Jacob Duch

Jacob Duch was the catalogue form used for Jacob Duché, an Anglican clergyman who served as the first chaplain of the Continental Congress before his politics separated him from the revolutionary cause. The Duche Letter to General Washington reproduces his message of October 8, 1777, written after British forces occupied Philadelphia. Duché urged George Washington to abandon armed resistance and seek reconciliation with Britain, advice that Washington rejected and forwarded to Congress. The document consequently became evidence of a sharp political reversal by a clergyman who had previously offered public prayers for the colonies. A later pamphlet edition appeared in Philadelphia in 1892, with the cover and caption identifying the letter and its recipient. The Duche Letter to General Washington is not a conventional authored book but a historically significant primary document. Its publication history shows how a private appeal was preserved, reprinted, and interpreted within accounts of political loyalty during the American Revolution.