“MY COUNTRY WILL SOON BE FREE”
23
●
(AMERICAN REVOLUTION—PRELUDE.)
The Massachusetts Spy, or,
Thomas’s Boston Journal.
Illustrated “Join or Die” masthead by Paul Revere. 4 pages,
17
1
/
2
x 11 inches, on one sheet; disbound, worn at folds with slight loss, minor damp-
staining.
Boston: Isaiah Thomas, 25 August 1774
[2,000/3,000]
Filled with pre-revolutionary news and opinion. A long letter from “A Connecticut Farmer”
supports the non-importation movement. Letters from the Committees of Correspondence in
Dartmouth and Brookline, MA, and a long report from Charleston, SC show that Boston was
not alone. A letter from Berkshire County describes how the people prevented the colonial court
from convening, adding that “blood will too probably be spilled in this contest.” Most dramati-
cally, a letter to Governor Gage signed “Fabius” concludes “I know my country will soon be
free, and her incorrigible enemies will lick the dust.” Brigham, Paul Revere’s Engravings, page
202 and plate 70.
24
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(AMERICAN REVOLUTION.) [Clinton, George.]
Letter to General
Washington concerning a band of Tory bandits in the Catskill Mountains.
Autograph Letter as Governor of New York to “Dear Sir” [George Washington], retained
draft with many deletions and emendations. 2 pages on one sheet, 13 x 8
1
/
4
inches; partial
separation along one fold, two ink-burn holes, minor edge wear with minimal loss of text.
Poughkeepsie, NY, 18 May 1779
[1,000/1,500]
Governor Clinton requests permission from the Commander-in-Chief to send a militia unit
into the Catskills, hoping to extinguish a band of Tories and Esopus Indians who have been
harassing the countryside: “I was called by an alarm on the frontiers of Ulster County,
occasioned by the appearance of about one hundred Indians and Tories at Shandeacon
[Shandaken], a small settlement in a gorge of the mountains. . . . It is this banditti that have
committed the most of the mischief which has been done in the counties of Ulster & Orange, &
have occassioned all the late distressing alarms. . . . They are perfectly acquainted with the back
country, & I am apprehensive will be very troublesome.”
The signed letter which was mailed to Washington is at the Library of Congress, and is pub-
lished in Sparks, Correspondence of the American Revolution, II:298-301; and Papers of
George Washington, Revolutionary War Series, 20:523-5. Washington’s response is also at
the Library of Congress: “I heartily approve the expedition you propose, and thank your
Excellency for suggesting it” (20:596-7). Provenance: Parke-Bernet sale, 22 November
1955, to James M. Ransom.
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