(AMERICAN REVOLUTION 1780) Purviance Samuel Jr Letter descr

Sale 2505 - Lot 29

Price Realized: $ 3,250

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

Estimate: $ 500 - $ 750

"OUR LADIES HAVE BEGUN A CONTRIBUTION HERE FOR THE SOLDIERY" (AMERICAN REVOLUTION--1780.) Purviance, Samuel, Jr. Letter describing military supplies, and the efforts of Baltimore's ladies. Autograph Letter Signed to John Fitzgerald of Alexandria, VA (Washington's former aide-de-camp). 3 pages, 9 1/4 x 7 inches, on one folding sheet, with docketing and address panel (inscribed "Way 80") on verso; folds, mount remnant on top edge, minor wear, early repair to seal tear. Baltimore, MD, 29 June 1780

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Samuel Purviance (1728-1788) was an important Baltimore merchant. Here he describes progress on a shipment for the Continental Army of cartouche boxes--sturdy pouches for soldiers to carry their powder and ammunition. "The makers of the wood work are still behind in their engagements. . . . The people who make the boxes & the shoemakers employed in sewing the leathers are so poor that they are obliged to advance them money as they work, without which they could not go on. I have hopes that one waggon will be able to carry the papers & all of the boxes." Purviance continues with a report on local charitable efforts: "Our ladies have begun a contribution here for the soldiery, and meet with considerable success. Another subscription is on foot to collect beef, pork, bacon, flour, bread, corn, shad, rum &c for the army. . . . Could this plan be extended thro the country in this & your states, there is no doubt a vast quantity might be collected, but alas liberality of sentiment seems not the general growth of the country soil." Provenance: Parke Bernet sale, 20 November 1956, lot 17.