George Washington Papers
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https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/03-25-02-0221

To George Washington from Joseph Bellamy, 7 April 1780

From Joseph Bellamy

Woodbury Connecticut Ap. 7. 1780

Sir

The Tories with us are privately assured by their friends in New York, The Tories in vermont are assured by their friends from Canada, That there is above 20,000 British Troops in Canada, ready to Come down upon us, as soon as the Ice is gone off the Lake1—they Believe the story—This I am assured of, that they privately profess & appear to believe it.2 I am Your Very Humble Sevt

Joseph Bellamy

ALS, DLC:GW.

Joseph Bellamy (1719–1790) graduated from Yale College in 1735, studied theology with Jonathan Edwards, and organized a Congregational church in Bethlehem, Conn., where he spent his career as pastor. Known for his consistent religious views and the publication True Religion delineated … In Two Discourses (Boston, 1750), Bellamy preached in pulpits across the northern states and gained acclaim as an instructor and mentor of young men preparing to become Congregational ministers. He supported the Patriot cause and had a son who died of smallpox on 4 Jan. 1777 while a soldier in the Continental army (see Works of Bellamy description begins The Works of Joseph Bellamy, D.D., First Pastor of the Church in Bethlem, Conn., with A Memoir of His Life and Character. 2 vols. Boston, 1853. description ends , I:xl–xli; see also Mark Valeri, “The New Divinity and the American Revolution,” William and Mary Quarterly, 3d ser., 46 [1989]: 741–69).

1Bellamy is referring to Lake Champlain.

2Bellamy conveyed erroneous intelligence.

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