LAFAYETTE, Marie Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de (1757-1834), Revolutionary War General. Autograph letter signed (“Lafayette”) to Gen. George Weedon (1730-1793), Camp at Sleepy Hole, 20 March 1781. 3 pages, folio, small puncture marks along left edge, small, expert repair to crease on blank verso of signature page ; with autograph address leaf and free frank signed (“Lafayette”). -- [ With :] LAFAYETTE. Letter signed (“Lafayette”) to George Weedon, Williamsburg, 11 September 1781. 3 ½ pages, folio.
LAFAYETTE, Marie Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de (1757-1834), Revolutionary War General. Autograph letter signed (“Lafayette”) to Gen. George Weedon (1730-1793), Camp at Sleepy Hole, 20 March 1781. 3 pages, folio, small puncture marks along left edge, small, expert repair to crease on blank verso of signature page ; with autograph address leaf and free frank signed (“Lafayette”). -- [ With :] LAFAYETTE. Letter signed (“Lafayette”) to George Weedon, Williamsburg, 11 September 1781. 3 ½ pages, folio. “A TRIFLING SCARMISH WHERE WE HAD ONE MAN KILLED, AND AN OFFICER AND ONE PRIVATE WOUNDED” In sometimes halting English—but brimming with military energy—Lafayette takes on the British. “On my arrival at this place I intended to move down the whole corps under Gen. Müllenberg in order that the works of the enemy might be reconnoitered, and of course a plan be settled for the cooperation. But to my great surprise there was no ammunition arrived in camp, so that no men had a sufficiency and many had none at all.” He was hourly expecting a fresh supply. Low ammunition, however, did not stop him from setting out in search of action. “In the meantime I went down with a troop of riflemen and militia who had some cartridges. This brought on a trifling scarmish [sic] where we had one man killed, and an officer and one private wounded. The enemy have lost about twenty...” he asks Weedon to supply 500 axes and reports the arrival at York of “a detachment of French sailors” and “also two French prizes” which he would like Weedon to help supply. “The Baron tells me that there are forty thousand rations at Williams Burg so that you will be in plenty.” Six months later he is making ready for the great, climactic battle at Yorktown. “A camp of about one thousand militia will be formed at Gloucester, which I would be happy if you were to command,” he tells Weedon. “In the meantime, you will render us the most essential service by giving what assistance may be in your power to Mr. Livingston who has engaged to supply the French troops with flour...We have not one ounce at present, nor do I see without great private exertions any prospects of a speedy supply. It may be well enough to have loaded and in readiness what vessels may not be wanted for Gen. Washington. I mean those in the Rappahannock...” Weedon was a Fredericksburg inn keeper, a pre-war acquaintance of Washington and someone who (in the words of a disapproving Englishman) was “very active in blowing the seeds of sedition” (Boatner). He commanded Virginia militia during the Yorktown campaign. 20 March letter published in Idzerda, et al., eds., Lafayette in the Age of the American Revolution, 3:406-407.
LAFAYETTE, Marie Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de (1757-1834), Revolutionary War General. Autograph letter signed (“Lafayette”) to Gen. George Weedon (1730-1793), Camp at Sleepy Hole, 20 March 1781. 3 pages, folio, small puncture marks along left edge, small, expert repair to crease on blank verso of signature page ; with autograph address leaf and free frank signed (“Lafayette”). -- [ With :] LAFAYETTE. Letter signed (“Lafayette”) to George Weedon, Williamsburg, 11 September 1781. 3 ½ pages, folio.
LAFAYETTE, Marie Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de (1757-1834), Revolutionary War General. Autograph letter signed (“Lafayette”) to Gen. George Weedon (1730-1793), Camp at Sleepy Hole, 20 March 1781. 3 pages, folio, small puncture marks along left edge, small, expert repair to crease on blank verso of signature page ; with autograph address leaf and free frank signed (“Lafayette”). -- [ With :] LAFAYETTE. Letter signed (“Lafayette”) to George Weedon, Williamsburg, 11 September 1781. 3 ½ pages, folio. “A TRIFLING SCARMISH WHERE WE HAD ONE MAN KILLED, AND AN OFFICER AND ONE PRIVATE WOUNDED” In sometimes halting English—but brimming with military energy—Lafayette takes on the British. “On my arrival at this place I intended to move down the whole corps under Gen. Müllenberg in order that the works of the enemy might be reconnoitered, and of course a plan be settled for the cooperation. But to my great surprise there was no ammunition arrived in camp, so that no men had a sufficiency and many had none at all.” He was hourly expecting a fresh supply. Low ammunition, however, did not stop him from setting out in search of action. “In the meantime I went down with a troop of riflemen and militia who had some cartridges. This brought on a trifling scarmish [sic] where we had one man killed, and an officer and one private wounded. The enemy have lost about twenty...” he asks Weedon to supply 500 axes and reports the arrival at York of “a detachment of French sailors” and “also two French prizes” which he would like Weedon to help supply. “The Baron tells me that there are forty thousand rations at Williams Burg so that you will be in plenty.” Six months later he is making ready for the great, climactic battle at Yorktown. “A camp of about one thousand militia will be formed at Gloucester, which I would be happy if you were to command,” he tells Weedon. “In the meantime, you will render us the most essential service by giving what assistance may be in your power to Mr. Livingston who has engaged to supply the French troops with flour...We have not one ounce at present, nor do I see without great private exertions any prospects of a speedy supply. It may be well enough to have loaded and in readiness what vessels may not be wanted for Gen. Washington. I mean those in the Rappahannock...” Weedon was a Fredericksburg inn keeper, a pre-war acquaintance of Washington and someone who (in the words of a disapproving Englishman) was “very active in blowing the seeds of sedition” (Boatner). He commanded Virginia militia during the Yorktown campaign. 20 March letter published in Idzerda, et al., eds., Lafayette in the Age of the American Revolution, 3:406-407.
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