ALS, one page, 7 x 12, May 21, 1782. Letter to John Alsop. In part (with grammar and spelling retained): “Inclosed I send the Meeting for Suffering. Acknowledgement of the Rect of the Epistle from the Quarterly Meeting Committee at New York which please to deliver to one of them. Wm. R. is here and I am informed by Wm Coffin who carry this that he has tenderly acknowledged the Weakness of Supplying & c. to the satisfaction of the meeting so there need nothing further said, he appears solid and I hope it may prove a lesson of Satisfaction We had lr from Wm Jackson of yr 14th inst then at Natucket…If John Pemberton, Wm Mathews, or Nick Walm all of whom have certificates to go to England, should be at meeting, please do remember me kind to them, they have my best wishes for the Preservation of help in the great and good work.” Second integral page bears an address panel in Moses hand. In very good condition, with intersecting folds, small hole to page, scattered toning, small circular spot from wax seal affecting a single word of text, and a couple other small holes.
Moses Brown was instrumental in getting his brother, John Brown, released after being arrested due to his involvement in an event that helped trigger the American Revolution, the Gaspee Affair. As a condition of his brother's release, he delivered to the British in Boston a proposal that Rhode Island's preparations to resist royal authority would be stopped. In this letter written ten years later, he communicates with John Alsop, a Continental Congress delegate from New York, who was forced from his home when British forces occupied Manhattan. Here, he acts as an intermediary relaying news to Alsop of Assistant Secretary of War William Jackson. A unique letter that conveys hope that the fight for American independence is successful. RRAuction COA.
