Catalog Archive
Auction 181, Lot 724

French & Indian War Hostilities at Fort Du Quesne and On the Sea

"[French & Indian War] “Extract of a Letter from Williamsburg in Virginia, Dated Oct. 7” [and] “Extract of a Letter from an Officer on Board the Chester Man of War” [in] The London Chronicle...",

Subject: Document - French & Indian War

Period: 1757 (published)

Publication:

Color: Black & White

Size:
8.2 x 11.1 inches
20.8 x 28.2 cm
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This is the complete 8-page issue of The London Chronicle covering the period from Saturday, December 10 to Tuesday, December 13, 1757. It features two reports on engagements in the early part of the French and Indian War including:

“Extract of a Letter from Williamsburg in Virginia, dated Oct. 7.” The letter describes the successful efforts of the British Indian Superintendent Edmond Atkin to establish alliances with Indian tribes. When the friendly Indians returned, “they scouted to near Fort De Quesne, as to kill the Enemy Indians in sight of it, by which the back Inhabitants were rendered quiet and easy; but, as soon as those Parties were gone, the Enemy’s Indians made an Irruption into the Settlement on the South Branch of the Potowmack, and killed and carried off many of the Settlers….” When the British attacked Fort Du Quesne the next year, the French burned the fort in retreat and the British then built Fort Pitt in the same location, now Pittsburgh.

“Extract of a Letter from an Officer on board the Chester (actually Chichester) Man of War.” The letter describes the British capture of a French frigate here called the Bien Acquis after it sailed from Louisbourg and was separated from its fleet by a storm. The French name of the ship was actually the L’Abenakise, a new ship built in Quebec. After its capture and renaming as the Aurora, Thomas Slade, the most prominent British ship designer of the time, called it a model for improved frigate design. [Robert Gardiner, The Sailing Frigate: A History in Ship Models. NY: Naval Institute Press, 2016]

References:

Condition: A+

Remarkably clean and bright.

Estimate: $180 - $220

Sold for: $130

Closed on 2/10/2021

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