Auction details
9:00 AM PT - Nov 19th, 2008
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MARSHALL, John. Autograph letter signed to Major Henry Lee, concerning his Life of Washington. Richmond: 11 August 1833. 2? pp., folded sheet with integral address leaf (255 x 200 mm). Signed "J. Marshall." Housed in a cloth chemise and morocco-backed slipcase. Condition: hole from opening filled, silked at an early date. a fine detailed letter from the supreme court chief justice to the son of "light horse harry" lee, discussing his important biography of washington and his treatment of a secret mission to capture benedict arnold, the battle of hobkirk's hill, washington's response to the newburgh conspiracy, the xyz affair and other matters. The letter begins with a reference to two letters Marshall had received from Lee, both evidently concerning various aspects of the biography of Washington. "I wish very much that your remarks had occurred to me before the book was published," Marshall writes. "Some alterations would have taken place in it." The letter then continues with a point by point response to various statements made by Lee, the most notable of which concerns the Champe Affair. In 1780, Major Henry Lee (the father of the correspondent) hatched a plan to send his Sergeant Major as a spy to infiltrate Benedict Arnold's legion and attempt to capture the traitor and bring him to justice. Known only to Washington, Lee and Champe, the latter pretended to desert and join the British at New York. While obtaining valuable intelligence, Champe did not succeed in capturing Arnold and after the war was branded himself as a traitor, the Public not knowing his secret mission. "I regret that Champe's affair is entirely pretermitted," Marshall writes in this letter. "Had I suspected that the effect of this silence could have been such as you suggest, I should have made some allusions to it. ... I have not alluded to it because, for all that part of the narrative for which no authority is cited, I profess to rely on the manuscript papers of General Washington. Had his letter to your Father of October 20th 1780, been among the papers placed in my hands, I think it almost impossible that I could have omitted to notice it in the original work." The letter next turns to conflicting accounts of the battle of Hobkirk's Hill, with Marshall taking the position that "it did and does appear to me improbable considering the smallness of the columns engaged in battle, that the cavalry could have made an impetuous charge..." Marshall next addresses why he did not include any comment on Washington's reaction to the Newburgh Conspiracy (the 1783 planned attempt by various officers to overthrow Congress and institute martial law in retaliation for not receiving their wages), explaining that Washington's letter to John Armstrong on the matter was not known to him: "I have no recollection of having ever read the letter to which you allude until it was published by General [John] Armstrong." Concerning the XYZ Affair, Marshall writes: "I believe, though I have no other foundation for my belief than is expressed by yourself, that Mr. Jefferson, in his letter to Mr. Gerry, designed to comprehend me with that gentleman as favoring pacific measures. The injunction is not in supposing that I should be found in favor of them, but that General Pinckney would be opposed to them. Not the slightest foundation existed for such a surmise..." The letter concludes with a discussion of various correspondence between Jefferson, Madison, Jay and Randolph. Published in the Papers of John Marshall, vol. xii, pp. 294-297.ImagesClick on thumbnails to see larger images: 
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