Mrs. Washington and her son and daughter were at Mr. Bassett's, in New Kent County, when her husband's message asking her to join him at Cambridge reached her. Lund Washington wrote to the General that she would no doubt set off at once, as "she has often declared she would go to camp if you would permit her." The invitation, as Mrs. Washington ceremoniously called her husband's proposal to her to join him, was accepted, and, accompanied by Mr. and Mrs. Custis and a maid, she set forth, a few days later, upon her long journey northward. The Washington chariot, drawn by four horses, with a black coachman and a postilion in white and scarlet livery, naturally attracted much attention as it drove through quiet country towns in Maryland and Pennsylvania; and when it was known who was within the coach, great interest was excited, and villagers stood at their doors and sidewalks eager to have a glimpse of the wife of the Commander-inChief on her way to join her husband. It had been whispered that Mrs. Washington was a Tory at heart, and totally disapproved of the stand taken by the General. Such baseless rumors were entirely disproved by this journey to Cambridge, and when the travellers reached Gray's Ferry they were met by a mili

tary escort and conducted into Philadelphia with much form and ceremony. The "Pennsylvania Gazette" of November 22 contained the following:

"Yesterday the Lady of his Excellency General Washington arrived here, upon her way to New England. She was met at the Lower Ferry by the officers of the different battalions, the troop of light horse, and the light infantry of the 2d battalion, who escorted her into the city."

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Mr. Joseph Reed met Mrs. Washington and conducted her to his home, where she was welcomed by his lovely young English wife. She seems to have stayed with the Reeds, and was called upon by a number of ladies, among them Mrs. Thomas Hopkinson, her daughter, Mrs. Duché, and Mrs. John Hancock, who was equally fascinating and more beautiful than that earlier "Dorothy Q" who set the muse of Holmes to rhyming.

1 This was the First Troop, Philadelphia City Cavalry, organized in 1774, then as now a military company of gentlemen who furnished their own horses and equipment, and held themselves in readiness to serve their country in time of need. The First Troop escorted the General and Mrs. Washington whenever they passed through Philadelphia, and during the first presidency constituted itself their guard of honor. The Troop reported at Cambridge, and upon the hard-won fields of Trenton and Princeton rendered gallant and efficient service, for which it was publicly thanked by the Commanderin-Chief.

Philadelphians, ever hospitable and desirous. of showing their respect for the wife of the Commander-in-Chief, proposed to give a ball in her honor at the City Tavern. This attention, of questionable kindness in view of the fact that Mrs. Washington and Mrs. Custis had driven over four hundred and fifty miles and must have looked forward with more relish to rest than to festivities, was frowned upon by many patriots, who quoted a resolution of Congress recommending the people to abstain from "vain amusments." Joseph Reed and Colonel Benjamin Harrison, of Virginia, were warmly in favor of the entertainment. Christopher Marshall, writing of the affair in his diary, represents himself as taking an active part in the opposition. He says that he informed Samuel Adams that a ball was to be given, and urged him to advise John Hancock to put a stop to it. Be this as it may, Adams and Hancock took decided measures against what would seem to have been an unwise proceeding at this juncture, and appointed a committee to wait upon Mrs. Washington and request her not to attend the ball, at the same time assuring her of their great regard and affection, requesting her, to quote their own words, "to accept of our grateful acknowledgment and respect due to

you upon account of your near connection with our worthy and brave general, now exposed on the field of battle, in defense of our rights and liberties."

Lady Washington, as she was now called for the first time, received the waiting gentlemen with great politeness, and by her fine tact and good sense relieved them of all embarrassment. She thanked them for their esteem and concern for her welfare, and assured them "that the desires of the committee were agreeable to her own sentiments."

General Washington wrote to Mr. Reed thanking him warmly for the attention shown his wife in Philadelphia, and asking him to advise the little party as to a proper place to cross the Hudson, "by all means avoiding New York." This warning was in consequence of the unsettled state of affairs in that place, the number of loyalists there, and the strong feeling existing between them and the patriots, especially the Sons of Liberty, who had distinguished themselves by attacking and destroying the establishment of Rivington, "King's printer."

From the "Pennsylvania Gazette," of November 29, it appears that Mrs. Washington and her party, which had been joined by Mrs. Gates, wife of General Gates, and Mrs. Warner

Lewis, left Philadelphia on the twenty-seventh, under the escort of the "officers of the First and Second Battalions, the Light Infantry of the First and Third Battalions, and the troop of horse," and proceeded to Newark, where they arrived on the evening of the twentyninth. The above military escort probably attended the ladies no farther than Trenton, as we learn from journals of the day that they were met at Elizabethtown by a company of light horse and most of the principal gentlemen of the borough, who accompanied the ladies to Newark, which they entered amid the ringing of bells and general rejoicings. These joyful demonstrations seem to have followed the travellers wherever they went, and must have helped not a little to cheer and beguile the tedium of their long and weary journey, while they gave the Virginia woman, who had never been farther north than Alexandria, a sudden realization of what it was to be the wife of a soldier whose fame had reached far beyond the boundaries of his native Colony. Mingled with enthusiasm for the Commander-in-Chief, there must have been some genuine admiration for these valiant women who had undertaken a drive of many hundreds of miles, to spend the winter with their husbands in a camp upon the outskirts of a city, then in possession of the enemy.

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