Ephraim Steele was one of several Carlisle merchants who did business with Philadelphia merchant John Mitchell. The method of doing business and the kind of goods ordered are revealed in these three letters written in 1775 and 1776.1
Letter: From Merchant Ephraim Steele to Philadelphia Merchant John Mitchell, 17751
Carlisle Sept. 3rd 1775
Mr. John Mitchell
Sir, I take opportunity of Mr. Morton’s wagoner3 to get up the remainder of my goods which lies at Sam’l Davis at the Signe of the Bear etc. and would request of you to send me –
1 box chocolate—12 wt. good French Indigo—6 doz. Crooked combs, and the Bbl sugar of Agnes Steele’s.
I have 200 wt of Dear Skins4 [sic] will send down the first opportunity as also some money. Please send me the sales of the last skins as I expect the man from the back woods and can’t settle without the acct. of sales.
I am Sir your humble servant Eph. Steele
Letter: From Carlisle Merchants Ephraim Steele and John Holmes to Philadelphia Merchant John Mitchell, 17765
Carlisle Febr. 2nd 1776
John Mitchell
Sir We being informed that the Congress have allowed what tea is on hand may be sold.6 If it is so we request the favor of you to send each of us 50 Wt. if it be in any way in reason as to price. We hope this will come to hand before Morton’s wagon gets down.
We are Sir with respects Yours, John Holmes, Eph Steele.
Letter From Carlisle Merchant Ephraim Steele to Philadelphia Merchant John Mitchell, 17767
Carlisle May 21st 1776
Mr. Mitchell
Sir This will be handed to you by Col. Magaw8 who will pay you fifty pounds on my acct. I would be glade [sic] you would let me know if you applied to Col. Harrison for the exchange of my Virginia money and also let me know if it passes in your city yet or is any prospect that it will.
I would be obliged to you if you buy for me 3 Faggots of Steel from Mr. Humphries; and a box of Crum Creek Scythe Stones from Dorsey. I am out of sugar of all kinds, coffee, chocolate, Indigo, etc. If you have any of these articles and think they will suit me I would be obliged to you for what part thereof you could send me and please to note what I wrote you concerning the cotton and shall be much obliged to you.
I am Sir with Respects Sir Your Humble Servt. Eph Steele
I never have known yet what the furs came to that I sent you last summer.
We have been favoured with your letter of the 14th of this month; and look upon ourselves and this county to be much obliged to you for the trouble you have been kind enough to take in purchasing ammunition for us.
1 Ephraim Steele (c. 1742-1814) was one of two men who accompanied Major John Andre, Lieut. Edward Despard and their servants from their confinement in Carlisle to New Jersey in November 1776. After the Revolution Steel served in the Pennsylvania State Legislature, was an Associate Judge of Cumberland County, and Coroner in 1808.
2 Sequestered John Mitchell Papers, MG-92, Pennsylvania State Archives, Harrisburg, Microfilm Roll 5 Box #3993. “These papers of John Mitchell, Philadelphia merchant and deputy quartermaster general during the American Revolution, and his brother Randall Mitchell, were sequestered by the Commonwealth, c. 1785, during an investigation of the Mitchells’ activities as contractors with the Pennsylvania Navy.” PHMC description
3 Edward Morton of East Pennsborough Township, Cumberland County.
4 Carlisle merchants bought furs and skins from traders and hunters and sent them to merchants in Philadelphia who sold them.
5 Sequestered John Mitchell Papers, MG-92, Pennsylvania State Archives, Harrisburg, Microfilm Roll 5 Box #3993.
6 A temporary ban on importing tea was imposed by Congress in 1774, but it was lifted by 1776.
7 Sequestered John Mitchell Papers, MG-92, Pennsylvania State Archives, Harrisburg, Microfilm Roll 5 Box #3993.
8 An attorney, Robert Magaw practiced law in Carlisle beginning in 1764. In 1775 he was commissioned a major in Col. William Thompson’s Battalion of Pennsylvania Riflemen and in 1776 commissioned a Colonel of the 5th Pennsylvania Regiment in command of Fort Washington, New York. Magaw was captured and held a prisoner for four years. While a prisoner he married Marietta VanBrunt the daughter of Rutgert VanBrunt, a member of the New York Assembly. They moved back to Carlisle where he practiced law and served as a Trustee of Dickinson College until his death in 1790.