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Elizabeth [Murray] Inman to Ralph Inman, 30 July 1775, J. M. Robbins Papers, Courtesy, Massachusetts Historical Society. Page 1

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Elizabeth [Murray] Inman to Ralph Inman, 30 July 1775, J. M. Robbins Papers

By the end of July in 1775, Elizabeth [Murray] Inman had been corresponding with her husband Ralph for over three months. He had been in Boston at the time of the battle of Lexington and Concord, and she had been in Cambridge. She stayed at their farm in Cambridge until the night of the Battle of Bunker Hill, June 17, when she hastily left the estate and relocated to Brush-Hill, the house and farm she had inherited from her second husband, James Smith, in Milton, just outside of Boston. During these early months of the war, Elizabeth and Ralph carried on a regular correspondence that was marked by strong statements on both sides. These letters offer rare insight into the dynamics of family life and how they were disrupted by the Revolution and war.

In this letter, Elizabeth raises several sore points with her husband, addressing his conduct, his financial situation, his advice to her, and his planned departure for England. Word of his plans to leave America without her took Elizabeth aback and prompted her to make rather pointed remarks. She also addressed rumors apparently circulating that she was offering a variety of aid to colonial troops, a charge that had the potential to create difficulties for her husband and brother James, both of whom were considered loyalists.

See Patricia Cleary, Elizabeth Murray: A Spirit of Independence in Eighteenth-Century America (Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 2000), 166-207.

 

seealsoElizabeth [Murray] Inman to Ralph Inman, 22 April 1775Ralph Inman to Elizabeth [Murray] Inman, 13 June 1775Elizabeth [Murray] Inman to Ralph Inman, 14 June 1775.