[NICOLA LEWIS] Fragment of an Autograph Letter unsigned as C

Sale 2276 - Lot 92

Price Realized: $ 2,400

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Estimate: $ 600 - $ 900

A MEETING WITH KING WASHINGTON [NICOLA, LEWIS.] Fragment of an Autograph Letter, unsigned, as Colonel of the Invalid Corps, to an unidentified officer, recounting his conversation with George Washington about officers' rations. 4 pages, folio, on a single folded sheet; first pages of a letter, minor wear, short closed separations at folds, small hole in first leaf affecting 2 letters. Fishkill [NY], 4 May 1782

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an admiring officer reports at length on his meeting with washington--shortly before proposing him as king of the united states. Many Continental Army officers were upset about the April 22 regulations passed by Congress concerning officers' rations. This unidentified officer was delegated to go talk the matter over with the Commander in Chief—George Washington—then in headquarters across the Hudson River in Newburgh, NY. This densely-written letter is entirely devoted to the officer's conversation with Washington: 'His Excell'y said he was entirely unacquainted with the motives which induced Congress to pass the late resolve. . . . He received the new regulations but two days before they were to take place, was therefore under a necessity of publishing them immediately, but, sensible they would be disagreeable to the officers, took the first opportunity of mentioning his sentiments to the minister of war.' Washington had indeed discussed this matter in a letter to Secretary of War Benjamin Lincoln in a letter three days before.
The final sheet and signature are lacking. However, the handwriting closely resembles that of Lewis Nicola, then commanding an Invalid Corps garrison in Fishkill. Nicola had more than usual admiration for General Washington. Just two weeks later, Nicola wrote a another letter on behalf of his fellow officers, the famous Newburgh letter to Washington, proposing that Washington name himself King of the United States.