Louisa Catherine Adams to John Quincy Adams, 20 July 1804
Louisa Catherine Adams to John Quincy Adams
Washington July 20th. 1804
My most esteemed friend
I recieved yours of the fourth only two days since & cannot concieve the reason of your letters being so long on the road1 I scarcely ever get one under a fortnight your last I believe was owing to your not having sent it to the post office untill eight four days after it was written I know nothing that adds so cruelly to the bitterness of separation as a want of punctuality in writing—
Since my last we have hear’d of the dreadful fate of General Hamilton which seems to spread a general gloom his loss must be severely felt by his Country & friends and foes here unite in lamenting his untimely death2 indeed my beloved friend the times are such I tremble to look forward and though you know my ambition I almost wish you were comfortably settled in your old profession free at least from the cares of Public life—
You have no doubt heard of the Indians who are at this place two of them came here & sat an hour or two the day before yesterday they have visited most of the Ladies and are very polite & civil and remarkably handsome—3 the President has a Marquis in his Grounds and a guard stationed this is something quite new and has excited some wonder—4
The Summer affects our Children considerably George has been quite unwell with a Bowel complaint he is much better though not perfectly recover’d John is much better & begins to gain flesh but the teeth are not yet through and it will be sometime ere he walks indeed I am not anxious that he should untill the two next months have elapsed—
Adieu my much loved friend I am sorry to hear poor Shaw is suffering so severely tell him it is a sign he is growing rich and remember me to him kindly I enclose you Custis’s Oration it is here very much admired5 believe me most affectionately yours
L. C. Adams
RC (Adams Papers).
1. In his letter of 4 July, JQA reported on Boston’s Fourth of July celebrations but noted that he remained in Quincy for the day. He also offered brief comment on the “complexion of the next Congress” before describing the damage to local orchards and gardens by insects and worms (Adams Papers).
2. “The greatest man in America has this morning fallen in a duel” announced the Washington Federalist, 16 July, reprinting news of the Burr-Hamilton duel. Four days later, the newspaper announced Alexander Hamilton’s death “with emotions that we have not a hand to inscribe.” The Washington, D.C., National Intelligencer, 20 July, reported additional details regarding the duel and Hamilton’s resulting death.
3. On 11 July a delegation from the Osage Nation arrived in Washington, D.C., numbering twelve chiefs and two boys and led by Pawhuska (White Hair). The Osages controlled lands in what became Arkansas, Missouri, Kansas, and Oklahoma. On their exploration of the territory encompassed by the Louisiana Purchase, Meriwether Lewis and William Clark encouraged the Osages to send a delegation to the capital. Thomas Jefferson hoped the meeting would yield “arrangements not only favorable to our peace and commerce on the West side of the Misipi, but also preparatory to the plan of inducing the Indians on this, to remove to the other side of that river,” affirming the president’s policy toward Native Americans as one that prioritized removal of Native peoples from lands east of the Mississippi River. Jefferson addressed the Osage delegation on 12 and 16 July, discussing the mutual benefit of increased trade between the two nations, the U.S. exploration of Osage territory, and encouraging the delegation to tour several eastern U.S. cities. On the 17th the Osage delegates performed for the president, the cabinet, and “a large and brilliant collection of Ladies and Gentlemen,” a performance described by the Washington, D.C., National Intelligencer, 20 July, as a “war dance in various forms” (, 44:xlix, 54, 70, 72, 98–101, 103–104; Louis F. Burns, A History of the Osage People, Tuscaloosa, Ala., 2004, p. 26, 140–142; Washington Federalist, 23 July).
4. A series of guardhouses around the President’s House was included in Jefferson’s plans for renovating the executive mansion, for which see LCA to JQA, 18 Oct., and note 3, below (Public Report of the White House Security Review, Washington, D.C., 1995, p. 64).
5. The enclosure has not been found but was presumably a newspaper printing of the Fourth of July oration that George Washington Parke Custis delivered to a meeting of the Alexandria Washington Society in Virginia. Invoking the American Revolution, where Americans “burst the bonds of oppression, and espoused the cause of Liberty,” Custis underscored the need for union and support of the Constitution (Alexandria, Va., Daily Advertiser, 2, 7 July).