Two secret battlefield letters written by George Washington during one of the toughest winters of the Revolutionary War have recently surfaced and are now up for sale — just in time for America’s 250th birthday celebration this July 4.
Four years into the American colonist’s bloody struggle to break free from British rule, Gen. Washington, from his headquarters in Morristown, N.J. penned the letters revealing how the Continental Army tried to monitor loyalist activity and British troop movements across the Hudson River during the winter of 1779 to 1780.
Those messages, carefully preserved by descendants of Revolutionary War soldiers, are now owned by The Raab Collection, a firm that tracks down historic letters from figures like Abraham Lincoln, Amelia Earhart, and Theodore Roosevelt.
“This is a very exciting find, ” collector and historian Nathan Raab told The Post from his office in Ardmore, Pa. “We’re very excited to have these letters.”
Raab bought the letters for an undisclosed price from a family that had no heirs left to inherit them.
The 47-year-old co-author of the 2020 book “The Hunt for History,” is now selling the letters on his site. The first is going for $150,000 and the second for $80,000.
In Washington’s day, communication wasn’t easy.
There were no phones, texts or emails to rally the troops. Instead, Washington relied on horse-riding couriers carrying handwritten orders.
The first letter, dated Dec. 22, 1779, shows Washington, who was commanding about 20,000 Continental soldiers for his New Jersey post, sounding the alarm about Tories — colonists still loyal to the British Crown. His object was to prevent them from passing information to the British.
He instructed its recipient, Lt. Col. William De Hart, who was part of the 1st NJ Battalion, to keep an eye on them.
Part of the letter reads: “The Objects of it are to cover the communication between this & Kings Ferry — to give protected to the well affected Inhabitants & restrain the others by preventing all kind of intercourse with the Enemy & to obtain the best intelligence of their movements & designs … The detestable & pernicious traffic carried on with the Enemy will demand your greatest vigilance & attention — I intreat you to pursue the most decisive measures to put a stop to it.”
Less than a month later — on Jan. 14, 1780 — Washington sent De Hart another urgent dispatch, detailing a surprise raid against British outposts on Staten Island, which at the time was a major British stronghold used to launch raids in New Jersey.
He ordered De Hart to Newark, N.J., to spy on the British during the campaign to make sure they hadn’t been warned of the raid and called in reinforcements.
The orders read: “An attempt is to be made by a detachment of the army under the command of Lord Stirling against the enemy upon Staten Island. The object of your taking post in Newark is to observe the motions of the enemy … You will keep parties of observation over towards Bergen, and should they discover any motion in that quarter, you will instantly communicate it by way of Elizabeth Town to Lord Stirling.”
General Stirling was dispatched that very day with some 2,500 troops to surprise attack the outposts of the enemy on Staten Island.
Unfortunately, the Tories had already warned the British of Lord Stirling’s plans. British reinforcements had been sent in, and Stirling was forced to retreat to Elizabeth Town — today known as the city of Elizabeth.
The amazingly preserved documents offer a rare glimpse into real-time decisions Washington was making during one of the toughest winters of the Revolutionary War.