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Rare Historical Document to Stephen Pleasonton Saved Declaration of Independence

$ 52.8

Availability: 96 in stock
  • Region: North America
  • Date of Publication: 1845
  • Condition: Very good overall condition for a document of this age. A little staining, folds, and minimal creasing.
  • Original/Facsimile: Original
  • Material: Paper
  • Language: English
  • Type: Handwritten Manuscript

    Description

    Up for bid in this auction is an Antique Handwritten Letter to Stephen Pleasonton, the First Fifth Auditor of the U.S. Treasury Department.
    Mr. Pleasonton is historically significant for his role in saving the Declaration of Independence among other historical artifacts during the War of 1812.
    From wikipedia:
    Stephen Pleasonton (1776? – January 31, 1855) was the first "Fifth Auditor" of the U.S. Treasury Department; he is historically significant for his part in saving priceless early government documents from possible destruction, but is chiefly remembered today for his singularly bureaucratic work in overseeing the Treasury Department's Lighthouse Establishment during most of its existence. He was also the father of Union Civil War Generals Alfred Pleasonton and Augustus Pleasonton.
    SAVING THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE
    With the War of 1812 going poorly and worried that the British would attack Washington, Secretary of State James Monroe tasked Pleasonton with preserving the books and papers of the State Department. Pleasonton acquired several coarse linen bags, and filled them with all the Department's records. This included the still-unpublished secret journals of Congress, the commission and correspondence of George Washington, the Articles of Confederation, the United States Constitution, and all the treaties, laws, and correspondence of the Department made since 1789. He had all of this placed in coarse linen sacks and carted to a grist mill two miles beyond Georgetown.[4] Before he left, he noticed the Declaration of Independence had been forgotten and was still hanging in its frame on the wall, and took that as well. After one more day, Pleasonton became fearful that the British would destroy a nearby cannon foundry and possibly even the grist mill if they were to come to Washington, and procured wagons to take the material another thirty-five miles to Leesburg, Virginia, where they were stored in an empty stone house. That night, the British arrived and burned many buildings in the city. While the British left within two days, it was some weeks before the documents were returned to Washington.
    The letter is from the Collection Offices of the Custom House in Philadelphia.
    It is dated April 1, 1845.
    The text reads as follows:
    Sir I herewith transmit you an abstract of the Seamen discharged by the Consular and accounted for by Certificates on file in the office.
    I am Sir very respectfully,
    Your obdt. Servt.,
    Charles (I can not make out the last name, it looks like "Breicher" or "Breichel"...I don't think either are correct, but it seems to be something similar)
    Dep. Cole
    In the lower left hand corner, it reads:
    Stephen Pleasonton
    F. Auditor of the Treasury
    Washington
    On the reverse it reads "Copy", which I believe indicates an original handwritten copy of an original document.
    Document measures 7 7/8 wide by 7 7/8 high.
    Item is more bluish than it appears in photos.