Letter from Hezekiah Balch to Charles Coffin (December 15, 1803)
“I am told… [they] have [another] intire, new, and abominable exercise, which consists, in a large number of them collecting, and breaking wind behind, with all their might….”
Reminiscences of Samuel Crawford (ca. 1803)
“Dr. Doak’s sermon was unusually powerful, but in the midst of his discourse he was seized with such a violent attack of the jerks that he fell and went rolling and jerking down the hill. He continued to roll for some time, but he finally grew quiet enough to rise and conclude his sermon though his knees continued to shake….”
Excerpt from the Autobiography of Frederick Augustus Ross (ca. 1803)
“[John Patton] told me that he had often seen five hundred men start off at a run through the woods—day as well as night—like so many red deer. Yet nobody ever got hurt. Then, men stood and jerked themselves most violently, holding to saplings trimmed up for this use….”
Published Letter from Gideon Blackburn to Ashbel Green (January 20, 1804)
“The bodily exercise has assumed such a variety of shapes as to render it a truly herculian task to give an intelligent statement of it to any person who has never seen it. However, I do not hesitate to say, that it is evidently the Lord’s work, though marvellous in our eyes….”
Letter from William Hill to Ashbel Green (January 20, 1804)
“They have now the dancing exercise, the Jerking, exercise, the running exercise, the standing exercise, & even the shooting exercise…. I am afraid what I believe was a gracious visitation from heaven in the first instance will be brought into disgrace by these extravagances….”
