Letter from John Adams to Abigail Adams, 20 February 1777

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Baltimore Feb. 20th, 1777

This Morning I received yours of the 26th [Abigail to John, 26 January 1777] . Ult. It is the first I have received from you, and except one from Gen. Palmer of the 28th. it is the first I have received from our State.

Yours made me very happy. Dont be [illegible] uneasy about my Waiter. He behaves very well to me, and he has not the least Appearance of a Spy or a Deserter. He has not Curiosity, nor Activity nor sense enough for such a Character. He does his Duty extreamly well however in his station. But if he was a Spy he would learn nothing from me. He knows no more, from me, than the Horse he rides, nor shall he know . . . . I have no Conversation with him upon Politicks, nor shall he come to the Sight of Papers.

I hope our Soldiers for the new Army will be all inoculated at Home before they begin their March. The Small Pox is so thick in the Country that there is no Chance of escaping it in the natural Way. Gen. Washington has been obliged to inoculate his whole Army. We are inocculating soldiers here and at Philadelphia.

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[Envelope -- see page image]

Cite web page as: Letter from John Adams to Abigail Adams, 20 February 1777 [electronic edition]. Adams Family Papers: An Electronic Archive. Massachusetts Historical Society. http://www.masshist.org/digitaladams/

Original manuscript: Adams, John. Letter from John Adams to Abigail Adams, 20 February 1777. 2 pages. Original manuscript from the Adams Family Papers, Massachusetts Historical Society.

Source of transcription: Butterfield, L.H., ed. Adams Family Correspondence. Vol. 2. Cambridge, Mass. : Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1963.