Revolutionary War-dated manuscript DS, signed by 34 soldiers of Capt. Luke Drury's Company, one page, 7.75 x 12.25, February 9, 1776. Intersecting folds, scattered toning and soiling, creases and wrinkles, and rough edges, otherwise very good condition. The document reads, in part: “Recd of Capt. Luke Drury the full of all our Wages as Officers & Soldiers in his Company in Colo Wards Regt in the Continantal [sic] Army for the Months of November & December Last…We have likewise Re[c]d all the money due to us for milk Peas & Indian meal & Ration Money to Carey us home in full as witness our Hand…"
The following signatures appear in the order they are listed on the document. Additional information from The History of Grafton by Frederick Clifton Pierce, Worcester County, Massachusetts, 1879, is added in brackets: "Edmund Dolbear [of Boston], Thaddeus Kemp [mark] [of Billerica; enlisted April 29, 1775], Thomas Leland, Jr., [Cpl.] Joseph Leland, [Cpl.] William Walker, William Evans, Moses Rawson, Joseph Plumley [of Alstead], Joseph Anthony [enlisted April 29, 1775; African-American], Eliphalet Smith [born in Suffield, CT; of Sandisfield], Matthias Rice, [Fifer] Zadock Putnam, [Sgt.] Ebenezer Phillips, [Drummer] Elijah Rice, [Sgt.] Shelomith Stow, Thomas Pratt, Eseck Dexter [Esek Dexter], Edward Buttridge [Edward Buttrick], Isaac Brigham, Zebulon Daniels, Forten Burnea [mark] [Fortin Fortune], Fortunatus Burnee; African-American], [Sgt.] Nathan Morse, [1st Lt.] Asaph Sherman, Ebenezer Melendy, Simeon Dexter [of Cumberland], [Sgt.] Jonah Goulding, George Smith, Jonathan Hemenway [Jonathan Hemingway; of Framingham], Samuel Starns [Samuel Stearns], Ebenezer Wadsworth [mark] [of Alstead; guardian of above William Evans], Peter Butler, [2nd] Lt. Jonas Brown, Thomas Leland [Sr.], and John Banks [of Alstead].” At least 23 of the signers were Grafton, Massachusetts-area Minutemen who had responded to the Lexington-Concord Alarm on April 19 - 21, 1775, including Fortune Burnee, of African American and Native American heritage, joined by his half-brother, Joseph Anthony, who enlisted on April 29 and died in service.
Drury had commanded a company of Minutemen since 1773, with many of his men fighting at the Battle of Bunker Hill in 1775. Most of his company re-enlisted once their term of service expired on January 1, 1776. Less than a month after this document was signed, some of these men likely also took part in the March 4, 1776, overnight seizure of Dorchester Heights, a fight that forced the British to evacuate Boston. Unique in its own right, this document also bears the special attribute of having been signed by an African American solider serving in the integrated Massachusetts unit. Of the estimated 100,000 men who served in the Continental Army, at least 5,000 were blacks—both free men and slaves—holding posts such as soldiers, laborers, and servants. Pre-certified John Reznikoff/PSA/DNA and RRAuction COA.
