On this day in 1779, a 12-year-old John Quincy Adams prepares to make a dangerous Atlantic crossing with his father, John Adams.
On this day in 1779, a 12-year-old John Quincy Adams prepares to make a dangerous Atlantic crossing with his father, John Adams. “This morning at about 11 o clock,” the young boy soon wrote in his diary, “I took leave of my Mamma, my Sister, & Brother Tommy . . . .” Can you imagine what poor Abigail felt as she bid farewell to her 12-year-old son? She would not see him again until he was 17 years old! It was just one of the many sacrifices that the Adams family would make during the American Revolution. As it would turn out, the young Adams would spend most of his teenage years in Europe. He was often accompanying his father, then serving as a d iplomat for the fledgling American nation. John Quincy’s first trip overseas had been harrowing. As a 10-year-old boy, he and his father had traveled to Paris together in early 1778. Americans were then seeking help in their war against England, and the elder Adams had been appointed a commissioner to France. The younger Adams ac...