During the Revolution, Elizabeth House Trist helped her mother run a boarding house in Philadelphia, where she met and was befriended by Thomas Jefferson who was a regular guest. When the War was over she summoned up “resolution enough to undertake the Journey” to Louisiana where her husband, a former British officer, had purchased some land.

Leaving her son behind, she set out in December of 1783, for Pittsburgh where she hoped to winter over with friends. To us this hardly sounds like an expeditious route. But in her day, there was no easy way across the mountains in the south; nor was it easy to secure passage by boat to New Orleans, which was in Spanish hands at that time. The standard route for travelers was across southern Pennsylvania, on to Pittsburgh, then down the Ohio River to the Mississippi by boat, continuing on by water to the intended destination.

Trist included in her diary details she knew would be of great interest to Jefferson, in this instance, concerning Fort Pitt.

Fort Pitt is situated upon a point of land form’d by the junction of … two rivers [the Monongahela and the Allegheny] with the Ohio. … On the Monongahala, where the town is chiefly built, there are about a Hundred buildings; all … in a very ruinous state. … The land is exceeding rich and abounds with an abundance of maple trees, from which they make quantitys of sugar. … The low land, lying between the river and the high lands or hills, is call’d bottoms, and nothing can exceed the quallity of those grounds. In the month of May they look like a garden, such a number of beautifull flowers and shrubs. There are several wild vegetables that I wou’d give the preference to those that are cultivated: Wild Asparagus, Indian hemp, shepherd sprouts, lambs quarters, &cc—besides great abundance of Ginsang, Gentian and many other aromatick.

On the other side of the Monongahala, the land is amaizing lofty. Tis supposed that the whole body of it is cole [coal] and goes by the name of the cole Hill. At one side it has been open’d to supply the inhabitants with fuel. … The Hill is seven Hundred feet perpendicular, and on the top is a settlement. The land is fertile and capable of raising all kinds of grain. … In the spring of the year, the rivers abound with very fine fish, some of them exceeding good—particularly the Pike, which greatly exceed those that are caught below the Mountains in flavor and size, some of them weighing thirty pounds. The cat fish are enormous; some of them are obliged to be carried by 2 Men. The perch are commonly about the size of Sheep heads, but they have been caught that weigh’d 20 pound. There are several other kind—such as herring, &c—but different from ours. The bass look more like our Sea perch, only much larger, and I give them the preference to all the rest for their delicacy of flavor.

This excerpt is from In the Words of Women, Chapter 9, page 279. An enlarged version of the map can be found HERE. The Florida Center for Instructional Technology is responsible for this excellent site for maps.

While traveling through the southern states in the winter of 1797-98, the British Minister Robert Liston and his wife Henrietta, curious about all aspects of life in America, arranged to visit the Catawba Nation in South Carolina. On January 25, 1798, they set out with a guide.

This is a Tribe of Indians, the remains of the Catawba, whose member is now reduced to three hundred, & their territory to fifteen miles square*—We proceeded a little way on the high road, then suddenly turned into a Wood, & pursued the track through grasses, very difficult for a Carriage & four Horses. We crossed the Catawba River & … reached one of their Towns … The first objects that struck us were two Boys, sitting at the door of a Log-House, the oldest a Boy about ten had a bow & arrow in his hand, & the younger, about four, a Pipe in his mouth, & was smoking with all the gravity of a Philosopher.

The Indians settled in the midst of their natural Enemies,—the Whites—are obliged in some measure to adopt their customs & thier [sic] Vices, Many of them Build their LogHouses of the same form, always adhering to one apartment only—They have given up the name of King, in compliance to the Republick, & their Chief, substitutes a Military title. … The Colo[nel] … presides in the [Town] we happened to visit & he is esteemed the most sensible & valient of his Tribe—our first respects were paid to him, & it Being yet early, we found the old Warrior sitting in a Chair, at the side of the fire, with a blanket jacket,—his Wife, or as the Interpreter styled her, his Lady, sat on a stool, with a Savage look, squalid & nasty, a woolen Petticoat, & a Blanket about her naked shoulders, her long black hair hanging loose. … On the Colonels fire stood a pot, & there was a hoecake on the hearth; I asked what was in the Pot; he said Deerflesh for breakfast, but did not offer us any.

*The Catawba had been decimated by wars with the Cherokee and by small pox.

The excerpt is from the Sir Robert and Henrietta Marchant Liston Papers, microfilm, Library of Congress; originals are at the National Library of Scotland, Edinburgh.

Judith Sargent Murray, an advocate of education for women, in a letter to her parents in 1790, described meeting Martha Washington in New York, which was then the capital of the United States. Doesn’t Martha sound like a nice person!

About Six O-clock we took a coach for the presence … Colonel Humphry’s, offering his hand, ushered us into the drawing room, a number of Ladies were with Mrs Washington, and her matronlike appearance, and Lady like condescension, soon dissipated every painful idea of distance—taking my hand she seated me by her side, and addressing herself particularly to me, as the only stranger present, she engaged me in the most familiar, and agreeable Chat—. … Mrs Washington’s face is an index of a good heart, and those Virtues which I am told she eminently possesseth, are impressed upon every feature—need I add, that her countenance is irresistibly prepossessing. … Thursday, very unexpectedly opened another scene—I was sitting in my little apartment, alone, and buried in thought—strange that I possessed not the smallest presentiment, of the distinction which awaited me—but so it was … Mrs Washington, and Mrs Lear [the wife of Tobias Lear George Washington’s secretary and friend] were immediately ushered in. If any thing could exceed my surprise, it was the charming freedom with which Mrs Washington took her seat—The unmeaning fopperies of ceremony seem to make no part of this Lady’s Character, inborn benevolence, beams upon her countenance, points her address, and dictates the most pleasing expressions to her lips—one whole hour she condescendingly devoted to me, and so much friendship did her salutations connect, so interesting and animated was our conversation, that a bystander would not have entertained an idea of the distance between us, would hardly have supposed, that we met but for the second time, thus benignly good, and thus adorned with social virtues is our Lady Presidentess, and I confess that in a way perfectly correspondent with my feelings, I have been most highly gratified. …”

Note the use of the word “condescension” above. It has a pejorative connotation today, but in the eighteenth century its use was intended to be flattering, connoting the virtue of “generosity.”

This excerpt is from From Gloucester to Philadelphia in 1790: Observations, Anecdotes, and Thoughts from the 18th-Century Letters of Judith Sargent Murray, Bonnie Hurd Smith, ed. (Cambridge, Mass.: Judith Sargent Murray Society and Curious Traveller Press, 1998), pages 246, 248-250, 254. Portrait from Phebe A Hanaford, Daughters of America (Augusta: True and Company, 1882), page 109,

Benjamin Franklin’s favorite sibling (and one of my favorite women of this period), Jane Mecom, writing from Rhode Island in 1775, urges her brother to enjoy his old age and let younger men do their bit. Little did she know that he would spend many more years serving his country both in America and in France.

Warwick July 14—1775I could have wishd you had been left to yr own Option to have assisted in Publick Affairs so as not to fatigue you two much but as yr Talents are superour to most other men I cant help desiering yr country should Injoy the benifit of them while you live, but cant bare the thought of yr going to England again. … you Positively must not go, you have served the Publick in that way beyond what any other man can Boast till you are now come to a good old Age & some younger man must now take that Painfull service upon them. Dont go, pray Online Pokies Dont go. you certainly may do as much good hear as surcumstances are at present. …

Included in the letter is a note from Catherine Ray Greene, the wife of William Greene, the governor of Rhode Island, with whom Jane is staying. She is a personal friend of Franklin and assures him that his sister is no trouble. Can you guess what “home” means in the following passage?

…. her Company Richly Pays as She goes along and we are Very happy together and shall not Consent to Spare her to any body but her Dear Brother. … She is my mama and friend … and we Divert one another Charmingly do Come and See us Certain! dont think of going home again Do Set Down and injoy the Remainder of your Days in Peace. …

Home is how colonists referred to England, the mother country.

The excerpt is from The Letters of Benjamin Franklin & Jane Mecom edited by Carl Van Doren (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1950), pages 161-62.

On March 9, 1792, delegates from the Six Nations, on their way to meet with President George Washington in Philadelphia, stopped at the Moravian Young Ladies Seminary in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. Mary Magdalen Flagg, a nineteen-year-old student there, wrote an account of the visit.

On fryday towards evening we were made happy by the arrival of our Indian friends on their way to Congress. There were Fifty in Number of the Six Nations, accompanied by their Minister Mr. [Samuel] Kirkland, who had lived among them above twenty Years. …

Of the Seneca Nation there were 29, and among them the following Chiefs. Big Tree, Red-Jacket, Farmers Brother, Little Beard, Little Billy, & Capt. Shanke. Of the Oneidas were 8, all baptized; of this Nation was the venerable Father, called good Peter; as also the adopted son of the Marquis de la Fayette, Peter Otsiquette, who lived for 3 years at Paris, & speaks besides his own, the French and English languages very fluently. …

Miss Eliza Fries addressed them in the name of our School in the following Speech:

“Brethern of the Six Nations! We bid you welcome in our Town! We rejoice to see you! We see you without fear & trembling! We look upon you as friends & Brethern! You are travelling a good way! You go to smoke the Calumet of Peace with our Grand Sachem George Washington & his Council! to brighten the Chain of Friendship! We wish you a good Journey!”

… Good Peter, a Minister of the Oneida Nation, who was very much pleased with our good wishes … prayed that the chain of friendship might be brightened between Us and their Nation, and wished us happiness in this World and in Eternity.

The excerpt is from In the Words of Women, Chapter 8, pages 239-40. The original account is at The New-York Historical Society, as is the painting “Red Jacket” by Robert Weir. There is a portrait of Good Peter at Yale.