Apr 17, 2012 - Sale 2276

Sale 2276 - Lot 120

Price Realized: $ 8,400
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 1,000 - $ 1,500
COMMUNICATIONS AT THE SIEGE OF YORKTOWN TRUMBULL, JR., JONATHAN, 1740-1809. Autograph Letter Signed, "Jona Trumbull Secty," as General Washington's aide-de-camp, to Brigadier General George Weedon, requesting on behalf of George Washington that boats be employed for communication across the river. 1 page, folio; wear to lower right corner touching last letter of signature, seal tear in left margin, faint stain from seal bleeding through to body of letter, 1 word crossed out and smudged, moderate wear at folds and along left edge. 'Head Quarters near York,' Yorktown [VA], 8 October 1781
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With Washington and the bulk of the American siege forces located south of Yorktown, Weedon's militia across the river had difficulty communicating with headquarters—alluded to in Washington's letter of 4 October (Lot 131), which Trumbull had written for him. Here, Washington's aide directs: 'The General going to the tenches [trenches] directs me to inform you that no boats can be obtained on this side the river for our communication, but that if you can provide them, he approves of the mode much, especially as that when not employed for intelligence, they may be improved for the purpose of guards & spy boats. '
Trumbull also passes on news of Nathanael Greene's victory at Eutaw Springs, GA exactly one month before: 'After a very obstinate battle . . . which was very bloody on both sides, he obtained a very compleat victory. . . . An accident prevented his destruction of their whole army.' This language echoes the way Greene phrased it in his 17 September letter to Washington: 'It was by far the most obstinate fight I ever saw.'