of the Council of Safety, 1775-76. 433

the first men in the Elkridge District, that requested a meeting
of the people, to form themselves into a Company of Militia,
which was accordingly done & M^r John Burgess chosen Cap^t,
your Memorialist having declined that Honour, altho unani-
mously offered to him, knowing he could be of more service
to the cause in assisting in the formation of other Companies;
And accordingly in the month of June last, your Memorialist
went into the neighbourhood of M^r Tho^s Dorsey who had
been six months unsuccessfully striving to raise a Company ;
and after advertizing a Meeting of the Inhabitants a number
of them met & would have chosen your Memorialist Captain,
but were prevailed upon by him to chose M^r Tho^s Dorsey their
Cap^t who appeared exceedingly desirous of the Command.
Your memorialist conceives that agreeable to the resolves of
the late Convention he is exempt from serving in the Militia
as a private, or in any station lower than he hath heretofore
filled, nevertheless, as the Hon^ble Convention did not dis-
tinguish between the officers commissioned under the legal or
old Form of Government, & those under the authority of the
Convention, your Memorialist did enroll himself as a private
in Cap^t Tootell's Company altho at the distance of twenty
miles from his Habitation, rather than be harassed by the
Committee of Observation composed entirely of Militia officers
except one man, And to avoid the indignity of being com-
manded by the first officer of the Elkridge Battalion who most
shamefully & cowardly quited his post when under your
Memorialists Command twenty one years ago. Your Memo-
rialist hath nothing more to ask of your Honours than a candid
Consideration of this Memorial & pass a resolve for his
Exemption from further Duty as a Militia man, at the same
time he most solemnly assures your Honors that he doth not
desire or intend to withdraw himself from the service of his
native Country but on the Contrary will stand forth as far as
in his power layeth as (a Volunteer or an Independant with
the stoutest champion for American Liberty: In full expecta-
tion of a favorable issue, the above is most chearfully submitted
to the consideration of your hon^ble House by your Memorialist:
Elkridge May the 20^th 1 776. H. Ridgely :

[Baltimore Committee to Council.]

In Com^ee Baltimore 20 May 1776.
Gentlemen. We are favoured with your letter of the 15^th
inclosing a copy of a certain Purnall Johnson's Petition to your
Hon^l House, and your resolve thereon, in answer to which we
beg leave to inform you, that we are possessed of no facts
relative to any disputes on M^r Johnson's account, and so far

C. S. C.