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At first read, you might think that Halifax might have overtaken Petawawa as the least prefered posting in the entire CF...
But alas, I was wrong. :'( (my wife tells me that does happen occasionally)
http://www.herald.ns.ca/stories/2005/01/15/f265.raw.html
Death preferable to Halifax, by George
U.S. first president's writings could bring $240,000 at auction
By DAVID JACKSON / Provincial Reporter
A letter by George Washington portraying Halifax as a fate worse than death for some British Loyalists is expected to fetch up to $240,000 Cdn at a New York auction next weekend.
The May 9, 1776, letter from Washington, then a general in the War of American Independence before becoming America's first president, discusses the treatment of Boston Tories in Halifax, the British evacuation of Boston and his reinforcement of Canada.
Washington wrote of the troops and civilian Loyalists who left Boston during the 1775-83 American Revolution: "Their Misfortunes did not end here.
"It seems upon their arrival at Hallifax, many of the former were obliged to Incamp, although the ground was coverd deep with Snow; and the latter to pay Six dollars a week for sorry upper Rooms, and stow in them Men, Women, & Children as thick (comparatively) as the hair upon their heads."
Washington said in the four-page letter that some of the Loyalists returned to Boston, and thought facing death there was preferable to being in Halifax.
He said some of the revolutionaries "were for sending them immediately back as the properest, & severest punishment they could Inflict, but death being preferred to this, they now wait, in confinement, any other that may be thought due to such parricides."
The letter was sent to Maj. Gen. Charles Lee, Washington's third in command.
John Reid, a history professor at Saint Mary's University in Halifax, said it's no surprise to read such an indication of what Loyalists found when they came to Halifax.
But Mr. Reid said he didn't infer that they were deliberately mistreated.
"What they did find was that it was pretty hard to find a place to live and the city was overcrowded and that also there was clearly some profiteering going on in the sense that people were charging enormous rent for scarce accommodation," Mr. Reid said in an interview Friday.
He said the Loyalists' experiences described in the letter sounded like a precursor to the complaints of those in the larger migration of 1782-3.
"Halifax was crowded. It was also booming during the Revolutionary War," he said.
"One of the major complaints, in a sense, of the later Loyalist migrants . . . was that while they had been making sacrifices for the Loyalist cause, people in Halifax had just been sitting back and making very nice profits out of the whole thing."
Halifax Mayor Peter Kelly said the letter was an "interesting observation of the times."
"In time of war, there are different views and different interpretations. I guess we'll never really know because we weren't there."
The letter is one of seven Washington wrote that will be auctioned at Sotheby's next Saturday. The auction house estimates it will go for between $150,000 and $200,000 US, or between $180,000 and $240,000 Cdn.
The seven letters could fetch an estimated $810,000 US, or almost $1 million Cdn.
Selby Kiffer, a senior vice-president of Sotheby's books and manuscripts department, said some of the letters even pre-date the patriots declaring independence.
"They are from the pivotal time in American history. They are extremely lengthy and extremely detailed because Washington was writing to another military man who he held in high regard and whose opinion he valued," Mr. Kiffer said.
"So for giving a sort of first-hand insight into what the American military strategy was at the beginning of the war for independence, these are virtually without parallel."
Mr. Kiffer said Sotheby's tries to base its estimated sale prices on what similar items have gone for.
"A great Washington letter will routinely sell for six figures," he said.
The letters belong to a family in Rhode Island.
But alas, I was wrong. :'( (my wife tells me that does happen occasionally)
http://www.herald.ns.ca/stories/2005/01/15/f265.raw.html
Death preferable to Halifax, by George
U.S. first president's writings could bring $240,000 at auction
By DAVID JACKSON / Provincial Reporter
A letter by George Washington portraying Halifax as a fate worse than death for some British Loyalists is expected to fetch up to $240,000 Cdn at a New York auction next weekend.
The May 9, 1776, letter from Washington, then a general in the War of American Independence before becoming America's first president, discusses the treatment of Boston Tories in Halifax, the British evacuation of Boston and his reinforcement of Canada.
Washington wrote of the troops and civilian Loyalists who left Boston during the 1775-83 American Revolution: "Their Misfortunes did not end here.
"It seems upon their arrival at Hallifax, many of the former were obliged to Incamp, although the ground was coverd deep with Snow; and the latter to pay Six dollars a week for sorry upper Rooms, and stow in them Men, Women, & Children as thick (comparatively) as the hair upon their heads."
Washington said in the four-page letter that some of the Loyalists returned to Boston, and thought facing death there was preferable to being in Halifax.
He said some of the revolutionaries "were for sending them immediately back as the properest, & severest punishment they could Inflict, but death being preferred to this, they now wait, in confinement, any other that may be thought due to such parricides."
The letter was sent to Maj. Gen. Charles Lee, Washington's third in command.
John Reid, a history professor at Saint Mary's University in Halifax, said it's no surprise to read such an indication of what Loyalists found when they came to Halifax.
But Mr. Reid said he didn't infer that they were deliberately mistreated.
"What they did find was that it was pretty hard to find a place to live and the city was overcrowded and that also there was clearly some profiteering going on in the sense that people were charging enormous rent for scarce accommodation," Mr. Reid said in an interview Friday.
He said the Loyalists' experiences described in the letter sounded like a precursor to the complaints of those in the larger migration of 1782-3.
"Halifax was crowded. It was also booming during the Revolutionary War," he said.
"One of the major complaints, in a sense, of the later Loyalist migrants . . . was that while they had been making sacrifices for the Loyalist cause, people in Halifax had just been sitting back and making very nice profits out of the whole thing."
Halifax Mayor Peter Kelly said the letter was an "interesting observation of the times."
"In time of war, there are different views and different interpretations. I guess we'll never really know because we weren't there."
The letter is one of seven Washington wrote that will be auctioned at Sotheby's next Saturday. The auction house estimates it will go for between $150,000 and $200,000 US, or between $180,000 and $240,000 Cdn.
The seven letters could fetch an estimated $810,000 US, or almost $1 million Cdn.
Selby Kiffer, a senior vice-president of Sotheby's books and manuscripts department, said some of the letters even pre-date the patriots declaring independence.
"They are from the pivotal time in American history. They are extremely lengthy and extremely detailed because Washington was writing to another military man who he held in high regard and whose opinion he valued," Mr. Kiffer said.
"So for giving a sort of first-hand insight into what the American military strategy was at the beginning of the war for independence, these are virtually without parallel."
Mr. Kiffer said Sotheby's tries to base its estimated sale prices on what similar items have gone for.
"A great Washington letter will routinely sell for six figures," he said.
The letters belong to a family in Rhode Island.
