Answer: John Cadwalader 

John Cadwalader (1742-1786), eldest son of Dr. Thomas Cadwalader and Hannah Lambert, was educated at the College of Philadelphia’s class of 1760, and went into the dry good business with his brother Lambert.  Following John’s marriage on September 25, 1768, to wealthy Elizabeth “Betsy” Lloyd, of Wye, Maryland, the brothers closed their business.  Betsy’s father, Colonel Edward Lloyd, bought the newlyweds a large house and property near Second and Spruce streets.

In August of 1769, Colonel Edward Lloyd took his son-in-law to Virginia to visit George Washington.  This meeting developed into a lasting friendship between Cadwalader and Washington.

Cadwalader became very active in the military and over time developed a significant reputation (Washington described him as a “military genius”).  By October 1774, John had organized eighty-four men into the volunteer “Greens,” or “Silk Stocking Company,” which trained at his house.  After news of the Battle of Lexington in April 1775, he became colonel of the Third Battalion of the Philadelphia Association of Volunteers.  He was at the head of his battalion for the first reading of the Declaration of Independence in the State House yard on July 8th, 1776.  John participated in the December 1776 Battle of Trenton and crossed the Delaware River, but was unable to unload his artillery onto the ice in Burlington, New Jersey.  He then returned to Pennsylvania and wrote Washington his battle recommendations. Washington responded on December 27th with an account of the victory at Trenton.

The papers of General John Cadwalader, including his correspondence with Washington in December 1776, can be found in HSP's extensive collection of Cadwalader family papers (#1454).