Lot 99
1781 Letter From Camp Williamsburg Regarding British Troops. Partial Autograph Letter unsigned, 2pp, 11½ x 7 ½ in., Camp Williamsburg East of Taylors Ferry, May, n.y. [7, 1781 is penciled in]. From Jethro Sumner (1733-1785), who had served as a Col, 3rd Regt., North Carolina Militia and in 1779 was appointed Brig. Gen. in the Continental Army. To an unidentified correspondent, in part: "…I rec'd a letter from Gen.l Greene of the 5th…directing my ___Baron de Steuben should his Lordship move towards Virg.a which I am very desirous of effecting as soon as I am in any forces & equipm…." He needs to get more cartridge boxes. "…The …horsemen I shall direct to take for their …use all the horses they may meet with on the lines of the enemy….I would wish that about 90 or 100 horsemen …could be procured for three company of cavalry now raising under the commd. of Baron De Flacbeck (?)….should Gen.l Phelips continue in Petersburg it would be well to order them to cross, at the lower…Dan River, should he have mov'd from Petersburgh…I am persuaded with a small guard to the River they would be safe to cross at Boyd's Ferry where could I know about the time of their arrival there I would have a Guard of Militia horse to meet them…."
Good condition; the bottom edge of the letter has been damaged by fire, affecting two or three lines on each side, but the information which can still be obtained is excellent. In 1779, Jethro Sumner was ordered to join General Horatio Gates in the south, and was at the diastrous Battle of Camden in 1780. He then served under General Nathanael Greene, making a bayonet charge at the Battle of Eutaw Springs, September 8, 1781, and served actively in North Carolina until the close of the war. The Dan River and Boyd's Ferry are famous for Gen. Nathanael Greene's "race to the Dan" with British General Cornwallis. Greene outraced Cornwallis' pursuing army and crossed the Dan River at Boyd's Ferry on February 14, 1781, giving Greene time to recoup his forces and face Cornwallis on more equal terms at the Battle of Guilford Courthouse. The road to Yorktown lay ahead.
Estimated Value $800 - 1,000.
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