July 30th, 1781.
Sir:
We now inform you of our distress’s in the county of Bladen as being a frontier county to the South, State and to Wilmington & being for this six months past on duty to defend ourselves and property and is daily increasing on us by a large party of Tories and robbers that is daily plundering, and destroying our Stock of cattle, and robbing our houses of everything they can get, and now at this time old Hector McNeil is encamped with a large body of men within eight or ten miles of our court house, and is increasing in number very fast. Colonel Duncan Ray is encamped in another part of our County with a large party of men, and is giving out notice to the Inhabitants for all that does not come in by the first of August that they will have all their property destroyed and laid waste, and we being but few in number that stand in behalf of our country and being not sufficient or able to stand in our own defense without immediate assistance from other parts of the State, our number is
not one hundred to be raised in any manner, to oppose between four or five hundred by the best accounts that we can obtain, and we have been in great expectation since the Assembly broke up, of having assistance to relieve us from our Distresses, and find none coming that we could be certain of to our relief, has prevailed on Col. Thos. Owens to Come to your Excellency to know if it will be in your power to assist us speedily with troops, or otherwise we shall be all broke up and be oblige to give way and leave the place, which will be greatly to the advantage of our Enemy and will still increase their number. We shall be greatly oblige to your Excellency to inform us by Colo. Owens whether we will get Assistance, and how long it will be before we shall get it. We beg you will give orders for a General Officer to come to command the Troops that will come to our Assistance.