Robert Morris (1734-1806, Signer of the Declaration of Independence, financier of the Revolution, in 1781 served as Superintendent of Finance) letter, signed, dated at the Marine Office of the United States, November 21, 1781, to three Continental officers appointed as a committee of enquiry; 1 1/2 pp. 4to, 9 x 7 1/4 in. Instructs the officers (Samuel Nicholls, James Craig, and Nathaniel Falkner) to investigate whether Capt. James Nicholson or his officers were culpable in the loss of the warship Trumbull in a battle the previous August. Together with an engraved portrait of Morris.

Horizontal folds; lower right corner mended with glassine; light pencil notations