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Battle of Bunker Hill Order Signed O. Ellsworth for News Carriers on Eve of Battle by Ct.'s Own Paul Revere
Battle of Bunker Hill Order Signed O. Ellsworth for News Carriers on Eve of Battle by Ct.'s Own Paul Revere
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Battle of Bunker Hill Order Signed O. Ellsworth for News Carriers on Eve of Battle by Ct.'s Own Paul Revere

Oliver Ellsworth, Thomas Seymour, and William Pitkin of the Connecticut Committee of the Pay Table signed this order, instructing Connecticut Treasurer John Lawrence to pay Gurdon Saltonstall £40 for supporting post riders. The exchange of news within each colony and among the American colonies took on a new urgency with the beginning of armed hostilities against Great Britain in 1775.

At its meeting in April 1775 in Hartford, the Connecticut General Assembly resolved that "that Gurdon Saltonstall, Esqr, of New London, be a committee to engage and employ two news-carriers at the Colony expence, to perform regular stages from Woodstock to New Haven on the Fairfield stage and from New Haven to Woodstock, in such manner that they severally arrive in New London every Saturday, and that they forward, all proper intelligence each way every Monday morning with all convenient dispatch." They also incorporated Woodstock and Fairfield into the system and appointed Thaddeus Burr of Fairfield, Charles Church Chandler of Woodstock, and Saltonstall as a committee "to forward, at the public expence of this Colony, all such extraordinary and important intelligence which shall be received at either place from time to time as they shall judge proper and necessary." The General Assembly renewed the resolution at their subsequent meetings on May 11 and October 11, 1775. The New London and Fairfield post continued until October 11, 1775.

OLIVER ELLSWORTH, William Pitkin, and Thomas Seymour III, Manuscript Document Signed, Pay order for Gurdon Saltonstall, June 16, 1775, Hartford, Connecticut. 2 pp., 8.5" x 5.75". Expected folds; general toning; minor edge tears and holes, not affecting text; very good.

Complete Transcript
Sir / Pay to Gurdon Saltonstal Esqr or Order the Sum of Forty pounds money in Bills to defray the Expence of Post Riders from New London to New Haven & Fairfield, he being appointed by order of Assembly to Imploy the same – & Charge it to acct Colony of Connecticut – June 16th 1775
£40
Wm Pitkin }
Thomas Seymour } Comtee
Olivr Ellsworth }
To John Lawrence Esqr / Treasurer

[Endorsement:]
Hartford 15th June 1775
Recd of Treasurer Lawrence Forty pounds Lawful money being the Contents for Gurdon Saltonstall Esqr
⅌ Thos Miner

Historical Background
On the day after the Committee of Pay Table issued this order, British soldiers from Boston attacked American forces in Charlestown at Breed's Hill in the engagement that became known as the Battle of Bunker Hill. Although the British won a tactical victory, it was a sobering experience, as they incurred heavy casualties before driving the Americans from the Charlestown Peninsula. It also convinced the British commanders of the need to reinforce with Hessian mercenaries in their effort to assert control over the rebellious American colonies.

Two months later, King George III issued a proclamation declaring the American colonies to be in a state of rebellion, though the text of the proclamation did not reach the colonies until November.

The Pay-Table handled the military finances for the colony of Connecticut during the American Revolution. Also known as the Committee of Four, its members at different times included Oliver Ellsworth, Jedidiah Huntington, William Moseley, Hezekiah Rogers, Jesse Root, Thomas Seymour III, William Pitkin, Fenn Wadsworth, Eleazer Wales, Ezekiel Williams, John Chenward, Oliver Wolcott Jr., and Samuel Wyllys.

Oliver Ellsworth (1745-1807) was born in Windsor, Connecticut, and entered Yale College in 1762. At the end of his second year, he transferred to the College of New Jersey (Princeton), from which he graduated in 1766. He studied the law for four years, gained admission to the bar in 1771, and married Abigail Wolcott in 1772. In 1777, he became state's attorney for Hartford County, served on the Pay-Table Committee, and helped manage Connecticut's war expenditures during the Revolutionary War. In 1777, he was also named a delegate to the Continental Congress from Connecticut, a position he held until the end of the war. He served on the Supreme Court of Errors in Connecticut from 1785 and later on the Connecticut Superior Court. In 1787, voters selected Ellsworth as a delegate to the Constitutional Convention, where he helped draft the Constitution and created with Roger Sherman the Connecticut Compromise between large and small states. He left the convention before signing the final document but worked for its ratification. He served as one of the first two U.S. Senators from Connecticut from March 1789 to March 1796, when President George Washington nominated Ellsworth as the third Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court, a position he held from 1796 to 1800. After traveling to France as a special envoy to end the Quasi-War, he resigned from the Court in December 1800 because of illness.

Thomas Seymour III (1735-1829) was born in Hartford, Connecticut, and graduated from Yale College in 1755. He married Mary Ledyard, with whom he had seven children. He received appointment as King's Attorney in 1767 and served as State's Attorney after the Revolutionary War. Commissioned as a captain of militia in 1773, he was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel in 1774 and led three regiments of light cavalry in support of the Continental Army in New York during the summer of 1776. The General Assembly appointed Seymour in April 1775 to be one of the Committee on the Pay Table. He represented Hartford in the Connecticut General Assembly at eighteen sessions between 1774 and 1793 and served as Speaker five times. He served in the Connecticut Senate from 1793 to 1803. He also served as mayor of Hartford from its incorporation in 1784 until his resignation in 1812.

William Pitkin (1725-1789) was born in Hartford, Connecticut, the son and namesake of a colonial governor of Connecticut, who held that office from 1766 until his death in 1769. The younger Pitkin married Abigail Church (1728-1807). He was an officer in the French & Indian War and a member of the Council of Safety during the Revolutionary War. He also served as assistant to and clerk of the Connecticut General Assembly and as judge of the Hartford Superior Court.

Gurdon Saltonstall Jr. (1708-1785) was born in New London, Connecticut, the son and namesake of the colonial governor of Connecticut, who held that office from 1708 to 1724. The younger Saltonstall graduated from Yale College in 1725 and married Rebecca Winthrop (1712-1776) in 1733. They had at least eight children. He became a colonel of the militia in 1740 and raised troops for the expedition against Cape Breton in 1744-1745. During the Revolutionary War, he was a brigadier general of the militia, and his home was destroyed in the burning of New London by forces under Benedict Arnold.

John Lawrence (1719-1802) served as treasurer of the colony and then the state of Connecticut for twenty years from 1769 to 1789. During the Revolutionary War, he was also commissioner of loans for the United States.

This item comes with a Certificate from John Reznikoff, a premier authenticator for both major 3rd party authentication services, PSA and JSA (James Spence Authentications), as well as numerous auction houses.

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