The addressee is probably Margaret Spear Smith, who had in 1778 married Samuel Smith of the Maryland Line. In July, 1781, McHenry was an aide-de-camp to Lafayette, who was serving in Virginia as part of the Yorktown campaign. "The shirts and linens, which you, Madam, and the other ladies so benvolently provided for the Maryland troops, under General Greene, are yet [i.e., not yet] with this army, owing to the late movements of Lord Cornwallis." "... for it does not always happen, that youth, beauty, and the virtues are so deeply concerned in such splendid acts of goodness and patriotism." Partial watermark at left margin.