1From Benjamin Franklin to Charles Lee, 19 February 1776 (Franklin Papers)
One page reproduced in facsimile in Samuel T. Freeman sales catalogue, February 17, 1947, p. 7; full text reprinted from The Lee Papers (4 vols., New York, 1871–74), I , 313. I rejoice that you are going to Canada. I hope the Gout will not have the courage to follow you into that severe Climate. I believe you will have the Number of Men you wish for: I am told there will be 2,000 more: but...
2Contract between the Secret Committee and Silas Deane and Others, 19 February 1776 (Franklin Papers)
Copy: South Carolina Historical Society; copy: Connecticut Historical Society We normally summarize contracts of the secret committee signed by Franklin, but this one is important enough to be printed in full because it was the initial reason for Deane’s going to France. Soon after he lost his seat in Congress in October, 1775, and thereby his membership in the secret committee, he began to...
3Proposed Alterations in William Smith’s Oration on General Montgomery, [before 6 March 1776] (Franklin Papers)
AD : Historical Society of Pennsylvania On February 19, 1776, William Smith, Provost of the College of Philadelphia and Franklin’s old antagonist, delivered in one of the city churches an oration that Congress had requested on General Montgomery and the other Americans killed in the attack on Quebec. Smith was anything but a revolutionary, and still longed to see the quarrel peacefully...