HANCOCK, John (1737-1793), Signer, Massachusetts . Autograph letter signed ("John Hancock") as governor, to General Benjamin Lincoln (1733-1810), Boston, 15 August 1781. 2½ pages, folio, seal hole neatly repaired, otherwise in excellent condition. Hancock's signature with large flourish.
HANCOCK, John (1737-1793), Signer, Massachusetts . Autograph letter signed ("John Hancock") as governor, to General Benjamin Lincoln (1733-1810), Boston, 15 August 1781. 2½ pages, folio, seal hole neatly repaired, otherwise in excellent condition. Hancock's signature with large flourish. PRELUDE TO YORKTOWN: HANCOCK ORDERS MILITIA TO JOIN WASHINGTON AT THE WEST POINT RENDEZ-VOUS A superb war-date Hancock letter--one of the finest examples we have handled--ordering a large force of Massachusetts militia to join the army under Washington massing at West Point, the rendez-vous for the Yorktown expedition. The Massachusetts Assembly had authorized the raising of a 2,700 man militia force. "I issued positive orders to the several Brigadiers to raise & March them to West Point or such other place as his Excellency General Washington should direct, and was very much surprised to find there had been any Delay in this business..." Hancock reiterates his order, telling Lincoln that "this Delay may in some measure be owing to the Unorganiz'd state our Militia has been in since the Commencement of the present Constitution." More worrying was a rumor spread by "designing men" that the troops were being held back because "the Militia was not wanted." On a happier note he's pleased to report his State's success in supplying "considerably more" than the stipulated "quota of beef....As to Rum, there has been a quantity procur'd & sent on to Springfield, & we have lately been affording assistance to the Qr. Mr Genl. to enable him to transport it to Camp. It is of such importance that the Army should be fill'd up & regularly supplied, that you may Depend no exertions of the Executive here shall be wanting to effect these purposes." Yet it distresses him to think that Washington or Lincoln might be displeased by his performance. "I was averse to trouble the General, under the multiplicity of his concerns, with frequent letters, but I should be made unhappy beyond expression if the general or you should construe it into inattention, so far from that, I can assure you I have been endeavouring most assiduously since the Assembly was up, to have our men in the field & our supplies regularly at Camp..." On the same day, Hancock sent an almost identically worded letter to Washington. One day prior, on 14 August, Washington received the crucial intelligence that Admiral de Grasse was sailing for the Chesapeake with a fleet of 29 ships and 3,000 men. This convinced him to drop his plans to attack New York City, and to make for Virginia. The Massachusetts men were needed either for the main Continental force marching to Yorktown, and, equally important, to stand between that force and the newly reinforced (and now 15,000 strong) British and Hessian garrison at New York, and to guard Washington's southward march. Three Massachusetts companies fought at Yorktown under Moses Haven's brigade.
HANCOCK, John (1737-1793), Signer, Massachusetts . Autograph letter signed ("John Hancock") as governor, to General Benjamin Lincoln (1733-1810), Boston, 15 August 1781. 2½ pages, folio, seal hole neatly repaired, otherwise in excellent condition. Hancock's signature with large flourish.
HANCOCK, John (1737-1793), Signer, Massachusetts . Autograph letter signed ("John Hancock") as governor, to General Benjamin Lincoln (1733-1810), Boston, 15 August 1781. 2½ pages, folio, seal hole neatly repaired, otherwise in excellent condition. Hancock's signature with large flourish. PRELUDE TO YORKTOWN: HANCOCK ORDERS MILITIA TO JOIN WASHINGTON AT THE WEST POINT RENDEZ-VOUS A superb war-date Hancock letter--one of the finest examples we have handled--ordering a large force of Massachusetts militia to join the army under Washington massing at West Point, the rendez-vous for the Yorktown expedition. The Massachusetts Assembly had authorized the raising of a 2,700 man militia force. "I issued positive orders to the several Brigadiers to raise & March them to West Point or such other place as his Excellency General Washington should direct, and was very much surprised to find there had been any Delay in this business..." Hancock reiterates his order, telling Lincoln that "this Delay may in some measure be owing to the Unorganiz'd state our Militia has been in since the Commencement of the present Constitution." More worrying was a rumor spread by "designing men" that the troops were being held back because "the Militia was not wanted." On a happier note he's pleased to report his State's success in supplying "considerably more" than the stipulated "quota of beef....As to Rum, there has been a quantity procur'd & sent on to Springfield, & we have lately been affording assistance to the Qr. Mr Genl. to enable him to transport it to Camp. It is of such importance that the Army should be fill'd up & regularly supplied, that you may Depend no exertions of the Executive here shall be wanting to effect these purposes." Yet it distresses him to think that Washington or Lincoln might be displeased by his performance. "I was averse to trouble the General, under the multiplicity of his concerns, with frequent letters, but I should be made unhappy beyond expression if the general or you should construe it into inattention, so far from that, I can assure you I have been endeavouring most assiduously since the Assembly was up, to have our men in the field & our supplies regularly at Camp..." On the same day, Hancock sent an almost identically worded letter to Washington. One day prior, on 14 August, Washington received the crucial intelligence that Admiral de Grasse was sailing for the Chesapeake with a fleet of 29 ships and 3,000 men. This convinced him to drop his plans to attack New York City, and to make for Virginia. The Massachusetts men were needed either for the main Continental force marching to Yorktown, and, equally important, to stand between that force and the newly reinforced (and now 15,000 strong) British and Hessian garrison at New York, and to guard Washington's southward march. Three Massachusetts companies fought at Yorktown under Moses Haven's brigade.
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