ALS, DLC:GW; LB, DNA:PCC, Misc. Papers, Marine Committee Letter Book.

GW replied to Francis Lewis from Morristown on 13 May: “I had this day the pleasure of receiving yours of the 6th accompanied by two pipes of Madeira which came safe—As did those from Egg Harbour in the Winter. I am infinitely obliged to the Board for the trouble they have taken in the Affair” (Df, in Tench Tilghman’s writing, DLC:GW; Varick transcript, DLC:GW). For Madeira wine sent during the winter, see Charles Pettit to GW, 15 Feb., and n.1 to that document. Rhode Island delegate William Ellery and Virginia delegate James Madison, the two Board of Admiralty members from Congress, made light of the more recent gift in a jocular letter to a committee of Congress at GW’s headquarters. Writing on 5 May, the pair playfully promised: “we shall for once stretch our power, and send forward two pipes immediately” (Madison Papers description begins William T. Hutchinson et al., eds. The Papers of James Madison, Congressional Series. 17 vols. Chicago and Charlottesville, Va., 1962–91. description ends , 2:17–18).