Object Status:
Unlocated
Accession Date:
May 1778
Primary Source Reference:
Du Simitière Memorandum Books, Library of Congress, fol. 29v
Additional Source Text:
"Made use of at the Tournament given by the officers of the british army to Gen How on monday 18 May at Phila & they were given to me by Capt André aide de camp to Gen. Gray & one of the white Knights of the tournament."
Notes:
The "tournament" was the Meschianza, an elaborate ball hosted by British officers on 18 May 1778 during the occupation of Philadelphia in honor of General Sir William Howe (1729-1814), the commander-in-chief of the British forces in America who had resigned his post and was about to return to England.
The donor, John André (1751-1780), was a major in the British Army and head of its Secret Service in America during the Revolution. He was hanged as a spy by the Continental Army for assisting Benedict Arnold's attempted surrender of the fort at West Point, N.Y., to the British. André was one of the prime movers behind the Meschianza.
