A State of the Expedition from Canada - photo 1

A State of the Expedition from Canada

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Auction dateClassic
17.01.2024 11:00UTC -04:00
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CHRISTIE'S
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ID 1119233
Lot 69 | A State of the Expedition from Canada
A State of the Expedition from Canada

John Burgoyne, 1780

BURGOYNE, John (1722-1792). A State of the Expedition from Canada, as laid before the House of Commons. London: J. Almon, 1780.



First edition of Burgoyne's justification of his conduct during the 1777 campaign, and his defeat at Saratoga, complete with the six large engraved battle plans. The 1777 campaign was supposed to win the war. Burgoyne, moving south from Canada, down Lake Champlain to Fort Ticonderoga and Lake George, would link up at Albany with Gen. William Howe's force moving north from New York City. New England would be isolated, and half the fighting force of the Continentals destroyed. But Howe ignored his instructions and attacked Philadelphia instead. The Americans turned back a diversionary movement from the west, under Barry St. Leger, at the Battle of Fort Stanwix. Burgoyne was left alone with insufficient supplies and troops. Gates boxed him in at the Battle of Freeman's Farm, then surrounded him at Bemis Heights, forcing Burgoyne to hand over his sword at Saratoga on 19 October.



Not until May 1778 was he paroled, exchanged and allowed to return home to bitter recriminations. He demanded an audience with the King as well as a court-martial to vindicate his honor. Both requests denied, he instead presented his case to the Commons and published this record of the proceedings. He persuasively shifts blame for his defeat to Howe's failure to come north and to the unwise orders imposed on him by Lord George Germain. On his fateful decision to cross the Hudson and engage Gates's superior force, Burgoyne argues that he still expected help from New York City. "I read again my orders (I believe for an hundredth time) and I was decided. And I am still convinced that... [nothing]... could have justified me to my country, have saved me from the condemnation of my profession, or produced pardon within my own breast, had I not advanced, and tried a battle with the enemy" (p.15). Burgoyne survived and went on to side with the opposition faction in Parliament and, at length, to champion American independence. Howes B-968; Lande 69 (second edition); Sabin 9255; TPL 503. See Nebenzahl, Bibliography of Printed Battle Plans of the American Revolution 48-57.



Quarto (272 x 207 mm). (Title page backed and reinserted, removed inkstamp; text washed and toned, a few leaves with expert repaired tears and darker toning.) With six engraved folding maps by William Faden with partial hand-coloring, two of which have engraved overlays (offsetting, linen-backed, occasional creases and stub tears). Modern half calf.

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