Sep 28, 2023 - Sale 2646

Sale 2646 - Lot 24

Price Realized: $ 2,375
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 800 - $ 1,200
(AMERICAN REVOLUTION--1776.) Robert H. Harrison. Washington requests the services of Hudson River chain engineer Thomas Machin. Autograph Letter Signed "RobHHarrison" as aide-de-camp to General Washington, to "Sir" [General Artemas Ward]. One page, 9 x 7 1/2 inches, plus integral blank without postal markings, docketed simply "General Washington June 10 1776"; disbound, folds, stitch holes, minor dampstaining and wear, docket leaf nearly detached. New York, 10 June 1776
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Lieutenant Colonel Robert Hanson Harrison (1745-1790) was one of General Washington's trusted aides from November 1775 through the spring of 1781. This letter was written, somewhat unusually, on Washington's behalf rather than prepared for Washington's signature. It was written as Washington prepared to defend New York from an expected British attack. Washington requests the transfer of a Boston artillery lieutenant and skilled engineer, Thomas Machin (1744-1816). Machin would soon be put to work leading the construction of the famed Fort Montgomery chain across the Hudson River, intended to thwart British passage up the river.

In full: "I am commanded by his Excellency to request you to send immediately to this place Lieut. Machin of the Train, provided he does not belong to either of the artillery companys in Boston. If he does not, he will come with all possible dispatch. His Excellency has not time to write you fully on matters of business this morning, and must defer it till another opportunity." The retained copy of this letter is recorded in the Papers of George Washington (Volume 5, page 17) as a footnote.