Lot
68
HENRY, Patrick (1736-1799), Governor of Virginia. Partly printed document signed (''P Henry'') as Governor, CONCERNING GEORGE ROGERS CLARK, n.p. [Richmond], 29 January 1780. 1 page, small oblong folio, original red wax seal of the Virginia Land Office, accomplished in manuscript, decorative border of typographical ornaments, verso discreetly silked, accomplishment faded.
Estimate
USD 5,000 - USD 7,000
HENRY, Patrick (1736-1799), Governor of Virginia. Partly printed document signed ("P Henry") as Governor, CONCERNING GEORGE ROGERS CLARK, n.p. [Richmond], 29 January 1780. 1 page, small oblong folio, original red wax seal of the Virginia Land Office, accomplished in manuscript, decorative border of typographical ornaments, verso discreetly silked, accomplishment faded.
HENRY GRANTS FRONTIER LANDS TO GEORGE ROGERS CLARK. An attractively printed Land Office treasury warrant, numbered 2226, addressed to the "principal Surveyor of any County." In recompense for service in the Revolutionary War, Governor Henry awards Clark the quantity of "five hundred & sixty Acres of Land...for recruiting his Battalion & in lieu of the bounty...& in Consideration of the Sum of [ 220] paid into the Publick Treasury."
Clark (1752-1818) had explored the western reaches of Virginia and the Ohio Valley; during the Revolution he raised Kentucky militia and with a small unit successfully wrested control of most of the Old Northwest territory from the British and their Indian allies (territory ceded to the U.S. in the Treaty of 1783). As Peckham has written, "he remains one of those remarkable and unaccountable products of the frontier." (War for Independence, p.107) Clark spent several years after the war supervising the allocation of 150,000 acres which Virginia had set aside for Clark's veterans. While land grants by Governor Henry are not uncommon, this one is particularly significant for its connection to Clark.