Sir Philadelphia 15th June 1779
The Petition of Lieutenant Smith, herewith enclosed, contains a State of his case-Congress have referred it to your Excellency. (1)
No Express from South Carolina has as yet arrived.
I have the honor to be, With the greatest Respect And Esteem Your Excellency's Most Obedt Servant, John Jay. Presidt

RC (DLC: Washington Papers). In the hand of Henry Brockholst Livingston and signed by Jay.
1 Congress had received Lt. James Smith's petition on June 14 and ordered it "referred to the Commander in Chief." Smith, of Col. Thomas Proctor's Continental Artillery Regiment, had been captured while on leave in March 1778 by a detachment of New Jersey loyalists and had been a prisoner on parole in Philadelphia for some time. He had recently learned from the commissary of prisoners, John Beatty, that he would soon have to return to confinement, and since he had also heard that the loyalists were threatening retaliation for the recent execution of a captured New Jersey loyalist, he appealed to Congress to intervene in his behalf. In his June 23 response to Jay, Washington simply stated that "Lt. Smith must comply with his summons." See JCC, 14:726; and Washington, Writings (Fitzpatrick), 15:305. Smith's June 12 petition to Congress is in the Washington Papers, DLC.