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Commander's report on Battle of Plain's of Abraham up for auction

Source: CP (12-12-05)

A British commander's draft report on the 1759 Battle of the Plains of Abraham in Quebec, dated two days after the French surrender, will be put up for sale Thursday at Christie's auction house in New York.

The 4 1/2-page report is by George Townshend, who commanded the victorious British forces during the last stage of the battle after the death of Gen. James Wolfe. The outcome of the battle - in which Wolfe's counterpart, French Gen. Louis Montcalm, was also killed - led to British supremacy in Canada.

The version up for sale - dated Sept. 20, 1759, and addressed to British Secretary of State William Pitt - is one of several drafts that the official report went through.

Also being sold by Christie's are a first-edition, four-volume study by 19th-century historian Francis Parkman containing engravings depicting the battle, two letters by Wolfe and a letter by Pitt passing on news of the victory.

Posted on Monday, December 12, 2005 at 7:26 PM | Comments (0) | Return

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