From George Washington to Zechariah Lewis, 28 September 1798
To Zechariah Lewis
Mount Vernon 28th Sepr 1798
Sir,
The best apology I can make, for suffering your letter of the 11th of July to remain so long unacknowledged, is to offer a plain & simple detail of facts.1
Soon after it came to hand, I requested a Gentleman of my acquaintance in Alexandria, to obtain for me the route & distance from that place to the Natural Bridge. This though promised, from causes unnecessary to enumerate, was not accomplished before I was siezed with a fever, which reduced me low, and left me in such a debilitated state, as to render writing both irksome & improper.
After this, I had to apply through another channel for the information you required & enclosed is the result.2
I thank you for sending me Doctr Dwights Sermons,3 to whom I pray you to present the complimts of—Yr Most Obedt & Hble Servt
Go: Washington
ALS (photocopy), DLC:GW.
1. Letter not found.
2. The enclosure has not been found.
3. GW may be referring to Timothy Dwight’s The Nature, and Danger, of Infidel Philosophy, Exhibited in Two Discourses . . . (New Haven, 1798), which was in GW’s library at his death. In 1797 Lewis, who was a member of the Yale College faculty, sent GW copies of sermons delivered by his father, Isaac Lewis.