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[George Washington] Manuscript Order of Battle,...
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Description
Order of Battle for the Continental Army's attack against the British in New York in 1781, an attack that never took place!
[George Washington] Manuscript Order of Battle, one page, 12.5" x 8". Titled and dated on verso in unidentified hand "Disposition of/the Army - 1781." Neatly ruled in ink. There are minor tears and holes at the folds and two oval discolorations not affecting any text or the attractiveness of this military chart.In early 1781, the French had sent forces to the United States under the command of Count Rochambeau. On May 21-22, 1781, a conference was held between Rochambeau, his staff, and Generals Washington, Knox and Duportail at Wethersfield, Connecticut. The discussion centered around the possibilities of an attack against the British in New York. The plan to undertake the siege of New York was later abandoned because of the arrival of British reinforcements in New York and the fact that the French navy was smaller than the English fleet.
On this Order of Battle, charted two months after the conference in preparation for the attack against the British in New York, General Washington's main army in the Hudson Highlands is divided into two wings with Gen. Lord Stirling commanding the wing listed on the left and Gen. William Heath on the right. Commanding officers Gen. John Glover, Gen. Benjamin Lincoln, and Gen. John Patterson are listed directly beneath Stirling; Col. Herman Swift, Gen. Samuel H. Parsons, and Gen. Jedidiah Huntington are listed directly beneath Heath. Washington's Second Line is diagramed in the lower portion of the chart. The left wing is headed by Col. John Greaton, the right by Col. Benjamin Tupper . Beneath Greaton are Gen. Robert Howe and Gen. Louis Duportail; beneath Tupper are Gen. Howe and Gen. Henry Knox. There are neatly ruled, cross-hatched rectangles in brown ink beneath the names of Stirling (six rectangles), Heath (six), Greaton (four), and Tupper (four). Visible beneath each brown rectangle is a faded rectangle, probably originally red, with symbols representing companies of soldiers. Clearly penned in the lower portion of the chart are the names of the regiments to be involved in the attack against the British in New York: 1st through 5th Connecticut, 1st through 10th Massachusetts, the Rhode Island Regiment, 1st and 2nd New Hampshire, Artillery (under Knox), and "Sappers and Miners" (under Duportail). When Duportail had arrived from France and took command of the engineers, he renewed the pressure begun by his predecessor, Col. Rufus Putnam, to establish a separate engineering branch of the Army. His proposal included a provision for companies of engineer troops to be known as Sappers and Miners and to be officered by Americans. From their ranks would come the engineer officers to replace the French when they returned home. On May 27, 1778, Congress authorized three companies of Sappers and Miners.
There is correction, possibly in Washington's hand. At the end of the line of the "1st Massachusetts," the word "exch" has been added with an "X" next to the name "Rice" (1st Mass.) and an "X" next to the name "Pettingel" (4th Mass.) indicating these two names be exchanged. The records of the Continental Army reveal that Major Joseph Pettingill was an officer of the 1st Massachusetts from January 1, 1781 to November 3, 1783 and that Major Nathan Rice was an officer in the 4th Massachusetts from January 1, 1781 to June 12, 1783. We are not able to conclusively determine whether the aforementioned holograph is indeed in Washington's hand as the writing sample is small; however it seems likely that this is the type of error the commanding General would have caught and corrected.
Very few hand-drawn Orders of Battle from the Revolutionary War exist. An Order of Battle for the Philadelphia campaign (December 4, 1777) and one for the 1781 campaign are in the Washington Papers in the Library of Congress. One in Washington's hand sold at auction in 2006 for $132,000. This Order of Battle is represented on page 149 of Encyclopedia of Continental Army Units by Fred Anderson Berg (Harrisburg, Pa.: Stackpole Books, 1972) with the date "July 1781."
Auction Info
2008 June Grand Format Books & Manuscripts Auction #683 (go to Auction Home page)
Auction Dates
June, 2008
4th-5th
Wednesday-Thursday
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