George Washington Papers

From George Washington to Jonathan Trumbull, Sr., 28 March 1776

To Jonathan Trumbull, Sr.

Cambridge 28th March 1776

Sir

I have been all this day at Boston.1 On my return your esteemed favor of the 25th was handed to me. I have not time to answer it at present. The next opportunity will convey to you that, and the money for amount of the account you have enclosed. I am with very great respect Sir Your most humble and obedient Servant

Go. Washington

LB, Ct: Trumbull Papers.

1“This day,” says a newspaper account of 28 Mar., “the Thursday lecture, which was established and has been observed from the first settlement of Boston, without interruption until within these few months past, was opened by the Rev. Dr. [Andrew] Eliot. His Excellency Gen. Washington, and the other general officers and their suites, having been previously invited, met in the council chamber, from whence, preceded by the sheriff with his wand, attended by the members of the council, who have had the small-pox, the committee of the House of Representatives, the selectmen, the clergy, and many other gentlemen, they repaired to the old brick meeting-house [First Church], where an excellent and well-adapted discourse was delivered from those words in the 33d chap. of Isaiah and 20th verse. After divine service was ended, his Excellency, attended and accompanied as before, returned to the council chamber, from whence they proceeded to the Bunch of Grapes tavern, where an elegant dinner was provided at the public expense; after which many proper and pertinent toasts were drank. Joy and gratitude sat in every countenance, and smiled in every eye” (Moore, Diary description begins Frank Moore. Diary of the American Revolution from Newspapers and Original Documents. 2 vols. New York, 1859–60. description ends , 1:226–27). John Rowe, a Boston merchant, notes in his diary entry for 28 Mar. that the General Court’s dinner was “at Capt [John] Marston’s that now lives in Colo. [Joseph] Ingersoll’s house,” and that Eliot’s sermon included “a History of what has hapind in Town during the Siege” (Cunningham, Letters and Diary of John Rowe description begins Anne Rowe Cunningham, ed. Letters and Diary of John Rowe, Boston Merchant, 1759–1762, 1764–1779. Boston, 1903. description ends , 305–6). Rev. Samuel Cooper, who attended the lecture and dinner, says in his diary entry for this date that he “walk’d with the Generals &c. after Dinner to Fort Hill” (“Cooper’s Diary,” description begins Frederick Tuckerman. “Diary of Samuel Cooper, 1775–1776.” American Historical Review 6 (1900–1901): 301–41. description ends 338–39).

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