The American Commissioners to Schweighauser, 9–10 July 1778: résumé
The American Commissioners to Schweighauser4
AL (draft):5 Massachusetts Historical Society; two copies: National Archives
<Passy, July 9–10, 1778: We enclose an order on Desegray, Beaugeard fils & Cie. of Lorient for saltpetre, to be shipped to America as soon as possible. July 10: We also forward Mr. Williams’ order on Mr. Cossoul for articles to be shipped in the same way.6>
4. Published in Butterfield, John Adams Diary, IV, 147.
5. In Arthur Lee’s hand; the postscript is in JA’s.
6. The order to Desegray was for 1,520 bags of India saltpetre. JW’s order of the 10th on Cossoul was for arms, cloth, and medicines from Holland, sabers, uniforms from Montieu, copper, flints, and “All the Arms and Furniture repaired and unrepaired in the magazine.” National Archives. So ended the contract with Mercier: XXIV, 100–1. Cossoul, a merchant from Nantes, eventually went into partnership with Elkanah Watson.