Lot 264

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Lot 264
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George Washington's Retreat Across New Jersey in 1776 Handwritten Map - Fantastic Provenance Going Back Almost 100 Years!
George Washington's Retreat Across New Jersey in 1776 Handwritten Map - Fantastic Provenance Going Back Almost 100 Years!
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Description:

Washington George

 

George Washington's Retreat Across New Jersey in 1776 Handwritten Map - Fantastic Provenance Going Back Almost 100 Years!

 

Manuscript Map of Route of the Continental Army's Retreat from New York to Philadelphia in late 1776, ca. 1777-1779. Wrapped around several pages of the Provincial Laws of Massachusetts Bay (pp. 35-59), printed by Benjamin Edes in Watertown, Massachusetts, in 1776. According to a handwritten inscription, this copy of the laws was for the Town of Stockbridge in Berkshire County in extreme western Massachusetts. 30 pp., including wrapper, 9.5" x 14".  Browning and some loss to edges, which have been reinforced. Sewn together with string. 

 

Ex-Charles I. Forbes circa 1960, Charles Eliot Norton, sold by Anderson Galleries March 1, 1922 and attributed by them as “undoubtedly of contemporary execution”.

 

This manuscript map indicates the route of General George Washington and his Continental Army with parallel dotted lines beginning with the river crossing from Manhattan to Fort Lee, then south down the New Jersey shore to Newark, Elizabeth Town, and Woodbridge, then inland to Brunswick, Princeton, Stony Brook, and Trenton on the Delaware River. Separate parallel dotted lines appear from Somerset to Princeton. Single dotted lines diverge from Elizabeth Town to Morristown and back to Brunswick, and another set from Woodbridge to Amboy and on to Burlington. The towns of Bristol, Burlington, and Philadelphia also appear along the Delaware River. The map also includes a portion of Long Island, all of Staten Island, New York City, and Forts Lee and Washington (not labeled).

 

Written over much of the map are mathematical calculations and names, including James Gray, James Gray Jr., John Taylor Jr., and Joseph Woodbridge, and the years 1764, 1765, 1769, 1777, and 1779. At the end of the printed laws appears the inscription “Joseph Woodbridge / 1779.”

Undoubtedly, the map was executed by one of the above-named people.

 

The twenty-five pages of provincial laws of Massachusetts-Bay include ten acts, among which are a law updating allowable fees in various courts; “An Act to prevent the forging and altering Bills of public Credit, and for preventing the Depreciation thereof; and for making the Bills of Credit of the United Colonies, and the Bills of this Government, a Tender in all Payments”; two amendments to an act regarding armed vessels to defend the coast; “An Act for raising and forming a Regiment or Troop of Horse, out of the several Regiments of Foot in the County of Worcester”; an act for simplifying the recovery of debts; and “An Act to supply the Treasury with Fifty Thousand Pounds, and for drawing the same out again.

 

Historical Background:

 

After the British victory in the Battle of Long Island in August 1776, General George Washington was forced to retreat with the Continental Army to Manhattan. Although the American forces checked the British advance at the Battle of Harlem Heights in mid-September, Washington retreated further north to White Plains, where in late October, the British again defeated the Continental Army, pushing it farther north. British forces completed the occupation of Manhattan by defeating and capturing the garrison at Fort Washington on the east bank of the Hudson River in mid-November.

 

With the loss of Fort Washington, the Americans could not hold Fort Lee, just across the Hudson River in New Jersey. Americans evacuated the fort on November 20, 1776, and Washington and what remained of his army began a retreat across New Jersey. During this retreat, Thomas Paine wrote “The American Crisis,” which begins, “These are the times that try men’s souls.” Washington's Continental Army retreated through Hackensack, then south through Newark and Elizabeth to Woodbridge. They then turned inland and crossed the Raritan River at Brunswick, then continued southeast to Princeton to Trenton on the Delaware River. British troops under General Lord Cornwallis pursued Washington's army through New Jersey, and the Americans crossed the Delaware River into Pennsylvania in early December.

 

On the night of December 25-26, 1776, Washington crossed the Delaware River, surprised a Hessian outpost at Trenton, New Jersey, and won a major victory. On January 2, 1777, Cornwallis unsuccessfully and repeatedly attacked Washington’s troops at Trenton. During the night, Washington moved his army to Princeton, where on January 3, Washington captured several hundred prisoners. In response the British withdrew from southern New Jersey, leaving an outpost in Brunswick. With morale improved by this string of victories, Washington advanced with his army to Morristown, New Jersey, twenty-five miles west of New York City, where he went into winter quarters.  Extremely rare.  We have seen Washington hand-colored maps selling for over $50,000, but another comparable is the famous Yorktown map, which sold at James Julia in 2010 for well over $1,000,000.

 

James A. Gray Sr. (1759-1846) enlisted on January 1, 1776, in Sharon. Connecticut, and joined Captain S. Sloan’s company in Col. Patterson’s regiment. He served in Boston, Albany, Ticonderoga, and Montreal. He was at Ticonderoga until the fall of 1776, when he marched to Newtown in Pennsylvania, and participated in the attack on Trenton on Christmas Day, 1776. Discharged in January 1777, Gray rejoined the army in May 1778, and was appointed assistant commissary of issues for the northern department in October 1778. Gray was again discharged in February 1780.

 

James Gray Jr. (1790-1860) was born in Sharon, Connecticut, and moved to Otsego County, New York, during his childhood. When he was fifteen, his family moved to Tioga County, Pennsylvania, where he lived for the rest of his life. He married three times and had eight children. He served as a justice of the peace and postmaster for many years, passing through the Whig, Democratic, and Republican parties over his lifetime.

 

Joseph Woodbridge (1749-1809) graduated from Yale College in 1771 and settled in Groton. After his first wife died in 1787, he moved to Harford, where he became a prominent merchant and clerk of the Connecticut Gore Land Company. No indication of military service in his Yale biography.

 

This item comes with a Certificate from John Reznikoff, a premier authenticator for both major 3rd party authentication services, PSA and JSA (James Spence Authentications), as well as numerous auction houses.

 

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