To George Washington from the Massachusetts Council, 20 January 1776
From the Massachusetts Council
Council Chamber [Watertown, Mass.] Jany 20th 1776
Sir
The Council upon Examination of several persons who were sent here by the Committee of Safety of Newbury Port, and were taken on board a Ship from London, and a Brigt. from Cork, both bound to Boston; find that one of the passengers in the latter is a Lieutenant in the 5th Regimt (Earl Peircys) now in Boston, they have therefore ordered the sd Lieutenant Hill with his Servant to be sent to your Excellency, to be disposed of as you may think proper.1
W. Sever
LS, DLC:GW; DfS, M-Ar: Revolution Letters; LB, M-Ar: Revolution Letters.
1. For the capture of the ship Friends and the brigantine Sukey, see Jonathan Jackson to GW, 16 Jan. 1776. For the intelligence that GW received from Lt. Benjamin Hill, see GW to Hancock, 24 Jan. 1776. The council returned the captains of the two captured vessels to the Newburyport committee of safety for “their care & disposal.” John Gray, a Loyalist who had been aboard the Sukey, was ordered to be “sent to the Goal in Newbury Port & held in close confinement at his Own expence until further Ord[ers]” (order of 20 Jan. 1776, M-Ar: Revolution Letters).