1Henry Waldegrave Archer to the American Commissioners, 14 June 1778: résumé (Franklin Papers)
ALS : American Philosophical Society <Paris, June 14, 1778: I want to join the American Army and become a citizen. Although I am an Englishman I did not enter the King’s army, because it would have meant fighting my conscience; that army will probably become the instrument of despotism. In the United States, on the contrary, the disciplined soldier and the free citizen are compatible. I want...
2H. Archer to the Commissioners, 14 June 1778 (Adams Papers)
I presume to trouble you with the communication of my design to enter into the army, and becoming a citizen of the united States. Though a native of England, I feel myself quite attached to America, and firmly persuaded that I shall carry thither dispositions entirely consonant to its welfare, and that my affection to her will not be the less in being only a Son by adoption. From infancy, I...