The Extraordinary Suzy Wright by Teri Kanefield

Author:Teri Kanefield
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Abrams
Published: 2015-11-22T16:00:00+00:00

A copy of one of Benjamin Franklin’s letters to Suzy, sent April 28, 1755.

The idea evidently worked. Franklin got the word to the various townships and succeeded in gathering 150 wagons and 262 horses. It is unclear from surviving letters how Suzy reconciled the gathering of army supplies with her Quaker beliefs. Presumably Suzy struggled with the same issue as the Quaker leaders in Pennsylvania: How could a Quaker reconcile the ideals of pacifism with the requirements of government, which included protecting citizens?

Not long afterward, the Wrights helped Benjamin Franklin out of another tight spot. Braddock’s soldiers needed additional flour, and the General Assembly called upon Franklin to figure out how to obtain it. On April 27, 1755, Suzy understood that if the soldiers met with any misfortune, “whatever cause it may be owing, it will be attributed to their march being hindered for the want of this flour.” James Wright therefore agreed to furnish the necessary flour from his mill.

Despite having enough wagons and flour, General Braddock was defeated. The result was chaos and fear on the Pennsylvania frontier. The settlers near Wright’s Ferry, terrified of an attack by the French and their Indian allies, selected what they considered the strongest building in the area—a stone house owned by Suzy’s brother John on the west bank of the Susquehanna River—and fortified it to withstand an attack.

But the danger passed. The war never came to Wright’s Ferry.

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