Manuscripts

$7500

Brigadier General James Wolfe wrote this letter to Lieutenant Murray one day after the French surrender of Louisbourg (Nova Scotia). Wolfe stated that he intended to return to England as soon as possible and that he believed “no further expedition” would be undertaken in the campaign season. He assured his recipient that if “timid counsels” did not prevail, Murray’s services would be “indispensable” to the success of future military engagements.  

James Wolfe’s death on the Plains of Abraham in the fall of 1759 was immortalized in Benjamin West’s masterpiece “The Death of General Wolfe,” which is proudly exhibited in the Clements Library’s Avenir Foundation Room.