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Five plumsted and franks, agents for the contractors David’s choice of a partner displayed brilliant managerial skill. William Plumsted’s father, Clement, had been a prosperous merchant, among Philadelphia ’s wealthiest inhabitants; he became an alderman and a judge on the Pennsylvania Court of Common Pleas. At his death in 1745 he left a significant mercantile business to William, who had become his partner and who continued the firm’s activities on his own.1 David Franks’s father-in-law, Peter Evans, also died in 1745, leaving the position of register general for the province vacant. William Plumsted was chosen to replace Evans and retained the title until his death. Like his father before him, William was elected mayor of Philadelphia three times—in 1750, 1754, and 1755. Public office often meant a considerable sacrifice of freedom in conducting business affairs, and a number of prominent citizens chose not to accept their election to government office; between 1745 and 1762 no fewer than nine elected mayors refused to serve.2 William Plumsted’s acceptance of the office for three terms was evidence of his great public spirit. Most significantly, Plumsted knew all the influential people in town and in Pennsylvania’s government. He had an entrée to all the seats of power. He had converted from Quakerism to Anglicanism and was a founder of St. Peter’s Church, a warden of Christ Church, a founding trustee of the College of Philadelphia, and a member of the Dancing Assembly and the Library Company.3 David Franks, by contrast, was blunt; he cared little for politics or diplomacy. He knew how to curry favor with his customers, but he was not artful at flattery, and he realized that Plumsted could bring that skill to the partnership. This was equally true when it came to the written word; Plumsted’s ability to craft diplomatic letters, a talent Franks lacked, would become invaluable. The combination Plumsted and Franks 47 of David’s vision and aggressiveness with Plumsted’s tact and connections promised to be a winning formula. Having billed the Crown nearly £70,000 for the first year’s carriage and approximately £63,000 for provisions delivered, the partners moved to secure their relationship with Bouquet.4 They informed him of their plan to visit Fort Pitt in July—a month’s journey round-trip—and let him know how disappointed they were not to have seen him earlier at Presque Isle. Their inability to inspect their cattle and the feeding provisions was another disappointment that they hoped to remedy during the visit.5 Bouquet’s deputy , Captain Lewis Ourry, informed Bouquet of a letter from Plumsted and Franks announcing their intention to visit Fort Bedford in July as well.6 Unfortunately, the visits never took place. Amherst had returned from Albany and was preparing for a campaign in Martinique. He redirected provisions , intended for the western forts, to Quebec. In lieu of going themselves , Plumsted and Franks arranged to send Arthur Hamilton on a tour of the forts to assess the level and condition of stores and to confer with Bouquet at Fort Pitt to establish the quantities needed at the various locations . John Metcalfe had told them that salt supplies were insufficient and that other commodities would have to be reviewed one at a time. Winter was coming, and provisions had to be in place.7 Plumsted and Franks’s August 1761 letter, which contained most of this information, also included as much news and social information as they could gather. They thereby hoped to gain favor with Bouquet, whose approbation they wanted desperately. They reported the illness and recovery of Thomas Willing, a prosperous Philadelphia merchant, whose beautiful betrothed, Anne, had caught the bachelor Bouquet’s eye. He had not been very secretive about his interest in Anne, and he received reports about her doings from Alexander Lunan as well. In the end, his hopes came to naught, for she married Willing. A few years later Bouquet wrote Adam Hoops, “I see daily So many of my acquaintance going off that way [to get married] that I must begin to think of it myself and go over to Europe to get me a Wife, For tho’ your girls here are very pretty, I am not Rich enough for them.”8 For the next several years, almost every letter from the partners to Bouquet contained snippets of world, army, and social news that the colonel , being stationed so remotely...

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