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Correspondence of Governor Sharpe. 353
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your Ldps that there are in & belonging to this Province 19
Carriage Guns all Iron but very good 4 of them are 6
pounders & 15 four pounders the last not mounted. In the
Magazine is 16lb weight of 6lb shot & 24 half Barrels of Powder;
of musquet Ball & Bar Lead we have a considerable quantity
& there were last Spring about 500 stand of small Arms
belonging to the Publick most of which are in the hands of the
men that have been raised for the protection of the Frontiers
& some were lost at the Action of the Monongahela. The
Militia of this Colony are near 16500, One third of whom at
least are entirely destitute of Arms & many of the Guns that
are the property of the Rest are very bad & scarcely fit for use.
For want of a proper Militia Law (which the assembly has been
frequently in vain sollicited to make) the people are undici-
plined as well as badly armed & cannot be compelled to serve
in Defence of the Country. The white Inhabitants in Mary-
land are 107.963, the Black 46225. I apprehend about 26000
of the former are able to bear Arms, but all Civil Officers
& persons of particular Trades or Callings being exempted by
Law, convicted servants incapacitated & Roman Catholicks
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Letter Bk. II.
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excluded or excused by Custom the Militia does not exceed the
number abovementioned.
There are no works in this Province that deserve the name
of Fortifications; just behind & among our most western
Settlements are some small Stoccado or Palisadoe Forts to
which the Inhabitants may carry their wives & Children for
Protection in Case of Alarms, while themselves unite &
endeavour to prevent any small Parties of Indians making
Incursions & destroying their stock & Habitations; beside
these there is one larger tho in my Opinion not much more
capable of Defence, on potowmack about 46 miles beyond our
Settlements, it has been distinguished by the Appellation of
Fort Cumberland & is at present garrisoned by 400 men from
Virga & this Govt Ten of the Carriage Guns that His Majesty
was graciously pleased to order to Virga two years since are
mounted in this Fort which is made with Stoccadoes & com-
manded almost on every side by circumjacent Hills. About 16
Miles on this side thereof is an Eminence situated just at the
Conflux of the two streams called the North & South Branches
of Potowmack & almost as far up as that River is Navigable
for the smallest Craft, which might be easily fortified & I
think rendered very strong at a small Expence. Should
any more Troops be marched thro Virga to the westward
a place of Arms thereabouts would be absolutely necessary
& I beleive nothing would contribute more effectually to the
security of this & the contiguous parts of the two neighbouring
Colonies than the Constructing a strong Fort there & gar-
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p. 181
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