WASHINGTON, GEORGE. 1732-1799. FRAUNCES, SAMUEL. Document Signed ("Sam'l Fraunces") a receipt for $146.32 for Bw Dandridge for "sundries for the President's [George Washington] household," 153 x 82 mm, ink on paper, March 10, 1794, some smudging, small chip to upper edge.
"Black Sam" Fraunces was the proprietor of Fraunces' Tavern, where General George Washington famously bid farewell to his troops in 1783. On December 4, 1783, just nine days after the British troops had left Manhattan, Washington gathered his troops in the long room of Fraunces Tavern, at the corner of Pearl and Broad in lower Manhattan, beginning "With a heart full of love and gratitude, I now take leave of you...." He then left for Annapolis to resign his commission.
Fraunces Tavern began as the Queen's Head Tavern in 1762, under the colorful ownership of Samuel Francis, called "Black Sam." There has been much historical debate about whether "Black Sam" was of African descent (some sources say he was born in Barbados), or whether the moniker black was simply a fitting nickname for a tavern owner. Scholars from Charles Blockson to W.E.B. Dubois have weighed in on the subject, which has never been satisfactorily resolved.
In any case, he led a varied life, spying for the Americans after being impressed to work for the British during the revolution, and has been said to have sounded the alarm that Benedict Arnold was a traitor after hearing British soldiers toasting him. In 1785, he was commended by Congress for being "instrumental in discovering and defeating" a 1776 assassination plot against General Washington and given an award. He leased out his tavern and retired to New Jersey before coming out of retirement to manage his friend George Washington's first Presidential Household in New York. He was let go early in 1790, but Washington convinced him to return to manage the President's household when the capitol was moved to Philadelphia later that year.
Autographs from this legendary character of the revolution are exceedingly rare.
WASHINGTON, GEORGE. 1732-1799. FRAUNCES, SAMUEL. Document Signed ("Sam'l Fraunces") a receipt for $146.32 for Bw Dandridge for "sundries for the President's [George Washington] household," 153 x 82 mm, ink on paper, March 10, 1794, some smudging, small chip to upper edge.
"Black Sam" Fraunces was the proprietor of Fraunces' Tavern, where General George Washington famously bid farewell to his troops in 1783. On December 4, 1783, just nine days after the British troops had left Manhattan, Washington gathered his troops in the long room of Fraunces Tavern, at the corner of Pearl and Broad in lower Manhattan, beginning "With a heart full of love and gratitude, I now take leave of you...." He then left for Annapolis to resign his commission.
Fraunces Tavern began as the Queen's Head Tavern in 1762, under the colorful ownership of Samuel Francis, called "Black Sam." There has been much historical debate about whether "Black Sam" was of African descent (some sources say he was born in Barbados), or whether the moniker black was simply a fitting nickname for a tavern owner. Scholars from Charles Blockson to W.E.B. Dubois have weighed in on the subject, which has never been satisfactorily resolved.
In any case, he led a varied life, spying for the Americans after being impressed to work for the British during the revolution, and has been said to have sounded the alarm that Benedict Arnold was a traitor after hearing British soldiers toasting him. In 1785, he was commended by Congress for being "instrumental in discovering and defeating" a 1776 assassination plot against General Washington and given an award. He leased out his tavern and retired to New Jersey before coming out of retirement to manage his friend George Washington's first Presidential Household in New York. He was let go early in 1790, but Washington convinced him to return to manage the President's household when the capitol was moved to Philadelphia later that year.
Autographs from this legendary character of the revolution are exceedingly rare.
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