177G.] HISTORY OF Delaware county. 293 



nia met at PhilaiU'lphia on the 15th of July, and at once as- 

 sumed the wliole political power of the State ; almost their first 

 act bein<; the a{)pointnient of Delegates to Congress. For this 

 important trust, John Morton, Benjamin Franklin, Robert Mor- 

 ris, James Wilson, George Ross, James Smith, Benjamin Rush, 

 George Clymer and George Ta^dor were selected. So it appears 

 that only the four first named were members of Congress at the 

 adoption of the Declaration, though all signed that instrument 

 when engrossed on the 2d of August following. 



The names of the members of the Convention from Chester 

 County were, Benjamin Bartholomew, John Jacobs, Thomas 

 Strawbridge, Robert Smith, Samuel Cunningham, John Uart, 

 John Mackey and John Fleming. 



The military organizations in Pennsylvania, known us Associa- 

 tors, were constituted into fifty-three battalions. These assem- 

 bled by representatives in convention at Lancaster on the 4th of 

 July — the day Independence was declared — " to choose two Bri- 

 gadier Generals to command the Battalions and forces of Penn- 

 sylvania." Daniel Robertdeau and James Ewing were elected. 



The delegates to this Convention from Chester County were: 

 Major Culbertson, Colonel Montgomery, Lieut.-Col. Gibson ; 

 Captains Wallace, Scot, Gardiner; Privates Cunningham, 

 Boyd, Denny, Culbertson, and Fulton.^ 



On the 22d of July the duties of the Committee of Safety 

 were closed, the Convention, then in session, having appointed 

 another body of men, with the title of the Council of Safety^ 

 upon whom devolved nearly the same duties that had been 

 exercised by the Committee. 



Most of the small vessels employed in guarding the Dela- 

 ware were stationed at the Fort, but it appears that certain 

 guard boats were moored in Darby Creek ; and from the incon- 

 venience of obtaining provision from the Fort, on the 26th of 

 .July it was ordered by the Council of Safety, " that Mr. 

 Sketchley Morton" do supply the said boats with provisions 

 until further orders." Mr. Morton's bill for supplies furnished, 

 amounted to £8 7«. 8^-tf. 



The troops that had been stationed at Marcus Hook and 

 Chester, and recently ordered to Philadelphia, did not remain 

 long in that city. The following letter at once shows the 

 destination of those troops, the condition in which a portion of 

 them had been left before their removal to the city, and the 

 humanity of their commanding oflBcer : 



1 Hist. Lancaster Co., 405. 



2 Sketchley Morton was a son of John Morton, the signer of the Declaration of In- 

 dependence. 



