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1 1/3 pp, 7 7/8 x 9 ¾, New York, July19th, 1789, ALS, A. Hammond to Major William Alexander regarding surveying work with references to important early Americans, such as Henry Lee and Arthur St. Clair. Hammond is very possible ABIJAH HAMMOND, an American artillery officer in the Revolutionary War in the Continental line. After the war, he became a merchant and a real estate investor active in various endeavors important to the development of New York.
He writes, “I herewith enclose to you three warrants to Survey, one thousand acres of land. One in the name of Lt. Col. Com’d Henry Lee for 500...One in the name of Major James R. Reed for 400 & one in the name of Kearnes for 100, all of which are mine by purchase; and which I wish you to lay for me on some good spot on the Muskingam & as near as possible to the Ohio Company purchase, as in that I am a proprietor of five shares.
“From the very pleasing recommendation I have had of you from our friends Gov. St. Clair & Gen’l Irving, I feel an entire confidence that my wishes on this subject will be fully complied with by you.
“Tho I have not the pleasure of a personal acquaintance yet I feel the affections of a soldier towards you and am sincerely yours,
“A. Hammond”
The address leaf states that the letter was forwarded by The Honorable Genl. Irving.
Hammond mentions several notable early Americans, including WILLIAM ALEXANDER, the recipient of the letter. [Research included]
HAMMOND was present at the battles of Brandywine, Germantown, Monmouth and Yorktown. He was an original member of the New York State Society of the Cincinnati, where he developed a friendship with Alexander Hamilton, later serving as a pallbearer at his funeral in 1804. Hammond joined the New York Manumission Society, an American organization founded by John Jay to promote the gradual abolition of slavery within the state of New York. He and Hamilton sought to create a law to prevent the exportation of slaves from New York.
WILLIAM ALEXANDER, known as Lord Stirling, was a Continental Army general. He was born in New York City in 1726, the son of James Alexander, at one time the surveyor general of New York and New Jersey and a noted colonial lawyer. William was a strong supporter of the Americans in the Revolutionary War. In November 1775, he was appointed colonel of the first regiment of the New Jersey militia, outfitting soldiers at his own expense. At the Battle of Long Island, he held off British troops long enough to enable George Washington to evacuate the remainder of his forces. He was briefly taken prisoner and in 1777, he was appointed major general. He also participated in the battles of Trenton, Princeton, Brandywine and Germantown. In 1781, he took command of the northern department at Albany to check an expected invasion from Canada.
HENRY LEE (1756 – 1818), also known as Light-Horse Harry Lee or Henry Lee III, was an officer in the Continental and U.S. armies, a representative from Virginia to the Confederation Congress and the U.S. House of Representatives. Lee distinguished himself during the Revolution, fighting under generals George Washington and Nathanael Greene. After the war, he served time in debtor’s prison and in 1812, an encounter with a Federalist mob in Baltimore left him disfigured and ailing. Lee traveled abroad to escape his creditors, but died in Georgia in 1818.
ARTHUR ST. CLAIR (1737 – 1818) was a Scottish-American soldier and politician. He served in the British Army during the French and Indian War before settling in Pennsylsvana, where he held local office. During the Revolutionary War, he rose to the rank of major general in the Continental Army but lost his command after a controversial retreat from Fort Ticonderoga. After the war, he served as President of the Continental Congress. He was later made governor of the Northwest Territory in 1788 and then the portion that would become Ohio. In 1791, St. Clair commanded the American forces in what was the United States’ worst-ever defeat by the Native Americans, which became known as St. Clair’s defeat. Politically out of step with the Jefferson administration, he was replaced as governor in 1802.
Folds, toning. Seal tear. Else very good condition and a fine example of early American land surveying, mentioning several important people.
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