Papers of John Adams, volume 3

To James Warren, 25 October 1775 JA Warren, James

1775-10-25

To James Warren, 25 October 1775 Adams, John Warren, James
To James Warren
Octr. 25th. 1775 Dear sir

Governor Ward of Rhode Island has a son about five and twenty years old who has been so far carried away in the Absence of his Father, with a Zeal for his Country as to inlist into the Artillery as a private.1 He never Said a Word to the Governor about, or he would have had a Commission. A younger Brother, who solicited of his father Permission to enter the service, was made a Captain.2 Now it is a Pity, that this young Gentlemans Patriotism, should not be encouraged and rewarded, and it is a greater Pity that an Elder Brother should be a private soldier in an Army where his younger Brother is an officer and a Captain—and a greater Pity still that a Governor of a Province and a worthy Member of the Continental Congress, and the Constant Chairman of our Committee of the whole House, Should have a deserving son in the Army in the Ranks, when Multitudes of others in Commissions have no such Pretensions.

I wish you would mention this Matter at Head Quarters and see if any Thing can be done for him. The Governor had no Expectations I believe that I should interest myself in this Matter, but the Fact 244coming accidentally to my Knowledge, I determined to write about it immediately, and I knew not how to set the Thing in Motion.

I write every Thing to you, who know how to take me. You dont Expect Correctness nor Ceremony from me. When I have any Thing to write and one Moment to write it in I scratch it off to you, who dont expect that I should dissect these Things, or reduce them to correct Writing. You must know I have not Time for that.

RC (MHi:Warren-Adams Coll.); addressed: “Hon. James Warren Esq. Speaker of the House Watertown”; docketed: “Mr. J A Lettr Octr. 1775 X.”

1.

Charles Ward (b. 1747). JA's concern that the son of a governor and member of the congress did not have a commission suggests a view of the fitness of things characteristic of the period and not unknown in our own day. Compare James Warren's response on 14 Nov. (below). On 1 Jan. 1776, Charles Ward was appointed an ensign in the 25th Continental Infantry, an appointment that pleased Samuel Ward (to Catherine Greene, 10 Feb. 1776, Samuel Ward, Correspondence of Governor Samuel Ward, May 1775 – March 1776 [ed. Bernhard Knollenberg] and Genealogy of the Ward Family, comp. Clifford P. Monahon, Providence, 1952, p. 187, 214; Heitman, Register Continental Army , p. 568).

2.

Samuel Ward Jr. (1756–1832) was a captain in the 1st Rhode Island Regiment, and at this time was probably on his way to Quebec, where he was captured in December during the siege ( DAB ).

To James Warren, 25 October 1775 JA Warren, James

1775-10-25

To James Warren, 25 October 1775 Adams, John Warren, James
To James Warren
Octr: 25th: 1775 Dear Sir

Upon the Receipt of the Intelligence of Dr. Church's Letter, Dr. Morgan was chosen in his Room. This Letter is intended to be sent by him, and therefore probably will not go in ten days.1

John Morgan, a Native of this City, is a Doctor of Physick, a Fellow of the Royal Society at London; Correspondent of the Royal Academy of Surgery at Paris; Member of the Arcadian Belles Lettres Society at Rome; Licentiate of the Royal Colledges of Physicians in London and in Edinburgh; and Professor of the Theory and Practice of Medicine in the Colledge of Philadelphia.

This Gentleman Served an Apprenticeship of six or seven years under Dr. John Redman, an eminent Physician in this City,2 during which Time he had an opportunity of Seeing the Practice of all the eminent Physicians in this City, as he attended at the Hospital, and for one year made up the Prescriptions of all. After this he devoted himself four years to a military Life, and went into the Service as a Physician and Surgeon to the Troops raised by this Colony; after this he went abroad, and Spent five years in Europe, under the most celebrated Masters in every Branch of Medicine, and visiting the princi-245pal Cities and Seats of Science in Great Britain, Holland, France and Italy.

This Gentleman in 1765, delivered a Discourse upon the Institution of Medical Schools in America, at a Commencement, which was published with a Preface, containing an Apology for attempting to introduce the regular Mode of practising Physic in Phyladelphia.3

Every Winter, Since he has read Lectures to the Students at the Colledge as a Professor &c.

He and our Revd. Chaplain Mr. Duche, who is now promoted to be Rector of the three United Episcopal Churches in this City, married two sisters. Mr. Stillman of Boston, the Antipoedobaptist Minister married Dr. Morgans sister.

The Doctors moral Character is very good. Thus much sir I thought myself well employed in Writing to you, who have a Curiosity after Characters. I wish I could give a Loose to my Pencil and draw Characters for your Inspection, by the Dozen. But Letters dont always go safe.

Dr. Morgan Sir, deserves particular Honour and Respect, where-ever he goes.

RC (MHi:Warren-Adams Coll.); addressed: “Hon. James Warren Esqr Speaker of the House Watertown”; docketed: “Mr J A Lettr Octr. 1775.”

1.

This letter arrived on the evening of 15 Nov.; see Warren's letter of 14–16 Nov. (below).

2.

Dr. John Redman (1722–1808), a noted surgeon who had studied widely in Europe, also trained Benjamin Rush ( DAB ).

3.

A Discourse upon the Institution of Medical Schools in America; Delivered ... May 30 and 31, 1765 . . ., Phila., 1765 (Evans, No. 10082).