Bristol Feby. 11th 1776 My Dear Sir,

I have been here for this fortnight pass erecting works for the Salt Petre business, & have now a large quantity of Meterials collected & intend to begin boiling by the middle of this Week.

The affair of Salt-Petre has had a rapid spread in this part of the Continent, since the discovery made by the Salt Petre Committee at Newburyport, and I have been so envelop’d in the matter that I cou’d never perswade myself to write you ’till now, since the receipt of your Letter of Jany. 8th. Your former Letter of Decr. 31st has never come to hand.

Your inquiries relative to my Sulphur Tour & the Salt Petre business, I intended more perticularly to have answer’d, had not Mr. Greenleaf, as he informs me, done it before. I shall therefore only mention a few circumstances, reserving the perticulars ’till I see you.

The Town of Brookfield, the place where we went to try Experiments, is fill’d with those Rocks & Stones commonly call’d the Vitriolic Pyrites & which undoubtedly contain large quantities of Sulphur, Alum & Copperas; we try’d the several Methods we cou’d with our apparatus, but we fail’d in every one except in Sublimation of the Pyrites, by which, we obtain’d a small quantity only; but I am very possitive that with proper Vessells, large quantities of Sulphur might be obtain’d; and as to Alum & Copperas that 157Town of Brookfield only will supply the demands of the Continent for half a Century. The making of Salt-Petre, as I observ’d before, from the Simplicity of the Process has spread thro’ the Provence with the greatest rapidity, & their is now scarce a Town in it but what has 3, 4 or more Salt-Petre makers, who meet with great success from Earths taken from under Old houses &c. I have made 12 lb. of Salt-Petre out of 15 lb. bushells of Earths that was taken from under our Meeting house, and I suppose the whole of the Earth that has been taken from thence has made not less than 60 lb. The Young Tisdales, Simeon & Joseph,1 have made an 100 lb. and sundry other persons in Taunton are now imploy’d in the business; in fine, the process being so generally known, every person with half a grain of common sense can now make Salt-Petre equal to the ablest Chymist.

Taunton Feby. 24th 1776

I wrote the above at Bristol with an intention to send it by the Post, but whilst I was Writing Mr. Fales, who came from Taunton, inform’d me that you was daily expected home. I therefore laid aside my pen, expecting when I came home to have had the agreeable satisfaction of seeing you here; the disappointment of which was in some measure compensated by receiving your Letters of Decr. 31st and Jany. 29th, which (more especially the scolding Introduction of the last) induc’d me to write by the first oppertunity. I have enquir’d of my Father relative to Casting of Canon, agreeable to your desire; he informs me that the fewell Sanderson made use of, was Wood, that he endeavour’d to cast as large as Nine Pounders, & the reason of his failing, arose from the cause Govr. Hopkins2 assign’d, i.e. it came to Nature in such a manner as to distroy its fluidity.

Our General Court have order’d the several Courts of Sessions & Inferior Courts thro’out the Provence to proceed on business at their usual Terms, & their has been a Number of Writs fill’d to our next March Court; but their is so much uneasiness among the people, spurr’d on by designing Men, (the Man that goes by the Name of West India Rum is very busy) that I am fearfull they will not effect it.

You’ll observe by the public papers that Good Old Elder French3 of Berkley is appointed to Command the Regiment of Militia from this County, who are call’d in to assist the Army ’till next April; this appointment, I am inform’d, was obtain’d by our Friend Godfrey’s Influence. Great God thy ways are past finding out!

157 If such Men are by God appointed The Devil may be the Lord’s anointed.

Our Court have lately made a Militia Act (which is undoubtedly a Master peice in their proceedings & does ’em great honour) by which three Major Generals are appointed thro’ the Provence and a Brigadier General in every county that contains more than one Regiment; Coll. Warren is one of the Major Generals, and Godfrey is a Brigadier for this County. This puts a final stop at once to all Military business here.

It has been observ’d by some Gentn. respecting our present General Court, that they have divided among themselves almost every Post either in the Civil or Military way that has any Profit or Honour annex’d to it. I don’t mean to observe this out of any self views or any dislike to their proceedings in general; as my Representitives I mean to reverence them, and as such I have a right to speak my opinion of them freely; but when a Body of Men plac’d at the Head of Government, descend to the mean business of Auctioneering the Public post among themselves, they must & will be dispis’d.

The making of Fire Arms is follow’d by great Numbers both in the Provence & Rhodisland: They are made in this Town, (very badly tho’) Raynham & Easton; but at Orrs in Bridgwater they have made above 500 Stands. In short, Dr. Sir, if we can keep peace among ourselves, if we can ward off the malicious shafts of Wicked & designing Men who are endeavouring our disunion, we certainly can have nothing to fear; for having every Internal Resorce for a Great & Glorious Empire, & trusting in that God, who has caerfully conducted us along the Precipice of danger, We shall finally be plac’d above Dependances on the Tyrant or the Knave & bid defiance to the World.

Brother Baylies, J. Pacis, is well & making Salt Petre. Our Friends in general are Well, & disire to be remember’d to you, perticularly J. Russell Auctioneer.4

The Bombardment of Boston takes place within 12 days from this, proberbly on the 5th of March, and I am as certain of the Town’s being carry’d, as I am of my own existance. Poor Devils. 5500 British Troops in a strong Fortefied Town, taken prisoners of War by a percel of undisceplin’d Yankees commanded by a Virginia Farmer. O! terrible.

I shall endeavour, very soon, to write you some perticulars to confute the several erroneous opinions concerning the quantity of Alkaline Ley made use of in manufactureing Salt Petre.

159

In the mean time, I remain your steady Friend & oblig’d Humbe. Servant,

David Cobb

RC ; addressed: “The Honble. Robt. Treat Paine Esqr. At Philadelphia”; endorsed.

1.

The brothers Simeon (1747–1823) and Joseph (1751–1831) Tisdale were prominent merchants in Taunton for many years. Both served in the Revolution, Simeon as a lieutenant and Joseph as a sergeant and member of the local Committee of Correspondence (Rosa D. Tisdale, Meet the Tisdales [Baltimore, 1981], 29).

2.

Gov. Stephen Hopkins.

3.

Jacob French (1712–1800) of Berkley, Mass., was a deacon of the First Church there from 1748. On Jan. 23, 1776, he was appointed colonel of a regiment to be raised in Bristol and Cumberland counties (Massachusetts Soldiers & Sailors of the Revolutionary War, 6:72).

4.

Joseph Russell (1734–1795) had been appointed one of Boston’s four auctioneers licensed to sell goods at “public vendue” in 1773. After the war he worked in partnership with Samuel Clap. He served as town treasurer from 1790 until his death (Thwing Index).

Watertown Feby. 13th 1776 Dear Sir,

I have receiv’d your Favor of the 30th of January.1 Am oblidged to you for the Intelligence it contained, & hope you will Continue your Favors & particularly Inform me, as far as you consistently can, what is doing at Congress? How they are disposed since the reception of the Kings Speech?2 & whether they are like to get any Powder? an Article much wanted here, pray forward it to the Camp as fast as possible. I should have wrote you particalarly with respect to the State of the Superior Court, but Colo. Palmer told me he should, in his reply to your Letter, fully Inform you with respect to that matter. By him you will have learnt that none of the Judges except Mr. J. Adams & Mr. Cushing have Accepted, that Mr. Peasly Seargent has declined as well as yourself & that Mr. Reed has not as yet given any answer. It is supposed he will decline the service. There is nothing done as yet, at the Board, with respect to filling up the Bench & when there will is very uncertain. Such as are qualified for the Business & would make a figure, are unpopular, so that the Board know not what to do, hope we shall be directed to a wise choice.

160

At the Election of Delegates for the Congress for the year 1776, we were both struck at. I must refer you to Mr. Hancock for a state of the Votes upon this occasion as I sent them to him; Endeavors have been used to hurt us both in our Influence at Court, by those whom I need not mention as their names & characters are well known to you; It seems we are not men to suit their Turn. We are not subservient enough, we do not pay an implicit obedience to their Sovereign Dictates. I have endeavoured to remove any Impressions that may have been made to your disadvantage & think I have succeeded. You may depend upon my embracing every opportunity in my power to give you Intelligence. I well recollect how much we lamented the want of it when I was at Philadelphia. However since my return I do not so much blame our Freinds upon this account as I did while with you. You cannot well conceive how much every man in Court, any ways capable of Bussiness, is crouded with it. We have hardly time to sleep eat or drink. The settling of our Goverment, the appointment of civil & military officers & other Provincial matters are amply sufficient to Employ the whole of our Time. What Can you think must be our Situation then, when the General Court are oblidged to take upon them, as it were, the department of a Quarter Master General to the Army. There is hardly any thing wanted for the army but we are oblidged to supply it. If Men, Money, Guns, Blanketts, Wood or Hay are wanted the General immediately applys to the Court for them & the Members are appointed upon Committees & sent thrô out the Province to procure them. This I hope will serve as an apology for us if we do not write so frequently & particularly as you might otherways expect.

Mr. Adams or Mr. Gerry will deliver you your appointment & Instructions. The General Court have passed a Militia Act which I inclose you. They are about repealing the Act they lately passed with respect to admiralty Matters & passing one Conformable to the Resolutions of Congress. They have Resolved to Build Ten Sloops of War of about one hundred & fifteen Tons & have appointed a Committee to put this Resolve into Execution. Mr. Phillips has near finished his Powder Mill and the Court have voted to have one Built at Stoughton & have voted a Bounty for the Building two more. Colo. Porter3 of Hadley is Colo. of the Regiment destined for Canada; our Army has filled but slowly. The raising the officers Wages is very unpopular & has disgusted the People and this togather with paying of them by the Callender month and not allowing of them a Bounty has discouraged the 161Men from Enlisting. The People in Connecticut are quite outragious at the Mens not being allowed a Bounty.

I can get the Heavy Cannon for the Ships cast by Mr. Aaron Hobart of Abington, but must have the Pig Iron from Philadelphia. The Furnace at Providence will not be able to cast more than is wanted for Rhode Island Government. I remain with respect Yr. Freind & humble sert.

Thomas Cushing

Mr. Henderson will deliver you the Militia Act.

RC ; addressed: “The Honble. Robert T. Paine Esqr. at Philadelphia. Favord. Mr. Avery4”; endorsed.

1.

Not located.

2.

King George III addressed both houses of Parliament on the “present Situation of America” on Oct. 25, 1775 (Massachusetts Gazette, Jan. 11, 1776).

3.

Elisha Porter (1741/2–1796), a 1761 Harvard graduate, was a lawyer in his native town, Hadley, Mass. He served in the Third Provincial Congress, and on Jan. 19, 1776 the House of Representatives elected him colonel of a new regiment to be raised in Hampshire and Berkshire counties. Later in the spring he participated in the abortive siege of Quebec. In 1777 he was elected colonel of the Fourth Hampshire Regiment and with it served on the Saratoga campaign. After the war Porter continued as sheriff of Hampshire County, to which he had been appointed in August 1775. He ended his military career as brigadier general of the militia ( Sibley’s Harvard Graduates , 15:96–100).

4.

John Avery (1739–1806), a 1759 Harvard graduate, was married to Cushing’s daughter Mary. Shortly after this trip to Philadelphia, Avery became the deputy secretary of the Massachusetts Council, a position comparable to secretary of state. “From then to the end of his life he was the pen of Masachusetts, and hundreds of letters in his beautiful copper-plate hand survive” ( Sibley’s Harvard Graduates , 14:384–389).