Philadelphia May 11th 1780
Dear Sir
The Baron de Calb who commands our Line moving southward & being a Stranger in Maryland, I have taken the Liberty to trouble your Excellency with this Letter to introduce him to you, agreably to his Inclination & Desire. I am just preparing to leave this Place;1 & believe I shall find myself under the Necessity of drawing upon our State Treasury for ten thousand Dollars, of which I have thought proper to advise you, that the Bill may meet with no Delay when it appears. Mrs. Plater joins me in Respects to your Lady & self, & I have the Honor to be with the greatest Esteem & Regard,
Yr Excellency’s most obt Sevt.Geo. Plater2
Receiver’s copy, Dreer Collection, Historical Society of Pennsylvania.
1 Plater, who had been granted a leave of absence on May 5, cast his final vote the 19th. Maryland was not represented in Congress until June 2 when Daniel of St. Thomas Jenifer presented credentials from a special election held April 7, 1780. JCC, 16:412, 17:440, 481.
2 Two days earlier Plater had written to merchants Stephen West and Lewis Neth, Maryland’s commissioners of accounts, merely enclosing a letter from Robert Morris "containing his Accounts & Answer to your Favor." Old Congress Collection, PHi.