Letter from B. Griswold to Lewis Tappan
Description
Correspondence from B. Griswold acknowledging Lewis Tappan's letter and his suggestion regarding "what you seem to think it best for me to do." Griswald states that Tappan's suggested course would not be pleasant to him or the minister and adds that the Committee in New Haven seems "to think that they have enough to meet the demands against them or will have." Griswold writes that Tappan acknowledges "the rec't of some hundreds of Dols [dollars] & more will doubtless be sent you & probably enough for all your wants." He then asks Tappan to recall conversation "relative to the country & people in African from where these men came." He mentions that he has written to Sierra Leone asking questions about where the "Mendi tribe "resided, etc., and has yet to receive a reply. He believes that anyone who can answer these questions should be brought forward and states, "I think I should be unwilling to start to go home with these men if I knew that I could get no further than Sierra Leone." If the Amistad Captives are to be settled in Liberia or Sierra Leone, Griswold feels it unadvisable to send an escort with them. He goes on to state, "the little girls say that they do not wish to return to Africa. They would like to see their parents but they do not know as they should see them [returned?].",