To George Washington from Henry Laurens, 10 September 1778
From Henry Laurens
[Philadelphia] 10th Septr [1778]
Sir
Since my last of the 5th by Burwell, I have had the honor of receiving and presenting to Congress Your Excellency’s favors of the 4th and [ ] Inst. together with Copy of Major General Sullivan’s Letter of the 31st Ulto and other Papers referred to.1
Your Excellency will be pleased to receive under the present Cover the following Acts of Congress.
- 1. of the 4th Inst. for allowing 3 Dollars per day for the expence of Officers ordered to a distance from Camp upon extra Services.
- 2. of the 8th for augmenting the Continental Bounty to Recruits enlisting for 3 Years or during the War.
- 3. for expressing the sense of Congress respecting the late Retreat from Rhode Island, and the Action there the 29th Ulto.2 I have the honor to be With the highest Respect & Esteem &c.
LB, DNA:PCC, item 13. A note on the letter-book copy indicates that this letter was carried “by Dodd.” William Dodd was employed as messenger for Congress by John Hancock in 1777, and he continued in that duty at least until December 1778. This was probably the letter that Laurens sent with his letter to GW of 12 Sept., where it is referred to as “a Letter of the 9th.”
1. Laurens was evidently referring to GW’s official letters to him of 4 Sept. and 4–5 September.
2. The enclosed copies of these resolutions of 4, 8, and 9 Sept. have not been identified. For their texts, see , 12:878, 889–90, 894–95.