Plan of Camp May 9. 1779.: Hand drawn sketch

This item is currently on reserve; please contact dealer for more details.

[Revolutionary War] Plan of Camp May 9. 1779. Along Little Fox River [Northwest Territory?] 1779. Hand drawn map on laid paper. 16 x 34 cm. Has been folded. Edge chips, small hole. Edge staining. Good.

The map depicts a camp with symbols of canons, along Fox Creek and Little Fox River. Notation on verso "Plan of Camp May 9, 1779." On left corner: "Hedq [Headquarters] of God____." There are a few possible locations based on the name Little Fox River, but perhaps the most likely seems to be in what was then referred to as the Northwest Territory, in present day Illinois, some 58 miles south of Vincennes, because there are recorded military activities in the area in the timeframe. In December 1778 the British took Ft. Sackville, in Vincennes on the Wabash River along the border of present day Illinois and Indiana. Then in February 1779 American forces under George Rogers Clark retook the fort, re-naming it Ft. Patrick Henry. "In his wilderness campaigns in this territory, Clark sought to remove the British as a threat to Virginia's western settlements, in what became Kentucky but was then still part of the original colony. After accomplishing that objective, he returned south of the Ohio River to Kentucky, hoping to raise troops for an assault on British-held Fort Detroit, but he was unsuccessful. In spring 1780, the Virginia troops withdrew from the Vincennes fort, leaving it in the control of local militia." See Cayton, Frontier Indiana (1996) p. 85. The Little Fox River is connected to the Wabash and Rogers' forces are known to have traveled via river. Would display nicely. Revolutionary War handwritten camp sketches seldom appear on the market.