American history and military esoterica combined for a good presentation in Portland, Maine, on June 18^th, 2016. Auctioneer Mark Bradstreet and his wife Linda, operate Downeast Auctions in Searsport, Maine. They moved this sale to Portland to accommodate a larger number of attendees. The move didn’t appear to pay off too handsomely, as only about 35 bidders attended the sale in person. But those that did come were well-rewarded for their efforts. The bulk of the items came from Dee C. Brown, Jr., a gentleman well-known in military history and re-enactment circles, living in Maine.

One of the keystones of the auction was an 1819 copy of the Declaration of Independence produced by John Binns. It was only the second version of the document to be made available to the public of that era. Binns and publishing rival Benjamin Owen Tyler fought to become the first publisher to win Thomas Jefferson’s endorsement, and Tyler aced his competitor with an 1818 publication. Jefferson himself owned at least three printed copies of the Declaration, all of which were published after 1812. Binns was the publisher of a Republican newspaper called The Democratic Press, and in June of 1816, he began taking subscriptions for Declaration prints, planning to produce them surrounded by portraits of John Hancock, George Washington, and Jefferson, along with seals of the original thirteen states. But his work wasn’t completed until 1819. Losing the publishing race to Tyler, Binn’s response was to dedicate the work to the people of the United States. He solicited Jefferson’s endorsement, and the former President wrote back saying “The dedication to the people is peculiarly appropriate, for it is their work, and particularly entitled to my approbation with whom it has ever been a principle to consider individuals as nothing in the scale of the nation.” Binns had planned to sell 200 copies of his print to the government, but lost again when Secretary of State John Adams commissioned an exact facsimile of the original document by another publisher. The net result was an early patriotic rarity that sold here for $3740 (including buyer’s premium).

A rare Civil War broadside had previously been sold at a Julia auction in October of 2006. One of only a few copies known to have survived, written by Confederate General Robert E. Lee, for the purpose of enlisting the support of Maryland’s citizenry as his army prepared for the first invasion of the North. It read in part ““TO THE PEOPLE OF MARYLAND:…The people of the Confederate States have long watched with the deepest sympathy the wrongs and outrages that have been inflicted upon the citizens…. the government of your chief city has been usurped by armed strangers; your legislature has been dissolved by the unlawful arrest of its members; freedom of the press and of speech has been suppressed….(O)ur army has come among you, and is prepared to assist you with the power of its arms in regaining the rights of which you have been despoiled.” The issuing date was just nine days before the Maryland Battle of Antietam, still the bloodiest single day battle in all of American history. Housed in a later Victorian oak leaf frame, the Southern broadside rose again to the tune of $4840.

Another good score came on a framed Revolutionary War map by Claude Joseph Sauthier, titled in part “A Topographical MAP of the North’n PART / OF / NEW YORK ISLAND / Exhibiting the PLAN of FORT WASHINGTON / now / FORT KNYPHAUSEN…” published by William Faden in 1777. In the Battle of Fort Washington, located between the shores of what was called “Hudson’s or North River” and the “Haerlem River,” British General William Howe ordered about 8000 Hessian and British soldiers to recapture the fort from the American rebels. They succeeded on November 16th, 1776, and promptly re-named it Fort Knyphausen in honor of the Hessian commander Wilhelm von Knyphausen. It was a key victory for the British, allowing them to consolidate their control of New York City and eastern New Jersey, and chase Washington’s troops westward into Pennsylvania. The map showed the various troop movements and positions after the battle, and it sold well for $2640.

©Maine Antique Digest

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Declaration of Independence, published by John Binns in 1819, selling for $3740.

This printed version of a Revolutionary War map by Claude Joseph Sauthier, detailing the Battle of Fort Washington, closed at $2640.

Often this particular map, titled “THE ATTACK and DEFEAT of the AMERICAN FLEET under BENEDICT ARNOLD, BY THE KINGS FLEET Commanded by CAPT’N THOs. PRINGLE / upon LAKE CHAMPLAIN, the 11th of October, 1776,” is found without the description of the decisive battle. This one, published by William Faden, contains all the verbiage in the lower margin. It sold for $5940, the top price of the sale, and rightly so because of its rarity.

A Civil War broadside with text written by Robert E. Lee, appealing to the citizenry of Maryland for their support, sold for $4840. Photos courtesy Maine Antique Digest.