1840 Hand Colored Wood Engraving "Quaker Lady Detaining the English General" 5x6 for Sale

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1840 Hand Colored Wood Engraving "Quaker Lady Detaining the English General" 5x6 For Sale

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1840 Hand Colored Wood Engraving "Quaker Lady Detaining the English General" 5x6:
$124.95

This engraving refers to Mary Lindley Murray who, as legend has it, delayed Sir Henry Clinton and his officers by treating them to food and drink, tempting them with her charms, while the Americans under the command of Israel Putnam escaped after the disastrous Battle of Kip’s Bay in September 1776. This cartoon countered the feelings of some revolutionaries by making Quakers seem favorable to the revolutionary cause. The Quakers were largely pacifist during the War due to their beliefs but many in the community want to join the revolutionary cause.
"When retreating from New York, Major General Putnam, at the head of three thousand five hundred continental troops, was in the rear and the last that left the city. In order to avoid any of the enemy that might be advancing in the direct road to the city, he made choice of a road parallel with and contiguous to the North River, till he could arrive at a certain angle, whence another road would conduct him in such a direction as that he might form a junction with our army. It so happened that a body of about eight thousand British and Hessians were at the same moment advancing on the road, which would have brought them in immediate contact with General Putnam, before he could have reached the turn into the other road. Most fortunately, the British generals, seeing no prospect of engaging our troops, halted their own, and repaired to the house of a Mr. Robert Murray, a Quaker and friend of our cause; Mrs. Murray treated them with cake and wine, and they were induced to tarry two hours or more, Governor Tryon frequently joking her about her American friends. By this happy incident General Putnam, by continuing his march, escaped a rencounter with a greatly superior force, which must have proved fatal to his whole party. One half hour, it is said, would have been sufficient for the enemy to have secured the road at the turn, and entirely cut off General Putnam s retreat. It has since become almost a common saying among our officers, that Mrs. Murray saved this part of the American army."
The print measures 4.75 x 6 inches and is on a board measuring 5.5 x 9 inches.
This print is important enough to be cataloged in the US Library of Congress Prints and Photographs division. The date range of this print is 1840 to 1870(with a ?)
H18