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PETER COLT (1744-1824) was a Connecticut industrialist, financier and a paymaster during the Revolutionary War. He was also co-founder of the Hartford textile mill which produced the suits worn by George Washington, John Adams and many members of Congress at the first Presidential Inauguration in 1789.The brown cloth from which the suits were cut became known as “Congress brown.” Colt attended the state convention for ratifying the U.S. Constitution. He later managed the first cotton mill in New Jersey. Colt was the grandfather of firearms manufacturer Samuel Colt.
Offering a 3 pp, 7 ¼ x 8 ¾, Hartford, May 5, 1793, ALS from PETER COLT to Nicholas Low of New York about the difficulty in purchasing cotton, a problem caused by the French Revolutionary War.
“Yesterday, I learnt that the Cotton Wool respecting which my Nephew had wrote you & which I expected to have purchased for Marhalls uses is not like to come to hand. The person who furnished the samples said he had 7 Bales on board a vessel then in this River & that it might be expected up the first wind – we supposed it his own property. In applying yesterday to know if it was arrived it comes out to have been a consignment & that the vessel on which it was shipped at London – has been ordered another way – whether it has happened that the owner has heard of the rise of cotton in N York or that it has been purchased for the works at Norwich, I cannot yet ascertain. – It has however gone out of our reach – a few bales more is hourly expected from Demerara, but as we may be disappointed in getting it, I think you had better secure a few bales in New York & send on to Paterson – It is probable more may arrive...so as to lower the price at N. York but the idea seems pretty general all kinds of West Indies produce must rise on acct of the war [The French Revolutionary War]. Demerara Cotton has been selling here @2/5 of their currency...
“As I am now out of the hospital, I shall be able seriously to apply to business & shall exert myself to get mine in a situation to return to Paterson tho I fear some detention here; as it will probably be ten days before Mrs. Colt can return home from the hospital with the children. I shall keep you advised of my situation—In the meantime will it be convenient for you to take a trip to Paterson & see how they get on – I have wrote Cummin & others there & hope for their best exertion to service the Society. I am most uneasy about the procuring so large a quantity of bricks as we must have for the Canal & mills – Cummins should be advised on this... He had better come & consult you in this subject in N. York.
“P.S. As friend Watson will want an airing, I pray you to take him along to Paterson.
“I am very
“Respectfully
“Sir...
“P Colt”
NICHOLAS LOW (1739-1826), the recipient of this letter, was an American merchant and developer from New York City. Low became active in civic and state affairs. A power vacuum was created in the city when the Loyalist population, including his brother Isaac, left with the British Army when it evacuated in 1783. Low served in the New York Assembly from 1787 to 1789 and in the New York Legislatures. He attended the state’s 1788 convention that ratified the U.S. Constitution.
In 1793, the year this letter was written, the primary conflict in the West Indies was the opening phase of the French Revolutionary Wars (1793-1802) as Britan and its allies fought France for control of the Caribbean sugar islands.
Folds, toning. Seal tear not affecting text. Nice integral address leaf.
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