July 2013 Auction Ends Tuesday, July 23rd, 5pm Pacific
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 7/23/2013
Marquis de Lafayette signs a letter as major general in the Continental Army. Handwritten by his nephew, George Augustine Washington, the letter is signed, ''Lafayette'' in the Marquis' hand. On 27 July 1781, from Malvern Hill [Henrico County, Virginia], he writes to Brigadier General George Weedon, ''...I make no doubt before this you have heard of the enemy's being in Hampton Road. About two thousand five hundred have embarked and every thing in readiness to sail, supposed for N. York, but I cannot ascertain the certainty. They have on board pilots for the rivers and bay. I wish you to pay the most particular attention to have persons that you can confide in at the mouths of the rivers to give you the earliest information. Upon you I depend for the first disposition and the earliest information. Should they move up Potomack I will move there with the greatest rapidity as my present situation is as nearly calculated to protect the different parts of the state as possible...'' Two page folio letter runs 8.25'' x 12.75''. Small stains on the signature and elsewhere, but overall near fine. Published in ''Lafayette in the Age of the American Revolution,'' IV:280-1.
Correctly Ascertaining that the British Are Sailing to Yorktown Just Three Months Before the Surrender There, Lafayette Writes General Weedon Asking for More Intelligence on Future Moves
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