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Revolutionary War-dated manuscript DS signed “John Choate,” one page, 6.75 x 2.5, July 8, 1775 (Cambridge, Massachusetts). Payment receipt, which reads: “Rec’d of Cap’t Jacob Gerrish by the hand of Silas Adams Six Shillings Lawfill Money as witness by my Hand.” In very good to fine condition, with uneven toning, and a short tear to the bottom edge.
A historically fascinating wartime document pertaining to two members of Colonel Moses Little’s 24th Massachusetts Bay Provincial Regiment; Jacob Gerrish (1739–1817) was a Massachusetts soldier and captain of a company of minutemen who answered the Lexington alarm in April 1775; he went on to serve as an officer in the Continental Army and the Massachusetts Militia through 1779; Silas Adams (1741-1800) was a Massachusetts soldier who served as a lieutenant in Captain Jacob Gerrish's company at the Lexington Alarm. Both men fought at the Battle of Bunker Hill, which occurred less than a month earlier on June 17, 1775.
This document dates to the signing of the Olive Branch Petition, a final attempt by the Second Continental Congress to avoid war between Great Britain and the Thirteen Colonies in America. The Congress had already authorized the invasion of Canada more than a week earlier, but the petition affirmed American loyalty to Great Britain and entreated King George III to prevent further conflict; it was followed by the July 6, 1775, Declaration of the Causes and Necessity of Taking Up Arms. A month later, in August 1775, the colonies were formally declared to be in rebellion by the Proclamation of Rebellion, and the petition was rejected by the British government; King George had refused to read it before declaring the colonists traitors.
