230 Correspondence of Governor Sharpe.

unluckily the Store Ship did not arrive at Phila³ till late in
Iune & the Waters of Potowmack are now so low that
Battoes (w^ch carry 4 or 5 Tun each) cannot pass & I question
whether Canoes which do not carry more than 2OOo'^bs each
can be got up. As soon however as the Stores were brought

hither I sent a Party of the Militia down the River & collected
all the Canoes that could be found which were but Ten in
Number. On the i^stof Iuly they were all loaded & I sent them
off under Convoy of a few of the Royal Americans & a Party
of our Men that had been building a Bridge 80 Feet long
over a Stream called Licking Creek which runs into Potow-
mack about three Miles above this Fort & over which the
intended new Road must.pass. On the 3^d Inst. two Compa-
nies of the Men that have been raised for the Expedition by
the three Lower Counties on Delaware came hither as Con-
voy to 27 Waggons loaded with Stores which likewise came
from Carlyle to be sent hence if possible to Fort Cumberland
by water. As the Men seemed a good deal fatigued having
scarcely halted since they came from Newcastle they all
encamped here till the 5^th Inst when I proposed to their Com-
manding Officer & to the Officer of the Remainder of the
Royal American Detachment to march beyond the Bridge
which our People had been building & to work upon the
Road that the General as well as Colo Bouquet & S^r Iohn
S^t Clair had now by a particular Letter desired me to open.
As I am sensible that the Inhabitants of Pens^a would not
wish to see a better Road made from the Inhabited Parts of
Maryland to the Yogyogany River than can be made thro
that Province I doubt not but Capt Shelby's Proposal (if the
Road is not opened for want of Men or for any other Reason)
will be reprented to the General in an unfavourable Light,
& the Attempt to open a new Road as impracticable. I de-
termined since I had nothing else to do to reconnoitre the
Country Myself & accordingly on the 5^th Inst. I, Capt Shelby
& the Officer of the two Companies above mentioned took a
Party of Militia & a few Soldiers & went within 20 Miles of

Fort Cumberland so that I can now venture to say from my
own Knowledge that a good Road might be made thither by
fewer Men & in less time than Capt Shelby had allotted but
whether it will be in my power to have such a Road opened
this Summer I cannot tell as none of the 400 Men that were
promised are yet arrived except the two Companies & the
small Detachment abovementioned, which together do not
amount to many more than 200 Men. Had our Assembly
when they met last impowered me to augment our Troops as
any reasonable People would have done I should have opened
this Road before the General had been persuaded by the