Beschreibung:

LAFAYETTE, Marquis de, Continental General . Autograph letter signed ("le M. de Lafayette"), to an unidentified French correspondent, Albany, New York, 16 March 1778. 1 page, 4to, 228 x 185mm (9 x 76in.), on blue stationery slightly browning, small punctures affecting some letters text , IN FRENCH. LAFAYETTE FROM THE ABORTIVE CANADA INVASION An unusual Lafayette letter, dated less than a year after his arrival in America, while commander (at age 20) of the ill-conceived second invasion of Canada: "...I shall fully approve all your purchases that you believe to be necessary, but I ask you not to spend too much. But you could ask the people whom I sent...to Boston, to arrange some dollars...At your arrival you should have found a packet of letters for France. I shall send another within eight days...I do not know which part of America I shall spend the next campaign but I will be in a position to let you know in a few days." He hopes his correspondent will come back in July and "see General Washington amidst all his achievements." Lafayette had already won great favor with Washington when the Board of War assigned the young officer to lead another American expedition against Canada. Arriving in Albany in late January he found a shortage of supplies and fewer than half the allocated 2,500 men. Lafayette saw the operation was hopeless and by mid-March, when this letter was written, Congress agreed to abandon it.