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Auction: 26066 - Historical Documents, Autographs and Ephemera
Lot: 1065

Charles Fleetwood, Parliamentary General - The Battle of Dunbar
1650 (10 Sept.) autograph letter, unsigned in text, but signed on address panel, from Edinburgh with integral address panel "Ffor my Noble Friend Sir Peter Wentworth Knight of the Bathe, a Member of Parliament of the Concill of State" with postal instruction "With all speed & care" signed beneath "C: Fleetwood".

Important contents relay details of the victory at the Battle of Dunbar, reading "The great mercy in Gd's [?] wonderfull and miraculous victory wherein the Lord alone appeared & is to be exalted, I doubt not you have received the full account thereof, since that time they have quitted Edinborough citty (not the castle) & Leith wich is as comfortable a place as any in Scotland, being the choice harbour and place of great mechandice upon the country, they left in it about 30 pieces of Ordnance, good store and Armes & ammunition, great plenty of wine & other provisions, they have likewise quitted Pendrall [?, possibly Richard Penderell, Royalist] other places very comfortable, the bodys of yr foote are left bye at Stirling, they are much dissatisfied about their King who when he heard of the blow lifted up his hands and blessed God since, he hath put for old Genll. Leslie it is probable he will now attempt to sett up for himselfe, which the Scotts will doe in uncertaine, some are of the opinion they have a minde to treate but nothing offered of that on either part, we are forced to stay heere for some time till our Recruits & commissionors [?] at Leithe be better fortified, wich to loose will greatly damage yr affayres, the Army sickness much increases, the Lord teach us with meanes, & blessed be him name the he chastises us himselfe & delivers us [now in marginal text] not into the hands of our enemies who wer lifted up with much pride and [?] confidence, great cause have we to trust our whole concernts with himselfe & though our difficultyes are great, yet our strength and power is from himselfe who is mighty to save & deliver out of them all & indeede we might well be unrewarded with unbeleife if after so great an experience of his providence we should not still trust & waite upon him for it is behinde this frame he gave us & will still which that it may is the prayer of ....".

Fine and important letter both postally and historically.

Provenance:
Sotheby's 11 July, 1996

Notes: For a letter of such importance, relaying the results of a battle, one might expect to see the famous endorsement so familiar to postal historians - "Haste Post Haste", which always comes signed by the sender on the address panel. Instead here we have a hybrid, 'soft' form of the endorsement, noting the importance of the letter and the need to carry with speed and, most unusually, signing on the address panel in order perhaps to give the endorsement weight.

Charles Fleetwood (1618-92) served as Lord Deputy of Ireland (1652-55), Council of State (1651-52), MP for Marlborough (1646-55), Governor of the Isle of Wight (1649) and Commander in Chief & Committee of Safety (1659). He was a loyal servant of the Parliamentary cause and in fact married Oliver Cromwell's daughter, Bridget Cromwell, widow of Henry Ireton. In his tenure in Ireland he extinguished the last flicker of Catholic zeal, the last of which surrendered in 1653.

The Battle of Dunbar (3 Sept., 1650) was fought between the New Model Army and the Scottish forces under the command of Leslie. Following King Charles I's execution in 1649, King Charles II had found his stronghold in Scotland and immediately began building a force there on the basis that he would adopt Presbyterianism. Between 800-3,000 Scotts were killed and 6,000-10,000 were taken prisoner that day. Victory here permitted Cromwell to march on Edinburgh and seize the Capital.


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Estimate
£800 to £1,000

Starting price
£650