“Resolved, that the Board of War be and they are hereby directed forthwith to write to our Delegates in Congress, informing them of the State of Facts relating to said Negroes, requesting them to give information thereof to the Delegates from the State of South Carolina, that so proper measures may be taken for the return of said Negroes, agreeable to their desire.

“And it is further Resolved, that the Board of War be and they hereby are directed to put the said Negroes, in the mean time, into the barracks on Castle Island in the Harbor of Boston, and cause them to be supplied with such Provision and Clothing as shall be necessary for their comfortable support, putting them under the care and direction of some Prudent person or Persons, whose business it shall be to see that the able-bodied men may be usefully employed during their stay in carrying on the Fortifications on said Island, or elsewhere within the said Harbor; and that the Women be employed according to their ability in Cooking, Washing, etc.  And that the said Board of War keep an exact Account of their Expenditures in supporting said Negroes."[597]

The Negroes were delivered to Thomas Knox on the 28th of June, and were conveyed “to Castle Island pr.  Order of Court.”  The Board of War voted the “34 Negroes delivered” rations.  Lieut.-Col.  Paul Revere was instructed to “issue to the Negroes at Castle Island—­1 lb. of Beef, 1 lb. of Rice pr. day.”  The following letter is not without interest:—­

     “WAR OFFICE, 28 June, 1779.

     “LT.-COL.  REVERE,

     “Agreeable to a Resolve of Court we send to Castle Island
     and place under your care the following Negroes, viz.: 

                    [19] Men,
                    [10] Women,
                    [5] Children,

lately brought into this Port in the Spanish retaken Ship Victoria.  The Men are to be employed on the Fortifications there or elsewhere in the Harbor, in the most useful manner, and the Women and Children, according to their ability, in Cooking, Washing, etc.  They are to be allowed for their subsistence One lb. of Beef, and one lb. of Rice per day each, which Commissary Salisbury will furnish upon your order, and this to continue until our further orders.

“By Order of the Board.”

In accordance with the order of the Legislature, made on the 24th of June, the president of the Board of War, Samuel P. Savage, wrote a letter to the Massachusetts delegates in Congress, dated “War Office June 29th 1779,” calling attention to the re-captured Negroes.  The letter closed with the following:—­

“Every necessary for the speedy discharge of these people, we have no doubt you will take, that as much expense as possible may be saved to those who call themselves their owners.”

The writer was at pains to enumerate, in his letter, such slaves as he was enabled to locate.