Apr 17, 2012 - Sale 2276

Sale 2276 - Lot 37

Price Realized: $ 33,600
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 15,000 - $ 25,000
REBUILDING FROM ARNOLD'S RAID ON RICHMOND JEFFERSON, THOMAS. Autograph Letter Signed, "Th:Jefferson," as Governor of Virginia, to Brigadier General George Weedon, promising ammunition and bounty for enlistments as soon as possible, and reporting on Benedict Arnold's movements. 1 1/4 pages, 8vo, with integral address leaf; short closed separation on center fold. Richmond [VA], 21 January 1781

Additional Details

In the wake of Benedict Arnold's 5 January raid on Richmond, Jefferson's government was scrambling to get its war machinery back in operation: "I am very sorry we shall not be able to furnish you with a supply of lead until we receive some for which we have sent up the river. . . . Five tons were sent to the Northern army last fall. This had reduced our stock very low; and of what was left, one third was destroyed by the enemy. There remains on hand but a small parcel which is now making up at the laboratory. Should however the enemy's movements indicate an intention of visiting you, we will send you what we have. . . . The money press has not yet got to work. As soon as it does I shall be very glad to have money furnished for the purpose of enlisting men."
Jefferson also reports on the latest news of Arnold's raiding party: "My last intelligence of the enemy was that their troops were on shore in the Isle of Wight, & their shipping at Newport's News and Hampton Road." Published in Papers of Thomas Jefferson, 4:423-4.