Apr 17, 2012 - Sale 2276

Sale 2276 - Lot 153

Price Realized: $ 840
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 300 - $ 400
(PHILADELPHIA CAMPAIGN.) BAYNTON, PETER. Autograph Letter Signed, to "Dear brother," on the impossibility of the British taking Philadelphia. 2 pages, folio, on recto and verso of a single sheet; thin strip of prior mounting paper on verso along center fold touching 2 letters. Philadelphia, 29 August 1777
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Peter Baynton (1754-1821) was then postmaster of Philadelphia; he may have been writing to his brother John Baynton (1755-1788), then a paymaster in the Continental Army. He describes with evident relish how the British drive toward Philadelphia was doomed: "We have receiv'd an acct from Genl. Washington that the enemy have advanced as far as Head of Elk, from whence, he thinks, they will march with great caution, as they must be inevitably surrounded by our regulars & militia. Sixteen deserters have already come in & we have taken as many prisoners. The bay is covered with dead horses & from all accts they have suffer'd considerably during their long & hot voyage. We are all in high spirits. No one entertains the least idea of his reaching this city. . . . Even the Tories give up all hopes." Baynton was too optimistic; the British marched into the rebel capital unopposed within a month.