1774-1789. 34 vols. Washington, D.C., 1904–37. description ends , 12:1145–46.

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    Washington Papers
    Title
    To George Washington from Henry Laurens, 20–21 November 1778
    Author
    Laurens, Henry
    Recipient
    Washington, George
    Date
    2–21 November 1778

    Reference

    Cite as
    “To George Washington from Henry Laurens, 20–21 November 1778,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/03-18-02-0245. [Original source: The Papers of George Washington, Revolutionary War Series, vol. 18, 1 November 1778 – 14 January 1779, ed. Edward G. Lengel. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2008, pp. 233–234.]

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