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PROPERTY OF A MARYLAND COLLECTOR
LEE, Richard Henry (1732-1794), Signer, Virginia. Autograph letter signed ("Richard Henry Lee"), TO PATRICK HENRY, Philadelphia, 15 September 1776. 2 pages, folio, silked, repaired at center catching portions of a few words, split at creases.
Details
LEE, Richard Henry (1732-1794), Signer, Virginia. Autograph letter signed ("Richard Henry Lee"), TO PATRICK HENRY, Philadelphia, 15 September 1776. 2 pages, folio, silked, repaired at center catching portions of a few words, split at creases.
FIGHTING IN NEW YORK CITY AND A FEEBLE OFFER OF PEACE FROM LORD RICHARD HOWE
A vivid and dramatic letter in which Lee reports that he and his fellow members of Congress "continue here in anxious suspence about the event of things at N. York. Since the removal of our troops from Long Island nothing of consequence hath happened, but the enemy shew by their motions a design to land their Army above ours on the Tongue of land upon which stands the city of N. York. Their design being foreseen, I hope it may be prevented if the large and frequent desertions of the Militia do not weaken us too much." He numbers the British force at New York to be 24,000 men with an additional 7,000 troops in Canada opposed by General Gates at Lake Champlain. Lee makes a sarcastic comment on Lord Howe's abortive peace conference with Franklin, Adams and Edward Rutledge on Staten Island four days prior on 11 September 1776: "Lord Howe's great powers to do us good have lately been bared to public view as you [will] see by the Congress publication of a conversation between his Lordship and a Committee of their body lately on Staten Island... The Committee that waited on L. Howe have not returned their written report and therefore it is not yet published, but the verbal report was substantially that his lordship had no power at all but to grant pardon & prosecute the war." He bemoans the unreliability of the militias and looks forward to the creation of a continental army and especially a powerful navy, since "At present, two or three sloops of war can stop up our Bay, harass our shores, and greatly distress our country..." An exceptional war-date letter expressing the tense yet resolute mood of the Congress in this opening chapter of the war for independence.
FIGHTING IN NEW YORK CITY AND A FEEBLE OFFER OF PEACE FROM LORD RICHARD HOWE
A vivid and dramatic letter in which Lee reports that he and his fellow members of Congress "continue here in anxious suspence about the event of things at N. York. Since the removal of our troops from Long Island nothing of consequence hath happened, but the enemy shew by their motions a design to land their Army above ours on the Tongue of land upon which stands the city of N. York. Their design being foreseen, I hope it may be prevented if the large and frequent desertions of the Militia do not weaken us too much." He numbers the British force at New York to be 24,000 men with an additional 7,000 troops in Canada opposed by General Gates at Lake Champlain. Lee makes a sarcastic comment on Lord Howe's abortive peace conference with Franklin, Adams and Edward Rutledge on Staten Island four days prior on 11 September 1776: "Lord Howe's great powers to do us good have lately been bared to public view as you [will] see by the Congress publication of a conversation between his Lordship and a Committee of their body lately on Staten Island... The Committee that waited on L. Howe have not returned their written report and therefore it is not yet published, but the verbal report was substantially that his lordship had no power at all but to grant pardon & prosecute the war." He bemoans the unreliability of the militias and looks forward to the creation of a continental army and especially a powerful navy, since "At present, two or three sloops of war can stop up our Bay, harass our shores, and greatly distress our country..." An exceptional war-date letter expressing the tense yet resolute mood of the Congress in this opening chapter of the war for independence.