Gouvion, Jean Baptiste, 1747-1792 to Henry Knox
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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC02437.02290 Author/Creator: Gouvion, Jean Baptiste, 1747-1792 Place Written: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Type: Autograph letter signed Date: 15 July 1783 Pagination: 2 p. : address : docket ; Height: 32.7 cm, Width: 20 cm Order a Copy
Written by Colonel Gouvion, a French engineering officer, to Major General Knox, in reply to Knox's letter at GLC02437.02218. Says when he left the army he received letters of some importance that kept him from going through West Point. Says if he saw Knox he would tell him "how grateful I am for all the marks of friendship you gave me during my staying in America." Praises America saying "the prodigious difference I find between what this country was during the war and what it is now, the activity which prevails now every where, and the happiness which appears already to be generally diffused gives me the most favorable opinion of the flourishing state in which it shall be soon." Hopes he can visit for 5 or 6 months in the coming years if he can get time away from the French army. Sends greetings from General du Portail. Asks to be kept informed about the Society of the Cincinnati, "of which I am proud to be a member." "Free" stamped on address leaf with no signature.
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