George Washington Papers
Documents filtered by: Period="Revolutionary War" AND Correspondent="Huntington, Samuel" AND Correspondent="Washington, George"
sorted by: date (ascending)
Permanent link for this document:
https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/03-25-02-0235

To George Washington from Samuel Huntington, 9 April 1780

From Samuel Huntington

Philadelphia April 9. 1780

Sir,

Your Excellency will receive herewith enclosed an Act of Congress of the 8th Instant with Papers therein referred to No. 1 & 2, containing an Application from the State of Massachusets Bay for an Expedition to dislodge the Enemy at Penobscot.1

This Application is referred to the Consideration of your Excellency and in the mean Time Continental Pay and rations are to be allowed to any Body of Militia not exceeding eight Hundred which the State of Massachusets Bay may judge necessary to be raised for the Defence of the eastern Parts of that State.2

I am this Moment favored with your Excellency’s Dispatches of the 7th Instant ⅌ Express. I have the honor to be with the highest respect your Excelly’s obt hbble Servt

Sam. Huntington President

LS, DLC:GW; LB, DNA:PCC, item 14.

1The enclosed copy of a congressional resolution passed on 8 April reads: “Resolved, That the application from the State of Massachusetts Bay for an expedition to be adopted for dislodging the enemy from Penobscot with the papers relating thereto, be referred to the consideration of the Commander in Chief of the Army of these United States; And that continental pay and rations be allowed to any body of militia not exceeding eight hundred men which the State of Massachusetts bay may judge necessary to be raised for the defence of the Eastern part of that State” (DLC:GW; see also 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 , 16:342).

The enclosure marked “No. 1” is a four-page copy of an undated letter from Alexander Campbell to the Massachusetts Council that begins: “A description of the extent, situation & state of the country eastward of Penobscot to the easterly boundaries of the State of Massachusetts bay as also the strength & situation of the british fort” near the mouth of the Bagaduce River (DLC:GW).

The enclosure marked “No. 2” is a copy of extracts from the instructions of the Massachusetts Council to the state’s congressional delegates datelined Boston, 9 February. The council wanted the delegates to seek continental funds to cover “the expence which has accrued” from an earlier failed attempt to oust the British from Penobscot Bay, and persuade Congress “to take some effectual measures as soon as possible, for the removal of the Enemy from the post they now possess” (DLC:GW; see also GW to the Massachusetts Council, 3 Aug. 1779, and n.3, and Henry Babcock to GW, 20 Nov. 1779). Past and potential military actions in Penobscot Bay divided congressional delegates (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 , 16:339–42; see also Flood, Fight Again description begins Charles Bracelen Flood. Rise, and Fight Again: Perilous Times Along the Road to Independence. New York, 1976. description ends , 151–251).

2For GW’s reply, which objected to the proposed expedition, see his second letter to Huntington, 17 April.

Index Entries