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Revolutionary War-dated manuscript orderly book, 7.75 x 6, maintained at Continental Army headquarters in Newburgh, New York, from October 1782 through June 1783. Written throughout in a single contemporary hand, the volume records the proceedings of the 4th Massachusetts Regiment during the closing months of the Revolutionary War and through the formal cessation of hostilities with Great Britain. The Society of the Cincinnati has advised that the hand may be that of Ensign Africa Hamlin, an original member of the Society who served in the Continental Army from the beginning of the Revolution through November 1783.
Approximately halfway through the volume appears a section headed “Cantonment of the American Army On Hudson’s River 10th of May 1783,” preserving the founding proposals for the Society of the Cincinnati. In part: “Proposals for establishing a society upon principles therein mentioned whose numbers shall be of the officers of the American Army, having been communicated to the several regiments of the respective lines…The proposals being read fully, considered paragraft [sic] by paragraft and the amendments agreed to — Major General Knox, Brigadier General Hand, Brigadier General Huntington and Capt. Shaw were chosen to revise the same…” The volume further contains a lengthy transcription headed “The Institution of the Society of the Cincinnati,” including the Society’s constitution, qualifications for membership, references to the Roman statesman Lucius Quintus Cincinnatus, for whom the organization was named, a roster of foreign members including Counts d’Estaing, de Grasse, and Rochambeau, articles of the Society’s constitution, and a description of the Society’s medal with a letter of thanks to Pierre Charles L’Enfant, who designed it.
Toward the beginning of the book appears a headquarters proclamation issued at Newburgh announcing the formal end of hostilities between the United States and Great Britain: “Headquarters, New Burgh, 18th Sept. 83. The Commander in Chief orders the cessation of hostilities between the United States of America and the King of Great Britain…” followed by Washington’s address to the troops concerning the peace settlement. The proclamation concludes: “The Q. Master General will without delay procure such a number of discharges to be printed as will be sufficient for the men inlisted for the war…An extra ration of liquer will be issued to every man to drink perpetual peace, Independency and Happiness of the United States of America.”
Additional entries contain transcripts relating to the Newburgh Addresses, including material concerning unrest among Continental Army officers over pay and treatment by Congress. Major John Armstrong is specifically mentioned among those voicing grievances later addressed by Washington. Housed in a custom-made slipcase of red cloth boards with dark red leather spine and gilt-stamped text. In very good condition, with heavy wear to the covers and dampstaining to some pages.
