Hannah Phillips Cushing to Abigail Adams, 8 October 1798
Hannah Phillips Cushing to Abigail Adams
Hendricksons October the 8th. 1798.
My Dear Madam
By letters received from Boston I was grieved to learn that you had been very ill. It would give me great pleasure to hear, that your health is perfectly restored. We have been roving to & from, since we had the pleasure of meeting you. We reached Philadelphia the 5th. of August & left it the 9th.; Court sitting only three days as the alarm of the prevailing fever had in that time become general. We returned to Middletown & passed the time with our Friends till the 22nd. of Sepr. when we departed for Trenton, where Mr Cushings Circuit begins; as the middle one falls to his lott.1 To avoid N York we crossed White plains to Dobb’s ferry, which is 26 miles above the City; & after staying there two nights without being able to cross, the wind continuing very high we went up 20 miles further to Kings ferry at Verplanks point where the river is not so wide & the boats better & after waiting there also two nights we safely passed the ferry, rejoicing as though we had been released from prison.2 Here we were reminded of some of the scenes of our revolution. On this side was Stony point where we landed, where Waine exhibited some traits of his boldness; on the other, a Mountain, on which Genl. Washington made his head quarters, with a natural Sofa on the top, which was shewn me by Mrs Verplank; 12 miles above is West point where Arnold turned traitor & a mile or two below, lay the Frigate which took him off—to his reward.3 The inhabitants on the other side appear’d to be as ignorant of the Country on this, as I am of that beyond the Atlantick. Four miles from the ferry we came through the Clove, a notch of a small Mountain, & then had a good road through a fine cultivated country inhabited by Dutch people residing in stone houses one story high. They ride in open waggons. We met 19, containing whole families, going to meeting at Tappawn a small village 18 miles below Kings ferry. Thirteen miles further down is Hackensack, a hansome town near the head of the river of the same name. Thirteen more carry us in a straight, level, pleasant way, bordering on the extensive meadow of the Hackensack, to Newark. From Middletown here the inhabitants of N York were scattered & we some times found it difficult to be accommodated. Trenton is crouded with the Citizens of Philadelphia so much that we have taken up our residence here for some days. I have been in town once to see Mrs Pickering who was solicitous of my spending a few days there; & Mr Furman a neighbour offering us a room we intend to accept of it.4 Court sat only two days. The Grand Jury found three inditements for seditious words. One person only was taken who pleaded guilty, for saying somewhat like this—that if the French came he would join them & fight for a shilling a day, & would deliver up any that were inimical to them—& for D——g the P— &C. For which he was fined but forty dollars, being very poor.5 Judge Paterson is on the Eastern Circuit & is now at Vermont. What will become of the Southern I know not, as that was assigned to poor Judge Wilson. We hope however that Judge Iredel will attend the Court in N Carolina at least.6 The death of Mr Anthony (as also many others) is very much regreted. He discovered a nobleness of soul in declining to stand a candidate for Congress, when the Federal intrest would be divided by it.7 We expect to leave Trenton by the 19th. for Dover in the State of Deleware, where the Court is to sit the 27th.. From thence to Baltimore & lastly to Richmond; pleasing ourselves with the idea of passing a day or two with our good Genl. & Mrs Washington on our way.8 We hope the President enjoys good health. Please to present Mr Cushings respects with mine to him. My love to Mrs Smith & tell her that we had the pleasure of breakfasting with Col. Smith, the morning after we saw her & also of dining with him on our return from Philadelphia. I wish to be remember’d affectionately to Mrs Cranch Mrs Otis & Miss Smith.—
To hear of your health & happiness my dear Madam next to that of seeing you will always give pleasure to your friend—
After so long a time we hear that Mr Gerry is safely landed in England.9
RC (Adams Papers); addressed: “Mrs Adams”; internal address: “Mrs A Adams”; endorsed: “Mrs Cushing / october 8 1798.”
1. William Cushing and the other justices of the U.S. Supreme Court decided the cases of Wilson v. Daniel and Calder v. Bull during a three-day session in Philadelphia. In the fall, Cushing traveled the court’s middle circuit between 2 Oct. and 15 Dec., hearing cases in New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia (, 3:292, 301, 302, 304; 8:63–64, 93).
2. Hudson River ferry service had been offered from Dobbs Ferry, N.Y., since it was established by the Dobbs family in 1698 (Arthur G. Adams, The Hudson through the Years, N.Y., 1996, p. 133).
3. For Brig. Gen. Anthony Wayne’s victory at Stony Point, N.Y., on 15 July 1779, see , 8:100. George Washington was briefly headquartered in the Daniel Birdsall house in Peekskill, N.Y., in 1780. When the plan of Maj. Gen. Benedict Arnold to abet the British capture of West Point was discovered on 23 Sept. 1780, Arnold narrowly escaped to the British sloop Vulture off Teller’s Point. Mrs. Verplanck was probably Sally Arden Verplanck (d. 1834), wife of Philip Verplanck, of nearby Cortlandt Manor, N.Y. (Benson J. Lossing, The Pictorial Field-Book of the Revolution, 2 vols., N.Y., 1851–1852, 1:725–727, 737–738; , 10:265; William Gordon Ver Planck, “Genealogy of the Ver Planck Family,” New York Genealogical and Biographical Record, 24:61 [April 1893]).
4. Hannah Cushing was writing from the inn of Philip Hendrickson in Maidenhead (now Lawrenceville), near Trenton, N.J. Mr. Furman was probably Moore Furman (1728–1808), deputy quartermaster general of New Jersey during the American Revolution and the first mayor of Trenton (Hannah H. Furman and Howell Furman, Descendants of the William Hendrickson Family of Lawrenceville, N.J., [Princeton, N.J., 1965], p. 4; William Nelson, New Jersey Biographical and Genealogical Notes from the Volumes of the New Jersey Archives, Newark, N.J., 1916, p. 116). For Rebecca White Pickering, wife of Timothy Pickering, see , 16:91–92.
5. Lespenard Colie, Brown Clark, and Luther Baldwin were indicted under the Sedition Act. Colie was the only one of the three to appear in court during this session, retracting a plea of not guilty on 3 Oct. 1798 and receiving a fine of $40 (, 3:299).
6. Justice William Paterson opened an eastern circuit court session in Rutland, Vt., on 3 Oct. and adjourned it on 9 October. Justice James Iredell arrived in Edenton, N.C., just hours before the death of Justice James Wilson on 21 August. He immediately informed Pickering and urged the appointment of a replacement to take over the southern circuit. JA made a recess appointment of Bushrod Washington on 29 Sept., and Washington convened the court in Raleigh, N.C., on 30 November. The Senate confirmed his appointment on 20 Dec. (, 1:132, 134; 3:238–239, 292, 301, 316).
7. Following the death of Pennsylvania congressman John Swanwick on 1 Aug., both Joseph Anthony and Robert Waln were put forward as Federalist candidates for the vacant seat. On 29 Aug. Anthony withdrew and urged the election of Waln, who was elected and took his seat on 3 December. Anthony died of yellow fever in Philadelphia on 29 Sept. (; Philadelphia Porcupine’s Gazette, 3 Aug.; Philadelphia Gazette of the United States, 21 Sept.; Philadelphia American Daily Advertiser, 1 Oct.).
8. The Cushings visited the Washingtons at Mount Vernon on 24 Dec. (, 6:327).
9. Unaware of Elbridge Gerry’s arrival in Boston the previous day, the New York Daily Advertiser, 2 Oct., reported that a ship returning from England brought news of his arrival in Portsmouth, England.