Signer of the Declaration of Independence from Rhode Island (1707-1785) who served as the colony's governor in the 1750s and 1760s. ALS signed “Step. Hopkins,” one page both sides, 6 x 7.25, June 5, 1755. Handwritten letter from Providence to William Shirley, the royal governor of the Province of Massachusetts Bay, in full: "Your Excellency’s Letter accompany’d by extracts from Major General Johnson’s Letter and his instructions I received by express on Saturday Evening. And on Tuesday by the Post was favour’d with your other letter with the Resolve of your Great and General Court impowering your Excellency to take Five Hundred of the Forces raised for the Expedition to Crown Point with you in your Midland enterprise. The General Assembly of this Colony will meet on Monday next when I shall lay the several Matters recommended by you as also those mentioned by Genl. Johnson before them and shall not fail to do everything in my power to prevail with the Assembly to take effectual measures that all may be done therein that is fit for them to do. There is no doubt but they will acceed to the Vote for part of the Forces destined for Crown Point going to Niagra and one might as certainly promise for every other Article if they were not attended with more expence. Whatsoever the Assembly here do relative to the expeditions I will immediately communicate to your Excellency. Two companys of the Forces raised by this Colony will sail for Albany on Monday next and the others will follow in a few Days.” Affixed to a slightly larger sheet. In fine condition, with partial separation along the hinge.
The defeat and eventual death of General Edward Braddock at the Battle of the Monongahela on July 9, 1755, led to Shirley's appointment as the new North American Commander-in-Chief of the British Army during the French and Indian War. With his plans to capture Fort Niagara compromised, Shirley was forced to leave garrisons at Fort Oswego, Fort Bull, and Fort Williams, while William Johnson pushed onward with the allotted Rhode Island troops in his attempt to capture Fort St. Frederic at Crown Point, New York, which ultimately culminated in the bloody Battle of Lake George. The failed expeditions under the command of Shirley led to his replacement early the following year by John Campbell; both Forts Niagara and Crown Point would fall in 1759, with Johnson capturing the former and standing commander Jeffrey Amherst destroying the long-standing French outpost at Crown Point.
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