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Robert Howe autograph letter signed ("R Howe"). ...
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Sold on Jun 25, 2022 for:
$1,937.50
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Description
Robert Howe autograph letter signed ("R Howe"). Four pages of a bifolium, 7" x 9.25", Charleston, [South Carolina]; February 8, 1779. Docketed.Major General Robert Howe writes letter to an unknown recipient during his contentious term as Commander of the Southern Department.
Letter from Howe to an unidentified recipient, passing on rumors concerning recent setbacks of British forces due to actions by the French and Spanish forces, and offering words of support to the recipient, who appears to be a fellow officer. The letter reads, in part:
"I have at length got those letters you mentioned for which I thank you. A report prevails here that the Island of [illegible] is taken by the French that Minorca and Gibraltar had been demanded by the Spaniards for which if peaceably delivered they agreed to pay four million sterling but theses reports however much I wish them true I am not sanguine enough to believe; but this I firmly do believe that it would end our own efforts will accomplish for us everything one ought honorably to expect. I feel for your situation my dear sir every thing which a heart truly disposed to love you can possibly feel with every desire to serve your country and at a time so really critical not to be furnished with the means or supported with that vigor you expected and which are so essentially necessary to the safety of your department and good of the common cause must be a cruel wound to your sensibility both as a soldier and as a patriot. Be assured every thing in my power shall be exerted to contribute to your assistance. Would to God my power was equal to my inclination to serve you and your triumph should soon be complete..." Signed, "R. Howe." With a postscript that reads, "I write in great haste."
Robert Howe (1732-1786), born in North Carolina, served as a general in the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War. An active participant in the North Carolina Provincial Congress, Howe was appointed a brigadier general in the Southern Department of the Continental Army at the beginning of the war, commanding both Continental Army and militia troops. He was relieved of his command of the Southern Department by Congress in September 1778 due to his strained relationships with military leaders in Georgia and South Carolina (he participated in a duel with Brigadier General Christopher Gadsden) and reports of his womanizing. Howe later commander of fortifications at West Point, New York. Also included with the letter is a pencil transcription.
Condition: Heavy ink with some bleed through. Pencil notation to recto [page 1] and verso [page 4].
Auction Info
2022 June 25 The Founding Fathers' Fight for Liberty and the Birth of a New Nation - Part I Manuscripts Signature® Auction #6257 (go to Auction Home page)
Auction Dates
June, 2022
25th
Saturday
Bids + Registered Phone Bidders: 7
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