George Washington Papers
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https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/05-06-02-0016

David Humphreys to John Adams, 8 July 1790

David Humphreys to John Adams

New York July 8th 1790.

Sir

On Saturday next, the President proposes to go, with Mrs Washington and his family, to view the remains of the the old fortifications1 near Kingsbridge. He has understood from Mrs Washington that Mrs Adams was desirous of gratifying her curiosity on the same subject. If you should find it convenient to make the ride, with Mrs Adams and your family, he will be happy in the pleasure of all your Company at dinner at the White House (i.e. the House which was Colo. Morris’s)2 where he has already ordered provision to be made for a small party. The President intends setting off from his House, at a little after nine in the morning.

I shall be much obliged by being honored with information whether it will be convenient for you to be of the party.3 With sentiments of perfect respect I have the honor to be Sir Your Most obedt & Most humble Servant

D. Humphreys

ALS, MHi: Adams Papers.

1The November 1776 capture of Fort Washington, near present West 183d Street in Manhattan, resulted in the Continental Army’s second greatest loss of prisoners during the Revolutionary War. The British later built Fort Knyphausen on the site of the American works (see Diaries description begins Donald Jackson and Dorothy Twohig, eds. The Diaries of George Washington. 6 vols. Charlottesville, Va., 1976–79. description ends , 6:93).

2The house built by Roger Morris in 1765, better known as the Jumel Mansion, was confiscated as Loyalist property at the end of the Revolutionary War and had just been sold in the spring of 1790 (ibid.).

3No written reply of Adams’s to Humphreys or to GW has been found in DLC:GW, but GW noted in his diary that the party consisted of “the Vice-President, his lady, Son & Miss Smith,” as well as Thomas Jefferson, Mr. and Mrs. Alexander Hamilton, Mr. and Mrs. Henry Knox, William Jackson, Bartholomew Dandridge, Jr., David Humphreys, Robert Lewis, Mr. and Mrs. Tobias Lear, and Martha Washington and her two grandchildren (ibid., 92–93).

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