This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 4/18/2024
ONE OF THE FIRST AMERICAN BROADSIDES PRINTED ON SILK
[REVOLUTIONARY WAR]. A Silk Broadside Elegy for the Death of Captain Samuel Treat of the Continental Artillery who Died at the Siege of Fort Mifflin, 11 November 1777. Folio broadside on silk (sight, 318 x 235 mm). Printed on recto only in two columns, few small holes; framed. Between 26 September and 16 November, 1777, British land forces commanded by Captain John Montresor and a naval squadron under Vice Admiral Lord Richard Howe attempted to capture the undermanned American fort located on Mud Island in the Delaware River. The Fort was a key defensive fortification for the Americans which guarded the southern approach to Philadelphia which the British army occupied. In order to ship provisions to the newly acquired city, the British needed to remove the blockade on the Delaware River which they effectively succeeded after an intense bombardment on the fort. Captain Treat was killed by the concussion of the cannon fire that had just missed hitting him while he was standing next to Lieutenant Colonel Samuel Smith. Not in Threads of History (we have only seen one other copy, that being on regular paper).