LAFAYETTE, GILBERT DU MOTIER, Marquis de . Autograph letter signed ("Lafayette") TO SECRETARY OF WAR GENERAL HENRY DEARBORN, n.p., n.d. [early 1804?]. 2 pages, 4to, 228 x 184 mm. (9 1/8 x 7 1/4 in.), quarter red morocco gilt slipcase. AMERICA'S TRIBUTE TO AN OLD ALLY: LAFAYETTE ACKNOWLEDGES THE GIFT OF LAND IN LOUISIANA AND SALUTES "THE WELFARE OF LOUISIANA, THE GENERAL GOOD OF THE UNION AND THE ENLIGHTENED VIEWS OF ITS GOVERNMENT" Lafayette had recently been visited by John Armstrong Jr. (son of the Revolutionary War general, now American Minister to France) and learned rom him that Congress, to honor Lafayette's services during the war, had voted to grant him a sizeable tract of land in the newly acquired Louisiana territory. Lafayette's acknowledgement to Secretary of War Dearborn, is typically flowery: "Your kind communication of the 30th December had but lately been welcomed...when I was acquainted by General Armstrong's arrival that Congress have been pleased, by an unanimous Vote...munificently to extend...[a grant of] Lands in Louisiana. Permit me, Sir to anticipate the official information and through your Channel, to offer the expression of a gratitude equal to the Honor...and to the exalted sense I have of favours conferred by the Representatives of the United States. I am proud to acknowledge that in my poorer Circumstances...the Bounty of Congress has been peculiarly seasonable, and what Fortune can have so precious a source as that which is endear'd and ennobled by the happy Remembrances and the consoling Spectacle of American Liberty! This immense Gift to one of your fellow Soldiers I will consider as a certificate of individual merit than as a retrospection to the Services of the Army in which I had the Honor to Rank. It has been my comfort, under several Vicissitudes, to think that the disciple of Washington's Headquarters had never ceased to be a faithful Servant to the Cause and will die a...Veteran in the principles to which he owes its Adoption among the Citizens of the American Republics. May I, as a Proprietor in the new incorporated Country, so interesting to me on every account, have my share in promoting the peculiar Welfare of Louisiana, the General Good of the Union and the Enlightened Views of its Government..." Lafayette returned to France after Yorktown only to become embroiled in the turbulent military and political upheavals of revolutionary France, during which he commanded an army against Austria, fell out of favor with the Jacobins, fled to Belgium, was imprisoned by the Prussians for five years and finally freed by Napoleon in 1800, to find his lands and fortune devastated. Although he had refused payment of his salary during his service in America, in 1794 Congress awarded him $24,424 in back pay, followed in 1803 by the grant of 11,520 acres of land, although it was years before the destitute Marquis would profit directly from that gift (see also lot 35).
LAFAYETTE, GILBERT DU MOTIER, Marquis de . Autograph letter signed ("Lafayette") TO SECRETARY OF WAR GENERAL HENRY DEARBORN, n.p., n.d. [early 1804?]. 2 pages, 4to, 228 x 184 mm. (9 1/8 x 7 1/4 in.), quarter red morocco gilt slipcase. AMERICA'S TRIBUTE TO AN OLD ALLY: LAFAYETTE ACKNOWLEDGES THE GIFT OF LAND IN LOUISIANA AND SALUTES "THE WELFARE OF LOUISIANA, THE GENERAL GOOD OF THE UNION AND THE ENLIGHTENED VIEWS OF ITS GOVERNMENT" Lafayette had recently been visited by John Armstrong Jr. (son of the Revolutionary War general, now American Minister to France) and learned rom him that Congress, to honor Lafayette's services during the war, had voted to grant him a sizeable tract of land in the newly acquired Louisiana territory. Lafayette's acknowledgement to Secretary of War Dearborn, is typically flowery: "Your kind communication of the 30th December had but lately been welcomed...when I was acquainted by General Armstrong's arrival that Congress have been pleased, by an unanimous Vote...munificently to extend...[a grant of] Lands in Louisiana. Permit me, Sir to anticipate the official information and through your Channel, to offer the expression of a gratitude equal to the Honor...and to the exalted sense I have of favours conferred by the Representatives of the United States. I am proud to acknowledge that in my poorer Circumstances...the Bounty of Congress has been peculiarly seasonable, and what Fortune can have so precious a source as that which is endear'd and ennobled by the happy Remembrances and the consoling Spectacle of American Liberty! This immense Gift to one of your fellow Soldiers I will consider as a certificate of individual merit than as a retrospection to the Services of the Army in which I had the Honor to Rank. It has been my comfort, under several Vicissitudes, to think that the disciple of Washington's Headquarters had never ceased to be a faithful Servant to the Cause and will die a...Veteran in the principles to which he owes its Adoption among the Citizens of the American Republics. May I, as a Proprietor in the new incorporated Country, so interesting to me on every account, have my share in promoting the peculiar Welfare of Louisiana, the General Good of the Union and the Enlightened Views of its Government..." Lafayette returned to France after Yorktown only to become embroiled in the turbulent military and political upheavals of revolutionary France, during which he commanded an army against Austria, fell out of favor with the Jacobins, fled to Belgium, was imprisoned by the Prussians for five years and finally freed by Napoleon in 1800, to find his lands and fortune devastated. Although he had refused payment of his salary during his service in America, in 1794 Congress awarded him $24,424 in back pay, followed in 1803 by the grant of 11,520 acres of land, although it was years before the destitute Marquis would profit directly from that gift (see also lot 35).
.jpg "Source: Christie's")
Try LotSearch and its premium features for 7 days - without any costs!
Be notified automatically about new items in upcoming auctions.
Create an alert
.jpg "Source: Christie's")
.jpg "Source: Christie's")
