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Revolutionary War-dated partly-printed DS signed “Isaac Kendall Jr.,” one page, 6.75 x 3, June 28, 1776. Colony of Connecticut enlistment document for Kendall, who agrees to enroll for six months in Colonel John Chester’s Connecticut Regiment of the Continental Army, a unit that would accompany George Washington across the Delaware for the Trenton campaign later that year. In full: “I, Isaac Kendall Jn’r., of Ashford, do acknowledge to have voluntarily inlisted myself a Soldier, to serve in the Battalion of Foot raised by the Colony of Connecticut, to join the Continental Army in New-York, to be commanded by Col Jno. Chester Esq; until the Twenty-fifth day of December next.” Signed below by Kendall. In very good to fine condition, with creasing, and a tear, to the bottom edge.
The enlistment was executed just one week before the adoption of the Declaration of Independence, binding Kendall to service through December 25, 1776, the very date upon which Washington implored expiring enlistments to remain with the army following the victory at Trenton. Colonel John Chester’s regiment participated in the New York campaign, fought at White Plains, and marched with Washington during the famed crossing of the Delaware.
Colonel John Chester (1749-1809), the commander named in the enlistment, was among Connecticut's most respected Revolutionary War officers. A Yale graduate and veteran militia leader, Chester gained distinction at Bunker Hill, where he was wounded while leading a select company raised in response to the Lexington Alarm. Commissioned colonel in June 1776, he led his Connecticut regiment during the New York campaign, including the Battle of Long Island and the Battle of White Plains, where he was again wounded. Though offered a commission in the Continental Army at the close of 1776, Chester declined on account of personal affairs and instead continued to serve with Connecticut's state troops, accompanying George Washington in the celebrated crossing of the Delaware and the Battle of Trenton in December 1776 before retiring from military service in early 1777. Following the war, Chester returned to Wethersfield and devoted the remainder of his life to public service.
