American Revolutionary War Minuteman Military Appointment.

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Item Number: 111043

Watertown: The Major Part of the Council of the Massachusetts Bay in New-England, 1776.

Rare original American Revolutionary War military appointment, signed by sixteen members of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. One page, partially printed, the document is dated March 23, 1776 and appoints William Thurlo Captain of the ninth Company of the Eighth Regiment in the County of Worcester, Massachusetts. With the original paper seal intact, the document is signed by James B. Otis, B. Greenleaf, W. Spooner, Caleb Cushing, Joseph Gearish, John Whetcomb, Jed H. Foster, B. Lincoln, Chas. Chauncey, J. Palmer, Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts Moses Gill, Jabez Fisher, Samuel Holten, Michael Farley, Major General of the Massachusetts Militia and Major General in the Continental Army Benjamin White, and Deputy Secretary John Lowell. The appointee, William Thurlo served as a Lieutenant in the Regiment of Minute Men of Col. John Whetcomb, Captain in the regiment of Col. Doolittle at the siege of Boston, and marched on an alarm at Bennington Aug. 22, 1777, under command of Maj. Ebenezer Bridge. In near fine condition. Matted and framed.

In the British colony of Massachusetts Bay, all able-bodied men between the ages of 16 and 60 were required to participate in their local militia. As early as 1645 in the Massachusetts Bay Colony, some men were selected from the general ranks of town-based "training bands" to be ready for rapid deployment. Men so selected were designated as minutemen. They were usually drawn from settlers of each town, and so it was very common for them to be fighting alongside relatives and friends. The minutemen were among the first to fight in the American Revolution and heir teams constituted about a quarter of the entire American militia. Unbeknownst to the Massachusetts Bay Colony, six days prior to the signing of the present document, the eight-year British occupation of Boston ended when British troops evacuated the city and sailed to the safety of Halifax, Nova Scotia.