George Washington Papers
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From George Washington to the Massachusetts General Court, 16 December 1775

To the Massachusetts General Court

Cambridge 16th Decr 1775.

Gentn

Among many resolves of Congress which were forwarded to me the other day, are the Inclosed.

Not being able to discover from the Resolves themselves, or the Letter which accompanied them, whether a Copy had been transmitted to you by the President, or to be handed in by me, I thought it best to err on the safe side, especially as the Q. M. Genl has just inform’d me that he is exceeding scarce of Hay & can get none under Six pounds Lawful a Tonn; and that he is fearful, if he should even consent to offer this (enormous as it is) the price will be further advanced upon him as heretofore, & in the Article of Wood.1 I am with great respect Gen[tleme]n Yr Most H. Sert

Go: Washington

ALS, PVfHi; LB, DLC:GW; Varick transcript, DLC:GW.

1The enclosure has not been identified. Among the resolutions that Hancock sent with his letter of 2 Dec. to GW was one of that date recommending to the General Court “to use all the means in their power, that the army before Boston be supplied with wood and hay, on the most reasonable terms” (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 3:399). Later this day the house of representatives resolved to send members to the various towns in the colony to urge them to fill their previously assigned quotas of firewood for the army, and it ordered application to be made to the towns of Medford and Watertown for daily deliveries of firewood to Cambridge and Prospect Hill. On this date also the General Court assigned the towns quotas of hay to be furnished to the army, and on 23 and 25 Dec. it empowered a committee “to enter the Wood Lands of any Person or Persons within this Colony, and after apprizing the Wood thereon standing and growing, to cause the same to be cut down and carried to the Camp to supply said Army” (Mass. House of Rep. Journal description begins A Journal of the Honorable House of Representatives of the Colony of the Massachusetts-Bay in New-England. Watertown, Mass., 1775. (Microfilm Collection of Early State Records). description ends , Nov. 1775–Feb. 1776 sess., 47, 49–51, 69–70; see also “Mass. Council Journal,” July 1775–Feb. 1776 sess. description begins In Journals, Minutes, and Proceedings, State of Massachusetts Bay, 1775–1780. (Microfilm Collection of Early State Records.) description ends , 375–77, 393–94).

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