Nov 08, 2018 - Sale 2492

Sale 2492 - Lot 142

Price Realized: $ 260
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 350 - $ 500
"7 TO 8 THOUSAND MEN ARE ON THE MARCH TO THE RHINE" WILHELM VON KNYPHAUSEN. Letter Signed, "Knyphausen," as Military Governor of Kassel, to "Noble Sir, most honorable Mr. Secretary," announcing his expectation that war against France is imminent, observing that imperial forces are marching toward the Rhine, and suggesting that contact with the envoys in London should be made in the event of war. 1 page, 4to, with integral blank; silked on both recto and verso, moderate scattered foxing, folds. Kassel, 13 May 1792

Additional Details

". . . [F]rom all indications, war against the French nation actually will come about. The imperial forces, against which France has already taken aggressive action, are in full motion heading toward Brabant and perhaps some of them also toward the Rhine. It appears that . . . of the Hessians, 7 to 8 thousand men are on the march to the Rhine area to take sovereign control of our borders, and also perhaps, depending on the circumstances, to join with other units. . . . [S]hould war break out, it will best . . . to address oneself to one of the envoys in London. . . ."

On August 27, 1791, the Holy Roman Emperor Leopold II and King Friedrich Wilhelm II of Prussia announced their support--in the Declaration of Pillnitz--for King Louis XVI of France against the French Revolutionaries. On April 20, 1792, France declared war on the Habsburg Monarchy, aligning the Holy Roman Empire, Britain, and other allies against France. In response, the allies began organizing an invasion force in Koblenz in preparation for what became known as the War of the First Coalition.

From the Collection of William Wheeler III.