(Schuyler, Philip) | First edition of Philip Schuyler's Court Martial

(Schuyler, Philip)

Proceedings of a General Court Martial held at Major General Lincoln's quarters near Quaker-Hill in the State of New York by order of His Excellency General Washington…for the Trial of Major General Schuyler, October 1, 1778. [Philadelphia: Hall and Sellers, 1778]

Folio (337 x 197 mm). The title-page lightly dust-soiled at extremities and with the faint pencil notation “No. 2” at head, the contents clean with wide margins. Modern full burgundy morocco, upper cover lettered gilt, original blue paper wrappers with upper wrapper marked “Genl. Schuyler”; the paper wrappers extended with tissue at gutter and lightly soiled. Teal morocco folding-case gilt.

First edition, containing the accusations and correspondence related to the Canadian campaign. In March 1777, Philip Schuyler, Commander of the Northern Department of the Continental Army at Fort Ticonderoga, requested an additional 10,000 troops to defend against a possible attack by British General Burgoyne. The request denied, as Burgoyne approached with nearly 8,000 men in July 1777, the force of only 2,000 Continentals abandoned the fort—a vital point of defense—much to the chagrin of the Continental Congress. Schuyler was court-martialed at his own behest in order to clear his name after General Horatio Gates accused him of neglect of duty. “Gates declined to serve as his subordinate and conspired with Schuyler’s enemies in Congress to replace him. … Alarmed by the loss of Ticonderoga and rumors of Schuyler’s incompetence and disloyalty, Congress ordered him to headquarters and sent Gates to supersede him, partly on the premise that Gates would be better able to raise New England militia to defeat Burgoyne. The militia proved no more cooperative with Gates than they had with Schuyler. Burgoyne was finally defeated by Continental troops after Schuyler laid the groundwork for the British surrender at the battle of Saratoga” (American National Biography).

Rare: only about 100 copies of the trial transcript are believed to have been printed. Only five copies have appeared at auction, and none since 1981. The present copy is very similar in presentation to two of those copies: the Henry F. De Puy copy, sold at Anderson Galleries, April 1920, was described as containing the original wrappers in a crimson binding by Bradstreet; and the other, sold at Sotheby’s 28 April 1981, also contained the wrappers in a red morocco binding.

PROVENANCE

Estate of Wendy Vanderbilt Lehman (Doyle, 25 April 2019, lot 1)

REFERENCE

Church 1154; ESTC W4632; Evans 16142; Hildeburn 3785; Howes S213; Sabin 78059