This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 8/1/2025
Exceptional autograph letter signed by General Charles Cornwallis - second-in-command during the Revolutionary War, following his surrender at Yorktown. From his home at Brome Near Eye in England on 19 September 1782, Cornwallis writes to Colonel Edmund Fanning, who like Cornwallis, served in the southern theater during the war.
With treaty negotiations in Paris still ongoing, Cornwallis lays bare his tormented private feelings of being ''sacrificed'' during the war which ''destroyed'' his peace of mind and allowed his and England's enemies to prevail. During this time, the very public Clinton-Cornwallis controversy was raging, with General George Clinton and Cornwallis each trying to blame the other for the loss of the American colonies. Clinton fired the first shot by publishing a selection of war-dated letters with Cornwallis that supported his position of insubordination by the General. Cornwallis, meanwhile, argued that he lacked critical support from Clinton and had to make unilateral decisions himself without any strategical guidance. As is clear in this letter, the personal toll of such a public battle weighed heavy on Cornwallis. Letter reads in part,
''Sir / I should much sooner have answered your letter of the 14th of last month, if I had not been from home at the time it arrived, & since that time been plagued with a feverish complaint which rendered me unfit for any business.
God knows whether we shall be able to raise the money for the building of the Suffolk men of war...altho' I feel all the splendid patriotism of your offer, the people of this country are so apt to lose all temper & indeed common sense, wherever the word America is mentioned, that I think it prudent not to lay your generous proposal before any of our meetings, lest I might destroy that unanimity by which alone we can hope to succeed.
I have always had great esteem for your character, & have much lamented that circumstances did not permit our meeting in service; I did my utmost to save Britain & America, the cruel misfortune which brought ruin on me & my country was long foreseen by me, but all my remonstrances were in vain, it was determined that I should be sacrificed, even if the empire should fall with me. I will not dwell on this melancholy subject, altho' it has destroyed my peace of mind for ever; so far mine and my country's enemies have prevailed. I am with great esteem, Sir / your Most obed't & Most Humble Servant /Cornwallis''.
Two page letter on bifolium measures 7.5'' x 9.5''. Light toning and foxing. Partial separation along horizontal fold line. Overall very good condition. An important letter revealing post-Revolutionary War recriminations of the defeated.