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George Washington Signed Soldier's Discharge; the Document Shows How the Soldier was Conned Out of his Rights by a Man Later Convicted and Sent to Prison for Life
George Washington Signed Soldier's Discharge; the Document Shows How the Soldier was Conned Out of his Rights by a Man Later Convicted and Sent to Prison for Life
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Washington George


George Washington Signed Soldier’s Discharge; the Document Shows How the Soldier was Conned Out of his Rights by a Man Later Convicted and Sent to Prison for Life


This wonderful document records the long service and discharge of Private Isaac Osterhout of the 1st regiment, New York Line, during the Revolutionary War. Signed by General George Washington, it furloughed Osterhout from military service until the proclamation of the Treaty of Paris and then served as a discharge. Subsequent endorsements on this document show that Osterhout sold his rights to veteran’s benefits to Henry Platner for £10 within a month of leaving the army. Sixteen years later, Platner was convicted of forgery and sentenced to life in prison.


GEORGE WASHINGTON, Partially Printed Document Signed, to Isaac Osterhout, June 8, 1783. 2 pp., 8" x 13".


Complete Transcript


By His Excellency


GEORGE WASHINGTON, Esq;


General and Commander in Chief of the Forces of the United States of America.


THESE are to CERTIFY that the Bearer hereof Isaac Osterhout, Soldier in the first New York Regiment, having faithfully served the United States seven years and being inlisted for the War only, is hereby Discharged from the American Army.


GIVEN at Head-Quarters the 8th June 1783.


G:o Washington


By His Excellency’s Command,


J Trumbull Junr Sy


REGISTERED in the Books of the Regiment


J H Wendell Adjutant,


THE above Isaac Osterhout has been honored with the Badge of Merit for seven Years faithful Service.


Corns V. Dyck, Lt Colo


[Endorsement:]


Be it remembered that on this Seventeenth day of September in the year of our Lord One thousand Seven hundred & Ninety four Before me Elihu Chauncey Goodrich one of the Masters in Chancery of the State of New York Personally appeared the within named Isaac Osterhout and acknowledged that he had executed the within Instrument of Writing as his Voluntary Act & Deed for the uses & purposes therein mentioned & expressed  I having examined the same and finding therein no ezarues [erasures] Interlineations or obliterations except the words Osterhout Interlined, likewise the words Presents & and do allow the same to be Recorded.

Elihu Chauncey Goodrich

[File Note:]

Isaac Osterhout           July 7th 1783

} Henry Platner

Registered 30th April 1795

[File Note:]

Cayuga County

Recorded in Book A of Original file Deeds Page 110,

at 3 oClk Pm August 5th 1809

Peter Hughes Clk

[Printed on Verso:]

Head-Quarters, June 8th 1783.


            THE within CERTIFICATE shall not avail the Bearer as a Discharge, until the Ratification of the definitive Treaty of Peace; previous to which Time, and until Proclamation thereof shall be made, He is to be considered as being on Furlough.


GEORGE WASHINGTON.


[Endorsement:]


Know all men by these Presents that I Isaac Ousterhout of the first New York Regiment herein named and discharged for and in Consideration of the sum of Ten Pounds of Lawful Money of the said state to me in hand paid before the sealing, and delivery of these Presents by Henry Platner of the Town of Claverack and said State of New York have granted Bargained sold assigned Conveyed and Confirmed and by these Presents do absolutely grant Bargain sell assign Convey and Confirm unto him the said Henry Platner his Heirs and assigns forever all the Lands that I the said Isaac Osterhout am or that I may be intitled to by virtue of this discharge or for my services during the War either from the state of New York or the United States and I the said Isaac Osterout for myself my Heirs executors and Administrators do Covenant and agree to and with the said Henry Platner his Executors administrators and assigns that I will at any time hereafter give any other Conveyance for the Perfect granting Conveying and Confirming all the Lands that I am or may be intitled to for my services either from the United States or State of New York to him the said Henry Platner, his Heirs and assigns forever. In Witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and Seal this Seventh day of July one thousand Seven hundred and eighty Three


Isaac Osterhout


Sealed and delivered In Presence of


Moses his X mark Chaves


John Tulton

[Endorsement:]


Be it Remembered that on the Nineteenth day of March One thousand Eight hundred appeared before Me Jeremiah Lansingh One of the Masters in Chy for the State of New York Isaac Osterhout, who acknowledged that he signed sealed and delivered the within Instrument for the Purposes therein mentioned and at the same time appeared before me William Tolbott to me known who being sworn saith he knows the Person here present to be Isaac Osterhout & knew him a Soldier in the first New York Regiment and I having examined the said Instrument & finding no Razures or Interlineations therein Except the Words (Presents do absolutely) and interlined & not noted do allow the Same to be recorded.

Jerh Lansingh


[File Note:]

Entered for Recording March 19th 1800


Sam. Ledyard [Actg?] Clk


Historical Background

The British surrender at Yorktown in October 1781 effectively ended the fighting phase of the American Revolutionary War. However, the war did not officially end for nearly two more years. American and British negotiators in Paris signed preliminary articles of peace in November 1782, but negotiations among Great Britain, Spain, France, and the Netherlands continued until September 1783. The U.S Confederation Congress ratified the Treaty of Paris on January 14, 1784, and the British Parliament ratified it in April, with a formal exchange of ratified versions in Paris on May 12, 1784.


Congress proclaimed the “cessation of arms” in April 1783, and the Continental Army began to demobilize, as this document reflects. Soldiers of the 1st New York regiment, like Isaac Osterhout, were sent home with a discharge in June, but the discharge was to be considered only a furlough until the formal ratification of the Treaty of Paris.


The federal government provided bounty land for those who served in the Revolutionary War (and later wars) out of the massive tracts of public domain land. The states of New York, Pennsylvania, and Virginia also set aside tracts of state bounty land for their Revolutionary War veterans. Because most veterans sold or exchanged their bounty land warrants rather than settling on the land, speculators often purchased the veterans’ bounty land warrants or even rights to them at a deep discount.


As this document makes clear, Henry Platner purchased Isaac Osterhout’s rights within a month after Osterhout was discharged from the Continental Army.  Platner also purchased the rights of Nicholas Keltz of the New York Line and later obtained a warrant for 100 acres of land in April 1793. Platner purchased the rights of Peter Elkenburgh of the 1st New York in November 1782 for £20. In June 1783, he purchased the rights of Corporal Dennis McPeck of the 2nd New York from McPeck’s heir for £27. In 1790, Platner claimed bounty land in their names.


Isaac Osterhout (1756-1822) enlisted as a private in the 1st New York regiment in 1776 for the war, and he also served in the 3rd New York regiment. He was discharged in 1783, and eventually moved to Gainesville, in Genesee County, New York. He applied for a pension in 1818, at which time he owned no real estate and only owned “necessary clothing, Bedding, & Household furniture.” At that time, he had no “trade or occupation whereby to subsist himself” and was “in great need of assistance from his Country for support.” In 1820, he lived with his wife, thirteen-year-old son, and eight-year-old daughter in Groveland, New York, south of Rochester.


Henry Platner (d. aft. 1812) served as a captain in the New York militia during the Revolutionary War. He lived in Claverack, Columbia County, New York. After the war, he speculated heavily in western New York land and apparently purchased other veterans’ rights to bounty land. In June 1799, he was convicted of forgery in Columbia County; fortunately for him, the Assembly had passed an amendment three months earlier, reducing the punishment for forgery from death to imprisonment for life. The court sentenced him to the state prison for life, but Governor Morgan Lewis pardoned him in June 1806.


Jonathan Trumbull Jr. (1740-1809) served as paymaster general in the Northern Department of the Continental Army from 1775 to 1778. In 1781, he was appointed as secretary to Commander in Chief George Washington. After the War, he represented Connecticut in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1789 to 1795, and in the U.S. Senate from 1795 to 1796. Trumbull served as governor of Connecticut from 1797 to 1809.


Cornelius Van Dyck (1740-1792) received a commission as lieutenant in the New York militia in 1760, and a promotion to captain in 1762. He commanded troops in the Canadian campaign of 1775 and received a commission as colonel of the New York militia in July 1776, then as a lieutenant colonel in the Continental Army in November 1776 with the First New York Line. He continued to serve with the 1st New York until the end of the war, when Congress brevetted him to the rank of colonel in September 1783.


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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