"Andre and Arnold". ALS letters to Franklin Couch regarding Andre's capture loose in binder of clipped articles on the same.
New York: 1899. Hardcover. Archive of material pertaining to Andre's capture which includes two sets of handwritten letters to historian Franklin Couch of Peekskill NY loosely inserted into an album of newspaper clippings.
The first set of 4 handwritten letters are from W. W. Spooner, author of 'History of Westchester County, NY from Earliest Settlement to the Year 1900'. Spooner states that he is working to finalize his history of Westchester manuscript. In the first letter, he asks Couch specifically for information about the Cockcroft family and land it owned in Peekskill NY. In the second he requests permission to incorporate a Couch article entitled "Arnold's Treason" in his history; the third and fourth letters pertain to Spooner sending a copy of the Arnold chapter for Couch's review. These four Spooner letters written on letterheaded paper, New York History Company, 110 Fifth Ave., NY NY, and dated Aug. 2, Sept. 27, Oct. 20, 1899 and March 26, 1900. One letter is written on the Library of Congress letterhead.
The second set of handwritten letters to Franklin Couch are from Judge Dykman, and pertain to the specific events of the capture of Andre. Dykman states, "I could never believe that you ever said there were eight persons in the party engaged in the capture of Andre". In the remaining letters Dykman asks Couch about Dean being one of the captors; and says that the changing of Couch's manuscript (in the History of Westchester County) was "a very presumptuous act". The Dykman letters are dated Oct 2 & 4, 1900 and Jan. 13, 1901.
One more Dykman letter to Couch is laid down at the last page of the album, stating that Dykman feels it was not Spooner who made the changes to Couch's manuscript on the capture of Andre, and that Spooner did not object to Dykman's published criticism. It is dated Jan. 17, 1901.
Three parts of published serialized articles are also loosely inserted, including: "The Last Twelve Days of Major John Andre" (pp 49 - 57; 148-157; 494-498); "Original Documents" (p321); "Homestead of David Williams" (pp168-171); and "Bibliographic Notes on Poems and Ballads Relating to Major Andre" (pp217-220).
The album pages with newspaper articles pertaining to Andre's Captors, 23pp at the front of the album. The rear of the album with 4pp of newspaper articles pertaining to Rochambeau in the Revolution, the additional Dykman letter, and a pamphlet titled, "David Williams and the Capture of Andre, A Paper Read Before the Tarrytown Historical Society, by Marcus D. Raymond. Jan 15th 1903".
Large 4to album (10 x 13"). Three quarter brown leather and marbled boards. Front cover with holed punched handwritten title card, "Andre and Arnold"; spine with typed paper label laid down. Album corners rubbed, spine rubbed, title labeled chipped. Internally, letters, serialized articles and newspaper articles all in good + condition. Very good condition. Item #24569
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