lO LIFE AXD CORRESPONDENCE OF THE [17/8 



Valley Forge. So that the only person who could perform any- 

 thing like parochial duty was the subject of our biography. 



I find but little of Dr. Smith's correspondence during the winter, 

 and but little of his personal history of interest to the reader, 

 except that Michael Rudulph and certain of the troops drove off 

 some of Dr. Smith's cattle and his best /lorse, which was taken for 

 the use of his friend, General Porter. However, upon an applica- 

 tion to General Washington, his cattle were returned and he 

 received pay for his horse. 



On the 28th of March, Dr. Smith was present at a meeting of 

 the people, held at Forty Fort, Wyoming, in regard to the claims 

 of Connecticut to lands in Pennsylvania ; a question which long 

 and deeply agitated a portion of the State. Samuel Sutton was 

 chairman, and Dr. Smith reported to the meeting that he and Dr. 

 Ewing had succeeded in having the " Confirming Law" repealed. 



On the 24th of June, assisted by his old scientific friends of the 

 "Transit" day — Mr. Rittenhouse, Mr. Lukens, and Mr. Owen 

 Biddle — he made for the Philosophical Society the observations of 

 an eclipse of the sun. The result of these observations from the 

 manuscript of Dr. Smith, is published entire in the Appendix of 

 "Barton's Life of Rittenhouse." 



On the loth of July, 1778, Dr. Smith preached in Oxford 

 Church, on the first opening of the churches after the evacuation 

 of the city by the British. 



From the 28th of June, 1777, to the 25th of September, 1778, 

 there were no public meetings of the Board of Trustees of the 

 College. The affairs of the institution during the occupation of the 

 city by the British had a great advantage from a supervision of 

 them by the Honorable Thomas Willing, one of the trustees, who 

 remained in the city during that term ; a gentleman whose patriot- 

 ism was never questioned, although he voted steadily against the 

 Declaration of Independence. His very high personal character 

 saved him from any molestation by either side. 



Ebenczer Kinnersley died on the 4th of July, in the year last 

 mentioned ; his health, which a residence of considerable length 

 in the islands of the West Indies did not re-establish, having been 

 for a good while before enfeebled. On the 15th of December of 

 this same year, the minutes of the College tell us that " Dr. Smith 

 informed the board that some years ago Mr. Kinnersley had made 



