1787 REVEREND DAVID AVERY Founding Pastor of the American Military ALS

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Jun 1, 2019

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  Autographs
  Continental Army FightingReverend David Avery Autograph Letter Signed
  REVEREND DAVID AVERY. A "Founding Pastor and Clergymen of the American Military" from Connecticut. Upon news of Lexington Green he marched with his Minutemen to Massachusetts where he became chaplain of the 4th Mass. Brigade, served at the Battle of Bunker Hill, Crossed the Delaware with General Washington, and was in the Battle of Trenton, remained active in the Continental Army until the close of the Revolutionary War.
  September 21, 1787-Dated U.S. Constitution Period, Reverend David Avery Autograph Letter Signed, "D. Avery," 2 pages, measuring 7.25" x 11.25", Wrentham (MA.), Choice Very Fine. Sent to Judge Safford. Letter from Continental Army chaplain who served with General George Washington, discussing establishment of a Theological School in Bennington. This Letter is very well penned in dark brown ink upon period laid paper and is very easy to read. It measures 11.25" x 7.25" with minor losses of about 2" at the upper corner and a small .25" x .75" hole along left side margin affecting one word, from this Letter being opened at the wax seal, trimmed close at bottom. Here, historic Reverend David Avery is answering a previously received Letter from Judge Safford (likely Dr. Jonas Safford of Poultney, VT., who became a Representative and Judge and Magistrate). Here, David Avery writes, in full:
  
  "Wrentham 21, 1787. --- Sir, -- I thank you very heartily for your kind remembrance of me last year by Mr. Tolman. Your letter ought to have been answered long before now. I rejoice greatly in the favour of Providence in fixing Mr. Swift among you. Scenes which appear to us confused & perplexed, have an important relation to the good designs of Providence & appear to Him plain & connected. And whether we see or do not see into the design of God in the trials which affect ye Church, yet we may be assured that they all are directed by wisdom and goodness. From a Retrospect of the Bennington Scenes, I am constrained, upon every reflection, to bless & adore the Divine Hand which conducted the Whole. I can now say I would not have it any otherwise. --- The contrast between my circumstances at Bennington & here is affecting. My people look up with Reverence they are attentive and seek after (know)ledge - & their feelings, as well as (their) breeding, allow them to behave re(spect)fully towards me. My Ministerial connections in the neighborhood are very pleasing & advantageous to me. My Sphere of usefulness is great, & my heart & hands are full. -- I have happily succeeded in establishing a Theological School which has obtained 200 Youths, who write upon a question, & meet once in about 3 weeks. They are industrious & make good proficiency; some perform to admiration. We often have many hearers besides the scholars. -- At Bennington the young people ever appeared to be void of an inclination for improvement in divinity. But I hope they are now of a different turn of mind. -- I have had my health remarkably for three years past. Mrs. Avery is cleverly in bed with a Son. Polly has become a smart girl. -- Mrs. Avery joins me in cordial salutations to Mrs. Stafford & Family. --- I am, Dear Sir, -- with great respect, yours cordially, - (Signed) D. Avery." --- Addressed To: "Judge Safford."
  
  Avery was "everything Washington wanted in a chaplain," (Headly, 298) and he frequently rode and dined with the General. A physician as well as a cleric, he occasionally joined in the fighting, as he did in the attack on the Hessians at Trenton. A Scarce Autograph Letter Signed.
  Reverend David Avery was born April 5, 1746, in Franklin, Connecticut. David Avery was prepared for Yale at the Rev Eleazur Wheelock's school at Lebanon where he became interested in the native American Indians. In 1766, he went as missionary to the Indians of western New York. After his return from Fort Stanwix, he was graduated at Yale, in 1769. He preached for a time to the Indians of Long Island.
  
  In 1771, he went to Hanover, NH, where Dr. Wheelock had begun a college. Aug. 29, 1771, he was ordained as an Assistant to the Reverend Mr. Kirkland, at Oneida, New York, where he spent a year among the Oneida, Indians. He finished his studies in divinity with Dr. Wheelock at Hanover and received the honorary degree of A.M. from Dartmouth College in 1773. The same year, he became pastor of the Congregational church at Windsor, Mass.
  
  He marched from Windsor upon the "Lexington Alarm," with about twenty of his parishioners; was made chaplain of Col. Patterson's regiment, April 22, 1775, and later becoming chaplain of the Fourth Massachusetts brigade.
  
  His diaries, extending through the war, still exist. From these we learn that David Avery was at the battle of Bunker Hill; Noodle's Island, the siege of New York; in the Canada expedition of which he has left a graphic account. He Crossed the Delaware with General Washington and was in the Battle of Trenton. (See Avery's History of the United States and its People, vol. 6, chapter 2.)
  
  David Avery was released from his pastorate in 1777, with the best of feeling on both sides, because he felt that it was his duty to remain in the army. From his diary we learn that he shouldered a musket when need required. He remained in the Continental Army until the close of the war. On his return he was settled at Bennington, Vt., May J, 1780 and was officially dismissed from military service on June 17, 1783.
  
  After the Revolutionary war, he preached in several places and settled at Wrentham (MA.), May 25, 1786 and dismissed April 21, 1794. He preached afterwards to a congregation at North Wrentham, where a church was organized in 1795 until sometime in 1797, when he moved to Mansfield, Ct.. He engaged in missionary labor under the Massachusetts Domestic Missionary Society, going into New York and Maine. Afterwards, from 1798 to 1801, he preached in Chaplin, Ct., having gathered a new church and society there called the Union Church.
  
  He again went as missionary to the New York Indians, when after an interval of thirty-three years, he again met with Chief Red Jacket. They greeted each other with great affection. In 1801, he went as missionary to Maine. Many of David Avery's printed sermons as well as his diaries covering a period of forty years are still preserved. One of his sermons in our possession is a song of exultation over the alliance with the French. In this he reviews the war and its causes, and points out that the truth must prevail. It was preached before Col. Sherburne's regiment, Dec. 18, 1777.
  
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