(AMERICAN REVOLUTION 1777) Douglas Asa A midnight message o

Sale 2420 - Lot 37

Price Realized: $ 1,500

?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price

Estimate: $ 800 - $ 1,200

(AMERICAN REVOLUTION--1777.) Douglas, Asa. A midnight message on the eve of the Battle of Bennington. Autograph Letter Signed. One page, 7 1/2 x 4 1/2 inches, plus integral docket page, on verso of unrelated earlier regimental receipts for cartridges dated 23 July 1777; moderate foxing, one signature torn from the receipt. (MRS) Hancock, MA, 15 August 1777

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This message was written at midnight by a panicked local official in remote northwestern Massachusetts who had just heard word of enemy troops in a nearby town. In full: "At midnight this moment, received inteligence from Little Hoosack that a large body of the enemy to the number of 4000 were discovered at Old Hoosack. Beging for help to the comity and select men of Pitsfield, hope to repolce them before they come any further." Douglas had apparently learned of the large detachment of Hessians in Burgoyne's army under Lieutenant Colonel Friedrich Baum; they would be defeated by the rebels the next day in the Battle of Bennington. Provenance: purchased from Joseph Rubinfine, 1994.