She was the theme of conversation among the lords,
and the dukes, and the M. P.'s. Having become the victim, in early
life, of licentious, dissolute, and extravagant conduct, alternately
she was revelling in wealth, and then sunken in poverty. At length, in
1793, she published her own memoirs. Mrs. Coghlan was the daughter of
Major Moncrieffe, of the British army. He was Lord Cornwallis's
brigade major. Her father had three wives. She was a daughter of the
first wife. His second wife was Miss L*********, of New-York, and his
third wife Miss J**, of New-York. Mrs. Coghlan is introduced here,
because her early history is intimately connected with the subject of
these memoirs.
In July, 1776, she resided in Elizabethtown, New-Jersey. Her father
was with Lord Percy on Staten Island. In her memoirs, speaking of
herself, she says:--"Thus destitute of friends, I wrote to General
Putnam, who instantly answered my letter by a very kind invitation to
his house, assuring me that he respected my father, and was only his
enemy in the field of battle; but that, in private life, he himself,
or any part of his family, might always command his services. On the
next day he sent Colonel Webb, one of his aid-de-camps, to conduct me
to New-York. When I arrived in the Broadway (a street so called),
where General Putnam resided, I was received with great tenderness,
both by Mrs. Putnam and her daughters, and on the following day I was
introduced by them to General and Mrs.
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