Beschreibung:

WAYNE, Anthony ("Mad Anthony"), (1745-1796), General, Continental Army . Five draft autograph letters signed ("Anty Wayne") to various individuals and firms, CONCERNING EFFORTS TO PURCHASE SLAVES FOR HIS GEORGIA PLANTATION, Various places (Charleston, Richmond, and Savannah), 28 September 1785 to 28 September 1792. Together 9½ pages, 4to (4) and folio (1), enclosed in quarter red morocco padded case. [With:] Three letters addressed to Wayne, one from a slaver-trader, Robert Hazlehurst, 1 June 1785 to 19 June 1787. 4 pages, 4to . ANTHONY WAYNE'S FALTERING EFFORTS TO BECOME A PLANTATION OWNER. A unusual archive relating to Anthony Wayne's unsuccessful efforts to establish a plantation in the years after the Revolution. Like another Continental officer, Nathanael Greene, Wayne's exceptional service as a General in the Continental Army was rewarded by a grant of 800 acres of coastal land from the state of Georgia, probably lands which had formerly belonged to loyalists. After a short stint as a member of the Pennsylvania Assembly, Wayne tried his hand at the cultivation of rice, which was dependant on slave labor. Many of the letters here involve the perilous financial aspects of these transactions including his arrangement for substantial credit through an Amsterdam bank, Willinks. On June 1st, 1785, in response to a request from the General, Robert Hazlehurst, a slaver dealer, informs Wayne that "...I have a sale of a Cargo consisting of One Hundred & fifty two prime, healthy young Negroes, just arrived from Gambia, they are a remarkable fine Cargo." Hazlehurst states cash and credit terms. By late September, Wayne had written several drafts drawn upon the banking house of Wilhem & Jan Willinks of Amsterdam for the purchase of slaves, informing his creditors in a letter dated September 28; "The favorable Opportunity which has been presented to purchase Negro's [ sic ] has induced me to anticipate your Orders to draw upon you...19'588 florins all which I hope will be duly Honored." Wayne's optimism must have turned to horror when his creditors wrote him on July 29, 1785 that a lack of payment from merchants has "so much injured the American credit that it becomes for the present impossible to borrow money." Apparently, Wayne struggled desperately to pay off his debt. On June 18, 1786, he writes to James Penman, to whom he owed 11,000 florins: "the Great disappointment I have experienced at the hands of the Willinks puts it out of my power at present to replace them. You will please to recollect that I put into your hands the letters upon which I grounded my expectations of having my bills duly honored. We have been both disappointed. I should as soon as in my power endeavor to pay the debt I have contracted with you but it will require some reasonable time." Wayne received word in a letter from Thomas Morris on the 19th of June in the following year that his efforts had failed. Wayne's inability to pay led Penman to file suit, and eventually Willinks foreclosed on the plantation itself. In 1791, after the courts ruled against him, Wayne writes on April 20 to Adam Tunno concerning the settlement of the account; "it will be necessary for you to execute a Power of Attorney to enter satisfaction upon each & every of the Judgments obtained against me in the Courts of Law in the State of Pennsylvania, & to give me up the several Bills of Exchange mentioned in your statement with receipts therein." On the integral leaf, Wayne has written an account statement verifying that he still owed Penman £1452.20. In June, Wayne sent instructions for payment to Edward Rutledge, by bonds drawn upon the Bank of England. On 28 September 1792, Wayne writes to Sharp Delany about addition debts: "[your letter] has given me much uneasiness. All that is in my power to do at present is to send you [$900] & post to satisfy the Bills of two hundred & fifty pounds sterling mentioned in Mr. Beckhams letter." It may have been a refief, considering his failu