George Washington Wartime Letter to New York Governor Sold for $45,375

A Revolutionary War letter signed by George Washington and sent to New York Governor George Clinton has sold for $45,375 at RR Auction's Fine Autographs and Artifacts sale.

Dated June 10, 1779, the letter was written at Washington’s headquarters during the American response to a British offensive in the Hudson Valley. Washington’s aide-de-camp James McHenry penned the text, and Washington signed it “Go: Washington.”

British forces under Sir Henry Clinton had seized the American fortifications at Stony Point and Verplanck’s Point on June 1, taking control of the strategically important King’s Ferry crossing. The action threatened communications between New England and the Middle Colonies. New York militia forces had been called into service under Clinton to help meet the threat. In the letter, Washington acknowledges the difficulty of keeping the militia in the field during the farming season and says he had anticipated the governor’s wish for their discharge. He thanks the troops for the “zeal and alacrity they have discovered on the present interesting occasion.” Five weeks later, Continental Army troops led by Brig. Gen. Anthony Wayne recaptured Stony Point in a nighttime assault.

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