To the United Brethren of Wachovia.
Gentlmen,
I am greatly indebted to your respectful and affectionate expressions of personal regard, and I am not less obliged by the patriotic sentiments contained in your address.From a society, whose governing principles are industry and the love of order, much may be expected towards the improvement and prosperity of the country in which their Settlements are formed,–and experience authorizes the belief that much will be obtained.
Thanking you with grateful sincerity for your prayers in my behalf, I desire to assure you of my best wishes for your social and individual happiness.
G. Washington
President George Washington included the Salem Moravian settlement among his stops during his 1791 Southern tour. Washington was greeted by a band when he arrived in the afternoon of May 31. On June 1 he spent the morning touring Salem, with visits to a workshop and Choir house. At 2 pm leaders of the community delivered a formal address to Washington. The President then responded with a few comments, which, according to Moravian records, are those above. Washington left Salem and headed for Guilford battleground at about 4 a.m. on June 2.