Our Collection

At the Institute’s core is the Gilder Lehrman Collection, one of the great archives in American history. More than 85,000 items cover five hundred years of American history, from Columbus’s 1493 letter describing the New World through the end of the twentieth century.

Heath, William, 1737-1814 [Application and petition on behalf of the officers and soldiers of the Massachusetts regiments of the Continental Army for compensation as a result of their services during the American Revolution]

Order a pdf of this item here.

Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC02437.10244 Author/Creator: Heath, William, 1737-1814 Place Written: Boston, Massachusetts Type: Printed document Date: 28 February 1792 Pagination: 1 p. : docket ; 38 x 23.3 cm. Order a Copy

Written by a Committee appointed "by the Officers of the Massachusetts line of the late army to attend to and prosecute their memorial to the Congress of the United States, on the subject of compensation for the losses sustained by them and the soldiers who served during the war ... " States that they have yet to receive anything for their services from the government and will continue to petition "until we obtain consideration and relief; or until it shall be declared by the voice of the United States in Congress, that our claims are visionary and without foundation; and that a hard-earned bona fide debt can be honourably and justly cancelled by certificates received in the first instance by a kind of compulsion, alienated in most cases from necessity, unsupported by funds, and passing in exchange for only a sixth or an eight of their nominal value." Sends an agent, General William Hull, to Congress in Philadelphia to plead their case. Noted as a circular. With clerical signatures of Heath, J. Brooks, T. Edwards, H. Jackson, W. Eustis, and Jo. Crocker. Signatures appear to be written by the same hand directed to Henry Knox. Watermarked with a hunting horn inside a crest.

Heath, William, 1737-1814
Brooks, John, 1752-1825
Jackson, Henry, 1747-1809
Eustis, William, 1753-1825
Edwards, I., fl. 1792
Crocker, J., fl. 1792
Knox, Henry, 1750-1806
Hull, William, 1753-1825

Citation Guidelines for Online Resources