after revolution to 1805 73

forces, and the state had .its share of young men
at the front all through the war. The Command-
er-in-Chief had been a well-known figure in An-
napolis. British war vessels patrolled the bay;
and in August of 1777, the people along tidewater
had watched the British fleet with Howe's army
working its way up the whole length of the Chesa-
peake. Until it passed there was much worry and
preparation to receive it at Annapolis. Count
Pulaski's legion of cavalry was organized there
early in 1778. In March of 1781, Annapolis was
blockaded by the British sloops of war, "Hope"
and "Monk", and Lafayette with his French force
was held there. The year was one of friendly oc-
cupation of the town by the French. General
Washington stopped there in November, 1781.
And besides these distractions, efforts to keep up
a supply of men and munitions had to be main-
tained constantly during the whole period of the
war. Judges Rumsey and Mackall appear to have
been busy providing troops and supplies, and the
other three judges were all occupied with some
war work. There was, therefore, much to inter-
rupt the ordinary course of judicature. Yet the
General Court proceeded with its work on the
Western Shore from and after April, 1778, and-on
the Eastern Shore from September of that year.
While it doubtless experienced some difficulty, it
did not find it necessary to let its work lie undone,
and the Court of Appeals did not dispatch its work
much more rapidly after the war was over; its
minutes for years after that contain many notes of
adjournments for lack of judges. And Judge
Jones, in a letter written to his wife from Annap-