Details
GATES, HORATIO, Brigadier General, Continental Army. Autograph document signed ("Horatio Gates Major General"), to "All whom it may Concern," [Fort] Ticonderoga, 12 November 1776. 1 page, oblong 8vo, 80 x 170mm. (3 x 6 3/4 in.), verso silked, lightly browned, edges a bit ragged.
GENERAL GATES AT TICONDEROGA, 1776
General Gates, commanding the Continental forces at Fort Ticonderoga, grants a leave of absence to a New Jersey officer, Israel Shreve. "The Bearer Lieutenant Colonel Shreve having served with Honor & Reputation throughout the Course of this Long and Fatiguing Campaign & the Enemy being retired to their Winter Quarters in Canada, He is desirous to be permitted to go to his Family in Jersey. This is therefore to Grant him the permission he requests..." Although Shreve was a loyal patriot "who had been impoverished by his long war service...the immensely fat Shreve was an incompetent officer," and was never promoted past Lieutenant Colonel. Gates and his army were engaged in extensive renovations of Fort Ticonderoga in expectation of a British invasion, which materialized in Burgoyne's expedition the following summer.
GENERAL GATES AT TICONDEROGA, 1776
General Gates, commanding the Continental forces at Fort Ticonderoga, grants a leave of absence to a New Jersey officer, Israel Shreve. "The Bearer Lieutenant Colonel Shreve having served with Honor & Reputation throughout the Course of this Long and Fatiguing Campaign & the Enemy being retired to their Winter Quarters in Canada, He is desirous to be permitted to go to his Family in Jersey. This is therefore to Grant him the permission he requests..." Although Shreve was a loyal patriot "who had been impoverished by his long war service...the immensely fat Shreve was an incompetent officer," and was never promoted past Lieutenant Colonel. Gates and his army were engaged in extensive renovations of Fort Ticonderoga in expectation of a British invasion, which materialized in Burgoyne's expedition the following summer.