HAND, Edward

[American Revolution]. Edward Hand Letter Signed ("Edw:d Hand A. Gl.") as Adjutant General to Major General Henry Knox.

One page, 8.25" x 11.875", "Orderly Office" at Verplank's Point [New York]; September 1, 1782. War-dated letter written by Brigadier General Henry in his position as Adjutant General of the Continental Army, concerning the security and relief of troops in and around West Point. Although recipient’s name is not appended to the document, it was almost certainly written to Major General Henry Knox, who had been appointed commander of the West Point garrison by General George Washington on 29 August 1782, replacing Major General Alexander McDougall, who had previously held that command. Written while Brigadier General Hand was adjutant general of the Continental Army. Docketed. It reads, in part:

"As at the time the Army moved for this place, your Garrison was not perfectly arranged; the guards mounted by the Second Connecticut regimt. on Constitution Island, and on the west side of the river were suffered to remain. A list of the guards, with details of their Strength you have inclosed: such of them as you deem necessary to be continued, please to relieve from the Garrison of West Point. These you find unnecessary are to be withdrawn without relief, and the whole ordered to join their regiment as soon as may be." Signed, "Edw:d Hand A. Gl."

Edward Hand (1744-1802) was an Irish-born, physician who served in the British Army and was stationed at Fort Pitt from the late 1760s. Resigning his appointment in 1774, he married and settled near Lancaster, Pennsylvania until his resignation in 1774. The following year, he was commissioned a lieutenant colonel of Thompson’s Battalion of Pennsylvania Rifleman, becoming its colonel when reorganized in early 1776 on the 1^st Continental (Rifle) Regiment and led it during the 1776 campaign, from the American defeats at Long Island and White Plains until the victories at Trenton and Princeton at the close of the year. Promoted to brigadier general in early 1777, he returned to Pittsburgh as commander of the Western Department until reassigned to the main army again in 1778, serving with distinction in the Sullivan Expedition of 1779 and was appointed adjutant general of the army in 1781, serving with it under Washington during the siege of Yorktown in 1781. He was brevetted major general in 1783. After the war, he was appointed to the Confederation Congress from 1784 to 1785 and the Pennsylvania Assembly from 1785 to 1786. Condition: Trimmed along bottom edge, obscuring addressee. 1" chip at right margin just touching one letter of text and .25" area of paper loss repaired on verso.

 

Item #121

Price: $1,350.00