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1776 Revolutionary War Payroll Abstract, 4th Massachusetts Regt. to John Nixon

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles Start Price:3,000.00 USD Estimated At:4,000.00 - 5,000.00 USD
1776 Revolutionary War Payroll Abstract, 4th Massachusetts Regt. to John Nixon
American Revolution
May 1776 Dated Colonel John Nixon’s 4th Massachusetts Regiment Revolutionary War Manuscript Payroll Abstract
May 1776-Dated Docket, Revolutionary War, Continental Army Siege of Boston Period Payroll Abstract Roster, Capt. Wheeler's Company in the 4th Massachusetts Regt., to Colonel (later Brigadier General) John Nixon, Very Fine.
Historic and important Continental Army Revolutionary War Payroll Roster, headed: "An Abstract for the Wages due to the Men in Capt. Wheeler's Company in the 4th Regt. who inlisted (sic) before the first of Jany. & were not in the Service the last Campaign” (Siege of Boston Period of April 1775 to March 1776). Completely Handwritten in the field, 1 page, legal folio, measuring 7.5” x 12.5” and addressed to Colonel John Nixon (1733-1808) who personally adds the docket upon the documents blank verso.

Fifteen Continental Army soldiers are listed, along with the number of days of pay due to each, their home towns, date enlisted, and amount due, Signed at bottom by “Capt. Adam Wheeler”. The far right central margin edge has an old repair affecting some of the last digits of some of the pay figures with a couple of expected trivial fold intersection pinholes. Overall good eye appeal and attractive for display, well written in easily readable rich brown on period laid paper and boldly signed. Docket on verso appears to be in Colonel (later Brigadier General) John Nixon’s hand and reads, in full: “Capt. Wheeler’s Abstracts - May 1776 £25.8.0 - Ext. for Men Inlisted before Jany”.

John Nixon’s 4th Continental - This regiment was formed by consolidating the remnant of Thompson's Company, Danielson's Regiment, with the remnant of Nixon's Regiment. Colonel John Nixon commanded this regiment until August 9, 1776, the date on which he was promoted to Brigadier General. On that date the regiment's next senior officer, Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Nixon, assumed command with the rank of colonel. Nixon's regiment remained with the Main Army, moving to New York City in April. It served at Trenton and Princeton. It was designated the 6th Massachusetts Regiment in the 1777 establishment.
The Massachusetts Line was the name given to those units within the Continental Army that were assigned to Massachusetts at various times by the Continental Congress during the American Revolutionary War.

These, together with similar contingents from the other twelve states, formed the Continental Line. Line regiments were assigned to a particular state, which was then financially responsible for the maintenance (staffing and supplying) of the regiment. The concept of the line was also particularly important in relation to the promotion of commissioned officers. Officers of the Continental Army below the rank of Brigadier General were ordinarily ineligible for promotion except in the line of their own state.

The size of the Massachusetts Line varied from as many as 27 active regiments (at the outset of the war) to four (at its end). For most of the war after the Siege of Boston (April 1775 to March 1776) almost all of these units were deployed outside Massachusetts, serving as far north as Quebec City, as far west as present-day central Upstate New York, and as far south as Yorktown, Virginia. Massachusetts line troops were involved in most of the war's major battles north of Chesapeake Bay, and were present at the decisive Siege of Yorktown in 1781.

General officers of the line included Major Generals Artemas Ward, William Heath, and Benjamin Lincoln, and Brigadier Generals John Glover and John Nixon.