Description:

Revolutionary War

American Officer Tries to Get Spurs from Occupied New York City

 

JOHN BEATTY, Autograph Document, to Lewis Pintard, c. 1777-1780, Elizabeth Town, New Jersey. 1 p., 8.35" x 3.75". Ex-Charles I. Forbes.

 

Complete Transcript

"Colo Beatty will thank Mr Pintard to return by Capt Quigley a pair of plated Crane Neck Spurs, with or without Chains.

Elizh Town,

            Friday 12 oClock"

[Verso: Old congress 1783]

 

Historical Background

Crane neck spurs are a type of spur with a neck that curves upward to the rowel. This type of neck is sometimes referred to as a swan-style neck as well. Some spurs incorporated chains into the arms between the terminal of the arms and the studs where the buckle fastened.

 

Perhaps Colonel Beatty could not obtain new spurs, but he thought that Pintard could acquire them in occupied New York City and send them through with a prisoner exchange. In 1784, after the war, a purchaser in New York paid 18 shillings, 6 pence for a pair of plated spurs with chains.

 

 

John Beatty (1749-1826) was born in Pennsylvania, the son of an Irish-born Presbyterian minister. He graduated from the College of New Jersey (Princeton) in 1769. He became a physician and opened a practice in Hartsville, Pennsylvania, twenty miles north of Philadelphia. In the Revolutionary War, he rose to the rank of major in the 6th Pennsylvania regiment before he was captured at the surrender of Fort Washington in November 1776. After his exchange, he received an appointment as Commissary General for Prisoners with the rank of colonel. He became a resident of New Jersey and served in New Jersey Legislative Council from 1781 to 1783 and represented the state in the Continental Congress in 1784 and 1785. He later served as speaker of the New Jersey General Assembly from 1789 to 1790 and represented New Jersey in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1793 to 1795. Finally, he was the New Jersey Secretary of State from 1795 to 1805.

 

Lewis Pintard (1732-1818) was a New York merchant of Huguenot descent engaged in the Madeira wine trade. He served as resident commissary for American prisoners held by the British in New York City from 1777 to 1780. Late in 1782, Pintard became agent for New Jersey in settling the state’s accounts with Congress. He married Susanna Stockton, which made him the brother-in-law of Richard Stockton, signer of the Declaration of Independence, and of Elias Boudinot, U.S. Congressman from New Jersey.

 

Thomas Quigley (1743-1821) was born in Elizabethtown, New Jersey. During the Revolutionary War, he served as 1st lieutenant on the New York Navy schooner General Putnam for five and a half months in 1776. Later, Quigley was the captain of the privateer Lively in the naval service of New Jersey. By 1778, he was engaged in taking provisions under flags of truce to American prisoners held in British-occupied New York. In 1782 and 1783, with the Lively he captured at least two ships.

 

 

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