When at Philadelphia I was favor’d with your affectionate letter I dared not trust myself to acknowledge it: the voyage I was then so soon to take, and which was to seperate me so long a time from my indulgent parents and other partial friends was a circumstance that engross’d my thoughts more than I chose to confess, and I was aware that to write either to papa or you would be the ready way...
2[1779 December 12 Sunday.] (Adams Papers)
1779 December 12 Sunday. Walked about the Town, but there was nothing to be seen, excepting two Churches, and the Arsenals, dry Docks, Fortifications and Ships of War.
3Sunday 12th. (Adams Papers)
This morning I went to the French Consuls to ask him if he went to day. He said that it blew so smart and right against us that it was impossible for us to go to day and that he would take proper Measures to go to morrow by Land. 4 o clock P.M. Rains very hard, Thunder and lightning. 7 1/2. The Weather has clear’d up. I have just been (with Mr Dana, Mr. Allen, Mr. Thaxter, Sammy Cooper, and my...
4Abigail Adams to Mary Middleton Lovell, 12 December 1779 (Adams Papers)
The enclosed Letter I send to your care. The triffel which accompanies it I ask your acceptance of. I only wish that my ability was equal to the desire I have of serving you. But merrit like yours and that with which you are connected must look for its reward beyond this transitory scene where more permanant Blessings await it, than the gratitude of mortals can bestow. I sympathize with you in...
5John Adams to Abigail Adams, 12 December 1779 (Adams Papers)
The french Consul had agreed to carry me, Mr. Dana, Mr. Allen, and my three Children and our three Servants, this Day to Corunna, which is about five Leagues from this Place by Water, in a barge of fourteen Oars, but the Weather proved so boisterous, that it was impossible to go. To give you some Idea of the Place where We are, Cape Finisterre, and Cape Ortugal are two long Arms of Land...
6John Adams to Abigail Adams 2d, 12 December 1779 (Adams Papers)
If I could send you some of the Lemons, Oranges, or Water Melons of this Place, it would give me more Pleasure than you. But there are very seldom merchant Vessells at this Place from America. We are here in the Latitude of 43, which is better than half a degree farther north than Boston, yet there has not yet been the slightest frost. The Verdure on the Fields and in the Gardens is as fresh...
7John Quincy Adams to Thomas Boylston Adams, 12 December 1779 (Adams Papers)
As I have wrote to Mamma and Sister I have but very little to write to you but I cannot let an opportunity slip without writing to you. I have wrote an account of my Voyage And of this city to Mamma and also all the news I have heard since I have been here excepting a report that the ardent an English 64 Gun brig was taken by the French, and that two Spanish frigates have been taken by the...
8To Alexander Hamilton from Lieutenant Colonel John Laurens, 12 December 1779 (Hamilton Papers)
Upon my arrival here yesterday evening I communicated the intelligence received from General Wayne to the President of Congress and the french minister. The latter surprised me greatly by informing me that only one 74 gun ship of the Count de Grasses division and the fier Rodrigue had arrived at Chesapeak. I am at a loss how to account for the absence of the rest. They have not been within the...
9George Washington to Major General Robert Howe, 12 December 1779 (Hamilton Papers)
Morristown [ New Jersey ] December 12, 1779 . Reports that Major General Benedict Arnold’s court-martial is to be held at Morristown on December 20, 1779. Df , in writing of H, George Washington Papers, Library of Congress.
10George Washington to the Board of War, 12 December 1779 (Hamilton Papers)
Morristown [ New Jersey ] December 12, 1779 . Discusses appointment of Captain William Galvan. Df , in writing of H, George Washington Papers, Library of Congress.