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Lot 208
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New York Council of Safety Orders Guarding of Salt at Kingston in 1777
New York Council of Safety Orders Guarding of Salt at Kingston in 1777
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Description:

Revolutionary War

New York Council of Safety Orders Guarding of Salt at Kingston

 

NEW YORK COUNCIL OF SAFETY, John McKesson, Autograph Document Signed as Secretary, Order for Guarding Salt, June 5, 1777, [Hartford, Connecticut. 1 p., 7.75" x 4.5"  Mounted on stock; tears to bottom edge affecting the signature.

 

Complete Transcript

                                                                        In Council of Safety Kingston June 5th 1777

Application was made to the Council of Safety by Mr Tucker one of the Assistant Quartermasters Genl of the Army of the united American States for a Guard to take care of a Quantity of Salt (for the use of the continental Army) now landed at Kingston wharf

            Ordered that Capt Schoonmaker do immediately send a Guard of a Corporal & Six men to Guard the said Salt

                                    Extract from the Minutes

                                                                        John McKesson Secry

 

Historical Background

The New York Committee of Safety ordered Captain Frederick Schoonmaker (1738-1819) to send a corporal and six men to guard salt at the Kingston wharf on the Hudson River, roughly half way between New York City and Albany.

 

Salt is a vital commodity for preserving meat and for feeding livestock. In the eighteenth century, many colonies, especially in the South, imported most of their salt from Great Britain. At the beginning of the war, the British navy blockaded American ports, virtually cutting off the supply of imported salt. During the war, British forces encouraged Loyalist raiders to intercept Patriot salt shipments and destroy salt works to interfere with the Patriots’ ability to preserve food. Benjamin Franklin even made a secret deal with Bermuda to supply this vital commodity to the American forces. After the war, the discovery of major salt deposits near Syracuse provided one of the main reasons for the construction of the Erie Canal.

 

In 1776, the provincial government of New York first assembled in New York City, the old colonial capital. As the British occupied New York City, the Provincial Congress withdrew to White Plains and then briefly to Fishkill. In February 1777, they moved thirty miles farther up the Hudson River to Kingston, where the Provincial Congress met in the Ulster County Courthouse.

 

In October 1777, the British targeted Kingston for attack to relieve some of the pressure on General John Burgoyne’s invasion force from Canada. As the British approached, the Provincial Congress fled Kingston. Although some brave clerks were able to save many important documents of the county and new state capital, the British burned more than three hundred buildings on October 16 and left Kingston in ruins. They continued up the Hudson River until encountering an American army of 5,000 men forty-five miles south of Albany and returning to New York City. On October 17, British General Burgoyne surrendered his entire army at the Battle of Saratoga, one of the American army’s greatest victories during the Revolutionary War.

 

 

John McKesson (c. 1735-1798) was a prominent New York City lawyer and ally of Governor George Clinton. In 1775, he was secretary to the New York provincial congress and the province’s committee of safety. From 1777 to 1794, he served as clerk of the New York state assembly.

 

 

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