To Benjamin Franklin from Daniel Roberdeau, 1 May 1777
From Daniel Roberdeau7
ALS: American Philosophical Society
Philada. May 1st. 1777
Dear Sir,
Being one of the Committee for Foreign applications I had it in my power to pay the more immediate attention to your recommendation of le Chevalier de Mauduit du Plessis and through Favor of Congress immediately procured him a Commission for Capt. of Artillery and he was with out delay in two or three days after his arrival here forwarded to General Washington.8
I have met with irreparable Loss of my dear Mrs. Roberdeau9 which is such a source of Affliction that I shall not attempt the unnecessary work of informing you of the State of things here, knowing you will have intelligence from better hands by this Conveyance. I beg the favor of a safe conveyance of the enclosed Letters. May God succeed your faithful Endeavours for our America. I am Dear Sir Your most obedient and very humble Servant
Daniel Roberdeau
Doctor Benjn. Franklin
7. Roberdeau last appeared as a brigadier general of militia (XXII, 378 n); since then he had become a Pennsylvania delegate to Congress and a member of its committee to handle French officers: JCC, VII, 185.
8. Ibid., p. 269; see also above, XXIII, 154–5.
9. Mary Bostwick Roberdeau had died on Feb. 15, 1777: Roberdeau Buchanan, A Genealogy of the Roberdeau Family ... (Washington, D.C., 1876), pp. 49, 69–70.