From George Washington to Daniel Bowers, 28 May 1779
To Daniel Bowers
Head Qrs Middlebrook May 28th 1779
Sir,
Your letter of the 26th of last Month accompanied by a piece of Cloth made of Buffaloes hair, & manufactured in your own family, came safe to my hands.1 For the flattering Sentimts contained in the letter, and for the novelty of the Cloth which you have been so obliging as to present me with the first fruits of, I thank you. I am highly sensible of these proofs of your approbation of my conduct, and thank you kindly for your good wishes.2 I am (though unknown) Yr Most Obedt Servt
Go: Washington
ALS (retained copy), DLC:GW; Varick transcript, DLC:GW. The letter was addressed to “Mr Danl Bowers new German Town Baltime County—Maryld.” Bowers, who had taken the Oath of Allegiance in 1778, owned a small estate in Baltimore County.
1. This letter has not been found.
2. GW wrote to Brig. Gen. Mordecai Gist on 1 June that gifts such as the one he had received from Bowers “rather distress than please” when they came from persons of unknown “political or moral characters.” He asked Gist to make inquiries into Bowers’s character, and then either to send on this letter of thanks, or to return the buffalo cloth, depending on the results (DLC:GW). Gist replied on 21 June that Bowers was “a Gentleman of German Extraction” with a well-established reputation as a patriot (NN: Myers Collection).