nt's commission. She afterward went by the name of "Captain
Molly."
As early as 1706, Thomas Chalkley, visiting the Conestogae Indians,
near Susquehannah, says: "We treated about having a meeting with them
in a religious way, upon which they called a council, in which they
were very grave, and spoke one after another without any heat or
jarring (and some of the most esteemed of their women do sometimes
speak in their councils). I asked our interpreter why they suffered or
permitted the women to speak; he answered: 'Some women are wiser than
some men.' Our interpreter told me that they had not done anything for
many years without the counsel of an ancient, grave woman, who, I
observed, spoke much in their councils, for I was permitted to be
present, and asked what she said. He replied that she was an empress,
and that they gave much heed to what she said amongst them; that she
then said to them that she looked upon our coming to be more than
natural, because we did not come to buy nor sell nor get gain, but
came in love and respect to them, and desired their well doing both
here and hereafter; and that our meeting among them might be very
beneficial to their young people. She related a dream she had three
days before, and interpreted it, advising them to hear us and
entertain us kindly, etc., which they did.
Chief Justice Green, in behalf of Miss Leake, of Trenton, presented to
the New Jersey Historical Society copies of the correspondence between
Colonel Mawhood of the British forces, and Colonel Hand of the
American army, proposing to the latter to surrender, and each man to
go to his home, etc., dated Salem County, March, 1778. The New Jersey
Historical Society has a photographic copy of a print, contemporary
with the event, representing the triumphal arch erected by the ladies
of Trenton in honor of Washington, on his passage through the place
in April, 1779, and a photographic copy of the following original note
(now in possession of the lady who received it), which was written by
Washington at the time:
General Washington can not leave this place without expressing
his acknowledgements to the Matrons and Young Ladies who received
him in so novel and grateful a manner at the Triumphal Arch in
Trenton, for the exquisite sensations he experienced in that
affecting scene. The astonishing contrast between his former and
actual situation at the same spot, the elegant taste with which
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