David Wooster autograph letter signed ("David Wooster"). One page, 7.5" x 9.25", Greenwich, [Connecticut]; June 24, 1775. Addressed to the Honorable Eliphalet Dyer. Brigadier General David Wooster writes just two days after accepting his commission, discussing his orders to march to New York. David Wooster (1711-1777), a veteran of two colonial wars, served as a major general of the Connecticut militia during the outbreak of the Revolutionary War and was named brigadier general by Congress on June 22, 1775. In this letter, penned just two days after the appointment, Wooster writes to Dyer, presumably as a member of the Connecticut Committee of Safety, to transmit his orders from Governor Jonathan Trumbull to take his regiments to New York. He also discusses the British troops that were expected to arrive shortly from Ireland. It reads, in part: "Your favour of the 17th Instant I received, & have since received Orders from his honour Govr. Trumbull to march with seven companies of my Regiment and the whole of Col. Waterbery's to within five miles of New York where we are to encamp & to be subject to the Orders of the Continental Congress, and the provincial Congress of New York. Should the Troops which have been expected from Ireland attempt to land at New York, I take the liberty to give it as my opinion that they ought by no means to be suffered to land & hope to be so happy as to soon hear that the Congress agree with me in sentiment, accept of my Compts. for yourself..." Signed, "David Wooster." Wooster participated in the invasion of Canada and spent the majority of 1775 and 1776 in that area. In April 1777, a combined American force under Major General Wooster, Brigadier General Silliman, and Brigadier General Benedict Arnold--700 strong--engaged an invasion force near the Connecticut town of Ridgefield. The resulting battle proved a tactical victory for British troops but served as a strategic victory for American forces due to the consequent extraction of British soldiers from the area and increased Patriot support. When the battle was over, American forces reportedly killed or wounded 200 British soldiers and captured 40 more; American losses included 20 killed and 80 wounded. Unfortunately, among that number was General Wooster, who was shot while attempting to hold off General William Tyron's advance. He died five days later, on May 2, 1777, in Danbury. In July 1779, General Tryon returned to Connecticut and carried out a devastating raid along the port cities, burning private and public property without discrimination. One of the houses struck was that of Mary Clap Wooster (1729-1807), General Wooster's widow. In the Papers of the New Haven Colony Historical Society, they quote from the letter of Isaac Beers, who wrote to his family on July 16, 1779 to describe the raid. "I suppose long before this that you have heard of the great misfortune that has befallen this town; in being plundered by the enemy...Old Mrs. Wooster staid in her house and was most shockingly abused, everything in the house was destroyed or carried off by them, not a bed left or the smallest article in the kitchen..." The destruction of Mrs. Wooster's property is also mentioned in Chapter Sketches: Connecticut Daughters of the American Revolution, where the authors assert that the British, aware she was the widow of a Continental general, chose her home deliberately and destroyed any manuscript material they encountered claiming it was seditious. Due to the general's premature death and his personal correspondence being destroyed in the 1779 raid, autograph material from Wooster is among the scarcest of Revolutionary generals. This letter, with its unique wartime content, is a rare survival. It is accompanied by an engraving of Wooster in uniform by J. B. Longacre. Reference: Papers of the New Haven Colony Historical Society, Vol. II. New Haven: Printed for the Society, 1877. Pages 78-79; Chapter Sketches: Connecticut Daughters of the American Revolution, Patron Saints, ed. Mary Philotheta Root and Katherine Gaylord Chapter. New Haven: Published by Connecticut Chapters, Daughters of the American Revolution, [1901]. Pages 107-114. Condition: Later ink annotations to recto. Sticker in left margin which does not touch any text. Light scattered soiling. HID03101062020 © 2022 Heritage Auctions | All Rights Reserved

Buyer's Premium per Lot:
25% on the first $300,000 (minimum $49), plus 20% of any amount between $300,001 and $3,000,000, plus 15% of any amount over $3,000,001 per lot.