Lot 10 Sebastian Bauman

To His Excellency General Washington Commander in Chief of the Armies of the United States of America. This plan of the investment of York and Gloucester has been surveyed and laid down, and is most humbly dedicated by his Excellency's obedient and very humble servant, Sebastian Bauman, Major of the New York of 2nd Regent of Artillery. Philadelphia: 1782.

Sheet size: 27 by 18 7/8 in.

Within three days of the British surrender on 19 October 1781, Major Sebastian Bauman, an American artillery officer, took the field and carefully surveyed the terrain and battle positions at Yorktown. A native of Germany, Bauman had emigrated to America after service in the Austrian army. During the Revolution, he served in the campaigns in New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania, and was in command of the artillery at West Point, before joining Washington at the siege of Yorktown.

 "The field where the British laid down their Arms," omitted from all of the British battle plans of Yorktown. The only detailed battle plan of Yorktown published in America and "a cornerstone document of our national heritage"