On this day 250 years ago in Salem, Massachusetts, Richard Derby, Jr., of the Salem Committee of Safety and Correspondence wrote to the Massachusetts Council to pass along to General Washington that the state brigantine Massachusetts, commanded by Capt. Daniel Souther, had captured the British brig Henry and Ann transporting “a Capt: & about 20 Privates, of the 16th Regt of Dragoons, with their Horses & Acoutremts.” The letter also reported that the prisoners had revealed that their ship was part of a convoy with twelve other transports with

the same kind of Cargo, makeing in the whole two Hundred & thirty Horses, a Fleet of about Seventy Sail Sailed About Three Days before them, Under a Strong Convoy, having on Board the Remainder of the 16th Regt of Dragoons, and the last Division of Hanoverians . . . About 5,000 Men bound for New York. . . . I think You may Depend on the Account . . . of the Sailing of the Fleets, & that they are now near if not Arrived at York.

Source: https://founders.archives.gov/?q=%223%20October%201776%22&s=1111311111&sa=&r=8&sr=