Philadelphia March 20th. 1781
Dear Sir,
I did myself the honor of writing to your Excellency a few lines by express, the 18th Instant,1 & enclosd a List of the force of the two fleets which lately Saild from New Port & Gardiners Bay - One of the French Ships mentiond calld the Fantasque did not Sail, being an old Vessel made a hospital Ship of - please therefore to correct the list.
The Board of war referd to Congress two Letters from your Excellency on the Subject of Col Smith, & the 4 Artillery Companies - these papers are referd to a committee of which I am one.2 I shall be glad to receive every information in your power on the Subject - particularly relative to the Artillery Companys. I believe there are among the Council papers, Some Letters from Genl. Washington, & returns showing that almost the whole of Harrisons Regt of artillery was compos’d of Maryland troops. Extracts of what may appear proper from these letters, & a copy of the returns (which I cannot get from the board of war) may serve to put that business in a way to obtain justice. The State appears to have been injurd by the arrangement, & some of her Officers in consequence of it.
I am Dear Sir, with great esteem, your Excellencys Mo Obt Servt.
Daniel Carroll
Receiver’s copy, Maryland State Papers (Red Books), Maryland Hall of Records Commission, Annapolis.
1 For this letter, which Carroll had misdated March 20, see Carroll to Lee, March 18, 1781, note 1.
2 For Lee’s "two letters" of February 1 and 12 requesting the rank of lieutenant colonel for Alexander Lawson Smith and commissions for the officers of the state’s four artillery companies, see PCC, item 147, 6:267 - 70; and Md. Archives, 45:297 - 98, 308, where Lee’s first letter is dated February 2. The Board of War’s March 6 report was read in Congress the following day and referred to a committee of three chaired by Carroll. The journals contain no further mention of the committee. See JCC, 19:240 - 41; and PCC, item 147, 6:259 - 63.