Jeffery Amherst ASL "letter of recommendation" for Barrington Bradshaw (to unkonwn) UK Manusricpt 1796 de AMHERST, Jeffery, 1st Baron Amherst [1717-1797] - 1796

Small loss at left from removal of recipients name, toning, else VG.

Written one year before Amherst died on 3 August 1797. Barrington died in the East Indies in 1804

Amherst was commanding general of British forces in North America during the final battles of the French & Indian war (1754-1763). He won victories against the French to acquire Canada for England. Despite his fame, Jeffrey Amherst's name became tarnished by stories of smallpox-infected blankets used as germ warfare against American Indians. Amherst served as the nominal Crown Governor of Virginia from 1759-1768, though Francis Fauquier continued his role as acting governor from the previous term. During this period he also served as the first Governor General of British North America from 1760-1763. This office still exists as the Canadian monarch's representative in Canada. Amherst was raised to the peerage in 1776, as Baron Amherst of Holmesdale. During the American Revolutionary War he rejected a field command, since he had close relations with numerous personalities of the opposite side. He was promoted to Brigadier General in 1778, and became Commander-in-Chief of the Forces. He was replaced as Commander-in-Chief in February, 1782 by Henry Seymour Conway. Amherst again became Commander-in-Chief in 1793. He retired from that post in 1795, and was promoted to the rank of Field Marshal the following year.