Series I: General Correspondence, 1775-1776.

Containers:

Box 1-2

Extent:

Extent: 0.7 cu. ft. (2 boxes).

Scope and content:

Series I: General correspondence, 1775-1776, includes letters, proclamations, proceedings, and resolutions relating to the Committee of Safety. Each item in the collection has been cataloged individually with descriptive notes. This inventory was created to have a place where each item in the collection was listed.

Letters discuss a wide array of topics, such as business, military, and community matters. This includes descriptions of the purchase, movement, status, and seizures of goods (thread, shoes, leather, ammunition, salt, molasses, grain, gun powder, livestock); intelligence gathering relating to the British and Lord Dunmore; militia commissions and appointments; locations and movement of minutemen; and military discharges. There are letters related to prisoners, requests for trials, and prisoner exchanges. The papers also detail punishing British loyalists (such as burning their homes and seizing their property) and brief back-and-forth disagreement on whether loyalists should be relocated to more interior parts of the colony. There are also concerns about enslaved people, particularly those enslaved by the British or British loyalists.

Williamsburg, Norfolk, Portsmouth, Yorktown, Hampton, and Fredericksburg are referenced most often. There are also mentions of Dinwiddie, Culpeper, West Augusta, Isle of Wight, Lester's Ferry, Amelia, Southampton, Nansemond, Surry, Prince George, Charles City, Prince William, Henrico, Pittsburgh, Pittsylvania, Princess Anne, and St. Eustatius.

Individuals referenced in the letters include but are not limited to Morgan Alexander, William Aylett, John Banister, James Barbour, George Blair, Thomas Bullitt, William Cabell, Maximillian Calvert, Paul Carrington, William Christian, William Dalrymple, Dudley Digges, Jacob Elligood, William Finnie, Francis Goode, Bartlett, John Goodrich, John Goodrich Sr., William Goodrich, Alexander Gordon, James Green Jr., Francis Haines, Richard Hanson, Erasmus Haynes, Charles Henley, James Henley, Patrick Henry, Joshua Hopkins, Robert Howe, Joseph Hutchings, Neil Jemmison [Jamieson], Claiborne Lawson, Anthony Lawson, Charles Lee, Willias [Willis] Lee, Joseph Lindsey [Lindsay], Paul Loyall, Thomas Ludwell, William Lux, Silass [Silas] McCraghan, Andrew Meade, James Mercer, James Murdaugh, Christopher Neale, Thomas Olds, John Page, Josiah Parker, John Pendleton Jr., Edmund Pendleton, Dorsey Pentecost, William Randolph, Thomas Reynolds Walker, Willis Riddick, William Robinson, William Roscow Wilson Curle, William Sclater, Thomas Scott, Robert Shedden, Andrew Sprowle, John Tabb, James Taylor, Richard Taylor, John Thorowgood, Arthur Upshur, Abraham Van Bibber, Isaac Candam, Anthony Walke, William Wishart, and William Woodford.

Arrangement:

Arranged chronologically, with undated fragments filed at the end.

Access and use

Contents