Featured Manuscript of the Month

Autograph letter, signed by Eli Whitney to Col. George Bomford of the Ordnance Department (1824)

A scarce autograph letter by American inventor Eli Whitney (1765-1825), written less than a year before his death, to Lieutenant Colonel George Bomford (1782-1848) of the United States Ordnance Department, requesting a pamphlet on the inspection of firearms. Despite achieving worldwide renown as the inventor of the cotton gin, an instrument which revolutionized the American agricultural economy, Whitney spent the last two decades of his life in constant legal battles over patent infringements. The litigation depleted most of the profits from his invention, and in the late 1790s he was forced to turn his attention to securing government contracts for the manufacture of arms, which he manufactured up until his death.

George Bomford was born in New York City in 1782, and graduated from West Point in 1805. Initially an engineer, he rose to the rank of Captain while serving along the Atlantic Coast, where he became an expert in ordnance and defense installations. In 1811 he developed the first heavy coastal defense howitzers, referred to as the Columbiads. In 1815 he was appointed to the Office of Ordnance, and promoted to lieutenant colonel.

Transcription: “I saw in the possession of Mr Newbry, the inspector, sometime since a little Pamphlet, published by your Dept. relative inspecting & packing Arms &c– will you have the goodness to send me one of them by the return mail & oblige yr friend & Obdt. Servt. Eli Whitney”

Creasing from original folds; tape repair along entirety of right vertical fold verso; chipping along right edge.

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