Comparing the Spartans to Tecumseh, Logan and Little Turtle - photo 1

Comparing the Spartans to Tecumseh, Logan and Little Turtle

Lot 660
24.01.2025 00:00UTC +00:00
Classic
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CHRISTIE'S
AuctioneerCHRISTIE'S
Event locationUnited Kingdom, London
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ID 1362291
Lot 660 | Comparing the Spartans to Tecumseh, Logan and Little Turtle
Estimate value
$ 15 000 – 20 000
Comparing the Spartans to Tecumseh, Logan and Little Turtle
Thomas Jefferson, 15 February 1821
JEFFERSON, Thomas (1743-1826). Autograph letter signed ("Th:Jefferson") to Henry Wheaton, Monticello, 15 February 1821.

One page, 248 x 203mm (Toning from prior framings partial fold separations and pinholes at intersections).Half blue morocco clamshell.

Thomas Jefferson compares several Native American leaders to the Spartans. Jefferson thanks his correspondent for his "Discourse … on international law," while expressing his bewilderment "how such a tribe of savages [the Spartans] ever acquired the admiration of the world," and could only "view them but on a level with our American Indians, and I see in Logan Tecumseh & the little turtle as fair parallels for their Brasidas, Agesilaus Etc." As to the Spartans, Jefferson expresses his trouble conceiving "that such a hoard of Barbarians could so long remain unimproved, in the neighborhood of a people so polished as the Athenians; to whom they owe altogether that their name is now known to the world. all the good that can be said of them is that they were as rave as bull-dogs." Logan (c. 1723-1780), was a Cayuga leader who led a series of raids on the Virginia frontier in revenge for the murder of several family members at the Yellow Creek Massacre, sparking Lord Dunmore's War in 1774. The Shawnee chief and warrior Tecumseh (c. 1768-1813), helped lead a movement to return to traditional ways and rejecting European culture while forming a confederation to resist additional encroachment on indigenous territories. Little Turtle (c. 1747-1812) was a legendary Miami war leader best known for defeating Arthur St. Clair in 1791 who lost 900 men in the worst defeat suffered by the U.S. Army at the hands of Native American forces.

A rare reference by Jefferson to specific Native American leaders. According to RBH, the present letter is the only example of Jefferson mentioning these specific leaders in a letter to come to auction. Published in The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, Retirement Series, 16:615-616.
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