"Beyond America: The East India Papers of Lords North and Cornwallis," by Adam Nadeau

Guest blogger Adam Nadeau is a PhD candidate at the University of New Brunswick in Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada. He recently completed a four week residency as a 2018-19 David Library Fellow conducting research for his dissertation examining British imperial reform during the Revolutionary era.   

My project seeks to explore the crisis of empire leading up to, during, and immediately following the American Revolutionary War from a British imperial perspective, as well as it intends to incorporate the story of contemporaneous events in British East India into a transoceanic narrative spanning the years from roughly 1763 to about 1793. As such, I had sought out a fellowship at the David Library in order to work through parts of the Library’s vast microfilmed collection of eighteenth-century British imperial papers. 

Charles Cornwallis by John Singleton

 Copley, c. 1795. Wikimedia   

 Commons.

While many researchers venture to the David Library to utilize its British imperial holdings, I was particularly drawn to the Library’s copies of the papers of Lords North and Cornwallis, and I was hopeful that such collections contained materials relating to British rule in India during the 1770s, ’80s, and ’90s. In this respect, the David Library far exceeded my expectations. Upon my arrival, I realized that not only did the David Library have the few East India documents that were intermixed with Cornwallis’s American materials; they held the entire Cornwallis collection, much of which concern the general’s career beyond America. 

The English (later British) East India Company was chartered by Elizabeth I in 1600 and granted a monopoly on English trade east of the Cape of Good Hope in an effort to compete with England’s main commercial rival at the time, the Dutch republic. After about a decade or so of activity in Southeast Asia, however, English merchants recognized that Company profits would be greatly increased by shifting their commercial focus to the textile-rich markets of the Indian subcontinent, and where English commerce went English diplomacy followed. 

By the turn of the eighteenth century, Britain had become thoroughly drawn into Indian dynastic politics, and the entry of the French East India Company into subcontinental affairs in the 1720s ensured that the imperial wars fought between France and England during the first half of the eighteenth century would play out in the East Indian theatre as well.

Lord Clive and Mir Jafar after the Battle of Plassey, 1757, 

by Francis Hayman, c. 1760. National Portrait Gallery, London.

During the Seven Years’ War, France and Britain exchanged victories up and down India’s Coromandel Coast until in June 1757, British East India Company troops faced a combined French and Bengali force at Plassey on the banks of the Hooghly River. There, Robert Clive defeated the Nawab of Bengal, Siraj ud-Daulah, and installed Mir Jafar as nawab in exchange for £1 million for the defrayment of troops and almost £700,000 in loot. The Treaty of Paris of 1763 barred the French from making any further military incursions into Bengal, and in August 1765, the Company acquired from Mughal emperor Shah Alam II the diwani, or right to collect the imperial revenue of Bengal, valued at some £3 million annually.

A series of parliamentary regulations during the 1770s and ’80s integrated the presidencies of Bombay, Madras, and Bengal under the civil jurisdiction of the Governor General and Supreme Council of Bengal and placed the Company under the oversight of a ministerial Board of Control in London. All the while, Company influence continued to expand in India as British officials negotiated subsidiary alliances with a series of Indian rulers, oftentimes carving up autochthonous territories in the process.

 The East India papers present in the David Library’s North and Cornwallis collections cover this crucial period of Company reform and imperial expansion in India during the 1770s and ’80s, including documents relating to the administrations of governors Warren Hastings and John Macpherson, which cast light on the civil affairs of British India and on the various military operations against hostile Indian polities that are coterminous with the chronology of the American Revolutionary War. 

A scan of a letter to the Governor General of 

Bengal from the court of the Nawab,  

May 2, 1785. PRO 30/11/7, fol. 360.

Cornwallis’s papers are especially illuminating. Four years after returning to Britain, Cornwallis accepted the position of Governor General of Bengal in 1786 on the condition that he also be made Commander-in-Chief of British India, becoming the first governor to hold both posts simultaneously from 1786 to 1793 and again in 1805. Cornwallis amassed a significant amount of materials during his time in India, and it appears to me that the bulk of Cornwallis’s papers in fact relate to his career in the East, covering the period of two of the wars fought between the Company and the kingdom of Mysore in the 1780s and ’90s.

The Anglo-Mysore Wars were partially a theatre of the French Revolutionary Wars in Europe in that they saw the Mysorean ruler Tipu Sultan backed by France and republican Europe against monarchical Britain. The result of the Anglo-Mysore Wars, however, was the defeat of one of the last remaining Indian polities that was capable of resisting Company rule, leaving the Indian subcontinent open to British territorial expansion which would persist into the twentieth century. 

The East India papers of Lords North and Cornwallis are a hidden gem among the David Library’s collections and may very well be the largest assortment of such materials on this side of the Atlantic. These documents will become increasingly relevant as trends in scholarship continue to move towards transoceanic analyses of Britain’s eighteenth-century empire and as historians of colonial America and the West Indies begin to expound upon the fiscal and military interconnectedness of the Atlantic and Indian Ocean worlds.

Further Reading

Bowen, H. V., Elizabeth Mancke, and John G. Reid, eds. Britain’s Oceanic Empire: Atlantic and Indian Ocean Worlds, c. 1550–1850. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2012.

Eacott, Jonathan. Selling Empire: India in the Making of Britain and America, 1600–1830. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2016.

Marshall, P. J. The Making and Unmaking of Empires: Britain, India, and America, c. 1750–1783. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005.

Wickwire, Franklin and Mary. Cornwallis: The Imperial Years. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1980.

Black History Month: The Story of Prince Freeman

Guest Blogger:  Emily Bigioni

Many people tend to forget that there were African-American soldiers who served in the American Revolution, many of whom applied for and received military pensions. In honor of Black History Month, we have the story of one of these soldiers and pensioners:

Prince Freeman's discharge document, 

signed by General Washington,

showing that he was honored

with the Badge of Merit.

On April 10, 1818, Prince Freeman, an African-American veteran of the Revolutionary War, applied for a pension in Windham County, Vermont. At that point, he was a farmer in Grafton, Vermont. He had first enlisted in May of 1777 as a private in Captain Bulkley's company, in the 3rd Connecticut Regiment, commanded by Samuel Blachley Webb. Freeman served until the end of the war, and was honorably discharged in 1783, on the 8th day of June. After the war, Freeman applied for a bounty land warrant, and moved to Vermont. However, his pension claims that in 1818 he was “destitute of property [and] advanced in years”—aged sixty-two; he further states that he had two young children dependent on him for support. Having been injured in the war, Freeman was unable to work, and so applied for a pension—and received it, being issued eight dollars per month under the decision of Judge Phineas White. Freeman, according to his discharge papers, was honored with the Badge of Merit (the precursor to the Purple Heart Medal) by General George Washington for his six years of service. The Badge of Merit was created by Washington for the purpose of honoring ordinary soldiers, alongside the Honorary Badges of Distinction. By creating this badge, Washington allowed for the recognition of regular soldiers, not solely officers. Not only a good deed, the Badge of Merit was an inexpensive way to honor soldiers after the Continental Congress ordered Washington to stop promoting soldiers in 1782. It is the oldest military decoration, but not the oldest award; Congress awarded the Fidelity Medallion—a civilian honor—to three privates who had captured the British spy John André, a co-conspirator of Benedict Arnold, in 1780.

The Badge of Merit

Works cited:

Johnston, Henry P., editor. The Record of Connecticut Men of the Military and Naval Service during the War of the Revolution 1755-1783. 1889. Genealogical Publishing, 1997.

Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty–Land–Warrant Application Files (RG 15) Pension for Prince Freeman S: 39549. National Archives and Record Administration

George Washington, "7 August 1782, General Orders." The Writings of George Washington, ed. John C. Fitzpatrick (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office).

“Military Badges.” George Washington’s Mount Vernon

Hudgins, Bill. "The Origins of the Purple Heart." American Spirit, Nov.-Dec. 2014, pp. 36-40.

Emily Bigioni is a volunteer at the David Library and a sophomore at Princeton High School. She has been volunteering since July 2016, and currently works Saturday afternoons. Emily has a love of history, and enjoys reading and researching the Library’s primary source documents.

Letters from the Front: Leaving the Army 1783

"Congratulate me on my freedom have obtained my discharge from the Army—in consequence have changed my condition from a public Servant, to a private Gentleman, Gentleman indeed..."


In my final blog post as the Sol Feinstone Scholar at the David Library, we fast-forward to the end of the Letters from the Front collection. In December 1783, the Continental Army was in the process of demobilizing after nearly eight years of warfare. Officers were receiving their discharges and settling long-overdue accounts. Lieutenant Oliver Rice of the 4th Massachusetts had been engaged in the American struggle for independence since the very beginning. Starting as a private in the Lexington Alarm company in April 1775, he later rose to the rank of sergeant in the 4th Continental Regiment in 1776, sergeant-major of the 9th Massachusetts in 1777, was commissioned an ensign on June 2, 1778 and promoted to lieutenant on September 5, 1780. He finally received his discharge from Continental Army on November 3, 1783. The Sol Feinstone Collection preserves several more of his letters from 1782 and 1783, which detail the hardships the characterized the closing years of the Continental Army. In his final letter to his brother (transcribed in full below), Oliver vividly describes the fate that awaited most American officers-- a long trip home in an impoverished state after many years of faithful service to the cause of independence and liberty. While most accounts of the American Revolution focus on the sacrifices of American officers and soldiers, few remember the relatively poor treatment these freedom fighters received in the post-war period. Rice's letter is a potent reminder that, despite tales of glory, the cost of warfare, then as now, is heavy and extends well into the post-war period.


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Letters from the Front: The Aftermath of Monmouth

"Last Fryday two Tories were hanged at Monmouth Court House, I went to the place of execution, but they were turned off a few minutes before I arrived.__"

On June 23, 1778, American and British forces faced off near Freehold, New Jersey, in a confrontation that has come to be known as the Battle of Monmouth.  The details of this engagement will be covered in a special summer series by David Library Intern Mark Relation, who will be taking over the blog shortly. In the meantime, this post of the Letters from the Front series examines the aftermath of that battle. On July 19, 1778, Dr. Samuel Adams (whose letters have featured prominently in earlier posts) wrote to his wife in Massachusetts, providing a vivid description of Englishtown, New Jersey, where he was stationed to care for wounded officers from the battle. His letter, presented in full below, provides insight into the often-neglected post battle experience as well as commenting on the general situation in eastern New Jersey during this period. It is an invaluable source for understanding the events taking place behind American lines in the summer of 1778.

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Letters from the Front: Loyalist Spies in Eastern Massachusetts

"tis likely you have heard of the one Legged Spy taken up At Harwich he attempted to burn Barnstable Jail &c"

Despite the relative lowness of British fortunes in the spring of 1778, Loyalist agitation behind the lines continued. In his letter to Dr. Samuel Adams (whose letters to his wife have been featured previously), Thomas Paine of Eastham, Massachusetts (not to be confused with the famous writer) describes on-going Continental Army recruiting efforts alongside the activities of a Loyalist spy. His account, presented in full below, details the travails of a one-legged man believed to be a Loyalist agent and the reception (or lack thereof) he received from the local tory population. Eastham, located in eastern Massachusetts, retained a sizeable Loyalist population, though these dissidents from the Revolution were obviously well-intimidated by their whig neighbors, as seen by their unwillingness to harbor a spy. Our thanks go to Library Research Assistant David Swain for the following transcript.


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Letters from the Front: Consoling Burgoyne

"I am ever ready to do justice to the merit of the Gentn & soldier__ and to esteem, where esteem is due, however the idea of a public enemy may interpose__ "


In the spring of 1778, as John Burgoyne's Northern Army languished in captivity in New England, their commanding general sent a letter to George Washington. While it no longer survives, Washington's reply (presented in full below) indicates that Burgoyne's dispatch was a gesture of friendship. The British commander's April 4th response, which can be seen here, supports this conclusion. Washington's letter is significant in the way it shows the American commander espousing universal elements of eighteenth-century military culture. Though officially at war with the British, Washington nevertheless shows great compassion for Burgoyne, attempting to ease the sting of defeat with kind words and praise for Burgoyne's merit as an officer and a gentlemen. In the eighteenth century, European officers saw themselves as members of an elect club that was above the divisive nature of national politics, reflecting a military culture where officers of two different armies had more in common with one another than they did with the men under their command. While generally seen as a personification of American exceptionalism, it is important to remember that Washington did his utmost to follow the general conventions en vogue at the time.

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Letters from the Front: Languishing at Lancaster

"...none fight more for the approbation of Genl. Washington, as to publick Virtue & Love of one Country, that all my Eye, Its Honour & thanks in Genl. Orders, which I esteem of more Value than all the Gold medals & Sword"

The late winter of 1778 did not find all of Washington's Army at Valley Forge: many of the additional regiments raised from the start of the year were posted further to the west, such as at Lancaster, PA, where the men of the 16th Massachusetts Regiment (Henry Jackson's Additional Continental Regiment) languished, with a significant portion of the regiment sick in hospital. The first of a series of letters from the regiment's field commander, Major John Steel Tyler, demonstrates the renewed fighting spirit with which American troops approached the new campaign season of 1778, following on the heels of significant victories in 1777. Despite the deaths of several key officers (occasioning recommendations for replacements in Tyler's letter), the Major assured his commander that the new regiment was ready to do his name justice. Tyler's letter (presented in full below) also testifies to the personal loyalties that officers and men felt to General George Washington, which occasionally eclipsed the larger issues around which the Revolution is generally considered to have turned. Our thanks go to Library Research Assistant David Swain for tackling some particularly challenging handwriting and grammar.

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Letters from the Front: Ebbing British Fortunes

"...while the French assist the Rebels with Arms, clothing & amunition they will not submit"


In January 1778, British General Robert Pigot, commanding the King's forces in Rhode Island, penned a letter to a friend in England that sheds a great deal of light on the British Army's attitude towards the war at that time. The previous campaign season had been a hard one: the defeat at Princeton on January 3, 1777, had set the year off on a mournful note, followed by frustrating defeats throughout the Jerseys as British and Hessian troops sought to gather forage and to force various mountain passes in order to close with Washington at Morristown. By June, General John Burgoyne's Army was on its way south to a rendezvous with unfortunate fate that would climax with the battles around Saratoga in the Fall. Likewise, General Sir William Howe's Army was preparing to sail for the Chesapeake, where it would eventually capture the rebel capital at Philadelphia, only to learn that their victory meant very little, particularly when set against Burgoyne's capture. Thus in January of 1778, British fortunes were at a low ebb. The remaining crown forces in America were spread throughout small enclaves ranging from Halifax, Nova Scota, to the North, down to Philadelphia in the South, barely able to control any territory in their hinterlands. American successes had brought further pressure to bear on the British Empire, as the French became more active in aiding the rebels, preparing to actively intervene with troops as well as boosting shipments of supplies. While the war would continue to rage for five more years, Pigot's letter (presented in full below) provides a poignant indication of how some officers saw the writing on the wall long before Yorktown. Our thanks to Library Research Assistant David Swain for this transcript.

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Letters from the Front: Warring for Philadelphia

"...our men seeing a Body of british advance to cover the Retreat of their routed Army, & not being able thro a thick Fog to discern their Numbers, became panick Struck & fled from Victory"

While Horatio Gates' army battled Burgoyne across the the northern reaches of upstate New York, Washington's main army faced off against General Sir William Howe's forces in a struggle for control over Philadelphia. Landing at Head of Elk, Maryland, on August 25, 1777, British and German troops advanced slowly towards Philadelphia, taking the city in late September. In early October, Washington launched a counter-strike at isolated British outposts outside the city in the vicinity of Germantown. While initially succeeding, Continental forces were repulsed by British reserves, paving the way for the famous winter at Valley Forge. John Banister's letter, the full text of which is available below, provides stunning eye-witness commentary on this vital campaign, as well as a rather strong expectation of eventual American victory that few of his comrades probably shared until news of Burgoyne's defeat arrived. Our thanks go to David Library research assistant David Swain for this transcript.

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Letters from the Front: Lady Ackland's Journey

"I cannot see the uncommon perseverance in every female grace, and exaltation of character of this Lady, and her very hard future without testifying that your attention to her will lay me under obligations"

While the story of Jane McCrea is one of the better known and sadder stories of women's perils to come out of the 1777 Saratoga Campaign, an equally important episode involved Lady Harriet Ackland, who was the subject of this week's installment from our Letters from the Front collection. Lady Ackland was married to Major John Dyke Ackland, who commanded one of the grenadier battalions attached to General John Burgoyne's Army. Lady Ackland accompanied her husband during the entire campaign and, when he was wounded in the fighting and captured by American forces. Unwilling to be separated from her husband, Lady Ackland obtained permission from General Burgoyne to cross the lines and seek out her husband, which she did, nursing him back to health. The two returned to England the next after, after the Major was exchanged, where he died. The document below provides a glimpse into the drama surrounding this story, showing us how General Burgoyne opened negotiations with his opposite number, Continental Army Genera Horatio Gates, to secure safe passage for Ackland. Burgoyne's words speak to the truly exceptional nature of the case, as well as the culture of honor that linked the officers of both armies. Our thanks to David Library research assistant David Swain for this transcript.

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Swain Report: Colonial Office West Florida Catalog, Part 1

In this new series of the Swain Report, David Library Research Assistant David Swain tackles the West Florida Papers of the British Colonial Office series. West Florida was created in the wake of the French and Indian War, when the Peace of Paris of 1763 awarded large tracts of French and Spanish possessions to the British Empire. Florida, formerly under Spanish control, was divided into eastern and western section, with East Florida being governed from St. Augustine and West Florida from Pensacola. 

At this time, West Florida was among the wildest regions in the British Imperial borderlands. It boasted only two settlements of any size-- Pensacola and Mobile-- both of which were tiny and rough-shod compared with the more established settlements to the east. For most of the 1760s, Pensacola was a military outpost consisting of a collection of rough wooden huts surrounded by a dilapidated palisade. 

The political situation in the colony reflected its physical rusticness. The colony provided the scene for heated face-offs between civilian and military authorities, struggled under a string of lackluster governors, and suffered from a degree of internal disputes not generally witnessed elsewhere in North America. The Colonial Office records preserve detailed accounts of these intrigues and provide a new window into life on the early American frontier.

Like the WO28 catalog, this series of the Swain Report will provide an item-by-item listing of the full contents of the West Florida Papers, the first of its kind. For the first installment, please read below.

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Reel 1 summary contents:

·         Volume 574:  Official correspondence and documents (Bundle A) 1763-1766:  204 documents; DLAR document numbers 1 through 204; archivist penciled page numbers 1 through 980; no archivist stamped page numbers; BCO Bundle document numbers A1 through A117

·         Volume 575:  Official correspondence and documents (Bundle B) 1765-1769:  71 documents; DLAR document numbers 205 through 275; archivist penciled page numbers 1 through 360; archivist stamped page numbers 1 through 177; BCO Bundle document numbers B1 through B46

·         Volume 576:  Land grant documents 1764-1767:  22 documents; DLAR document numbers 276 through 297; archivist penciled page numbers 1 through 79; archivist stamped page numbers 1 through 46; no BCO Bundle document numbers

Review: Hohrath's "Uniforms of the Prussian Army"

"While invaluable as an unmatched resource on the military material culture of Germany’s foremost eighteenth-century army, The Uniforms of the Prussian Army under Frederick the Great from 1740-1786 has a value that far exceeds the focus of its title." 


Among the Library's new acquisitions for 2012 is the seminal two-volume work The Uniforms of the Prussian Army under Frederick the Great from 1740-1786, the product of several intense years of research by German museum curator Daniel Hohrath. The following review is intended to provide patrons with an idea of how rich a resource this work is. Since The Uniforms of the Prussian Army aims at a niche market, it is unlikely to go into a second printing and most of the first printing is already sold out. We encourage anyone interested in the Prussian Army, the Hessian forces, museum philosophy, and the history of museums and collecting to visit us and check out this new work. See below for the full review.

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Treasures from the SFC: Loyalist Women of Massachusetts, Part II

"...when Law, humanity, nor justis is Sufferd to take place__"

The final post in our Women's History Month series picks up the theme from our previous installment, charting the experience of Loyalist women behind American lines in eastern Massachusetts. Today's letter by Sarah Dering Thomas, the aunt of Elizabeth Dering (the recipient of both letters), continues the story from where Anna Winslow's note left off. Writing in May 1781, Sarah left no doubt that the Loyalists in her area were still suffering from persecution from their Whig neighbors. Like Winslow, Thomas looks to religious imagery to help contextualize the problem, hoping "to loose an earthly inheritance for an heavenly one." Of particular note in this letter is a possible reference to Loyalist flight: Dering's Cousin Charles is preparing for a voyage, which one can easily imagine meant an escape from the increasingly ascendant Whigs, during a period of the war where British fortunes were beginning to ebb. Of particular note in this letter is the fact that Elizabeth Dering, despite her family's political affiliations, seemed to enjoy freedom of movement and socialization in Boston, a hotbed of Revolutionary fervor. For the full story, please see the complete transcript of the letter below.


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Treasures from the SFC: Loyalist Women of Massachusetts Part I

"Is it not for our iniquities that we are thus Stricken Smitten of God & afflicted..."

The Sol Feinstone Collection includes a run of letters from Anna Winslow, matron of a Loyalist family in Plymouth County, Massachusetts. In this installment, our third for our Women's History Month series, we see Anna in a reflective mood as she writes to her younger friend, Elizabeth Dering, scion of a neighboring Loyalist family in early 1778. Within the playful dialogue of Winslow's missive lies a darker observation: while some Loyalists remained in Massachusetts following the British evacuation of Boston, they came under increasing pressure from the dominant Whig element. Winslow's letter includes references to Elizabeth's Aunt, Sarah Dering Thomas, and her family, who had been deprived of some parts of their property, including a summer residence on Shelter Island. Originally part of the Plymouth Colony, Shelter Island was eventually claimed by New York and used by the British Army during parts of the war. Dering's invitation to go to Shelter Island may well have been a thinly concealed suggestion of escaping Whig oppression in Massachusetts for safe haven behind British lines. Instead of accepting Dering's offer, Winslow advocates for a more conciliatory strategy for repairing the damage done to New England's social networks by the political schism of the Revolution. Winslow had some reason to hope for a "peace upon honorable & equitable terms," since the British Army was at the time occupying Philadelphia and new peace commissioners were attempting to negotiate with the Continental Congress. This letter, the full transcript of which is available below, provides a window into the mindset of Loyalists behind American lines at a crucial stage of the war.

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Treasures from the SFC: A Letter from Home

"I hope to have the pleasure of Seeing you very Soon, I think every minute an hour, and every hour a day, and every day, a Week till I see you..."


In the annals of American history, the most moving letters from home to soldiers on the front lines are often considered to be from our Civil War. This latest offering from the Sol Feinstone Collection provides an example of a wife's affection that is every bit as poignant and moving as any document written during the great conflict of the mid-nineteenth century. On 13 September 1777, Elizabeth Morrison wrote from her home in Bedford, Massachusetts, to her husband John, who was posted with his regiment in Bennington, Vermont. Though John presumably hailed from Bedford as well, he was serving in Captain Samuel McConnell's Company of the 11th New Hampshire Regiment of Militia, commanded by Col. Thomas Stickney. The answer to why a Massachusetts man was serving in a New Hampshire militia unit may come from the fact that Stickney was a native of Bedford, a town that neighbored the more famous town of Concord, Massachusetts. In raising his militia regiment in 1777, Stickney may well have called upon old friends in Bedford to help supply him with recruits. The 11th saw hard service in 1777, first reinforcing the garrison of Fort Ticonderoga in the spring, then joining General John Stark's Brigade for the Battle of Bennington in August. Judging by Elizabeth's letter, John escaped unharmed, though many of his colleagues would not have been so lucky. As her letter shows, John's family missed him a great deal, leading Elizabeth to use every argument in her power to cajole him home and head off any impulses he might have entertained to serve longer than his allotted time. The full transcript of the letter, which is available below, testifies to the heartfelt bonds that linked the home front to the front lines during the Revolution, and which made the war extremely difficult for those civilians, even in protected areas, who had relations serving with the army.


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Treasures from the SFC: The Stamp Act and Matrimony

"As For News hear None talke of But the Stampt Act & hangin Burning &c--- Burying men Alive"

In the second installment of our 2012 Women's History Month blog posts, we turn to back to undigitized holdings of the Sol Feinstone Collection, the David Library's premiere ensemble of manuscripts. On November 10, 1765, Mrs. Ruth Hopkins of Providence, Rhode Island, wrote to her husband, Captain George Hopkins of the Ship Nancy, somewhere near Suriname, to apprise him of recent developments. Her letter demonstrates a remarkable juxtaposition between political and domestic affairs. Ruth began by graphically (though briefly) describing the violence shaking Boston during the Stamp Act Crisis. The second part of her letter adopts an opposite tone, focusing on the rash of elderly marriages taking place against the backdrop of the imperial crisis, along with some commentary on the recent visit of a Miss Robinson, who apparently entranced the local male population with her feminine charms. The full text of this letter is available below and serves as a reminder that domestic affairs did not always respond to political drama in the ways one might expect.


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Letters from the Front: Women enlisting in the Continental Army

"I told him I had suspicion of his being lame, and Desired Capt Flavin to Afficiate as Doctor in searching he did, and soon made the Discovery by Pulling out the Teats of A Plump Young Girl, which caused Great divertion..."

For our first Women's History Month post, we return to the Letters from the Front sub-collection for this dispatch from William Barton, which provides an extremely rare example of a woman attempting to enlist in the Continental Army. According to Heitman's Officers of the Continental Army, four William Barton's served in the American forces during the war. The most likely candidate for the author of this letter was acting as a First Lieutenant in the 1st New Jersey Regiment at the time of this letter. In his account written at Elizabethtown, NJ, on 17 November 1778, Barton relates how an individual appearing to be a young man presented himself for service in the Barton's regiment. A few behavioral mistakes gave Barton sufficient pause to call in his fellow officers to examine the recruit for lameness. The resulting events provide a graphic account of the fate that lay in store for any woman who challenged contemporary gender roles by attempting to pass as a man in the army. For the entire letter, please read below. Our thanks go to Library Research Assistant David Swain for this transcript.


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Treasures from the SFC: African American Volunteers from Massachusetts

"Pompy Perkham. Negro. 28 years old. 5 feet 7 inches high"


A small document created at Dartmouth, Massachusetts and now housed in the David Library's Sol Feinstone Collection provides a brief but vital insight into the experiences of African-Americans in the Revolutionary War. Probably generated in 1780, this document is a return of three men from the 2nd Regiment of Bristol County, Massachusetts, Militia who volunteered to serve six months in the Continental Army. During this portion of the war, recruiting for the United States Army as at a particular low, as supply and pay issues reached their most problematic levels of the war. In order to bolster the army's numbers, the Revolutionary authorities called for men to be drafted (either voluntarily or by force) from the state militias to serve in the Continental Army. The county superintendents of militia, such as James Williams (who created this document) were responsible for sending these men on to Continental Army depots, where they would be accepted by army commissioners, such as Justin Ely at Springfield. What is special about this return is that it features Pompey Perkham, an African-American member of the 2nd Regiment. According to Williams report, Perkham was 5 feet, 7 inches tall and 28 years old. While bare of other details, a quick look at Daniel Ricketson's The History of New Bedford not only reveals Pompey's name (listed on pg 382) but also shows that Perkham was an old family name in the area. Might Pompey have been a descendent of slaves, or a slave himself, serving in his master's stead? Unfortunately, futher information on this interesting soldier of the Revolution is lacking. Hopefully future research will reveal more of his story. For the full document, please read below. Our thanks go out to Library Intern David Niescior for transcribing this document.

Fellow's Perspective: Tracing African-Americans in the Rhode Island Regiment

"African-American history in this early period is often a “needle in a haystack” operation, and the David Library has the most haystacks anywhere."

Today's post comes from Professor Judith Van Buskirk of SUNY-Cortland, a past fellow of the Library who is currently researching her new book on African-American soldiers in the Revolution. Judy has spent months going through the Library's records to reveal the story of Rhode Island's African-American troops, uncovering many new aspects of their experience and discounting some apocryphal tales. In her entry below, Judy discusses the strengths of the Library's collections and how they aided her research into the Rhode Island Regiment. We look forward to offering other details on her work once the new book is published. Please read below for the full story.

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Patron's Perspective: Slavery and the New Jersey Militia

"...there are precious few records concerning the militia and I am not really surprised that references to African Americans have been essentially nonexistent...One thing my research has made very clear, though, is that the militiamen lived in a slave society and they were all immersed in a system that contained some of the most inhumane elements of that institution."

As most individuals who have sought to research the African-American contribution to the Revolution know, finding detailed documentation of their actions can be quite challenging. In this installment of our Black History Month series, long-time Library patron Larry Kidder explains the difficulties associated with charting the African-American role in the New Jersey militia system. As our previous entry noted, contemporaries suggested various schemes for arming and training African-Americans throughout the war. Few of these, however, took root. Larry's research as shown a marked dearth of African-American involvement as militiamen in New Jersey, but has pointed to some of the contingent impacts of slavery upon the militia system. In so doing, Larry's entry demonstrates an excellent strategy for working around a dearth of documentation by looking for the echoes of forgotten communities and social groups in the sources that survive. Please read below for the complete entry.

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