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Commander during the Horror of the Fort Griswold Massacre - his 10-year-old son Taken by Benedict Ar

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles Start Price:212.00 USD Estimated At:425.00 - 550.00 USD
Commander during the Horror of the Fort Griswold Massacre - his 10-year-old son Taken by Benedict Ar
Pay order to Revolutionary War Capt. William Latham, Connecticut, 1784, partly printed, 6 x 6. Signed on verso, with "Capt. Artillery" also in his hand. With an utterly compelling story: previously at Valley Forge, Latham was Commander of Fort Griswold during the massacre:

"On the morning of the battle, Capt. Latham, who slept at home...went at once to the fort, taking his son William, Jr., who was ten years old, with him." Latham's slave Lambo brought his wife and children to a safe house, then returned to Capt. Latham, twice saving his life that fateful day in the fort, "once, by pushing a sword away, and in doing so losing the fingers of one hand. The second time, receiving the sword in his body, he fell dead at the feet of his master. Little William...worked all the morning fetching and bringing the powder horns from the magazine. Capt. Latham was severely wounded and the little 'Powder Monkey' lay with his arms around his father's neck all the afternoon. After the battle, Capt. Latham's wife, with her daughter and others, came...to find her husband and child...The search was carried on with lanterns and it was well into the night before she learned her child had been taken prisoner by Benedict Arnold. Early the next morning, Mrs. Latham crossed the river to New London, and going to Benedict Arnold, whom socially she had met many times...said, 'Benedict Arnold, I come for my child, not to ask him, but to demand him, of you.' 'Take him,' said Arnold, 'but don't bring him up to be a d-d-d rebel.' 'I shall take him,' she replied, 'and teach him to despise the name of a traitor'...The child never fully recovered from the dreadful scenes of that day, and was always sad and thoughtful... He...went to sea, never to be heard from..."--The Connecticut Magazine, 1905, pp. 400-401 (modern copies accompany). Part of the episode is also recounted in the modern work, The Untold Story of the Black Regiment: Fighting in the Revolutionary War, Burgan.

In April 1775, upon Lexington and Concord, Latham responded to the First Call for troops, serving as Lt. of Artillery. Later fighting in the Connecticut Line - said to be George Washington's favorite unit - Latham commanded an artillery company of Matrosses at Groton. Also signed by patriots Eleazer Wales and Oliv(er) Wolcott, Jr.: A physician and minister, Wales fought in the Battle of Bunker Hill; in 1777, he was an express-rider, delivering important messages to the Gov. of Conn. Joining the Connecticut Line, Wales wintered with Washington at Valley Forge, later seeing action at Stony Point and Monmouth. At the latter battle, he suffered a permanent disability in his right hand, but remained active in patriotic affairs, here serving on the Pay-Table. Wolcott would become Washington's Secretary of the Treasury; both he and his father, a Signer of the Declaration, were Govs. of Conn. Some fold and edge wear, else very good. A stirring saga, showing the prices paid for liberty.