Family-histories and genealogies : containing a series of ...

evfisUiQltr
nesday the 23'' of Aug* inst., with a particular view to take up and conclude upon that
matter, and, as I presume your Engagem'^ will not permit your attendance, wish your
attention and opinion on that Subject before the meeting : in an affair of so much
Consequence I choose to act with all the advise and assistance which can be obtained.
"Hon"'"' Matthew Griswold,
Eliph'' Dyer and Wm. Pitkin Esquires."
"I am, with Esteem and Consideration,
Gentlemen, your most Obed''
and very h'ble Servant
Jon"" Trumbull."
Next follows a letter from Samuel Huntington, touching an impor-
tant crisis in the campaign of the South, which was followed, within about
seven months, by the siege of Yorktown and the close of the war:'"
" Gentlemen,
" Philadelphia, March 5"", 1781."
" My situation deprives me of the pleasure of communicating to you from
time to time many occurrencies to which Inclination would lead did time permit. '°°
" The situation of the Southern States hath been critical for some time ;
after the
battle at the Cowpens where Col. Tarlton was totally defeated, and upwards of five
hundred of his Corps made prisoners by Gen'l Morgan, L"* Cornwallis, enraged, as it
seems, at that Event, burnt and destroy'd his wagons and heavy baggage, and with
his whole force, consisting of about three thousand, pursued Gen'l Morgan, his first
object being suppos'd to be to retake the prisoners ; his pursuit was rapid for up-
wards of two hundred miles, until he arriv'd on the Southern borders of Virginia.
Gen'l Morgan, by his Activity and prudence, with the assistance of a kind Provi-
dence, brought ofl" his Troops and prisoners.
"This rapid movement of Cornwallis must have thrown the Country into con-
were intended to prevent scarcity, and keep down prices—their futilit)' had been perceived. But the
attention of this Convention was not given solely, or chiefly, to economical questions :
"They
urged the
adoption of the Articles of Confederation," which is "regarded as the first public Expression of
Opinion, by a deliberative Body, in Favor of such a Measure." See Proceedings of a Conv, of Dele-
gates . . . held at Boston August 3-9, 1780. ... By Franklin B. Hough. Albany, 1867, pp. 43-44,
and Preface p. v.; and Bancroft's Hist, of the United States. . . . Rev. ed. Boston, 1876, vi. 343.
^^ History of the United States of America. By Richard Hildreth. New York, 1856, iii. 343-48 ;
and Bancroft's United States. Rev. ed., ut supra, vi. 380^94.
""> The writer was at this time a Member of Congress.
63