Revolutionary War-dated manuscript document, one page, 8 x 6.75, [December 1775]. Pay list for 18 members of Captain Luke Drury's Company, which lists their wages to the right side. Several of the men listed here marched from their homes in Grafton, Massachusetts, in response to the Lexington Alarm of April 19, 1775, which includes Joseph Leland, Ebenezer Leland, Elijah Rice, Peter Butler, and Thomas Pratt. The reverse is annotated and signed by Lexington Alarm veteran Sergeant Joseph Leland, who writes: “Grafton, December 27th 1775, Then I received my wages for the Month of Octr and Novemb’r & a part of Dec.” In fine condition, with nearly complete separation along the hinge.
Today, the terms minuteman and militiaman are often used interchangeably, but there was a distinction during the 18th century. The militia was comprised of men in arms formed to protect their towns from foreign invasion. These militias could then designate up to one-quarter of their force as ‘minutemen,’ a specially trained force required to be highly mobile and able to assemble instantly to a call to arms. By the time of this pay list, the colonial militias had already fought at Lexington and Concord.
Luke Drury (1734-1811) of Grafton, Massachusetts joined the militia in 1757 during the French and Indian Wars. As captain of a company of Minutemen and Militamen, he responded to the Lexington Alarm and later joined Colonel Jonathan Ward's regiment to fight at Bunker Hill. Drury and his men served in different areas during the war, from West Point to Grafton, where his company guarded military stores. He also supported the Continentals financially, at one point giving £50 fifty pounds to enlist soldiers in Grafton.
In 1786-1787, Drury became deeply involved in Shays' Rebellion, a tax revolt led by farmers in western Massachusetts. The uprising was quashed, and Drury was imprisoned as ‘a person dangerous to the state.’ He was eventually released on good behavior. Drury remained active in state and local politics, serving terms as constable, deputy sheriff, tax collector, assessor, selectman, and state legislator.
