Item #45991 [ALS] West Point's First Graduate, Joseph Gardner Swift, to Thomas Biddle. Joseph Gardner Swift.
[ALS] West Point's First Graduate, Joseph Gardner Swift, to Thomas Biddle.
[ALS] West Point's First Graduate, Joseph Gardner Swift, to Thomas Biddle.

[ALS] West Point's First Graduate, Joseph Gardner Swift, to Thomas Biddle.

New York: 1815. [2 pp.] bifolium + address leaf. 8 x 10 inches. Very good, folded. Item #45991

Brief letter of introduction with address leaf, dated May 15th, 1815, from J.G. Swift to Thomas Biddle, of Philadelphia. Swift tells Biddle that his brother in law, Eli Adams of Boston, "will have business in your department ... which I hope it will be convenient & profitable for you to aid him in." In his closing, Swift mentions the failing health of his former mentor. "I have lately heard that Genl Williams is ill - Be pleased to inform Mr. Adams how the Genl is."

Army Chief of Engineers Joseph Gardner Swift (1783-1865) was West Point Military Academy's first graduate (1802), under the command of Superintendent Jonathan Williams. Swift would return to take command of West Point, both during Williams' absence in 1807, and then as Superintendent (1812-1814).

Swift's correspondent, Thomas Biddle (1790-1831), of the famed Philadelphia Biddle family, had served with distinction during the War of 1812. In 1831 Biddle was killed in a duel, along with his rival, Congressman Spencer Darwin Pettis.

Price: $200.00