Revolutionary War-dated partly-printed DS, one page, 10.25 x 12.75, July 1, 1781. As governor of Massachusetts, Hancock appoints Solomon Lovell as "Brigadier General of the Militia in the County of Suffolk within this Commonwealth." Boldly signed at the conclusion by Hancock and countersigned by John Avery as secretary. The official seal affixed to the upper left remains intact. Beautifully double-matted and framed to an overall size of 19 x 22. In fine condition, with intersecting folds, light foxing and toning, and professional repair to paper loss at the lower right corner.
Lovell, a veteran of the French and Indian War, fought at Dorchester Heights in 1776 and the Battle of Rhode Island in 1778. On June 24, 1777, he was appointed a brigadier general and in 1779, along with Commodore Dudley Saltonstall, he commanded the disastrous Penobscot expedition, remembered as the largest naval maneuver (and blunder) of the Revolutionary War, in which American rebels sought to expel British forces from Penobscot Bay in present day Maine. The disastrous consequences stemming from the inaction of the patriots led to the court martial of Paul Revere, commander of the artillery, for cowardice and insubordination, although he was later acquitted. Saltonstall was thrown out of the navy and Lovell was ultimately exonerated by a Massachusetts Committee of Inquiry. Upon his return from the Penobscot expedition, Gen. Lovell immediately resumed his position as commander-in-chief of the Suffolk militia. In August, 1780, he was unanimously chosen by the Council to the command of the three months’ men, in place of Brig. Gen. Fellows, resigned, which position, from some cause, he also resigned. July 1, 1781—with this very document—he was re-commissioned brigadier general of the Suffolk militia, a position he continued to hold to the close of the war. Commissions signed by Hancock during the American Revolution are particularly desirable—and this example dates to just days before the fifth anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.
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