Letter Bk.III
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of the Disposition that was to be made; They have been told
that your Assembly have refused to make Provision for any
Troops that may be transported thence to Carolina & as they
are unwilling to be thought more tractable than their Neigh-
bours they have assured me that His Ldp's Orders con-
cerning the Disposition of our Troops shews that he is little
acquainted with the situation of Fort Cumberland & the
Frontiers of Maryland & that he cannot reasonably expect or
desire the Inhabitants of this Province to support Men to gar-
rison that place, but being still in hopes that an Expedition will
be undertaken to the Westward they have left it to Colonel
Stanwix or the officer that may be appointed to command on
such an Occasion to draw out of the Province as many of the
500 when raised as I shall agree to part with. Inclosed I send
you a Copy of a Message which was sent to me a few Days
ago by Sixty two Cherokee Indians who were then at Fort
Frederick, you will observe that they desire me to notify
their Arrival to you & they hope I presume that you will give
them an Invitation to Pensilvania. On my recommending it to
the Assembly to make some Provision for their Encourage-
ment & Support during their Stay among us, they have desired
me to send them a small present & to have them supplied with
Provisions & such Necessaries as they may stand in need of
but as they have declined appropriating any sum of money to
their use except One hundred pounds for a Present & have on
former occasions convinced me & many others that a Vote of
Credit is not much to be depended on, I am afraid I shall
get no body to victual them & that they will not meet with
such a Reception here as Govr Dinwiddie has given them
reason to expect.
[Sharp to Dinwiddie.]
May 9th 1757—
Sir
In my Letter of the 5th Inst, I told you that the Assembly of
this Province had at length framed a Bill whereby I was
impowered to augment the Troops in the Pay of this Province
to 500 Men but that they were very averse to having any of
them posted at Fort Cumberland, I presume this arises from
an apprehension that if they once undertake to support that
place they shall never afterwards be able to get quit of the
Burthen & from a Suspicion that the Expence of furnishing
the Indians who may declare in our favour & come thither
with Necessaries would fall entirely on this Province was an
officer of ours to have the Chief Command there, but whatever
be their Reasons they have restrained me from posting any of
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