Signed/Inscribed Books

A RARE REVOLUTIONARY WAR LETTER WRITTEN ENTIRELY IN WASHINGTON’S HAND, PERSONALLY DIRECTING THE OFFICER WHO RAN HIS SECRET INTELLIGENCE NETWORK. As commander-in-chief, Washington frequently relied on aides and secretaries to write out his wartime correspondence for signature. Fully autograph letters with substantive operational content are considerably scarcer. Here Washington writes the entire communication himself, setting out exactly what he needs to know from behind British lines. By late 1780, intelligence was central to Washington’s conduct of the war. British headquarters remained in New York City, while British forces could move rapidly by sea toward New England, the Hudson, Virginia, or the Carolinas. Washington needed timely information about troop strength, embarkations, commanders, destinations, and the disposition of forces left behind in order to understand where the British might strike next. To obtain that information, he relied on Major Benjamin Tallmadge, the officer who managed what became known as the Culper Spy Ring. Organized around a small network of trusted agents in New York City and Long Island, the ring gathered intelligence behind British lines and passed it secretly through couriers, aliases, numerical codes, and invisible ink to Tallmadge and ultimately to Washington. Its purpose was the collection of exactly the kind of military information Washington requests here. The present letter shows Washington personally directing that intelligence effort. He asks Tallmadge to determine what British troops had already gone south; whether another embarkation was underway and, if so, its timing, size, composition, and commander; and the number and disposition of the troops remaining on Long Island and Manhattan. “You would oblige me by ascertaining as soon as possible the following things.— “The number of Troops and different Corps that composed the last detachment which is supposed to have gone to the Southwd. “The truth of the present report of another Imbarkation taking place—when it will happen—& to what amount in Men & Corps—and who is to commd. the detachment.— “The present disposition of the remaining Troops on Long Island and York Island and the number at each place” Washington closes by urging speed and asking Tallmadge to distinguish “between things certain and matters of mere report.” Tallmadge was especially suited to the role. A Yale classmate and close friend of Nathan Hale, Tallmadge stood at the next stage in Washington’s development of wartime intelligence. Hale had volunteered in 1776 for a mission ordered by Washington to discover British intentions on Long Island; he was captured and executed before his intelligence could reach American headquarters. Two years later, Washington entrusted Tallmadge with a far more sophisticated and durable intelligence system around British-occupied New York. The request came only weeks after the exposure of Benedict Arnold’s treason, a reminder of how central intelligence and counterintelligence had become to Washington’s conduct of the war. Tallmadge subsequently led a raid across Long Island Sound that captured Fort St. George and destroyed British military supplies. The sequence is compelling: in the present letter, dated 4 November, Washington asks Tallmadge for intelligence on British strength and dispositions; Tallmadge’s network continues to report from behind enemy lines; and within weeks Tallmadge carries out a successful strike against a British position on Long Island. In a letter dated 28 November, Washington congratulated Tallmadge on the operation, noting that its effects “must be severely felt by the Enemy at this time.” The present letter combines three qualities that are rarely found together: a Revolutionary War communication entirely in Washington’s hand; direct correspondence with the officer who ran his principal intelligence network in British-held New York; and substantive operational content concerning British troop movements and intentions. It is a rare and unusually vivid record of Washington personally directing wartime intelligence. PROVENANCE: Benjamin Tallmadge; by descent to Frederick A. Tallmadge; presented by him in 1845 to William Frederick Havemeyer, Mayor of New York, as “the last & only letter that I possess written entirely by Genl Washington to my venerable parent”; by descent in the Havemeyer family. WASHINGTON, GEORGE. Autograph letter signed (“Go: Washington”) to Major Benjamin Tallmadge. Headquarters [Preakness, New Jersey], 4 November 1780. 1½ pages (226 × 188 mm), on a leaf of laid paper. Docketed at the foot by Tallmadge’s son: “This letter was addressed to Maj Benj Tallmadge, 2 Reg’t Dragoons. F.A. Tallmadge.” Address leaf lacking. Housed in a half red morocco slipcase with chemise. REFERENCES: The Papers of George Washington, Revolutionary War Series, vol. 29; Fitzpatrick, Writings of George Washington, 20:292–93; Celebration of My Country 87. less