Ball, Burgess, 1749-1800 to Cyrus Griffin
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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC04377.02 Author/Creator: Ball, Burgess, 1749-1800 Place Written: Virginia Type: Autograph letter signed Date: 7 May 1775 Pagination: 4 p. : docket ; 24 x 19.2 cm. Order a Copy
Location inferred from content and previous correspondence between Ball and Griffin. Discusses previous correspondence from Griffin, who was managing Ball's business affairs in England. Discusses the sale of estates in England, paying off Campbell & Blackburn, and other financial transactions. States "The times seem daily to be growing more alarming ... It is beyond all doubt that the Regulars and Bostonians have had a Battle, occasioned (as we have it here) by the former firing upon the latter who were exercising, and killing some of them ... the regulars ... were obliged to retreat to Boston." Reports that the Governor of Virginia, John Murray (Earl of Dunmore) took gun powder from a Virginia storage magazine "and refused an application to return it unless an Insurrection (which we have been somewhat afraid of) shd. require, and which indeed it is said he has threatened to occasion and support- and it is observable that our Powder was taken and the New England People were fired upon the very same day- how will differences be settled now?" Expresses his opinion Britain and her subjects are on the right side of the conflict. States that the inhabitants of Belle Isle, Virginia, are doing well. In a post script, mentions Lord Frederick North, Prime Minister of Great Britain, and discusses colonial discontent.
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