Peter Hog to Gov: Nelson.
October 10, 1781
Rockingham County
"Sir,
I am honoured with yours by Mr. Woodrow, in answer to mine, inclosing Claypoles petition, which I shud not have addressed to the hon'ble Board, had I not been informed by report, that the Assembly by a special act for the purpose, had empowered the Executive to pardon such of the Insurgents as they should judge proper objects of clemency: this seemed in some measure confirmed by your Excellencies Letter to the County Lieutenant of hampshire, for I am perswaded that the Assembly would have extended their Lenity to the petitioners as the most deserving, from their ready submission to the Laws of the Country; and had it come in contemplation, would no doubt have pointed out a mode which would have enabled your Excellency & the hon'ble Board to supercede the judiciary proceedings without any Embarrassment. And as I confide in your Excellencies Intentions of referring the matter to the Assembly, I make no doubt of their ready concurrence with the mercifull disposition of the Executive towards those deluded people: which with the success, we may in all humane probability, promise to our Arms, at this juncture, may have a happy tendency to conciliate the inimical, and confirm the wavering...
Claypool's Rebellion: Primary Documents