April 20, 1776

The feast day of St. George is celebrated on April 23. This early Christian martyr was a soldier, often depicted in artwork slaying a dragon. The Society of the Sons of St. George organized in Philadelphia in 1772, and this notice in the Pennsylvania Ledger announced their fourth annual St. George’s Day dinner. 

John Adams described the “Saint Georges Clubb, or Saint Georges Society” in a letter to his wife, Abigail, written on April 23. The society “had a great Feast.” However, Adams wrote that “The Times and Politicks have made a schism in the society so that one Part of them are to meet and dine at the City Tavern, and the other att the Bunch of Grapes… and a third Party go out of Town.” By Adams’s account, about one third of the society’s members were “staunch Americans” in support of the colonies’ rights, another third were “staunch Britons,” and the last third were “half Way Men, Neutral Beings, moderate Men, prudent Folks.” 

The Pennsylvania Ledger: Or the Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and New-Jersey Weekly Advertiser
Printed by James Humphreys, Jr.

THE Members of the St. GEORGE’s Society, are desired to meet at Smith’s tavern, on St. George’s Day, Tuesday 23d instant, to choose Officers and do the Business of the Day. Dinner to be on the Table at three o’Clock.