circa 1785-1792

Jackson, Henry, 1747-1809

Manuscript document

Title: [Petition]

Petition to the United State Congress on behalf of the Massachusetts line for public credit. Marked as a "copy."

GLC02437.08094

circa 1790-1794

Manuscript document

Title: [Report]

Discusses a petition regarding invalids and their pensions.

GLC02437.08111

circa 1790-1806

Knox, Henry, 1750-1806

Autograph document

Title: [Minutes of a counter petition] [incomplete]

Discusses settlers.

GLC02437.08131

circa 1776-1806

Knox, Henry, 1750-1806

Autograph document

Title: [Petitions]

Discusses a petition made by two widows for assistance as they now have to support their families by themselves.

GLC02437.08205

12 April 1738

Howard, Samuel, fl. 1738

Manuscript document signed

Title: [Petition]

Petition regarding the settling of the eastern lands and relations with the Indians. Include two notes, the first dated 13 May 1738 which includes a list an additional list of names to the original group of petitioners and the second dated Falmouth 19 May 1738 from Joshua Moody, also with a list of names.

GLC02437.08884

7 May 1740

Shirley, William, 1694-1771

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Samuel Waldo

Discusses an expedition and mentions a petition.

GLC02437.08899

January 26, 1748

Jaffrey, George, fl. 1748

Manuscript document signed

Title: [Record]

Record pertaining to a petition for a grant. Discusses the rights of proprietorship and ownership claims. Noted as a copy.

GLC02437.08942

4 June 1864

Burch, James Anderson, 1829-1906

Autograph letter signed

Title: to George Wortham

Burch asks Wortham to send Lea's petition from last winter as the latest one is missing. Lea has a large, helpless family and Burch wishes to send him home to support them. Burch reports that a truce boat came yesterday for the friends of those who went with the Yankees and will return in a few days. Excerpt: "I have no news of importance a truce boat came up yesterday for the friends of those who went with the Yankees who they said they heard at Newbern was suffering the commander at Newbern sent for them they did not carry off any person but said they will come again in a few days. All…

GLC02233.44

24 July 1777

Sherwood, Justus, 1747-1798

Autograph document signed

Title: [Reciept for payment]

Written in Skenesborough or Skenesboro, which is now Whitehall, New York. Reminds recipient that his last piece of correspondence mentioned his petition to Lieutenant General John Burgoyne for over 18 pounds sterling.

GLC04764.16

October 1890

Newspaper

Title: James Fenimore Cooper: A Letter Explaining Why He Petitioned to Have His Name Changed.

Newspaper article that details a letter written by Cooper that was found in which Cooper petitions to add Fenimore to his name. Prints Cooper's letter in full. Date added in pencil at a later time.

GLC05258.02

January 18, 1861

Booth, William A., fl. 1861

Printed document

Title: Memorial to Congress, Adopted at a Meeting of Citizens at the Rooms of the Chamber of Commerce

Signed in print by William A. Booth as committee chair and twenty seven other New Yorkers. The memorial, printed a few months before the outbreak of the Civil War, was made in an effort to maintain peace. It appointed a committee that met on 26 January 1861 to make recommendations for "compromise" with the rebel states. That committee called for capitulation to the South on the issue of slavery. They proposed amendments to the Constitution limiting federal power over slavery and its extension into territories below the line of the Missouri Compromise. Also asserts that the Fugitive Slave…

GLC08932

1777-1778

Document

Title: Objections, by the 24th Regt.

List of two objections the 24th Regiment of Foot had against the Articles of Convention that delineated the terms of surrender of the British Army after its defeat in the Battle of Saratoga. Seems to be written in the months after the battle at Cambridge, Massachusetts, where prisoners of war were sent, but no exact date or place of creation are provided. First complaint is that officers are not quartered according to rank and that their living spaces are sub-par. The second complaint is about the distinction made between field officers and other officers of regiments in the parole process.…

GLC04764.39

10 November 1777

Rollinson, J., fl. 1777

Autograph document signed

Title: [Objections of officers of the 20th Regiment to conditions under the Articles of Convention]

Document by the Captains, Subalterns, and staff of the 20th Regiment of Foot asserts that the Americans need to follow through on the stipulations in the Articles of Convention, which delineated the conditions of surrender after the Battle of Saratoga. Says they will not follow the Articles unless the Americans hold up their end of the deal. Asserts that they are acting on their principles of honor, justice and duty. The complaints include: not being quartered by rank, restrictions on hours they are allowed to move about, restrictions on the movement of servants, and restrictions on…

GLC04764.40

1777-1778

Autograph document

Title: Advanced Corps

Complaints of the Advanced Corps over the implementation of the Articles of Convention after the Battle of Saratoga. Date inferred from other documents in this collection, which have similar complaints around the end of 1777. Place written inferred from the fact that prisoners of war from the Battle of Saratoga were sent to Cambridge, Massachusetts. They are angry about not being quartered by rank, their early curfew, and the inability to buy items like bread and milk from anyone other than the commissary. The Advanced Corps was an elite group in General John Burgoyne's army that was defeated…

GLC04764.41

1777-1778

Autograph document

Title: The Field Officers of the 9th Objections to the Parole

Field officers of the 9th Regiment of Foot sent their complaints against the implementation of the Articles of Convention after the Battle of Saratoga. Date inferred from other documents in this collection listing the complaints of other British units around the end of 1777. Place written inferred from the fact that the prisoners of war after Saratoga were sent to Cambridge, Massachusetts. Objections include: Officers and men not quartered agreeable to the Articles, that they do not receive wood, rations, or provisions, restrictions on the purchasing of items outside the commissary. Was…

GLC04764.42

March 1785

Knox, Henry, 1750-1806

Autograph document signed

Title: [Excerpt of a petition in which Knox and others attempt to persuade the Massachusetts Legislature to sell uncultivated lands to officers and soldiers who served in the Revolutionary War]

Signed in the docket. Knox, Benjamin Lincoln, Henry Jackson, and others attempt to persuade the General Court of Massachusetts to divide land in the eastern part of the state (present-day Maine) for officers and soldiers who served in the Revolution. Knox argues that all other states have granted uncultivated lands as such. Writes, "...it would be a subject of great mortification and depression to your petitioners that the Legislature of this Commonwealth should decline to receive in payment for [?] Lands the very money which your petitioners received for their services from the United…

GLC02437.03124

circa 1800

Bartlet, Benjamin, fl. 1800-1801

Document

Title: [Petition of Benjamin Bartlet to the Massachusetts Legislature]

Petition on behalf of Bartlet to the Massachusetts legislature, requesting support to help pay for his land and support his family. On verso is the bottom of a printed act of the Massachusetts legislature. A later penciled docket on the first page states that the document was written in either 1800 or 1801.

GLC02437.09271

May 1796

Manuscript document

Title: [Pettition to Massachusetts legislature for right to remain on land with Waldo patent]

Petition to the Massachusetts Legislature, stating that the many petitioners have lived on part of the Waldo patent for generations, and that this part of the land belongs to them, even though it has been deeded to Henry Knox.

GLC02437.09262

8 October 1793

Manuscript document

Title: [Petition to the state of Massachusetts for rights to land within the Waldo patent]

All text and signatures secretarially written. Petition to the House and Senate of Massachusetts requesting that the petitioners be allowed to keep their lands in the Waldo patent, even though Henry Knox claims he owns the land. Argues that their service in the revolution and their time spent on the land entitles them to it, that Knox has no legitimate claim to it, and that it is only a small part of the patent. Offer to pay the state of Massachusetts five dollars per acre of land they receive. Also signed later by a two other groups of petitioners. The first was on 8 November 1794 in "New…

GLC02437.09247

February 25, 1801

Broadsheet

Title: A Bill, to amend the act, intituled, "An act respecting fugitives from justice, and persons escaping from the service of their masters"

Print broadsheet of a bill before the U.S. House of Representatives which would make it illegal to "conceal, harbour, and employ, or aid or abet in concealing or harbouring any fugitive from labour, escaping from one state into another, or to, or from either of the territories of the United States." Blank space in the text where a dollar amount can be written in for a fine that can be recovered by the owner. Also says that owners can petition the court to issue a warrant for any fugitive slave whose whereabouts are known. Says if the slave is arrested and the master does not come to retrieve…

GLC08058.01

February 25, 1801

Broadside

Title: A Bill, to amend the act, intituled, "An act respecting fugitives from justice, and persons escaping from the service of their masters"

Same bill as GLC08058.01, with several amendments. Settles the penalty for knowingly harboring escaped slaves at $500 and requires those employing black labor to see a manumission paper. Says can avoid the penalty if the employer advertises a general description of the slave and his time and place of employment for at least three weeks. Requires jailers to advertise for at least six weeks that a slave has been jailed. Says whoever has the slave jailed will have to put up security for any bills and fees the jailing will incur.

GLC08058.02

7 October 1780

Shaw, Samuel, 1754-1794

Autograph document

Title: [Circular address to the New England states]

Entirely in Shaw's hand, including signatures. Expresses their unhappiness over bad conditions of officers in the army, particularly in the New England states. Concerns center on overly long terms of service, jealousy and lack of respect among subordinates and the general population, and the small income which does not allow them to sufficiently support their families. States that "[t]he war appears to us as far from an honorable issue as it has ever done."

GLC02437.00847

9 November 1780

Knox, Henry, 1750-1806

Manuscript letter

Title: to Benjamin Lincoln.

Later copy. Discusses the exchange of prisoners and that it is still in progess and also mentions the petition of the New England officers for better wages and other benefits. Informs General Lincoln of Cornwallis' movements in the South, mainly through Georgia and South Carolina.

GLC02437.00852

12 November 1780

Pickering, Timothy, 1745-1829

Manuscript document

Title: to John Hancock

Signed for Knox by Shaw. Henry Knox's retained copy. Congratulates Hancock on becoming the Governor of Massachusetts and brings the suffering of the Massachusetts soldiers to Hancock's attention. The text is in the hand of Henry Knox, but the closing, signatures, and docketing are added in the hand of Samuel Shaw. The was originally drafted by Timothy Pickering as indicated by a note added later at the top, "[Drafted by Col. Pickering]." See also GLC02437.00854 which includes a note stating, "Instead of the foregoing - the one drafted by Col. Pickering was sent."

GLC02437.00853

circa 12 November 1780

Shaw, Samuel, 1754-1794

Autograph document

Title: to John Hancock

Draft of GLC02437.00853. Congratulates Hancock on becoming the Governor of Massachusetts and brings the suffering of the Massachusetts soldiers to Hancock's attention. Noted that "Instead of the foregoing-the one drafted by Col. Pickering was sent." This unsent draft varies in content from GLC02437.00853 the context of which is attributed to Timothy Pickering.

GLC02437.00854