Page:Memoir, correspondence, and miscellanies, from the papers of Thomas Jefferson - Volume 1.djvu/205

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LETTER XXVII.

TO GENERAL GATES.

Richmond, October 15, 1780. SIR,

I am rendered not a little anxious by the paragraph of yours of the 7th instant, wherein you say, it is near a month since I re ceived any letter from your Excellency ; indeed, the receipt of most that I have written to you, remain unacknowledged. You ought, within that time, to have received my letter of September the 3rd, written immediately on my return to this place, after a fort night s absence ; that of September the 1 1th, acknowledging the receipt of yours which covered drafts for money ; that of Sep tember the 23rd, on the subject of batteaux at Taylor s ferry, wagons, maps of Virginia, wintering the French fleet in the Chesa peake, our new levies, and provisions from our lower counties ; and that of October the 4th, in answer to yours of September the 24th, and 27th. I begin to apprehend treachery in some part of our chain of expresses, and beg the favour of you, in your next, to mention whether any, and which of these letters have come to hand. This acknowledges the receipt of yours of September the 28th, and October the 3rd, 5th, and 7th. The first of these was delivered four or five days ago by Captain Drew. He will be permitted to return as you desire, as we would fulfil your wishes in every point in our power, as well as indulge the ardor of a good officer. Our militia from the western counties, are now on their march to join you. They are fond of the kind of service in which Colonel Morgan is generally engaged, and are made very happy by being informed you intend to put them under him. Such as pass by this place, take muskets in their hands. Those from the southern counties beyond the Blue Ridge, were advised to carry their rifles. For those who carry neither rifles nor mus kets, as well as for our eighteen months men, we shall send on arms as soon as wagons can be procured. In the mean time, I had hoped that there were arms for those who should first arrive at Hillsborough, as by General Stevens return, dated at his de parture thence, there were somewhere between five and eight hundred muskets (I speak from memory, not having present access to the return) belonging to this State, either in the hands of the few militia who were there, or stored. Captain Fauntleroy, of the cavalry, gives me hopes he shall immediately forward a very considerable supply of accoutrements, for White s and Washing-