Mar 21, 2019 - Sale 2502

Sale 2502 - Lot 3

Price Realized: $ 344
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 500 - $ 750
ARMSTRONG, JOHN; JR. Autograph Letter Signed, as Secretary of War, to Alexander James Dallas, concerning the evidence for General Hull's court-martial. 1/2 page, 4to, with integral blank; minimal dampstaining, small hole and separation along one fold of blank. [Washington], 25 December 1813
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"On my arrival at Washington this morning I have found your letter of the 27th ult. I am obliged by the suggestions you have made & hasten to advise you that Col. Linnard is authorized to receive from you the official correspondence & documents which are in your hands & which have relation to Gen. Hull's trial."
This letter concerns the court-martial of General William Hull, who had surrendered Detroit to a much smaller British force in one of the most embarrassing defeats in American history. A.J. Dallas had served as the prosecutor at Hull's initial court-martial in January 1813, which had been dissolved. Here, he was authorized to hand off his evidence to the War Department. The final trial, with a young Martin Van Buren as prosecutor, would begin the following week in Albany. Hull was convicted of cowardice and sentenced to be shot, but the sentence was commuted by President Madison.
Colonel William Linnard (1749-1835) was a deputy quartermaster.