Description:

Hopkinson Francis 1737 - 1790 Extremely Rare and attractive hi-value Delaware Continental Loan Office Third Bill of Exchange signed by Signer of the Declaration of Independence Francis Hopkinson and issued to General Samuel Patterson of the famous "Flying Camp"



Partly Printed Document Signed "F. Hopkinson" as Treasurer of Loans, 1 page, 8.25" x 4.5". United States of America, September 25, 1779. Third Bill of Exchange. Watermarked "UNITED STATES 3" across the center. Countersigned "Saml Patterson" as Commissioner of the Continental Loan-Office in the State of Delaware. Completed in manuscript. To the Commissioner or Commissioners of the United States of America, at Paris. Lightweight watermarked laid paper. Endorsed on verso "Hugh Means." Show-through and tiny holes at right edge. Slight tears at upper and lower edges, old paper strip affixed on verso. Good condition.


Patterson was a Captain in the French and Indian War. In the American Revolution, he was member of Boston Relief Committee, colonel of Delaware battalion of the famous "Flying Camp," Brigadier General of the Delaware militia, and first treasurer of the State of Delaware. After the British evacuation of Boston in March 1776, General George Washington met with members of the Continental Congress to determine future military strategy. Faced with defending a huge amount of territory from potential British operations, Washington recommended forming a "Flying Camp", which in the military terminology of the day referred to a mobile, strategic reserve of troops. Congress agreed and on June 3, 1776, passed a resolution "that a flying camp be immediately established in the middle colonies and that it consist of 10,000 men ...."

The men recruited for the Flying Camp were to be militiamen from three colonies: including 600 from Delaware. They were to serve until December 1, 1776, unless discharged sooner by Congress, and to be paid and fed in the same manner as regular soldiers of the Continental Army

"Exch. for 500 Dollars, at five Livres Tournois p Dollars Numb. 568 ‰Û_ At Thirty Days Sight of this Third Bill, First, Second and Fourth not paid, pay to Mr Hugh Means or Order, Three Hundred Dollars, in Fifteen Hundred Livres Tournois, for Interest due on Money borrowed by the United States‰Û_"

On July 27, 1778, Francis Hopkinson was elected by Congress as Commissioner of Loans. Four signed Bills of Exchange were sent across the Atlantic. If the first bill was received, it was valid and used. However, many bills were lost or captured, especially during the Revolutionary War. As soon as one of the bills was exchanged in Paris, the other three lost all value.

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