7th September [1778]
Sir
Immediately upon receipt of your favor of the 4th Inst. I presented it to Congress, and offered the Letter which it had inclosed - the house after some deliberation ordered the Letter to be returned as you will be further informed by an Act of this date, which with the said Letter will be found within the present inclosure
1.
I have the honor to be &c.
Letter book, Papers of Continental Congress, item 13, U.S. National Archives and Records Administration, Washington, D.C. Addressed: "Major General Lee, Camp at White Plains."
1 General Lee’s 4 September letter to Laurens, in which he asked Congress to consider an enclosed account of his behavior at the battle of Monmouth that had just been written by one of his aides, Maj. John Clark, is in PCC, item 158, 1:117 - 18. Laurens’ endorsement on the general’s letter indicates that Congress returned Clark’s account to Lee unopened and unread - no doubt because of reluctance on the part of the delegates to consider evidence that had not been submitted to Lee’s court-martial. See also JCC, 12:887.