Plan your visit. 225 Madison Avenue at 36th Street, New York, NY 10016.

Plan your visit. 225 Madison Avenue at 36th Street, New York, NY 10016.

Autograph letter signed : Philadelphia, to General Greene, 1781 Oct. 3.

BIB_ID
116725
Accession number
MA 489.63
Creator
Varnum, James M. (James Mitchell), 1748-1789.
Display Date
1781 Oct. 3.
Credit line
Purchased by Pierpont Morgan, 1907.
Description
1 item (2 p.) ; 32.7 cm
Notes
Endorsed on recto.
This item is part of a collection of letters and documents concerning the siege of Yorktown and the surrender of Cornwallis; see main record for MA 488-489 for more information.
Provenance
Purchased by Pierpont Morgan from New York dealer Joseph F. Sabin, 1907.
Summary
Commenting that it is difficult to predict events during an "active Campaign" but expressing his assumption that Cornwallis will be captured and Washington will "lay before Charlestown" in the winter; expressing hope that if that is the case, he can be "recalled from a fatiguing tho' glorious Service to the Head of the War Department. This Department waits for you, but the Belligerent Mars interposes a Frown! In our peaceful Situation we are awed at the Checks of the controuling God, & can confess with him, that Northern Rigor is necessary to invigorate Southern Indolence;" saying that though he has written to him infrequently, he has kept a correspondence with his wife and encloses a letter from her; adding that the "Sacrifice of domestic Felicity is known only to those who have made it; but the Consciousness of person[al] Virtue, of great Exploits & universal Applause can in Some happy Measure form a Compensation;" reporting that the Governor of Georgia has asked for arms and supplies but Congress "cannot comply" and Sir Henry Clinton "has threatened New Jersey and Pennsylvania for some time;" wishing him a safe return to his friends.