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COLLECTION Identifier: MS Eng 106

Thomas Gage letters

Overview

Letters from British General Thomas Gage primarily to military officer Colonel John Bradstreet and Superintendent of Indians Sir William Johnson.

Dates

  • Creation: 1759-1773

Language of Materials

Collection materials are in English.

Conditions Governing Access

There are no restrictions on physical access to this material. Collection is open for research. Volume 1 should be used with a book cradle.

Extent

.25 linear feet (2 volumes)

187 retained copies of autograph manuscript (signed) and manuscript letters (signed), some appear to be in copyists hands. Letters sent to Lieutenant Coventry [in Albany, New York], Colonel John Bradstreet [in Albany, New York], and Sir William Johnson [location not named] concerning military and colonial government business, chiefly Indian affairs and struggles with the French. Most letters were written at British military headquarters in New York, but there are a few written from Fort Stanwix, the Camp of Oswego, and Montreal. Also includes a document with a seal, a typescript list of the contents, and a printed list concerning Gage letters from the Haldimand collection. Volume is bound in half green morocco with cloth boards.

Biographical / Historical

Thomas Gage (1721-1787) was a British general, best known for his many years of service in North America, including his role as colonial governor and military commander in the early days of the American Revolution. From 1763 to 1775 he served as commander-in-chief of the British forces in North America, headquarters in New York City.

John Bradstreet (1711-1774) was a British officer during King Georges' War, the French and Indian War, and Pontiac's Rebellion. He also served as the lieutenant governor of St. John's Newfoundland.

Sir William Johnson (1715-1774) was appointed the British agent to the Iroquois indians, then in 1756 became the British Superintendent of Indian Affairs for the northern colonies.

The former owner of this material was William Buell Sprague (1795-1876) an American clergyman and a collector of historical documents.

Arrangement

Arranged as bound, mostly chronological.

Physical Location

f

Immediate Source of Acquisition

No accession number. Gift of William B. Sprague; received: 1848 November 1.

Processing Information

Processed by: Bonnie B. Salt

Title
Gage, Thomas, 1721-1787. Thomas Gage letters, 1759-1773: Guide.
Author
Houghton Library, Harvard College Library
Description rules
dacs
Language of description
und
EAD ID
hou02534

Repository Details

Part of the Houghton Library Repository

Houghton Library is Harvard College's principal repository for rare books and manuscripts, archives, and more. Houghton Library's collections represent the scope of human experience from ancient Egypt to twenty-first century Cambridge. With strengths primarily in North American and European history, literature, and culture, collections range in media from printed books and handwritten manuscripts to maps, drawings and paintings, prints, posters, photographs, film and audio recordings, and digital media, as well as costumes, theater props, and a wide range of other objects. Houghton Library has historically focused on collecting the written record of European and Eurocentric North American culture, yet it holds a large and diverse number of primary sources valuable for research on the languages, culture and history of indigenous peoples of the Americas, Africa, Asia and Oceania.

Houghton Library’s Reading Room is free and open to all who wish to use the library’s collections.

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