To George Washington from Ebenezer Hancock, 30 January 1777
From Ebenezer Hancock
Boston January 30th 1777
Sir
I had the Honour to receive your Excellency’s Letter of 9th Instant last Night, in regard to the State of the Treasury in my Department; and for answer I have to Inform your Excellency, that it is very low at present, as I have not receiv’d any Money since last September, and the Demand for it has been so great, that I have now by me only about Five Thousand Dollars, but expect more every Day, as I have wrote to the Honble Congress about it, and think it cannot be long before it Arrives.1
I now take the Liberty to Acquaint your Excellency, that I have lately nam’d a Child after you, for the very great Respect and Regard I have for your Excellency, and the glorious Cause in which you are engag’d, and I flatter myself, that it will be agreeable to you;2 and wishing your Excellency Success, Health, and Happiness; I have the Honour to be with the greatest Esteem; Sir Your Excellency’s most Obedt Humble Servt
Ebenezer Hancock
ALS, DLC:GW.
1. Ebenezer Hancock’s letter to Congress apparently was written on 18 Jan. and read by Congress on 28 Jan. (see , 7:65). In a resolution of 10 Jan., Congress had appropriated $300,000 “for the purpose of paying the bounties and defraying the expences of raising the new levies” in the eastern department (ibid., 7:28), and on 8 Feb. John Hancock wrote to inform his brother of the dispatching of the money (see John Hancock to Ebenezer Hancock, that date, in , 6:241–42).
2. George Washington Hancock, born this month, was Ebenezer and Elizabeth Lowell Hancock’s fourth child.