Item #52560 Life, Adventures, and Opinions of Col. George Hanger. George HANGER.

Life, Adventures, and Opinions of Col. George Hanger

Item #52560

HANGER, George. The Life Adventures, and Opinions of Col. George Hanger. Written by Himself [ghostwritten by William Combe]. London: Printed for J. Debrett, 1801. 1st ed. 2 vols. 339; 475pp. Orig. boards with paper spine labels. Former owners' signature and bookplate, some wear to spines, else a very nice, untrimmed set. HOWES H-158. Clark I:214. Rare in original boards. One of the more important commentaries on the Revolutionary War in the South. Col. Hanger, later Lord Coleraine, served as aide-de-camp to Clinton during the Charleston Campaign. His services were distinguished, and he was on friendly terms with Clinton, Carleton, Tarleton, Gen. Dickenson, Major Andre, and others of note. He was wounded in action at Charlotte, North Carolina, and was appointed Major of Tarleton's Dragoons in 1782. In the second volume, Hanger makes this curious prophecy: "...one of these days, the Northern and Southern powers [of the United States] will fight as vigorously against each other, as they both have united to do against the British." Ghostwritten by William Combe, this work covers a variety of topics on which Hanger had opinions, thus only part of the book is of American concern; that part, however, is of great interest for the Revolution. Hanger went to New York in 1778 and was sent to Savannah the following year. Hanger took part in the siege of Charleston, mustered Loyalists in the Carolinas, and fought under Cornwallis in North Carolina in 1780, including service as Tarleton's second-in-command. He was recuperating from yellow fever in Bermuda when the battle of Yorktown took place, and was back in New York from 1781 until the final British evacuation in 1783. Page two of the text in the first volume includes a wood-engraved illustration of a hanging man, punning on his name.

Price: $2,500.00

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