1776 by David McCullough

In the winter of 1775 Washington was desperate for any good news. He had lost a large portion of his army (due to 1 year enlistments that began in Jan 1775) and was not sure what to do about the British in Boston. He had some success on the ocean at this time. Congress was hiring "Privateers" who were pretty much ship captains hired as mercenaries. One of them, John Manley (featured on page 64 in the book) had a number of successes in capturing British ships. The one in the book talks about him capturing the Nancy, a british supply ship.

Here in the Papers of the Continental Congress I found a letter from George Washington to John Hancock describing another capture by John Manly (sp) of the british sloop Betsy which was "dispatched by Lord Dunmore" with supplies and letters. Evidently the letters were of a sensitive nature since General Washington sent them via a Captain not general post (according to his statement).