To John Jay from Lewis Morris, 15 February 1777
From Lewis Morris
[Phia. Feby 15th 1777]
Dear Sir
I yesterday received your Letter of the 3d instant—1 When I came to this place, Bob Morris told me he had wrote very pressing to Congress to come here, and from the necessity of affairs at present he had not the least doubt but that they wo[ul]d come, and therefore advised me not to set off untill he got an answer to his Letter, which last night was not come,2 as Soon as it does, if they should be determined not to remove I shall immediately set out for Baltimore, Until then it will not be in my power to write you fully relative to Doctr Morgan, but whenever it is you may rest assured I shall do it— Some time ago I Saw Coll Livingston at Prussia,3 He Says that the Leut Colly is vacant in his Regt, and expressed a desire that Lewis or Jacob should be appointed, however the Committee are the best Judges, and I am sure if they can consistent with their duty they will—4 My Son Jacob at the request of Mr West, begs of me to write to you for your interest in bringing about an exchange of James Jancey Junr for Major West, He is a good officer, and I think the exchange must be in our favor; Morris has wrote you on this Subject— The great resort of People to this Place has raised the Markets to a most enormous price, Beef at 1/ to 1/6 mutton 1/ to 1/6 Turkes from 10/ to 15/ Ducks 6/ to 8/ fowls 3/ to 4/ I had the pleasure a few nights ago to Spend the Evening with Governor Livingston, we were very merry, as he was in high Spirrits, he is now at a place called Hattenfield with his Assembly,5 it is within Six Miles of this Town— Mrs Morris6 joins me in our best regards to Mrs. Jay and all friends at Fish Kills. Believe me Dr Sir Your Most Sincerely
Lewis Morris
ALS, NNC (EJ: 6986). Endorsed in an unidentified hand.
1. See above, JJ to Lewis Morris, 3 Feb. 1777.
2. See above, Robert Morris to JJ, 4 Feb. 1777.
3. King of Prussia, a town near Valley Forge, Pa.
4. John Hulbert was named lieutenant colonel of Henry Beekman Livingston’s 4th New York Regiment in the plan submitted to the convention by the committee on arrangements in November 1776. Hulbert resigned his commission the following month. General Morris’s sons, Lewis Jr. and Jacob, were commissioned majors in the New York militia in 1776 and 1775, respectively. Lewis Jr. became General John Sullivan’s aide-de-camp in August 1776 and continued in this post until June 1779. Jacob Morris joined Charles Lee’s staff in the late spring of 1776 and served at Charleston before accompanying the general back to New York in the fall. In December 1776 Jacob Morris was offered the post of major in the newly organized 5th New York, but he declined this appointment. Neither of the Morris brothers was appointed to the vacant colonelcy in Livingston’s regiment. Cal. of Hist. Mss., 2: 4, 35.
5. JJ’s father-in-law, William Livingston, was elected the first governor of the state of New Jersey in August 1776. As British forces advanced into New Jersey in the fall and winter of 1776, the legislature sat, successively, at Princeton, Trenton, and Burlington. When the assembly reconvened on 22 Jan. 1777, sessions were held for two days at Pitts Town before adjournment to Haddonfield in Gloucester County.
6. Mary Walton Morris (1727–94).