Lafayette, Marie Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de,

Letter signed ("Lafayette"), text in the hand of James McHenry, 1 page (8 1/8 x 6 1/2 in.; 207 x 165 mm) on a bifolium, "Head Quarters" [Mechum Creek, Virginia], 13 June 1781, to Governor Thomas Nelson Jr. of Virginia, address with autograph franking signature ("Lafayette Mg") and reception docket on integral blank; minor seal tear and repair, leaves separated at central fold. Half blue morocco folding-case gilt.

See Lafayette in the Age of the American Revolution, ed. Idzerda, 4:134–37, 146, 196–98, 218–19

Since January 1781 negotiations had been underway to allow a shipment of Virginia tobacco to be sent to British-occupied Charleston, there to be sold and the proceeds used to procure necessities for officers and men of the Virginia militia held in that city as prisoners of war. (The proposal had been initiated by Continental Brigadier General Charles Scott, who had been captured at Charleston in May 1780 and was then a prisoner on parole.) Any ship carrying the tobacco would require a British passport in order to sail under a flag of truce. Because he was shortly to be leaving office, Virginia Governor Thomas Jefferson was reluctant to apply for the passport and referred the matter to Lafayette.

Lafayette here outlines the arrangement to Thomas Nelson, who had been elected governor of Virginia just the day before: "I believe I have omitted informing your Excellency of Lord Cornwallis' having given leave to ship 400 hhd of Tobacco for Charlestown, and should more be necessary a promise to extend the quantity. It cannot however, be sent from York or James rivers or places immediately within their power. But the agent or Genl. Scot I would presume has made the necessary communication."

Lafayette and Cornwallis reached a final agreement in July (the British, in turn, being allowed to send supplies to Burgoyne's Convention Army), but the ships carrying the tobacco did not sail until September, by which time Cornwallis was under siege at Yorktown. Admiral de Grasse's French fleet intercepted the tobacco ships and consulted with Governor Nelson, who ordered the ships to return to port.