Letter: From the Committee of Correspondence to Philadelphia merchant John Mitchell, 1775,1
Carlisle 25th Feby 1775
Sir
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. The offer you make to render our Committee every service in your power we will take the first opportunity to communicate to them, as we are perfectly sensible it will give them great pleasure. Hamilton Shaw and another waggoner, who set out on Monday next for Philadelphia, will have an order to receive the Powder and Lead. We will collect the money with all the Expedition possible; and have not the least doubt but we shall be able to send it to you within a week or two after the time you mention. As we did not receive your letter till this day, it will be impossible for us to remit sooner. We are, with much esteem
Sir Your most humble servants
James Wilson, Robt. Miller, Robt Magaw, Wm. Irvine
The Committee of Correspondence2
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 1775 Sequestered John Mitchell Papers, MG-92, Pennsylvania State Archives, Harrisburg, Microfilm Roll 4 Box #3992. “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.
2 In 1774, the Pennsylvania Assembly sent a letter to all counties in Pennsylvania to appoint delegates to attend a meeting in Philadelphia on July 15, 1774. As a result, a public meeting was held at the First Presbyterian Church in Carlisle on July 12, 1774. Eight resolutions were adopted, and a committee was appointed. James Wilson, Robert Magaw and William Irvine were appointed to be the delegates to meet the deputies from other counties at the July 15 meeting in Philadelphia. For a full description of the process of the formation of Committees of Correspondence, etc. See: Rev. Conway P. Wing, D. D. and others, History of Cumberland County, Pennsylvania (Philadelphia: James D. Scott, 1879), 76-79.