Bidspirit auction | (BATTLE OF YORKTOWN) CLAUDE GABRIEL,

(BATTLE OF YORKTOWN) CLAUDE GABRIEL, MARQUIS DE CHOISSEY - (1723 - 1800) French general in North America during the American Revolution, commanded French forces and George Weedon's Virginia Militia at the Siege of Yorktown and at Gloucester, Virginia, under the command of Rochambeau. Excellent content manuscript D.S. 'Choisy' as Major General, 1p. 8vo., 'Head Quarters', Oct. 7, 1781, to Brigadier General and head of the Virginia militia GEORGE WEEDON (1734–1793). During the final weeks of the siege, Choisy urgently orders Weedon: 'You will use every means in your power to obtain by empress or otherwise, eight hundred spades or shovels, one hundred axes, one hundred pickaxes, and one hundred hatchets.' He signs at the conclusion. Docketed on the verso. Very light spots of foxing, else very fine condition. Clearly these tools were used for the construction at Yorktown of trenches, reinforced embankments, and other defensive positions. Just ten days after this document was penned, the British surrendered the fort, signing the formal surrender - the Treaty of Paris - just the two days after that. This document was quoted in Harry M. Ward's biography on George Weedon: 'Duty, Honor or Country'.