(GERMANTOWN BATTLE OF) IRWIN MATTHEW Autograph Letter Signed

Sale 2276 - Lot 149

Price Realized: $ 2,880

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

Estimate: $ 2,000 - $ 3,000

"OUR RETREAT WAS WITHOUT REASON" (GERMANTOWN, BATTLE OF.) IRWIN, MATTHEW. Autograph Letter Signed, "Math'w Irwin" as Deputy Commissary, to Commissary General Joseph Trumbull, giving a first-hand account of the Battle of Germantown two days before. 2 pages, folio, with integral address leaf; silked, seal holes filled with paper. 'Camp at Limerick Township' [PA], 6 October 1777

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Matthew Irwin (1740-1800) was a Philadelphia merchant who served as both an army captain and as an agent for the Commissary Department. This letter was written two days after the battle. "On Friday even'g about 7 o'clock our whole army marched from their encampment about 20 miles from Philad'a in order to attack the enemy, who were posted at Chestnut Hill. We marched the whole of the night & attacked the enemy about sunrise the 4th inst. Our men behaved with too much ardour, they drove the enemy two hours & a half, in which time we gained the lower end of Germantown & drove them with great precipitation through two or three encampments. The enemy had actually given orders for retreating to Chester, but by an unaccountable accident, some of our men gave way. There was a very heavy fog which together with the smoke spread darkness all around, at which time those of our men who first retreated took a heavy column of our men for the enemy. Our retreat was without reason, it soon became general, & the troops scattered in such a manner as prevented the general from rallying. General Sullivan & his division behaved well. General Green's station was to the left. He is much blamed, it's said he did not appear, or if he did, rendered those who were engaged no essential service."
Irwin also discusses commissary business, but offers an apology: "We have been so hurried & tossed about these several weeks that I could make little progress in settling the commissary accts." Provenance: Henkels sale, 22 February 1898, lot 224.