Philadelphia Octo 9th 1780
My Dear sir
I am obliged to you for your favours of the 5th and 6th Instant. The officer Who was intrusted by Maj. Gile to procure the necessary Cloathing for our new regiment has been Supplied with Shirts and other Cloathing Sufficient for those Troops and I believe left this place Eight or ten days Ago. Six hundred Tents are preparing for the Southern Army and will be ready (the Board of War say) and Sent forward in about three or four Weeks. These are all that Can be had at this place and will be insufficient to supply the Army to the Southward, and as they will I suppose be immediately to Virginia the regiment At Annapolis will have but little Chance in Coming upon a part of them unless they Shall have joined the Army before the Tents Arrive. A great quantity of Canvas is now lying And has been for Some time at Boston - yet so it has been managed that it has not been brought forward. And the Season being so far Advanced, our people must I am afraid Suffer greatly before it Can be transported So great a distance. Andrie was hanged on Monday last. He made no discoveries. He was asked at the gallows if he had Anything to say. His answer was that he was not afraid to dye that, he was prepared for it, but was Concerned as to the manner, that he had much rather have been Shot and desired that it might be observed that his behavour was becoming that of a Gentleman and Soldier. He was dressed in a new suit of Regimentals with his Sword by his side. Smith it is Said will Share the Same fate in a little time. Old Franks is taken up on Suspicion of treasonable practices, and Imprisoned. His son one of Arnolds Aids it is said is gone off.1
On the 5th Instant the Commander in chief was by a Resolve of Congress directed to order a Court of inquiry on the Conduct of Gen. Gates And to appoint an officer to take the Command of the Southern Army untill Such enquiry be made. Some honorable notice will be taken of the Baron de Kalb who fell So gloriously in the Cause of America - And the thanks of Congress will be returned to Generals Smallwood And Gist And to the officers and men for their Conduct And bravery in the late Action near Camden. All expectations of the Arrival of the French fleet are now at an End. Ternay by erecting fortifications on different parts of Rhode Island has Secured his fleet and the Army against Any Attempts of the Enemy - this being the Case and Clinton having failed in his designs against Wes point, it is more than probable his next object Will be to the Southward - the Climate is favourable for a winter Campaign, And a Considerable number of men may be Spared from New York without Hazarding that place, as no attempt Can be made on it by us, while the Enemy is so far superior at Sea.
I have inclosed you the Crisis Extraordinary upon finance2 And the last papers.
And am with Compliments to Mrs. Lee, Dear sir with great esteem & regard, Your most hble Servt,
John Hanson
Receiver’s copy, Lee, Horsey and Carroll Papers deposit (1985), Maryland Historical Society.
1 That is, David Franks, a wealthy Philadelphia merchant, and Maj. David Salisbury Franks, possibly a cousin but not his son. See John T. Flexner, The Traitor and the Spy: Benedict Arnold and John Andre (New York: Harcourt, Brace and Co. 1953), p. 221.
2 Thomas Paine’s pamphlet The Crisis Extraordinary published in Philadelphia on October 4, 1780, under the pen name "Common Sense." The ninth essay in the "Crisis" series that Paine had begun in December 1776, the Extraordinary was a reasoned argument for a more efficient national and state tax system for financing the war effort. See Evans, Am. Bibliography, no. 16,918
3 That is, Daniel of St. Thomas Jenifer.