George Washington Papers

To George Washington from the Continental Congress Secret Committee, 2 May 1777

From the Continental Congress Secret Committee

In Secret Committee Philada May 2d 1777

Sir

We are obliged to trouble your Excellency with the enclosed letter for Mr Boudinot containing a remittance of Six hundred pounds Sterlg for the use of the Continental Prisoners in New York as we do not know Mr Boudinots address & we have left the letter unsealed for your perusal,1 We preferred Mr Franks’s bills as they are drawn on the Contractors in England, & may probably be the more readily negotiated in New York.2 With the greatest respect & esteem We are Your Excellencys Obt hble serts

Robt Morris

Richard Henry Lee

Wm Whipple

Phil. Livingston

LS, in Robert Morris’s writing, DLC:GW.

1. The committee on this date wrote Elias Boudinot: “By order of Congress in consequence of a recommendation from His Excy. Genl. Washington we enclose herein to your care a sett of Exchange . . . on Arnold Nesbitt, Adam Drummond and Moses Franks Esqr. London, No. 12, at 30 days sight for Six Hundred pounds sterling . . . This remittance is for the use of Continental Prisoners in New York . . . we refer you to such instructions as His Excellency Genl. Washington has given or may give you” (Smith, Letters of Delegates description begins Paul H. Smith et al., eds. Letters of Delegates to Congress, 1774–1789. 26 vols. Washington, D.C., 1976–2000. description ends , 7:20, n.1).

2. Moses Franks (1718–1789), a brother of Philadelphia merchant David Franks, was a partner in the London firm of Nesbitt, Drummond, & Moses Franks, which held a lucrative contract for supplying the British army in America.

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    Washington Papers
    Title
    To George Washington from the Continental Congress Secret Committee, 2 May 1777
    Author
    Continental Congress Secret Committee
    Recipient
    Washington, George
    Date
    2 May 1777

    Reference

    Cite as
    “To George Washington from the Continental Congress Secret Committee, 2 May 1777,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/03-09-02-0311. [Original source: The Papers of George Washington, Revolutionary War Series, vol. 9, 28 March 1777 – 10 June 1777, ed. Philander D. Chase. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1999, pp. 326–327.]

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