Description:

Express Rider Seeks Reimbursement for Ride for Connecticut Militia

Like Paul Revere and William Dawes, who rode from Boston to warn the minutemen of Lexington and Concord of the approach of British soldiers in April 1775, express riders were employed throughout the Revolutionary War. Both civilian and military leaders employed them to deliver important messages or summon others. Levi Hart submitted this bill for payment of express riding services for Lt. Col. Jonathan Dimon. He detailed a 160-mile trip by horse from Fairfield to Lebanon to Hartford to General Ward’s command at Guilford, for which he sought £56..14..0.

[REVOLUTIONARY WAR.] Jonathan Dimon, Manuscript Document Signed, Statement of Express Services of Levi Hart, November 18, 1779, Fairfield, Connecticut. 1 p., 7.625" x 12.5". Expected folds; a few small holes; irregular edges.

Excerpts
"Fairfield November 18th 1779
"This may Certify all persons whoam it doth or may Concern that I sent Levi Hart as an Express to within mentioned places and that he has performed the Business Sent Upon
"Certifyd Pr Me
"Jonth Dimon Lieut Colo Comd"

"Fairfield Nover 18: A:D 1779
"These certify that we authority subscribing have Examined the within account and find it truly and Justly Chargd and the said Hart appeared and Declared he had Receivd no Satisfaction therefor
"To John Lawrence Esqr Treasurer of the State of Conecticut Sir you are hereby ordered to Pay unto Levi Hart fifty six Pound fourteen shillings Lawfull money for the service within mentioned
"George Burr } Justices Peace
"Hez Hubbell }"

"Recd of Treasurer Lawrence Fifty six pounds fourteen shillgs the Contents
"⅌ Levi Hart"

Jonathan Dimon (1738-1786) was born in Connecticut and married Hannah Rowland in 1760. After she died in 1771, he married Elizabeth Wakeman in 1775. During the Revolutionary War, he rose to the rank of lieutenant colonel and commanded the 4th regiment of Connecticut militia.

The rider may have been:
Levi Hart (1738-1808) was born in Connecticut and graduated from Yale College in 1760. He studied with Dr. Joseph Bellamy and was licensed to preach in 1761. Hart married Rebecca Bellamy (1747-1788) in 1761, and they had at least four children. He served as a Congregational minister in Preston, and he wrote one of the first proposals for the emancipation of slaves, Liberty Described and Recommended (1774). He also joined Jonathan Edwards Jr. and others in founding the Connecticut Society for the Promotion of Freedom and the Relief of Persons Unlawfully Holden in Bondage in 1790. That year, he married the widow Lydia Leffingwell Backus (1744-1823). He received a Doctor of Divinity degree from the College of New Jersey (Princeton University) in 1800 and served on the boards of Dartmouth College and Yale College.

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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