Our Collection

At the Institute’s core is the Gilder Lehrman Collection, one of the great archives in American history. More than 85,000 items cover five hundred years of American history, from Columbus’s 1493 letter describing the New World through the end of the twentieth century.

Knox, Henry (1750-1806) to [Anne-César] Chevalier de la Luzerne

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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC02437.10180 Author/Creator: Knox, Henry (1750-1806) Place Written: West Point, New York Type: Autograph letter signed Date: 6 November 1783 Pagination: 1 p. : docket ; 35.2 x 23.1 cm. Order a Copy

Informs the Chevalier that "two pieces of cannon, and their carriages" will be arriving to be presented to the Count de Grasse at the direction of Congress "for the important services he rendered to the United States." Notes that the artist who engraved the emblems and inscriptions took longer than expected to finish. Says he addresses them to Luzerne "in case of the departure of his Excellency general Washington and the Secretary at War from Princeton." Contains some water damage along the left side. Watermarked with three fleur-de-lis inside a crest.

César was the French minister to the United States from 1779 to 1784. A supporter of the American Revolution, he was an original member of the Society of the Cincinnati.

Knox, Henry, 1750-1806
La Luzerne, Anne César de, 1741-1791
Grasse, François Joseph Paul de Grasse, comte de, 1722-1788

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