Benjamin Franklin Papers
Documents filtered by: Author="American Commissioners" AND Recipient="Read, Thomas" AND Correspondent="Lee, Arthur" AND Correspondent="Adams, John"
sorted by: date (ascending)
Permanent link for this document:
https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Franklin/01-27-02-0260

The American Commissioners to Thomas Read or Any Other Captain of Any Vessel Bound to America, 22 August 1778

The American Commissioners to Thomas Read or Any Other Captain of Any Vessel Bound to America

AL (draft): Massachusetts Historical Society; copies: National Archives (two), University of Virginia Library

Passi August 22. 1778

Sir

Mr. Alexander Fowler with his Wife being bound to America, where he has heretofore resided as an officer in the British Army;8 and it having been represented to Us, that his Friendship to America occasioned his quiting that Service and has occasioned him some hardships, and Inconveniences, We recommend him to you for a Passage to America, he paying your Demands for the same, and that he and his Wife may be treated with Respect. We are your humble Servants.9

To Captain Read at Nantes or any other Captain of any Vessell bound to America.

[Note numbering follows the Franklin Papers source.]

8. Fowler had petitioned the commissioners on Aug. 6. After reaching America, he offered his services to Congress on Jan. 18, 1779, and was appointed auditor for the Western district of the Continental Army. Smith, Letters, XI, 504 n; JCC, XIII, 177, 217. He eventually settled in Pittsburgh where he became a prominent citizen.

9. The commissioners attached to this recommendation a certificate, written by Fowler and dated Aug. 23, testifying to his British birth and current American allegiance. University of Va. Library.

Index Entries

    You Are Looking At

    Source Project
    Franklin Papers
    Title
    The American Commissioners to Thomas Read or Any Other Captain of Any Vessel Bound to America, 22 August 1778
    Authors
    American Commissioners
    Franklin, Benjamin
    Lee, Arthur
    Adams, John
    Recipient
    Read, Thomas
    Date
    22 August 1778

    Reference

    Cite as
    “The American Commissioners to Thomas Read or Any Other Captain of Any Vessel Bound to America, 22 August 1778,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Franklin/01-27-02-0260. [Original source: The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, vol. 27, July 1 through October 31, 1778, ed. Claude A. Lopez. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1988, pp. 286–287.]