On this day 250 years ago at his headquarters in Cambridge, Massachusetts, General George Washington wrote to Col. Timothy Bedel of New Hampshire:

The Continental Congress, haveing Calld upon the Government of New Hampshire to raise a Regiment for the Service of the United Colonies—which they have accordingly Complied with—and appointed you to the Command—I have to desire, that you will use all the deligence & dispatch possible, to raise the Said Regiment & march it into Canada takeing your Rout by Number four, and Onion River, where a Suply of provisions will be Laid up, by order of Major General Schuyler.

. . . the necessity of Reinforceing our troops, posted before & forming the Blockade of Quebec—is too apparent, to need being dwelt on—I woud therefore have you order each Company to March, as fast as they are raised, and on their arrival put themselves under the Command of the General or Commanding officer in Canada.

Your Colony will provide you with Such necessarys, as are indispensably wanting for the use of your Regiment . . .

You will take under your Care the Coghnawaga Indians, who are now here and Conduct them in the Safest, & most Agreeable manner to themselves, into Canada—You are to bear their expences, for which purpose I now give you a warrant on the paymaster General for the Sum of £100

Col. Bedel served honorably in the Continental Army and New Hampshire Militia for the remainder of the War, and unlike many Patriots dealt honorably with the Native American tribes who allied with the United States during and after the Revolutionary War.

“George Washington to Colonel Timothy Bedel, 1 February 1776,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/03-03-02-0167. [Original source: The Papers of George Washington, Revolutionary War Series, vol. 3, 1 January 1776 – 31 March 1776, ed. Philander D. Chase. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1988, pp. 234–235.]; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lx2MLvylxI8; https://www.founderoftheday.com/founder-of-the-day/timothy-bedel

On this day 250 years ago in Philadelphia, Continental Congress Delegate Robert R. Livingston of New York wrote to his fellow Delegate Thomas Lynch, Sr. of South Carolina:

When the expedition against Canada was first projected I opposed it for reasons which have been too often reiterated to make any mention of them necessary & our success has not changed my sentiments but whether the loss which I have sustained by the death of my very worthy friend, a relation, may not have confirmed me in (what is possible) an error I will not pretend to determine. However, it is indisputable that the possession of Canada will drain us of our specie, dissipate without adding to our strength, for it is most evident that the Canadians are not to be relied on & that they will always side with the stronger power.

Source: https://americanfounding.org/entries/second-continental-congress-february-1-1776/