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Memoirs and Adventures of Captain Matthew Phelps; Formerly of Harwington in Connecticut, Now Resident in Newhaven in Vermont. Particularly in two Voyages, From Connecticut to the River Mississippi, From December 1773 to October 1780…Compiled from the original Journal and Minutes kept by Mr. Phelps, during his Voyages and Adventures, and revised and corrected according to his recollection.
Bennington, Vermont: From the Press of Anthony Haswell, 1802. 16mo (6.25” x 4.15”), later three-quarters red leather, marbled paper over boards. iv, [5]–210 pp., 63 pp. appendix, [1] p. errata, [2] pp. copyright, xii pp. list of subscribers. Illustrated bookplate at front pastedown: “This book belonged to the Library of Anson Phelps Stokes, Esq. 1838–1913 of New York City and on his death became the property of Rev. Anson Phelps Stokes”. CONDITION: Very good-, fine cracks at hinges, repaired tears to right edges of pp. 49–52 and 177–78 minimally affecting three letters, some pages trimmed close, letters trimmed on last line on p. 7, no loss of sense, light wear and chipping along margins of a few pp., occasional soiling. The first edition of this personal narrative offering an excellent picture of late-eighteenth century America and the confused loyalties of the population of the Lower Mississippi during the Revolutionary War. Born in Harwinton, Connecticut, Capt. Matthew Phelps (d. 1817) sailed in 1773 from New London, Connecticut to New Orleans, and from there traveled by boat up the Mississippi River about “120 leagues” to “the Big Black.” After purchasing land there, he returned to Connecticut. On his second voyage to the south, in 1776, his ship was chased by a British sloop of war, but when he reached the Mississippi River he found that “the agitation of the revolutionary war had not reached those remote dependencies.” His life as a planter went uninterrupted until 1778, when the high-handed methods of an American partisan leader, James Willing (1750–1801), converted the settlers, including Phelps, to the British cause. For a period, Phelps acted as sutler at Fort Penmore at Natchez, which was newly garrisoned under the British flag. Following internal dissension at the fort, Phelps and a group of others sought protection of the Spanish at Manchac. In 1780, he returned to Connecticut on an American vessel, and moved to Vermont in 1788. Haswell’s Memoirs “is one of the most fascinating and harrowing narratives of the early nineteenth century,” (Graff) and a rare document of the Louisiana scene during the Revolutionary War. REFERENCES: Graff 1816; Howes H300; Sabin 30829; Shaw & Shoemaker 2887; McCorison, M.A. Vermont imprints, 1778-1820, 643; Graffagnino, J.K. Vermontiana, 37.
Item #9471
Price: $3,750.00
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