Raising and supplying a new Southern army - photo 1
Raising and supplying a new Southern army - photo 2

Raising and supplying a new Southern army

Lot 175
28.01.2025 00:00UTC +00:00
Classic
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CHRISTIE'S
AuctioneerCHRISTIE'S
Event locationUnited Kingdom, London
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ID 1360891
Lot 175 | Raising and supplying a new Southern army
Estimate value
$ 2 000 – 3 000
GATES, Horatio (1727-1806). Autograph letter signed ("Horatio Gates") to Anthony Walton White, Petersburg, [Virginia,] 11 July 1780.

Two pages, 229 x 184mm (mild edge wear, pinhole at upper left corner). Encapsulated.

As he prepares to assume command of the Southern Department, Horatio Gates prepares to send additional supplies and troops to the Carolinas less than five weeks before the Battle of Camden. With the capture of the Southern Army under Benjamin Lincoln after the fall of Charleston, South Carolina in May 1780, Congress appointed Gates in command of the Southern Department. Known for his skills as an administrator, he did his best marshal them to raise a new force to oppose British in the Carolinas. Here, Gates orders White, Colonel of the 1st Continental Dragoons, that upon the "moment your application to the executive authority of this state is accomplished, you will return to this post & placing yourself at the Head of the mounted & dismounted Dragoons of the 1st & 3rd Regts — march on to the H[ea]d Qu[arte]rs of the So[uthern]. Army or such other point as may be marked out for you by some after order." (White had been captured at Lenud's Ferry, South Carolina on 8 May, but had been paroled soon afterward which might offer an explanation for Gate's opening line.) Gates advises that it "may be necessary to have an Intelligent industrious officer to prompt the State Agents forward in their purchases. To-morrow, three waggons are going to the army with … ammunition sett out from hence. I have to request that, you furnish them with a proper escort. You will trust the capacity of arming the dismounted Dragoons with light fusils or Musquets, — with the Governor & Council from whom I cannot doubt, but you will receive such countenance & support, — as the necessity of your immediate operations, to justly claim."

Congress was perhaps unaware (or unwilling to concede) that Gates' victory at Saratoga had little to due with his tactical or strategic acumen and he certainly was not George Washington's first choice for this command.* Less than five weeks later his ineptitude was laid bare at the Battle of Camden at the hands of Charles Cornwallis on 18 August 1780, who, despite vastly inferior numbers, killed, wounded or captured half of Gates' forces—while Banastre Tarleton's fearsome dragoons chased the survivors on horseback for 22 miles after the two hour battle. (Fortunately for the recipient of Gate's July letter, Col. White, the 1st Continental Dragoons were not present at the battle.) Writing from Hillsborough, 180 miles north of Camden two days later, Gates reported to Congress his "Total Defeat," and on 30 August indicated to Washington that he "cheerfully" offered his resignation. This time, Congress chose Washington's preferred candidate, Nathanael Greene, who, with the aid of Daniel Morgan, vastly improved American fortunes in the south in early 1781, setting the stage for Cornwallis' defeat at Yorktown. Provenance: Anthony Walton White — by descent to the consignor.

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*That credit goes to Benedict Arnold and John Stark.
Auction house category:Letters, documents and manuscripts
Address of auction CHRISTIE'S
8 King Street, St. James's
SW1Y 6QT London
United Kingdom
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14.01.2025 – 28.01.2025
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