XVI 
TO JOSEPH PRIESTLEY 
PHILADELPHIA, 3 October, 1775. 
DEAR SIR:—I am to set out to-morrow for the 
camp, and, having just heard of this opportunity, 
can only write a line to say that I am well and 
hearty.* Tell our dear good friend, Dr. Price, who 
sometimes has his doubts and despondencies about 
our firmness, that America is determined and unani- 
mous; a very few Tories and placemen excepted, 
who will probably soon export themselves. Britain, 
at the expense of three millions, has killed one 
hundred and fifty Yankees this campaign, which is 
twenty thousand pounds a head; and at Bunker's 
Hill she gained a mile of ground, half of which she 
lost again by our taking post on Ploughed Hill. 
During the same time sixty thousand children have 
been born in America. From these data his mathe- 
I On the 30th of September, Congress appointed Dr. Franklin, Mr. 
Lynch, and Mr. Harrison, as a committee to confer with General Wash- 
ington, concerning the best mode of supporting and regulating the 
Continental army. The committee proceeded to the camp at Cam- 
bridge, and the conference was held on the 18th of October. See 
Washington's Writings, Vol, IIL, p. 123. 
184