Contract between the Secret Committee and John and
Nicholas Brown
Copy: John Carter Brown Library
<Philadelphia, February 6, 1776: The Browns will procure in
Europe 10,000 good blankets at approximately 4s. 6d. to 5s.
sterling apiece; 9,200 yards of blue and brown broadcloth for
uniforms and 800 yards of different colors for facings, most of the
cloth, being for privates, at about 4s. sterling per yard and the
rest, for officers, at 6s.; ten tons of lead; 250 stands of good arms
such as are used by French infantry; and fifty 100-pound barrels of
good gunpowder. Gov. Cooke will value the vessels and estimate
their hire or the freight to be paid on the goods exported and
imported. The Browns are hereby advanced $24,000 for which
they will be accountable to the committee. Signed for the Browns
by Josiah Hewes, who has their power of attorney, and for the
committee by Franklin, John Alsop, Josiah Bartlett, Joseph
Hewes, Francis Lewis, and Samuel Ward.>
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