Lot 299

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Description:

Fantastic Rev War Archive 5 items Defending the New England Coast and the Pennsylvania Frontier

This archive of Revolutionary War materials includes four returns of provisions for individual companies from New Hampshire in 1777 and an abstract of pay for four Virginia officers at Fort Pitt in western Pennsylvania for the first seven months of 1780. Together, they illustrate the challenges of defending frontiers during the Revolutionary War.

The provision returns provide details on the quantities of foodstuffs (Indian bread, flour bread, biscuits, fresh beef, salt beef, salt pork, molasses, rice, and peas), soap, and candles provided to companies during short periods in 1777. One focuses on the latter part of May and the first half of June, while the other three detail provisions for August and the first eight days of September. The companies are those of Captains Cutting Cilley, Joseph Parsons, Simon Marston, and Robert Pike, all of New Hampshire. Each of the captains signed their respective provision returns. Cilley’s return is for local militia defending the harbor of the Piscataqua River and Portsmouth. The other three provision returns are for companies participating in an early abortive effort to retake Newport, Rhode Island, from the British.

The abstract of pay details the pay for Lieutenants Lewis Thomas and Lawrence Harrison and Ensigns John Beck and William Connor, detached from the 7th Virginia Regiment commanded by Colonel John Gibson, for the period from January to July 1780, likely at Fort Pitt in western Pennsylvania. All four officers rejoined the 7th Virginia Regiment on February 12, 1781, and remained at Fort Pitt in 1781.

[REVOLUTIONARY WAR.] Returns of Provisions and Abstract of Pay for Officers, Manuscript Documents Signed, 1777, 1780. 5 pp., each approximately 12.5ʺ x 8.5ʺ. Mounted in paper frames, 15.5ʺ x 11ʺ. Expected folds; some foxing; some edge tears not affecting text; very good.

Historical Background
During the Revolutionary War, Portsmouth, New Hampshire, was an important port for the Americans. Before the war, Fort William and Mary on a peninsula at the mouth of the Piscataqua River guarded the entrance to Portsmouth Harbor. Late in 1774, Thomas Gage, the royal governor of Massachusetts, hoped to remove the gunpowder stored there before American Patriots could seize it, but only six British soldiers occupied Fort William and Mary. The Sons of Liberty in Boston soon learned of Gage’s plan, and on December 13, Paul Revere rode to warn the inhabitants of Portsmouth. The following day, more than three hundred colonial militia quickly overwhelmed the small British force at the fort and hauled away more than one hundred barrels of gunpowder, sixteen cannons, and a large number of muskets. British marines soon reasserted British control, but after the British royal governor took refuge in the fort in the summer of 1775, the British decided to abandon the fort and New Hampshire. However, British warships continued to threaten Portsmouth during the war, in part because several American warships were built there for the Continental Navy. Captain Cilley’s militia company likely occupied Fort William and Mary during their service in May and June 1777.

In December 1776, British General Henry Clinton led an expedition from New York City to take control of Rhode Island. The expeditionary force landed and seized control of Newport and the rest of Aquidneck Island. Continental forces amassed at Tiverton in the summer and fall of 1777 to participate in a planned October invasion of the island. New Hampshire sent four companies under the command of Lt. Col. Joseph Senter (1723-1798). Because of a lack of supplies and poor leadership, American efforts to retake Aquidneck Island failed.

In the spring of 1778, General George Washington placed General John Sullivan in command of American forces and encouraged him to coordinate with the Marquis de Lafayette for a joint attack with a French fleet and landing force. On August 9, 11,000 Continental troops and militia crossed from the mainland to Aquidneck Island, and the French Navy blockaded Narragansett Bay. A British fleet arrived to challenge the French fleet, which sailed out to engage them. However, a hurricane damaged and scattered both fleets, forcing the French to withdraw to Boston for repairs. With short-term militia discouraged by the withdrawal of the French fleet, the Americans decided to withdraw from the island. On August 28, British and Hessian soldiers attacked the numerically superior American forces who rallied and forced the British back into Newport. With little hope of success against Newport without French naval support, the Americans then withdrew from the island, leaving it under British control until October 1779.

Built between 1759 and 1761 by British forces during the French and Indian War, Fort Pitt guarded the confluence of the Monongahela and Allegheny rivers where they form the Ohio River (modern-day Pittsburgh). After Pontiac’s War (1763-1766), the British commander sold the fort to two local colonists. During Lord Dunmore’s War in 1774, the newly renamed Fort Dunmore served as a staging area. During the Revolutionary War, commissioners from Congress investigated the security of the infant nation’s western border and reported to Congress on the threat posed by British-backed Native Americans. Congress decided to send 3,000 militiamen to protect the western frontier, for which Fort Pitt served as headquarters.

Cutting Cilley (1738-1825) was born in Rockingham County, New Hampshire. In May 1777, Cilley raised a company for the defense of the mouth and harbor of the Piscataqua River on the coast of New Hampshire. The company served for one month.

Joseph Parsons (1746-1832) was born in Rockingham County, New Hampshire. He began a medical career by studying with a doctor in North Hampton, New Hampshire, in 1770. He was a member of the Sons of Liberty and served as captain of the militia in Rye, New Hampshire in 1776 and 1777. In June 1777, he formed a company that he led to Rhode Island, where they served until January 1778. He commanded another company of volunteers in Rhode Island in August 1778 that served for only thirty days. For the next several years he served as a member of the Committee of Safety. In September 1781, he raised a company that marched to Charlestown, Massachusetts, and served for nearly two months. After the war, he served as a justice of the peace and represented Rye several times in the New Hampshire legislature (1778-1780, 1793-1808). He practiced medicine in Rye until his death.

Simon Marston (1737-1810) was born in Rockingham County, New Hampshire. During the Revolutionary War, he commanded one of four companies that New Hampshire raised in the summer of 1777 under the overall command of Lt. Col. Joseph Senter to defend Rhode Island.

Robert Pike (1746-1819) was born in Rockingham County, New Hampshire. He served as an ensign and 2nd lieutenant in the 8th Continental Infantry in 1776. He served as a captain in the New Hampshire militia from June 1777 to January 1778.

Lawrence Harrison (1769-1813) was born in Berkeley County, (West) Virginia. He entered the service in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, and served as an ensign and lieutenant in the 7th, 9th, and 13th Virginia regiments. He served in John Gibson’s detachment in the Western Department at Fort Pitt. In 1779, he led a small detachment to occupy Fort Crawford, a small stockade fort fifteen miles up the Allegheny River from Fort Pitt, and to operate between Fort Crawford and Fort Hand, approximately ten miles to the east. After the war, Harrison moved to Kentucky and then to Ohio. He died in Champaign County, Ohio.

Lewis Thomas (1752-1833) was born in Frederick County, Virginia, and enlisted in Captain Neal’s company in 1777 for a term of three years. He is reputed to have fought in the battles of Germantown and Brandywine. He served as a lieutenant at Fort Pitt later in the war. He was discharged in 1783. After the war, he moved to Washington County, Kentucky, where he had received a 1,000-acre grant for his Revolutionary War service.

John Beck (1746-1816) was born in Queen Anne’s County, Maryland. After serving as a soldier in Lord Dunmore’s War (1774) against the Mingos and Shawnees, Beck joined the Continental Army as part of Col. John Gibson’s regiment and served for several years at Fort Pitt. He received a promotion to ensign in the 9th Virginia regiment in October 1778. He received another promotion to lieutenant in March 1780. When he left the service in December 1782, Beck was a lieutenant in the Virginia Continental Line. After the war, he moved to Ohio County, (West) Virginia.

William Connor (1757-1828) enlisted as a sergeant in Capt. Benjamin Harrison’s company of the 13th Virginia regiment in 1776 and fought in the Battles of Brandywine and Germantown in 1777. He spent the winter of 1777/1778 at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, and in the summer of 1778 marched to Fort Pitt, where he was promoted to ensign in a regiment commanded by Colonel John Gibson. He resigned in the summer of 1781. After the war, he moved to Scioto County, Ohio, where he was a farmer.

This item comes with a Certificate from John Reznikoff, a premier authenticator for both major 3rd party authentication services, PSA and JSA (James Spence Authentications), as well as numerous auction houses.

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