Details
WASHINGTON, George. Partly printed document signed ("G:o Washington"), as Commander in Chief of the Continental Army, countersigned by Jonathan Trumbull, Jr. (1740-1809), Headquarters [near Newburgh] 8 June 1783. A Discharge certificate. 1 page, 4to, accomplished in manuscript, small separations at folds, neatly mended on verso, slight losses along bottom edge, affecting a few words of a later endorsement. Good example of a document invariably found in poor condition. Matted and framed.
WASHINGTON DISCHARGES AARON HOWEL, a private of the First New York Regiment, "having faithfully served in the United States six years and being enlisted for the War only," Howel "is hereby Discharged from the American Army." The printed text on the verso notes that the discharge "shall not avail" until "the ratification of the definitive Treaty of Peace..." This example also bears endorsements on the verso, in which the evidently illiterate Howell (spelled differently than on the recto) makes his mark and assigns his 600 acres of bounty lands to Daniel Hudson & Co. on 3 July 1784 for "value received." A notary's endorsement attests to the authenticity of the soldier's mark. After the war, amid straightened economic circumstances, many veterans sold away at greatly reduced values either their land bounties or their Continental pay certificates--the ones that fellow veteran Alexander Hamilton redeemed at par value in 1790 once the new government was established. A fascinating relic from the post-Revolutionary, pre-Constitution period.
WASHINGTON DISCHARGES AARON HOWEL, a private of the First New York Regiment, "having faithfully served in the United States six years and being enlisted for the War only," Howel "is hereby Discharged from the American Army." The printed text on the verso notes that the discharge "shall not avail" until "the ratification of the definitive Treaty of Peace..." This example also bears endorsements on the verso, in which the evidently illiterate Howell (spelled differently than on the recto) makes his mark and assigns his 600 acres of bounty lands to Daniel Hudson & Co. on 3 July 1784 for "value received." A notary's endorsement attests to the authenticity of the soldier's mark. After the war, amid straightened economic circumstances, many veterans sold away at greatly reduced values either their land bounties or their Continental pay certificates--the ones that fellow veteran Alexander Hamilton redeemed at par value in 1790 once the new government was established. A fascinating relic from the post-Revolutionary, pre-Constitution period.