Secret Committee to George Washington, 21 June 1776
Secret Committee to George Washington
[New York,] 21 June 1776
Sir
Whereas David Matthews, Esqr., stands charged with Dangerous designs and treasonable Conspiracies against the Rights and Liberties of the united Colonies of America: We do in pursuance of a certain Resolve of the Congress of the Colony of the twentieth of June Instant authorize and request you to cause the said David Matthews to be with all his Papers forthwith apprehended and secured and that Return be made to us of the manner in which the Warrant shall be executed in Order that the same may be made known to the said Congress.—Given under our Hands this twenty first day of June 1776.1
Phil. Livingston
John Jay
Gouv.r Morris
DS, in Gouverneur Morris’s hand, CSmH; printed: , 6: 1158.
1. Washington forwarded this warrant to Nathanael Greene on 21 June 1776 with instructions to execute it “exactly by one o’clock the ensuing morning.” In his reply of 22 June, written on the verso of the warrant, Greene reported that he had sent a detachment to Matthews’s home in Flatbush under the command of Colonel Vernon, who surrounded the house, seized Matthews at precisely one that morning, and made him a prisoner. Although diligent search was made after his papers, none could be found, despite great care that “none of the family should have the least opportunity to remove or destroy them.” See , 5: 72–74.