Preface.                     9

     Fortunately for Maryland and the adjoining provinces, the French,

   seeing that the brunt of war was going to be to the north and on the

   lakes, withdrew all their forces from Fort Du Quesne except a small

   garrison; so, though some barbarities were perpetrated by small scalp

   ing parties of Indians, no serious attack was made, The fall of Fort Du

   Q uesne does not come within the scope of the present volume.

     The materials for this volume have been obtained from Sharpe's MS.

   letter-books; a mass of correspondence with him preserved in the

   collections of the Maryland Historical Society; the Calvert Papers

   (among which the capitulation of Washington was found) and the Jour

   nals of the Assembly, in whose pages some letters are recorded that were

   not found elsewhere. Letters not in the Society's collections or the

   archives of the State, have not been printed. A number of letters from

   Sharpe to Dinwiddie, which are not in the letter-books, have been pub

   lished in the Dinwiddie Papers (Richmond, 1883—84). Their dates are:

     1754. Mch. 3, June 20, July 24, 31, Nov. 12, 13, 15.

     1755. Jan. 7, 11, Feb. 4, Mch. 1, 10, 29, June 3, 10, 18, July 5, 29,

   Aug. 25, Sept. 20, Oct. 3, Nov. 22.

     1756. Jan. 2, Mch. 8, 13, April 28, May 24, June 21, Sept. 2, 8,

   Nov. 12.

     1757. April 5, May i8, June 1, 14, July 30, Aug. 3, 18, 26.

     The following letters from Morris to Sharpe are printed in the

   Colonial Records of Pennsylvania:

     1755. Jan. 12, May 30, July 3, Oct. 7.

     1756. Jan. 5.

     The following letters, referred to in the correspondence, are missing

   from our collections:

       Letters from Sharpe:

     1753. Aug. i,6, to Calvert; 15, Dinwiddie; 16, Hamilton; 22, 23,

   Calvert; Dec. 26, Dinwiddie.

     1754. Jan. 11, Calvert; Feb. 10, Mch. 11, April 25, Aug. 20, Din

   widdie.

     1755. Feb. 17, St. Clair; July 23, W. and J. Sharpe.

       Letters to Sharpe

     1753. Aug. 29, from Calvert.

     1754. Jan., Bury; July 5, Robinson; 6, Baltimore; 6, W. and J.

   Sharpe; 11, Albemarle; Sep. i8, Robinson; Nov., Halifax; 30, Fitch;

   Dec. 12, Calvert; 31, Robinson.

     1755. Jan. 7, Morris; 23, Robinson; Feb. 15, Calvert; 25, Brad

   dock; April 7, 16, Calvert; 24, Washington; May 29, June 2, Morris;

   2, Dinwiddie; 17, 22, Braddock; 19, Robinson; 22, Orme; 22, Innes;

   July 3, Morris; 5, 31, Dinwiddie; Aug. 13, Shirley; 13, Innes; 20,

   Morris; 25, Didwiddie; Sep. 5, Hardy; 25, Shirley; Oct. 3, Dinwiddie.