To the Honourable General A. Gates, Commander at Hillsborough.
The humble petition of William Hamilton humble sheweth on the Third of this Instant Came to my house Forty or Fifty Armed men and in an Insulting Maner Commanded me to provide them Intertainment, Which I Could Not Do. Then they Fell to searching
My house Every Where and killing Fouls, then They Went to my stack yard and Tore Down A Stack of Oats, and Numbers of them Caried to their horses and throud down in a very Destructive Maner, and Continued so Till the Next Morning, till thier horses were Almost Covered with Oats. Then they Went off Carrying with them part of my pewter and table Furniture in a thretning, insulting maner. So I, your humble petitioner, Beg of your hounerable Excelency some Protection For the Future, as I have Been Much Distressed, and your humble petioner Will Ever pray.