Robert H. Harrison to George Gregory

v4:974

Cambridge, February 9, 1776.

SIR: Your letter to his Excellency, of the 31st ultimo, is come to hand. I have it in command from him to inform you, that he has laid it down as an invariable rule (for the present) not to grant liberty to any prisoners of war, to remove from the place to which they are, by their parole, confined; the many applications to the General were become troublesome, he was, therefore, necessitated to come to this resolution. If the gentlemen, whom the fortune of war has placed in our hands, will compare their situation with that of those of ours who have been made prisoners, they will not think their case very hard; they are not confined in a loathsome prison, nor are they sent in irons to a distant part. His Excellency is sorry that any gentlemen should suffer in his private affairs, but the fortune of war must be submitted to. I am, sir, &c.

To George Gregory, Esq.