Apr 17, 2012 - Sale 2276

Sale 2276 - Lot 134

Price Realized: $ 3,600
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 4,000 - $ 6,000
NEEDS SUPPLIES TO JOIN LAFAYETTE 'WITH ALL POSSIBLE EXPEDITION' WAYNE, ANTHONY. Autograph Letter Signed, "Anty Wayne," as Brigadier General, to Pennsylvania president Joseph Reed, urgently requesting the supplies needed for the Pennsylvania Line to join Lafayette in Virginia. Postscript Signed "Anty Wayne." 4 pages, 8vo, on a single folded sheet; tasteful tissue repair along the length of the center fold, another repair along part of a horizontal fold on verso of postscript signature, small ink burn on one crossed-out word, small stain on bottom edge of first leaf, docketed on third page to the left of the signature. Lancaster [PA], 16 May 1781
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Additional Details

'Mad Anthony' Wayne was commander of the Pennsylvania Line, which had mutinied in January and was being completely reorganized. He was attempting to depart for Virginia with his rebuilt regiments to join Lafayette. Here he writes to the head of the Pennsylvania government, asking his approval for supplies needed by Colonel Moylan's Dragoons. He also requests sixty head of cattle to support the regiment on their trek to Virginia.
Annexed to this fairly routine supply letter is a more dramatic postscript: 'Before this was dispatched, I rec'd letters from the board of war, the Gov'r of Virginia, & the Marquis Lafayette of the most alarming nature, & pressing for the advance of the troops under my command with all possible expedition. . . . Make due allowances for a conduct only warranted by necessity & the critical situation of our southern affairs.' Wayne would soon join Lafayette and earn his nickname 'Mad Anthony' for his heroic charge at Green Spring. Provenance: Henkels McGuire sale of Washington-Madison Papers, 6 December 1892, lot 344; Anderson's Zachary T. Hollingsworth sale, 25 November 1927, lot 906.