Philadelphia August 10. 1780
Sir,
I am sorry to inform your Excellency that it is not in the Power of Congress to comply with your request by sending any Ships of Force into the Chesapeake for the Protection of the Navigation there at this critical Juncture.
I have no Doubt your request would have been complied with most chearfully had it been in the Power of Congress.
By the Act enclosed you will see that all the Continental Vessels of Force were preengaged in a most important Service before your Letter was received.1
I have the Honor to be, with the highest regard, your Excellency’s most obedient humble serv,
Sam. Huntington President
Receiver’s copy, Maryland State Papers (Red Books), Maryland Hall of Records Commission, Annapolis. In a clerical hand and signed by Huntington.
"Huntington’s explanation that all the Contintental frigates were preengaged in a most important Service before your Letter was received" was unlikely to have set well with Maryland officals, however, because the legislature’s previous appeal for naval protection in June had not been answered. For this June 12 request, which had been referred to the board of Admiralty on June 19, see JCC, 17:526 - 27; and PCC, item 70, fols. 373 - 80.
1 In a letter of July 28, Governor Lee had instructed the Maryland delegates to request the deployment of a Continental frigate to the Chesapeake for the protection of the state s shipping, which had been suffering from British vessels patrolling the bay. "This State has always contributed to the expence of the Continental Navy," Lee pointed out, "but the State or its Trade has never received any benefit or advantage from the Marine of the United States." The letter had been referred on July 31 to the board of Admiralty, whose recommendations were adopted verbatim in the enclosed August 7 resolution of Congress. Only four Continental frigates are or will be ready for sea this season, the board explained, and these had already been placed under the direction of General Washington to enable him to conduct joint operations with the French forces under the command of Admiral Ternay. See JCC, 17:682, 7023; PCC, item 70, fols. 415 - 18; and Md. Archives, 43:238.