Hazen, Moses, 1733-1803 to Benjamin Lincoln
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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC01147 Author/Creator: Hazen, Moses, 1733-1803 Place Written: Lancaster, Pennsylvania Type: Autograph letter signed Date: May 27, 1782 Pagination: 2 p. ; 23 x 18.3 cm. Order a Copy
Written by Hazen as commander of prisoners at Lancaster, Pennsylvania during the Huddy-Asgill Affair to Lincoln as Secretary of War. References letters of General Washington from 4 and 18 May 1782, which he received on 25 May 1782. Writes that lots were drawn and Captain Charles Asgill was chosen to be executed in retaliation for the hanging of Captain Joshua Huddy. Asgill was a seventeen-year old youth, "a most amiable character, an extensive fortune and great interest in the British Court and Army." Says the British officers are enraged at Sir Henry Clinton's conduct and that they want Hazen to send an officer to New York on their behalf.
Says all the letters going to New York will remain open for him to view. Wants to send Captain Ludlow to New York with a servant if Lincoln allows it. The Huddy-Asgill Affair, an embarrassment for Washington, began when the Associated Loyalists received permission from General Clinton to take Captain Huddy and two other prisoners for an exchange. The Loyalists then hanged Huddy in retaliation for the killing of one of their partisans, Philip White. Washington wanted Captain Lippincott, who was responsible for hanging Huddy, turned over to him. When he was not, Hazen was directed to select a British officer to die in retaliation.
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