1776. January 24. Wednesday.
[from the Diary of John Adams]

1776. January 24. Wednesday.1

Began my Journey to Phildelphia, dined at C[olonel] Mifflins at Cambridge with G. Washington, and Gates and their Ladies, and half a Dozen Sachems and Warriours of the french Cocknowaga Tribe, with their Wives and Children. Williams is one, who was captivated in his Infancy, and adopted. There is a Mixture of White Blood french or English in most of them. Louis, their Principal, speaks English and french as well as Indian. It was a Savage feast, carnivorous Animals devouring their Pray. Yet they were wondrous polite. The General introduced me to them as one of the Grand Council Fire at Philadelphia, upon which they made me many Bows, and a cordial Reception.2

1. First entry in D/JA/25 since 30 Oct. 1775. The following entries, through 29 Jan., are from the same booklet.

On 15 Dec. 1775 the General Court elected the two Adamses, Hancock, and Paine to another year’s term as delegates to the Continental Congress, but replaced Thomas Cushing with Elbridge Gerry—an action that disturbed conservatives both in Massachusetts and in Congress. See Mass., House Jour description begins Journals of the House of Representatives of Massachusetts [1715– ], Boston, reprinted by the Massachusetts Historical Society, 1919– . (For the years for which reprints are not yet available, the original printings are cited, by year and session.) description ends , 1775–1776, 3d sess., p. 44; Samuel Adams to James Warren, 8 March 1776, Warren-Adams Letters description begins Warren-Adams Letters: Being Chiefly a Correspondence among John Adams, Samuel Adams, and James Warren (Massachusetts Historical Society, Collections, vols. 72–73), Boston, 1917–1925; 2 vols. description ends , 1:211–212. But JA was pleased by it and had the company of Gerry on the road to Philadelphia, where the two arrived on 8 Feb. and took their seats in Congress next day (JA to AA, 11 Feb. 1776, Adams Papers; see also JCC description begins Worthington C. Ford and others, eds., Journals of the Continental Congress, 1774–1789, Washington, 1904–1937; 34 vols. description ends , 4:122).

2. On the Caughnawagas, who had come to offer their services to the Americans, see Washington to Philip Schuyler, 27 Jan. 1776 (Writings, ed. Fitzpatrick description begins The Writings of George Washington from the Original Manuscript Sources, 1745–1799, ed. John C. Fitzpatrick, Washington, 1931–1944; 39 vols. description ends , 4:280–281).

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Source Project: Adams Papers
Title: 1776. January 24. Wednesday.
Author: Adams, John
Date: 24 January 1776

Reference

Cite as: “1776. January 24. Wednesday.,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Adams/01-02-02-0006-0001-0002. [Original source: The Adams Papers, Diary and Autobiography of John Adams, vol. 2, 1771–1781, ed. L. H. Butterfield. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1961, pp. 226–227.]