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Revolutionary War

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles / Autographs Start Price:NA Estimated At:2,500.00 - 3,000.00 USD
Revolutionary War

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Auction Date:2018 Mar 07 @ 18:00 (UTC-5 : 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
Significant collection of five Revolutionary War-dated documents concerning the manufacture and distribution of gunpowder for the American cause. The five documents include details on the procurement from domestic producers, as well detailed instructions and recipes on how to make gunpowder. Of particular note is a manuscript DS signed by Gideon Buckingham, Isaac Clark, and Lewis Mallits, Jr., each hailing from Milford, Connecticut, one page, 8.25 x 10.25, January 13, 1777, which notes the inspection of 618 pounds of saltpeter, in part: “A Quantity of Salt Petre offered for Inspection by William Attwater of Milford the maker thereof amounting to six hundred & eighteen Pounds 1/4 is well and carefully Inspected & according to our best judgment and Skill, the same is found to be pure, clean and dry, free from any corrupt Mixture. The said Willm Attwater having made Oath according to the directions of the Law in such case made & provided, which Salt Peter is received for the use of this State.”

Another manuscript document, one page, 7.5 x 11.75, no date, addressed to Mr. Davis Marsh of New Milford, entitled “To make Gun powder,” provides a fairly detailed method for manufacturing the gunpowder, in part: “Refine salt peter in this way, put it in a clean Iron kittle with water enough to desolve it when it warm, after it is desolv’d let it get cool & it shoot into cristals take out those cristals & heat it again & so on till you get it all refin’d etc—Prepare your Brimstone in this way—tye it up in a linen rag & boil it in weak lye about an hour then boil it in clear water till it becomes soft enough to rub fine with your thum & finger.” A third manuscript DS signed “Enoch Huse,” one page, 6.25 x 2.5, Boston, December 22, 1787, which consists of a receipt for Nathaniel Cushing who purchased "1 Qr Cask Gunpowder" for the sum of £2.2.

Also included are two issues of The Essex Journal and New Hampshire Packet, each four pages, 10 x 15.75, December 15, 1775, and January 19, 1776. The earlier issue bears a nearly full-page article which begins "As the know'edge of making SALT-PETRE, engages the attention of numbers, who at this critical time are zealous for their country's good, induces us to hope that by inserting the following, which we have taken from a late London magazine; we shall, at lest, gratify some, and in the meantime, disoblige none of our readers." The second issue features an article by Henry Wisner who gives detailed instructions for the production of powder. Wisner himself established three powder mills in the Hudson Valley and served as a member of the First and Second Continental Congresses. These articles appeared at a most critical juncture when Washington at Cambridge had virtually no gunpowder in his stores. In overall very good to fine condition.