Details
GATES, HORATIO, 1728-1806, Major General, Continental Army. Letter signed ("Horatio Gates"), with four-line autograph closing, to "The Honble. Major General [Benjamin] Lincoln," Head Quarters, 26 August 1777. 1 page, folio, 318 x 200mm. (12 1/4 x 7 3/4 in.), integral blank, the paper browned.
AFTER THE BATTLE OF BENNINGTON, THE AMERICAN ARMY WAITS FOR BURGOYNE AND PREPARES FOR THE TRIUMPH AT SARATOGA
An important military letter on the eve of one of the Revolution's most pivotal battles, news of which convinced France to provide military assistance to the Americans. Gates, the American commander, shares intelligence regarding the British Army under General John Burgoyne (on its march south from Canada) and salutes John Stark's recent victory at Bennington. Burgoyne had captured Fort Ticonderoga in early July and, on 19 August, Gates had arrived to take command of the rather meager American troops and militia being ranged to oppose Burgoyne's army's march. Lincoln (1733-1810) was nominally in command of the militia forces. Gates writes: "Yesterday I received the inclosed [not present] Letters from Genl.[Benedict] Arnold, and Col. Gansevoort, and this Morning a Deserter from the Enemy brings the within Intelligence. He is a Seaman, and knows little of Numbers further than the Hearsay of the Army. His Account, compared with that you will be able to procure, will bring us nearer the Truth. I expect General Arnold with all his Command, and a Body of Indians, to join General [Enoch] Poor, in a few Days. Livingston's and Cortlandt's Regiments rejoin him this Day. The Rifle Men I hourly expect at Albany, [I] shall march them up immediately. My Compliments to General [John] Stark. I am pleased with the promising Account he gives me of the great Body of Militia, that are upon their March, and hope to see his Sanguine Expectations Verified...."
General Stark's "sanguine expectations" for his independent brigade of New England militia -- lacking uniforms and armed only with their personal weapons -- had already been confirmed in the Battle of Bennington on 16 August, when the ragtag American force severely defeated a British force under Hessian command, a battle which boosted American morals and set the stage for the pivotal American military defeat of Burgoyne at Saratoga (Freeman's Farm and Bemis Heights, 19 September and 7 October respectively).
AFTER THE BATTLE OF BENNINGTON, THE AMERICAN ARMY WAITS FOR BURGOYNE AND PREPARES FOR THE TRIUMPH AT SARATOGA
An important military letter on the eve of one of the Revolution's most pivotal battles, news of which convinced France to provide military assistance to the Americans. Gates, the American commander, shares intelligence regarding the British Army under General John Burgoyne (on its march south from Canada) and salutes John Stark's recent victory at Bennington. Burgoyne had captured Fort Ticonderoga in early July and, on 19 August, Gates had arrived to take command of the rather meager American troops and militia being ranged to oppose Burgoyne's army's march. Lincoln (1733-1810) was nominally in command of the militia forces. Gates writes: "Yesterday I received the inclosed [not present] Letters from Genl.[Benedict] Arnold, and Col. Gansevoort, and this Morning a Deserter from the Enemy brings the within Intelligence. He is a Seaman, and knows little of Numbers further than the Hearsay of the Army. His Account, compared with that you will be able to procure, will bring us nearer the Truth. I expect General Arnold with all his Command, and a Body of Indians, to join General [Enoch] Poor, in a few Days. Livingston's and Cortlandt's Regiments rejoin him this Day. The Rifle Men I hourly expect at Albany, [I] shall march them up immediately. My Compliments to General [John] Stark. I am pleased with the promising Account he gives me of the great Body of Militia, that are upon their March, and hope to see his Sanguine Expectations Verified...."
General Stark's "sanguine expectations" for his independent brigade of New England militia -- lacking uniforms and armed only with their personal weapons -- had already been confirmed in the Battle of Bennington on 16 August, when the ragtag American force severely defeated a British force under Hessian command, a battle which boosted American morals and set the stage for the pivotal American military defeat of Burgoyne at Saratoga (Freeman's Farm and Bemis Heights, 19 September and 7 October respectively).