To George Washington from General William Howe, 18 January 1778
From General William Howe
Philadelphia 18 January 1778
Sir
I am to acknowledge the Receipt of your Letter of the 8th Instant respecting Captain Dick and a number of American Officers said to be confined in Dungeons in England.
It is a Circumstance perfectly new to me, and I shall transmit your Representation relative to Captain Dick &ca to England with my first Dispatches.1 I am with due respect Sir, your most obedt Servant
W. Howe
Copy, in Robert Hanson Harrison’s writing, enclosed in GW to Henry Laurens, 8 Feb., DNA:PCC, item 152; copy, DNA:PCC, item 169; two copies, P.R.O., 30/55, Carleton Papers; copy, P.R.O.: Colonial Office, Secretary of State’s Correspondence with Commander-in-Chief, North America.
1. Howe enclosed a copy of this letter, along with a copy of GW’s letter to him of 8 Jan., in a dispatch of 17 Jan. to Lord George Germain. In his letter to Lord Germain, Howe complains that “the want of faith which Mr Washington has shown from the commencement of our agreement for an exchange of prisoners has thrown such obstacles in the way that, without greater cessions than I think myself entitled to make, I see little prospect of a general exchange of prisoners being carried into execution” ( , 15:29–30).