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19 to james warren Plimouth june 15 1775 With the highest pleasure I Received the several Letters of my Dearest friend & now having Returnd to my own Habitation I have begun to answer them. I Returnd from a Visit to my father yesterday; the two mrs otis’s yesterday[?] Hannah & miss Otis came away with me designing only to accompany me to sandwich but it being a very fine Day they came as far as Plimouth & after spending the afternoon & evening & Regaling several times on the finest strawberys I have seen left me this morning at 10 o clock.1 But the Beauties of Nature the Bounty of providence nor the social Intercourse of friends can I taste with unalloyed Delight so long as my Country is threatned with Desolation & Bloodshed & my Beloved Husband not only Long absent from me but stationed on Duty in a place where I am greatly Apprehensive of personal Danger to him. I think the gentlemen of the provincial Congress will injure[?] their Country if they even Hazzard an interruption of their Bussiness Considering how much Depends on their Deliberations at this time. Nor would any one think it Derogatory either to their Honour or Vallour if they would adjourn to some more Distant & safe place for in this Life we are sensible that favour is not always shewn to the cause of the just nor Victory to the strong. But many times though a Cause may be Righteous the lives[?] of a people may be punished by a frown on their public transactions till Each Repentant individual Bespeaks the Divine Blessing. And if we should be Left to fall into the Hands of our Merciless Enemies I shudder to think what scenes of Cruelty & Distress would tear the Bleeding Hearts of such as survive the carnage. I hope to hear from you this Evening And that you will tell me when & where I shall meet you. Why do we hear so Little from the Continental Congress? Can they want firmness & Vigour in the grand American Cause? We have seen Gages Arbitrary False & Bloody proclamation. We hear the army is reinforced & is exceedingly formidable & that the Irish & British Cut throats are Ready to come out and execute the most infernal plan gendered in the Morbid Brain of a Hutchinson & Cherished in the Corrupt heart of a North. We hear the Light Horse are to scour the Country within a Week & that we are on the Eve of the most Bloody Battle ever fought in America or even 52  to james warren, june 1775 the fields of flanders.2 We hear that Vengeance insolence & Rage marks the Brow of the British soldiery while their officers Laugh at the Idea of a Repulse. Need I now say what are my Apprehensions my feelings & my fears? I am not under the presence of a sudden panic nor do I in the Least Despair of the success of the arms of New England yet my Nerves tremble & my heart faints within me at the Thought of the many suffering individuals around while perhaps I must make as great sacrifice myself as any in this generation. Don’t write anything for the sake of keeping up my spirits but Let me know Exactly how present Appearances are in your Eye & how Long our [??] may be safe on the sea coast & whither the Light horse might not Reach taunton3 if they should happen to take that Road. Your family are all well except Henry & I think he is the Better for his journey. With great affection subscribes your Mercy Warren mwp2, rc 1. mow has been in Barnstable on Cape Cod to visit her Otis relatives and describes the return trip. jw is in Watertown with the Provincial Congress. 2. mow refers to the military movements leading to the Battle of Bunker Hill, June 17, 1775, one of the worst battles of the entire Revolutionary War in terms of numbers of casualties on both sides. Flanders, now the Flemish part of Belgium, was the scene of a number of brutal battles during the medieval period. “Light Horse” refers to mounted infantry. 3. Taunton, Massachusetts, a town about twenty miles west of Plymouth. 20 to ellen hobart lothrop [mow’s near neighbor in Plymouth, Ellen Hobart Lothrop (d. 1780), was the daughter of Reverend Noah Hobart and the wife of Nathaniel Lothrop (1737–1828), a Harvard-educated physician. Because of their proximity to each other, few letters survive between them, but mow’s affection is clear. A year after this letter, mow, aa, and...

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