Apr 17, 2012 - Sale 2276

Sale 2276 - Lot 2

Price Realized: $ 3,600
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 1,000 - $ 1,500
ALEXANDER, WILLIAM ("LORD STIRLING"). Autograph Letter Signed, "Stirling," as Colonel in the Continental Army, to Captain [William] Rogers aboard the Blue Mountain Valley, concerning the cargo of the captured British ship. 1 page, 8vo; worn with loss of one word, laid down on paper, with part of address panel laid down on verso. Elizabethtown [NJ], 27 January 1776
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Additional Details

Alexander (an American with a disputed claim to British nobility) led a daring 22 January raid on a British supply ship, the Blue Mountain Valley, which soon led to his promotion; he later became a major general.
This letter is addressed to the captain whom Stirling had appointed to command the captured vessel. Stirling directs him to deliver all ship's cargo for safekeeping, with particular courtesy to be given to the captured British captain: "Capt . Dempster's private property should be delivered separate, and any such part of his baggage as he wants may be delivered to him." Provenance: G.A. Baker sale, 4 May 1943, lot 81.