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Lot 204
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Colonial War spy Samuel Wallis' 300 acre land deed
Colonial War spy Samuel Wallis' 300 acre land deed
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Description:

Revolutionary War - Colonial War spy Samuel Wallis 300 acre land deed.

Two page bi-fold PPDS, 8.25" x 13". Dated "the Twenty Seventh Day of December ... One Thousand Seven Hundred and Sixty Seven", for the granting of "Three Hundred acres of Land to Include a spring called the Boiling Spring which leads into Town Creek in the County of Cumberland ..." to "Samuel Wallis and his Heirs, Executors, Administrators and Assigns" . Signed by a several witnesses but not signed by Wallis who instead was mentioned on numerous occasions throughout the document. Document is typed and inscribed recto and verso of page one, with the second page blank with the docket to verso of the second page. Toned, with light edge wear. Expected folds, with expert professional repair to the separations along the folds. Scattered handling marks and light foxing.

To fully appreciate this document, one needs to understand the theater of events that were occurring in Colonial America in 1767, and the involvement of Samuel Wallis within that stage which only came to light in the 20th century. Today historians claim Wallis acted as an intermediary in transferring money between British Gen. Sir Henry Clinton and Benedict Arnold in Arnold's treasonous plot to turn over the fort at West Point, N.Y., to the British. "There can be no doubt that Wallis was Arnold's agent and sent secret intelligence to the British," Van Doren wrote, "neither can there be that he had no scruple about making any money he could of shipping the British army of occupation food with which to carry on the war."

But before all the obvious cloak and dagger, Wallis did not become a turncoat overnight. Samuel Wallis was among the giants of early Lycoming County history, probably the largest landholder in the area in the last 30 years of the 18th century. He additional held land in Cumberland counties as this land grant clearly demonstrates. According to history Wallis was "the most energetic, ambitious, persistent, and untiring land speculator who ever lived in Lycoming County. His energy was marvelous, and his desire to acquire land became a mania ..." Among those great holdings, Wallis used 7,000 acres near Muncy to locate his estate anchored by a solidly built stone mansion. It was built in 1769 on the high ground near the mouth of Carpenter's Run. His solid, fine homestead played a key role in an episode known as "The Great Runaway.", an attack planned by the Indians to murder all white inhabitants on both branches of the Susquehanna River. His home was one of the few structures in the Susquehanna Valley spared the Indians' torch, with numerous historians speculating that it escaped destruction because the British were whipping up the Indians to fight down the Colonists and Wallis may have been in league with the British.

Meanwhile, while Samuel Wallis was accumulating massive tracts of land, the Colonialists were at heightened odds with the British. In their happiness over the repeal of the Stamp Act in 1766, (just a year earlier), few Americans heeded an action taken by Parliament on the same day. In the innocuously named "Declaratory Act" , Parliament firmly asserted its authority to legislate for the colonies and "bind the colonies and people of America . . . in all cases whatsoever." A clear statement of who's boss. This "binding" power became clear to Americans with five parliamentary enactments in 1767 and 1768 known as the Townshend Acts. To Britain and many colonists, the acts were a legitimate use of imperial authority to finance and secure the colonies. To many Americans--those who had condemned the Stamp Act as coercive and unconstitutional--the Townshend Acts were sheer despotism and outrageous.

1. The Revenue Act of 1767:

Set new import taxes (duties) on British goods and paper, paint, lead, glass, and tea.

Enacted to fund British troops in America and to pay salaries of some royal officials.

Affirmed use of writs of assistance (search warrants) by customs officials without court sanction (i.e., blank warrants) to search ships, warehouses, and other buildings for smuggled goods.

2. Indemnity Act of 1767

Removed duties on tea shipped to the colonies by the British East India Co. so that British tea could compete with (smuggled) Dutch-shipped tea.

3. New York Restraining Act of 1767

Ordered the suspension of the New York assembly if it continued to refuse to comply fully with the Quartering Act of 1765, which required colonial legislatures to provide funds for the food, supplies, and housing of British troops stationed in the colonies.

4. Vice Admiralty Court Act of 1768

Created new courts in which colonial smugglers would be prosecuted without a jury—verdicts being decided solely by the judge, thus removing a long-valued privilege of Englishmen.

In the years subsequent to the Townsend Acts, Wallis arranged for a friend to volunteer for Sullivan's army as a secret informant and send reports that Wallis could pass on to his friend Major John Andre. Andre then could pass reports on to British Gen. Henry Clinton. Andre was hanged in the Arnold conspiracy. Wallis also is alleged to have conspired to undermine the Sullivan Expedition. Noted for his knowledge of the "Indian Country," Wallis made available a falsified map to sabotage Sullivan's efforts. Sullivan assembled navigational information from other sources and never used Wallis' bogus map. Another alleged plot in which Wallis was ensnared, according to Bakeless, was a plan to use his home as an intelligence center for communications with noted Mohawk Chief Joseph Brant. The plan was to foment disorder among the Mohawks, who then would raid white settlements as a counter to the Sullivan Expedition.

Despite all of Wallis' alleged machinations with the British, nothing prevented him from being appointed captain of the 6th Co., 2nd Battalion of the Northumberland County Associated Militia. Wallis also represented Northumberland County in the Pennsylvania Assembly in 1776.

All in, this period was one of tangled webs, cloak and daggers, deceit, and espionage with nothing appearing as it seemed. The exact extent of Samuel Wallis' involvement as a turncoat, spy, loyalist is still being uncovered today. But what we have offered here is a phenomenal piece of history from 1767, representing a land deed for one of the large tracts of land acquired by Samuel Wallis.

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