Description:

Revolutionary War Captain Who Was Active in Yankee-Pennamite Wars Before and After the War Acknowledges Payment of Deserters

This compound document includes a list of four deserters from the 12th Pennsylvania Infantry Regiment, their days of enlistment and desertion, and the amounts Captain Alexander Patterson paid them before their desertion. On the verso is a receipt in which Patterson acknowledged payment from the Paymaster for the pay and subsistence he had given the four deserters.

[REVOLUTIONARY WAR.] Alexander Patterson, Manuscript Document Signed, Return of Cash Paid to Deserting Soldiers, Receipt for Payment, May 22, 1777, n.p. 2 pp., 7.75" x 3.75". Unevenly trimmed; edge toning; very good.

Complete Transcript
An Account of Cash paid by Alexr Patterson Capt in the 12th Pennsylvania Regiment to the Soldiers Deserted
Dates of Enlistt                                          £     S   D  
Decr ye 10th 1776   Harry Underhill          6.. 10.. 5. { Deserted Feby ye 2nd 1777
Decr ye 10th            William Snodgrass    6.. 12.. 8.
Ocobr ye 26th         Jacob Rouse              3.. 7.. 2. Desertd Jany ye 23rd 1777
Novr ye 1st             John Williams           15.. 10.. 0. Desertd Decr ye 11th 1776

[verso:]
22d May 1777 Receivd of Mr Robert Levers Paymaster Twelve Pounds Nine Shillings and Three pence also the Sum of 6 Pounds Five Shillings likewise the Sum of Six Pounds Five Shillings and the Sum of Six Pounds Three Shillings & nine Pence making in the whole Thirty One Pounds Three Shillings it being in full for the Pay & Subsistence of the Four deserters within mentiond
£31..3.. I say Receivd
Alexr Patterson Capt

Historical Background
The 12th Pennsylvania Regiment was organized between September and December 1776 in Northampton, Northumberland, Berks, and Cumberland counties in Pennsylvania. Colonel William Cooke, who had been a delegate to the convention that created a constitution for the state of Pennsylvania in the summer of 1776 commanded the regiment. It left for the battlefields of New Jersey and because it was composed of good riflemen, the regiment was placed on picket and skirmish duty. It engaged in several skirmishes in New Jersey in April, May, and June 1777. The regiment later participated in the Battles of Brandywine and Germantown, in which it suffered heavy casualties. In the spring of 1778, Captain Patterson was detailed on recruiting service in Easton, but of the eight men he had enlisted, he sent only five to camp, as the other three had deserted. As a consequence of his poor success, he petitioned the Supreme Executive Council of Pennsylvania to allow him to return to the field.

Alexander Patterson (ca. 1738-1822) was born in Ireland, came to Pennsylvania before 1763, and settled in Northampton County. He commanded a post on the frontier against the Native Americans in 1763 and played an active role against them in 1764. Also in 1764, he married Marget Patterson (1748-1837), and they had two children. Five years later, he aided the sheriff of Northampton County in jailing Connecticut claimants to land in the Wyoming Valley in the first of the Pennamite-Yankee Wars. For his services, he received several large tracts of land in the area simultaneously claimed by citizens of Pennsylvania (Pennamites) and those of Connecticut (Yankees). When the Continental Congress authorized the creation of the 12th Pennsylvania Regiment of Foot in September 1776, Patterson was appointed as one of the captains. He served in that position from October 1776 to July 1778, when the regiment disbanded. He was detailed to the Quartermaster General's department with duty in Northampton County. After the war, he was active in the organization of a Masonic lodge in Easton and in the Pennsylvania branch of the Society of the Cincinnati. In the Third Pennamite-Yankee War of 1784, Patterson played a conspicuous role. As a justice of the peace for Northumberland County, he and a mob drove 150 Yankees out of the Wyoming Valley, for which he was arrested, convicted, and forced to resign his office and pay a heavy fine, which ruined him financially. In 1818, he began receiving a pension for his Revolutionary War service.

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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