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Asa Waterman Collection

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles / Autographs Start Price:NA Estimated At:3,000.00 - 4,000.00 USD
Asa Waterman Collection

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Auction Date:2013 Jul 17 @ 18:00 (UTC-05:00 : EST/CDT)
Location:5 Rt 101A Suite 5, Amherst, New Hampshire, 03031, United States
ALS - Autograph Letter Signed
ANS - Autograph Note Signed
AQS - Autograph Quotation Signed
AMQS - Autograph Musical Quotation Signed
DS - Document Signed
FDC - First Day Cover
Inscribed - “Personalized”
ISP - Inscribed Signed Photograph
LS - Letter Signed
SP - Signed Photograph
TLS - Typed Letter Signed
Archive of the papers of Asa Waterman, including a Revolutionary War-dated letter from Benedict Arnold. Archive consists of 47 total items, ranging in date from 1774 up to 1789, including letters addressed to Waterman, retained draft letters by Waterman, and other receipts, documents, and related papers.

The one page letter from Arnold, signed “Bt Arnold, Bt Genl,” 6.5 x 8, dated “Swanzey, March 20, 1777,” has substantial paper loss to the middle affecting portions of the text, and reads, in part: “You are hereby ordered to make strict Inquiry, & Search for Wt. India Rum, Spirits, & Molasses in the State of Massachusetts Bay, or Rhode Island, & apply to Such persons as you find have such…on hand, and Purchase one hundred…Rum, & Spirits…to sell the same for the…Army, you are to make such…sure they are deposited…forbid them from being removed & make immediate return to me of the same…this shall be your sufficient warrant.” Arnold’s signature remains quite bold.

Other letters to Waterman are from Jonathan Trumbull, Jr., Jeremiah Olney, Samuel Chace, C. Whipple, Joseph Baker, Paul Allen, Samuel Woodbridge, and Charles Leffingwell, who writes of trouble with his apprentice, “Foolish boy for running away. He had received his flogging, was only ty’d for a little impudent saucy expressions. He must come home & work faithfully in the copper shop & learn his trade. That is best for him & that is most advantageous for me.” Letters concern procurement of various provisions and settlements of accounts.

Draft letters from Waterman to various recipients include Horatio Gates, Joseph Baker, Peter Colt (2), John Waldron, Captain Amasa Keyes, John Hall (concerning kegs of sturgeon for Gates), and Moses Brown. One letter to Colonel Henry Champion concerns beef for the forthcoming siege of Newport. In part: "I had no order to do it until this intended expedition…I was ordered to do it by Maj. Genl. Sullivan on application to him by Count Destaing.” Another letter to Captain Keyes concerns a privateering investment gone bad. In part: "Our small boat is haul'd up as she rec'd sum damage on her last unsucksessful cruze. Sum of the owners have sold out. She now belongs to Mr. Joseph Cooke, Silvenus Jenckes, you & myselfe. The owners think best to sell her for the most she will fetch.”

Remainder of the archive consists of various financial and shipping documents, several concerning the Brig Fanny of Port-au-Prince, the boarding of horses, various supply requests, and Waterman’s trade with Haiti.

In overall fair to fine condition, with varying degrees of paper loss to many of the letters and documents, as well as scattered toning and dampstaining, and usual folds and handling wear. A fascinating archive that demonstrates the great importance of trade in sustaining troops during the Revolutionary War.