GATES, HORATIO, Continental General. Autograph letter signed ("Horatio Gates") to Brigadier General Jethro Sumner, Hillsborough, 19 September 1780. 1 1/2 pages, 4to, 225 x 180mm. (9 x 7 in.), very light surface soiling, second leaf inlaid, integral address leaf in Gates's hand with his free frank "On public Service" and a second signature. A vivid military letter written a month after Gates's and the Continentals' disastrous defeat at Camden, outlining plans for the defense of Charlotte, North Carolina: "...I received your Letter...from Salisbury. I should have wish'd to have been certain you were upon your March from thence, to Succour, & Sustain, our Friends in Charlotte, who seem to be threaten'd with an attack. I desire whenever a requisition is made on you for that purpose, you will not fail to comply with it...[C]ontrive by our Scouts, and every other Means, to procure intelligence of the Enemies Motions, & Designs...The Instant the Troops here are in a proper Condition to March, be assured they will be put in Motion to Join you..."

Details

GATES, HORATIO, Continental General. Autograph letter signed ("Horatio Gates") to Brigadier General Jethro Sumner, Hillsborough, 19 September 1780. 1 1/2 pages, 4to, 225 x 180mm. (9 x 7 in.), very light surface soiling, second leaf inlaid, integral address leaf in Gates's hand with his free frank "On public Service" and a second signature. A vivid military letter written a month after Gates's and the Continentals' disastrous defeat at Camden, outlining plans for the defense of Charlotte, North Carolina: "...I received your Letter...from Salisbury. I should have wish'd to have been certain you were upon your March from thence, to Succour, & Sustain, our Friends in Charlotte, who seem to be threaten'd with an attack. I desire whenever a requisition is made on you for that purpose, you will not fail to comply with it...[C]ontrive by our Scouts, and every other Means, to procure intelligence of the Enemies Motions, & Designs...The Instant the Troops here are in a proper Condition to March, be assured they will be put in Motion to Join you..."