(AMERICAN REVOLUTION NEW YORK) Archive of letters addressed

Sale 2287 - Lot 76

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(AMERICAN REVOLUTION--NEW YORK.) Archive of letters addressed to the army's Receiver of Cattle under Benedict Arnold. 25 manuscript letters, various sizes and conditions. (JMR) Vp, August 1779 to December 1780

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Ebenezer Foote (1756-1829) was a disabled officer in the Continental Army, then serving as civilian cattle agent for the army's Commissary Department. As he gathered cattle from the countryside at his station in Crompond NY, he had them forwarded across the river to West Point to supply the troops. Benedict Arnold was commanding West Point; his orders are sometimes referenced in this correspondence. Arnold's traitorous plot was exposed during this period, and Foote played a minor role. On 22 September 1780, as Major André left West Point with the final arrangements, Foote detained him briefly at Crompond. However, seeing that André had a pass with Arnold's signature, he let the spy continue.
These letters addressed to Foote do not reference André or the plot, although several were dated from the peak of the drama. The letters do suggest the rather desperate state of the army in the last months before fortunes shifted. In December 1780, Asa Worthington expressed urgency about Foote's next shipment: "I am apprehensive the troops in Jersey will have nothing to eat, before we can get a supply to them." with--4 similar letters addressed to John Fisher, keeper of Continental stores at Fishkill, NY, requesting iron, tents, writing paper, etc., one from Udny Hay citing an order from Nathanael Greene. Vp, 1779-80.