The General Assembly of Virginia, having received representations from the legislature of North Carolina, and from Governor Rutledge, of the present critical and alarming situation of the State of South Carolina: Charleston besieged by a numerous army, blocked up by sea and land, all communication between the town and country cut off; the British troops actually in possession of the most valuable part of the country upon the sea and navigable rivers, and the Indian enemy (whose tribes are numerous and powerful in that quarter) making incursions on their western frontiers, and little hope of the garrison of Charleston being long able to defend it; upon the capture or surrender of which, not only military stores to a great amount, but a considerable number of veteran troops, and many valuable officers will be lost; and no adequate means remain of defending that and the adjacent State of North Carolina, or stopping the progress of the enemy, whose views will extend with their success, and may produce the most fatal consequences to the American cause. Under these circumstances, the General Assembly of Virginia are making every exertion in their power, to raise and send forward a body of militia; but conscious that such aid alone, will not only be ineffectual, but too slow in its operation; and considering the present general attack by the Indians on their western, and the prospect of an immediate invasion on their eastern frontier, in repelling which, a great part of their militia will necessarily be employed; they think it their duty to call the attention of Congress to this important object, and earnestly to conjure them without delay, to adopt the most effectual means of defending and maintaining the southern States, which the General Assembly of Virginia apprehend cannot be effected, but by a farther speedy and powerful reinforcement of continental troops, and a supply of arms for the North Carolina militia, to whom the government of Virginia hath already furnished all it is able to spare.