preparing illustrations and a manuscript for a work describing insects of the United States when he died in 1798. A draft of his entomology manuscript (dated 1796) is preserved in the National Agricultural Library. Death Charles Willson Peale reflected on his son's death in a letter to Palisot de Beauvois, dated June 16, 1799:I am so much affected with the loss of that dear youth that I can scarcely write this for floods of tears.–I snatched him then from death, to take him to New York, and vainly hoped that the affection and attention of a family; (Mrs. Peale's Uncles) would have keept him from New York, in a high, airy & healthy situation where he might recover his flesh & strength, but alass! he would frequently be with me in the City and there caught the fever, his being so much debilitated by his former complaint, that only 2 days sickness took him from me. I shall say no more on this mournful tale, you know my loss, & I may justly say a public Loss. I strive to bear up against this affliction, but I have such frequent calls to remember his assifious labours, while persuing my favorite persuits, that the Woods as well as my Study often witness my pangs–and knowing the importance of my labours to put my Museum in a lasting condition, and thereby secure its permanent establishment, I sometimes fear this cankerworm, Grief, will prey on my Vitals, and shorten my days. References Peale family American ornithologists Scientists from Philadelphia 1780 births 1798 deaths Artists from Philadelphia 18th-century American scientists 18th-century American artists 18th-century American male artists American entomologists Deaths from yellow fever Infectious disease deaths in Pennsylvania