Campaign Letter Signed ‘Jos: Sabine’, addressed My Lord, thanking him for the Letters and discussing the defence of Ghent

Ghent, Wednesday one a Clock in the afternoon, undated [c.1709-12]. 2 pp. 9 x 7 inches, lower edge ragged, minor tears, lightly toned. Sabine reports which regiments are in the town, and asserts “that I am not in the least apprehensive of their surprising the Castle, or shall it be in their Power, The Magistracy and Burghers hate the very Name of a Hollander and are entirely enclin’d for us.” General Joseph Sabine (1661-1739) fought at the Siege of Namur in 1695. He subsequently served in Flanders throughout the War of Spanish Succession, commanding his Regiment at the Battle of Blenheim in 1704, at the Battle of Oudenarde in 1708 and then at the Siege of Lille later that year. He was given command of the Citadel at Ghent where he had to put down a mutiny in 1712. Then in 1716 he commanded a Brigade sent to confront the Pretender's Army at Perth. Later that year he became Commander of the British Army throughout Scotland.