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Drury’s Company Muster Roll

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles / Autographs Start Price:NA Estimated At:10,000.00 - 15,000.00 USD
Drury’s Company Muster Roll

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Auction Date:2014 Jun 18 @ 18:00 (UTC-05:00 : EST/CDT)
Location:236 Commercial St., Suite 100, Boston, Massachusetts, 02109, United States
ALS - Autograph Letter Signed
ANS - Autograph Note Signed
AQS - Autograph Quotation Signed
AMQS - Autograph Musical Quotation Signed
DS - Document Signed
FDC - First Day Cover
Inscribed - “Personalized”
ISP - Inscribed Signed Photograph
LS - Letter Signed
SP - Signed Photograph
TLS - Typed Letter Signed
Partly-printed muster roll of Captain Luke Drury’s company, one page, 13.5 x 14, circa May 1775. One of the earliest printed American Army forms, filled out in manuscript in four of the printed columns, headed “Men’s Names,” “Towns whence they came,” “Rank,” and “Time of Inlistment.” The document lists 49 soldiers, most hailing from Massachusetts with the majority from Grafton, with a few other towns and nearby states mixed in. In very good condition, with intersecting folds, scattered staining, and a few professionally repaired tears.

At least 29 of these soldiers were Grafton-area Minutemen who had just recently responded to the Lexington-Concord Alarm on April 19–21, 1775, participating in this most famous first engagement of the Revolutionary War. Captain Luke Drury of Grafton had commanded a company of Minutemen since 1773, and they participated in some of the most famous battles of the Revolutionary War—after succeeding at Lexington and Concord, the company was incorporated into a Continental Army regiment under Col. Jonathan Ward, soon after seeing action at the Battle of Bunker Hill. Two soldiers listed here—half-brothers Joseph Anthony and Fortune Burnee—were both of African-American and Native American descent, rarely seen on such muster rolls. Also notable is Samuel Heard, who was killed at Bunker Hill. Revolutionary War documents listing black troops are scarce and desirable, and its place in history as one of the Army’s first printed documents makes this a significant historical piece.