Autographs
Brevet Brigadier Revolutionary War General Walter Stewart Plans to Visit "the city of Washington"
WALTER STEWART (1756-1796). Continental Army Brevet Brigadier General in the Revolutionary War; served as an Aide-de-Camp to Major Gereral Horatio Gates; led his 2nd PA. Regiment troops with distinction at Brandywine and Germantown in 1777; wounded while leading a detachment at the Battle of Monmouth in the Summer of 1778. His full-length portrait is forever secured in the famous historic Painting by Col. John Trumbull of the Surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown, his image on the left of the line of the American officers.
October 29, 1794-Dated Federal Period, Autograph Letter Signed, "W. Stewart", 2 pages plus Integral Address Leaf, measuring about 8" x 5", Very Fine. Lightly tipped onto a larger sheet for display with an 4.5" x 3.75" photogravure portrait image of General Stewart being die set above, measuring about 14" x 8.5" overall. Here, Stewart writes to "John Nicholson" (1757-1800) on business and property matters and mentions his plans to visit "the city of Washington" in a few days. John Nicholson was Comptroller General of Pennsylvania and a business associate of Declaration Signer Robert Morris in the North Americn Land Company. Nicholson was a financier and land speculator who was elected Comptroller General of Pennsylvania from 1782 to 1794. He was impeached for mismanaging state funds for his own gain in 1793 but was found not guilty. Nicely written in even brown ink on clean laid period paper by Stewart, his signature at the conclusion of page 2 measuring about 2.5" long. A scarce signature of a major military figure throughout the Revolutionary War lacking in most collections.
Walter Stewart (1756 " June 16, 1796) was an Irish-born American general in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War.
Stewart began his military career as captain of a Pennsylvania infantry company at the beginning of the American Revolutionary War. He served as an aide-de-camp to Horatio Gates for a year with the rank of major. Given command of the Pennsylvania State Regiment, which later became the 13th Pennsylvania Regiment, Stewart led his troops with distinction at Brandywine and Germantown in 1777. He was wounded while leading a detachment at the Battle of Monmouth in the summer of 1778.
Despite Stewart's ability to cool tensions during the 1780 mutiny of the Connecticut Line, his regiment later became involved in the Pennsylvania Line Mutiny.
John Nicholson, comptroller general of Pennsylvania and land company promoter, was born in Wales and emigrated to Philadelphia with his brother Samuel prior to the American Revolution.
Nicholson was chosen one of three commissioners of accounts of Pennsylvania in 1781, and in the following year the legislature abolished the commission and appointed Nicholson comptroller general of the state with very broad powers. For the next twelve years Nicholson was the virtual fiscal dictator of Pennsylvania, and under his management the state was the first to be restored to financial stability after the turmoil of the Revolution.
Nicholson was a radical in politics and was opposed to the formation of a strong federal government. As the radicals' strength waned after their defeat over the Constitution, Nicholson's high-handed methods increasingly came under attack. He was impeached on a charge of diverting state funds in 1793. He was acquitted by the Senate in 1794 but resigned all his offices.
The charges against Nicholson grew out of his intermingling of private and official business. Nicholson was increasingly involved in land speculation on a truly grand scale, often in partnership with Revolutionary financier Robert Morris. In 1792 they formed the Pennsylvania Population Company with the likes of Aaron Burr and James Wilson. In the same year, Morris and Nicholson sold 200,000 acres on the upper Susquehanna River to a group of refugees from the French Revolution. When they proved unable to meet the terms of their contract, the Asylum Company was formed to manage the property.
The firm of Morris & Nicholson acquired 7,000 lots in the new federal city of Washington and built one-third of the structures that were standing there when it became the national capital. Nicholson, Morris, and James Greenleaf formed the North American Land Company in 1795 with 6 million acres in Pennsylvania, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Kentucky. On his own account, Nicholson organized the Territorial Land Company in 1796 and the Pennsylvania Land Company in 1797.
Less well known are Nicholson's efforts at promoting economic development through both transportation improvements and industrial innovation. He was the driving spirit behind Pennsylvania's extensive program of roads and canals, including the three private canal companies and the Philadelphia & Lancaster Turnpike, which together formed the centerpiece of the system. The Society for Promoting the Improvement of Roads and Inland Navigation was also responsible for arranging the emigration from England of William Weston, the first professional civil engineer in America.
Nicholson was also joined with Robert Morris in attempting to develop a manufacturing complex at the Falls of Schuylkill near Philadelphia and helped form the Lehigh Coal Mine Company, one of the first ventures to mine anthracite coal.
He sponsored and supported many important American inventors and mechanics, including the steamboat inventor John Fitch, and encouraged the emigration of skilled technicians from England. While most of these ventures foundered for lack of capital, some laid the foundation for future developments.
When the inflationary bubble burst in late 1796, Nicholson was greatly overextended, and his paper empire soon collapsed. Robert Morris went to debtor's prison in 1798 and Nicholson followed in the winter of 1799-1800. Although he tried to salvage his affairs from prison, his optimism eventually failed. He suffered a complete mental and physical breakdown and died in prison on December 5, 1800, leaving debts of over $4 million.