GATES HORATIO Autograph Letter Signed to the Chairman of the

Sale 2483 - Lot 20

Price Realized: $ 3,250

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

Estimate: $ 4,000 - $ 6,000

WASHINGTON'S FIRST ADJUTANT SENDS PRISONERS OF WAR GATES, HORATIO. Autograph Letter Signed, to the Chairman of the Committee of Safety at Northampton, MA [Seth Pomeroy?], sending handling instructions for a list of British prisoners of war. 1 page, 4to, with integral address leaf, addressed in his hand; some staining and chipping along left edge, faint scattered foxing, folds. "Head Q'rs" [Cambridge, MA], 3 December 1775

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"By Order of His Excellency General Washington, I send under the Care of Lieutenant Samuel Cooke of Colonel Woodbridges Regiment, The Following Prisoners of War Viz., [names of two midshipmen and 5 seamen] All belonging to The Canceaux Man of War. The Midshipmen have given their parole, & are to have the same Indulgence as those I lately sent you; while They continue to behave, so as to deserve it; The private Sailors are to be confined."
The captured men listed in the present letter are likely a raiding party, sent ashore from the HMS Canceaux during its attack upon Falmouth [Portland, ME] in October of 1775. The outrage caused by the brutality of the attack encouraged the Continental Congress to expedite development of the Continental Navy.