Adams Papers Digital Edition

Papers of John Adams, volume 5

From Thomas McKean

From Samuel Freeman
Order to Continental Officers, 22 September 1777 JA Continental Congress Continental Army, officers Order to Continental Officers, 22 September 1777 Adams, John Continental Congress Continental Army, officers
Order to Continental Officers
Bethlehem,1 September 22, 1777

Having here observed a diligent attention to the sick and wounded, and a benevolent desire to make the necessary provi-293 294 sion for the relief of the distressed as far as the power of the Brethren enable them,

We desire that all Continental officers may refrain from disturbing the persons or property of the Moravians in Bethlehem; and, particularly, that they do not disturb or molest the houses where the women are assembled.

Given under our hands at the place and time above mentioned.

John Hancock, Samuel Adams, James Duane, Nathan Brownson, Nathaniel Folsom, Richard Law Eliphalet Dyer, Henry Marchant, William Duer, Cornelius Harnett, Richard Henry Lee, Henry Laurens, Benjamin Harrison, Joseph Jones, John Adams, William Williams, Delegates to Congress.

printed : ( PMHB ), 13:71–72 (April 1889), from extracts from diaries in the Moravian Archives, Bethlehem, Penna.

1.

Members of the congress had hastily left Philadelphia in the early morning of 19 Sept., when they were warned of Gen. Howe's approach. To ensure the safety of the papers of the congress, some of them took a circuitous route by way of Bristol, Trenton, Easton, Bethlehem, and Reading to Lancaster, to which place the congress was adjourned; within two or three days the members moved to York (JA to AA, 30 Sept., Adams Family Correspondence , 2:349–350; JCC , 8:754–756).