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1780 Revolutionary War Mass Council 15 Members Signed Military Pay + Muster Roll

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles Start Price:2,000.00 USD Estimated At:3,500.00 - 4,500.00 USD
1780 Revolutionary War Mass Council 15 Members Signed Military Pay + Muster Roll
American Revolution
Massachusetts Council Revolutionary War Treasurer & Fifteen Council Members Authorization of Military Payment
April 27, 1780-Dated Revolutionary War, Two-Part Partly-Printed and Manuscript Documents headed, “State of Massachusetts-Bay Council Chamber,” Signed by: “John Avery” Secretary of the Commonwealth, “Henry Gardner” Treasurer, further endorsed by Fifteen notable Council-Chamber Members, together with an Attached Manuscript Muster Roll for wages to December 31, 1779 (Two Documents), Very Fine.
Important Document Pair which includes a rare fully signed and issued Massachusetts-Bay Council Chamber Military Pay Authorization Printed Voucher measuring 9.25” x 7.5” attached together with a true copy signed by “John Avery” clerk, providing this historic regiment’s Manuscript Muster Roll measuring a slightly larger 9.25” x 9.5”, both Documents are boldly written in rich brown ink on clean fine quality laid period paper. The amount requested to be paid is £7,673 10 shillings and 4 pence, a very large amount of money in those days, for payment “to make good the Depreciation of their Wages to the 31st Dec. 1779”.

Partly-Printed Document is at top, headed: “State of Massachusetts-Bay Council Chamber, Signed by John Avery, Secretary of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, made to Henry Gardner, Treasurer. It reads, in part: “You are hereby directed to pay out of the public Treasury of this State to The Men borne on the annexed (attached Muster) Role in Col. Nixons Regt. the sum set against each their names...”. Also, Signed by Fifteen Massachusetts-Bay Council Members including: Oliver Prescott (1731-1804) Major General of the state militia in 1778; Moses Gill (1734-1800) Acting Governor who died in office; and Artemas Ward (1727-1800) Major Revolutionary War General, among other prominent leaders. Attached to the Printed Signed Authorization form with original wax, is that related Muster Role for Colonel John Nixon’s Massachusetts Regiment which has folds and slight edge wear, some archivally sealed outer edge fold splits, overall remaining clean, easily readable and attractive.

The impressively Handwritten Muster Roll is made for Colonel John Nixon’s Massachusetts Regiment, later known as the 4th Continental Regiment. Historic note: This Regiment was first raised on April 23, 1775 being organized just Four Days After the Battle of Lexington and Concord... (Massachusetts) where its “Shot heard round the world” was fired and the American Revolution began. Colonel John Nixon commanded that Regiment from May 19, 1775 until August 9, 1776, when he was then promoted to Brigadier General. That regiment would see extensive action participating at the Battle of Bunker Hill, New York Campaign, Battle of Trenton, Battle of Princeton, and the Battle of Saratoga, the unit being furloughed on June 12, 1783 at West Point, and ultimately disbanded in New York on November 3, 1783.

Historical note: At the Battle of Bunker Hill, the 6th Massachusetts Regiment was under the command of Colonel John Nixon. It was positioned in the redoubt on Breed’s Hill near Captain Jonathan Brewer’s and Captain William Prescott’s regiments. During British General William Howe's first attack on (Breed's) Bunker Hill, Colonel Nixon was wounded and was withdrawn from the battle. The remaining members of the 6th Regiment withdrew when the redoubt was overtaken by Howe's second attack. Peter Salem, a freed African-American Slave, served in the 6th Regiment from April 24, 1775 to December 31, 1779 (his name is therefore not listed on this Signed Manuscript Document). (2 items/attached).
John Nixon (March 1, 1727 – March 24, 1815) was an American Brigadier General in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War. As Colonel, John Nixon commanded the 6th Massachusetts Regiment, also known as the 4th Continental Regiment, from May 19, 1775 until August 9, 1776 when he was promoted to Brigadier General.

Nixon was born in Framingham, Massachusetts on March 1, 1727 to Christopher and Mary Nixon. In 1755 he served in the Massachusetts militia during Sir William Johnson's Campaign against the French during the French and Indian War.

In 1775 Nixon had moved to Sudbury, Massachusetts, and was a Captain of the town's Minutemen whom he led at the Battles of Lexington and Concord. He and his men fought at Bunker Hill on June 17, 1775, his unit was one of the last to leave the battlefield. After the battle Nixon was promoted to Colonel of the 6th Massachusetts Regiment.

Col. Nixon's regiment was placed into Gen. John Sullivan's brigade and took part in the New York and New Jersey campaign during 1776. In August 1776, Nixon was promoted to brigadier general, and he commanded a brigade consisting of the 3rd, 5th, 6th and 7th, and 8th Massachusetts Regiments.

He led his brigade in the Battle of Harlem Heights and later in the Saratoga Campaign, when it was reinforced by Cogswell's, Gage's and Mays's regiments of Militia. Nixon's brigade was involved in the Battle of Bemis Heights in October 1777, and took part in the final assault; during this attack a cannonball passed so close to his head that his sight and hearing were affected the rest of his life. Nixon resigned his commission September 12, 1780.

General John Nixon moved to Weybridge, Vermont in 1806 and died while visiting his son in Middlebury on March 24, 1815. He was buried at a cemetery on his farm, which was later incorporated into what is now First Weybridge Hill Cemetery.

OLIVER PRESCOTT (1731–1804). Physician and militia general. Massachusetts. Born on 27 April 1731, the son of Benjamin and Abigail Oliver Prescott and younger brother of William Prescott, he was graduated from Harvard College in 1750 and built a successful medical practice in Groton, his birthplace. He was chairman of the town committee that protested the Stamp Act in 1765 and clerk of the town's committee of correspondence in 1774. He served in the militia before the Revolution, became brigadier general of the Middlesex County militia when the war started, and was promoted to second Major General of the state militia in 1778.

During the Boston siege, he was charged with setting up checkpoints to stop communication between the British garrison and pro-British sympathizers in the countryside. He held a number of important civil posts, helping to enforce the Association of 1774, serving on the Massachusetts supreme executive council from 1777 to 1780, sitting as judge of probate for Middlesex County from 1779 until his death, and playing a vital role in establishing Groton Academy. During Shays's Rebellion, he was active in recruiting and the dispatch of intelligence to the state authorities. Over six feet tall, inclined to being overweight, deaf in his later years, courtly in manner, he was a kindly and popular man. He died at Groton on 17 November 1804.

Moses Gill (1734-1800) was a Massachusetts politician who briefly served as the state's Acting Governor. He is the state's only Acting Governor to die in office. A successful businessman, he became one of the leading settlers of Princeton, Massachusetts, entering politics shortly before the American Revolutionary War. He served on the Massachusetts Provincial Congress's executive committee until the state adopted its constitution in 1780, after which he continued to serve on the state's Governor's Council.

Elected lieutenant governor in 1794, he served in that office under Governors Samuel Adams and Increase Sumner until the latter died shortly after winning reelection in 1799. Gill served an apparently undistinguished term as acting governor until his own death in 1800, ten days before his successor, Caleb Strong, assumed office. Gill was a significant benefactor and founder of Leicester Academy, and supported the congregational church in Princeton, where the family had a large estate.

Artemas Ward (1727 – 1800) was an American Major General in the American Revolutionary War and a Congressman from Massachusetts. He was considered an effective political leader, President John Adams describing him as "universally esteemed, beloved and confided in by his army and his country."