[ Autographs ] JOHN BURGOYNE (1722 - 1792) British Major General and playwright who commanded the British expedition from Canada in 1777 in an attempt to divide the colonies in two. Ultimately he was forced to surrender his army at Saratoga. Autograph address leaf addressed inhis hand to George Washington a little more than a month after his surrender at Saratoga, dated Nov. 25, 1777: "To His Excellency GeneralWashington &c &c &c." Burgoyne, then quartered in Boston, was still unaware that Congress had rejected the stipulations of the Saratoga Convention which called for the troops to be paroled to England. Congress, fearing that this would merely free more British troops for America, decided to void the convention and keep the army as prisonersof war. In the letter, to which this leaf was once part and is now at the Library of Congress, Burgoyne assumed that his army would be paroled back to British custody and noted that he had "...great doubt whether the transports destined to carry the troops to England according to the Convention would be able to make the Port of Boston in this advanced season of the year; & therefore that it might be advisable to send them to Rhode Island..." Washington responded on December 17, noting that he had forwarded the request to Congress. Theletter was part of a larger plan on the part of Sir William Howe to divert the troops to an American port under British control and allowed the Americans a pretext for scuttling the convention agreementand holding Burgoyne's army as prisoners of war. Small loss to lower right corner, otherwise very good condition. A superb piece of history!