To George Washington from Brigadier General Joseph Frye, 24 February 1776
From Brigadier General Joseph Frye
Camp in Cambridge, 24 February 1776. Certifies that David Avery has been chosen chaplain of Paterson’s and Hutchinson’s regiments.1 The other regiments in Frye’s brigade “are . . . already provided with Chaplins, and returns thereof made to your Excely.”
ALS, DLC:GW.
1. David Avery (1746–1818) of Gageborough (now Windsor), Mass., accompanied Col. John Paterson’s regiment to Cambridge as a chaplain in the spring of 1775. In February 1777 Avery became chaplain of Col. Henry Sherburne’s Additional Continental Regiment, and in August 1778 he was named chaplain of the brigade commanded by Col. John Bailey. Ill health prompted Avery to submit his letter of resignation to Congress on 1 Feb. 1780.