Printed Bond For Samuel Webb's Division in 1777 Signed By Him, O. Ellsworth and Other Patriots. The First We Have Ever Seen

With this bond, Samuel B. Webb and Elisha Hopkins Jr. agreed to serve as sureties that Captain Thomas Wooster would faithfully distribute the bounty money that the State of Connecticut was offering to encourage enlistments in the Continental Army. Signer of the Constitution and Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court Oliver Ellsworth and Charles Hopkins signed as witnesses. On the same day, Hopkins also signed a receipt for £625 he received from the Pay-Table for Wooster to distribute. Wooster was tasked with raising a company for the additional Connecticut regiment that General George Washington had ordered Samuel B. Webb to raise.

OLIVER ELLSWORTH, Partially Printed Document Signed, Bond of Samuel B. Webb and Elisha Hopkins Jr. for Captain Thomas Wooster to distribute enlistment bonuses, March 22, 1777, [Hartford, Connecticut]. Charles Hopkins and Oliver Ellsworth signed as witnesses. 1 p., 7.75" x 12". Expected folds; some fold tears and compression to right edge, not affecting text; very good.
-Together with Elisha Hopkins Jr., Partially Printed Document Signed, Receipt for £625 for Capt. Thomas Wooster, March 22, 1777, Hartford, Connecticut. 1 p., 7.75" x 6". Expected folds; very good.

Excerpts
"Know all Men by these Presents, that we Samuel B. Webb of Weathersfield and Elisha Hopkins Junr of Hartford both in the State of Connecticut, are holden and bound to the Governor and Company of said State, in the sum of Two Thousand Pounds Lawful Money....
"THE CONDITION OF THE ABOVE OBLIGATION IS SUCH, That whereas Thomas Wooster is appointed Caption of, and to raise of Company in the Continental Battalion, to be commanded by Samel B. Webb Esqr Colonel, and will receive out of the Treasury of said State, for each non-commission Officer and Private of said Company, the Ten Pounds Encouragement for their inlisting granted by said State, in Addition to Continental Encouragement. Now, if the said Thomas shall faithfully apply and dispose of all the Money he shall receive out of said Treasury for the Purpose aforesaid, and therefor account with the Pay-Table Committee when required, then the above Obligation to be void—otherwise to remain in full Force.
Samel B. Webb
Elisha Hopkins Junr
"Signed, Sealed and Delivered in Presence of
Charles Hopkins
O. Ellsworth"

[Receipt:]
"RECEIVED of Pay-Table Committee, their order on the Treasurer of the State, for Six Hundred & Twenty Five Pounds for Capt Thomas Wooster being for the additional Encouragement granted by this State, for inlisting into the Continental Army, and which he is to improve accordingly, for raising a Company in the Battalion to be commanded by Samel B. Webb Esqr Colonel, and to Account with said Committee."

Historical Background
The Pay-Table handled the military finances for the colony of Connecticut during the American Revolution. Also known as the Committee of Four, its members at different times included Oliver Ellsworth, Jedidiah Huntington, William Moseley, Hezekiah Rogers, Jesse Root, Thomas Seymour III, Fenn Wadsworth, Eleazer Wales, Ezekiel Williams, John Chenward, Oliver Wolcott Jr., and Samuel Wyllys.

Colonel Samuel B. Webb's battalion participated in the Battle of Quaker Hill in August 1778 and remained in Rhode Island during the winter. In the fall of 1779, it marched to winter quarters at Morristown, New Jersey. It also participated in the Battle of Springfield, New Jersey, in June 1780.

Oliver Ellsworth (1745-1807) was born in Windsor, Connecticut, and entered Yale College in 1762. At the end of his second year, he transferred to the College of New Jersey (Princeton), from which he graduated in 1766. He studied the law for four years, gained admission to the bar in 1771, and married Abigail Wolcott in 1772. In 1777, he became state's attorney for Hartford County, served on the Pay-Table Committee, and helped manage Connecticut's war expenditures during the Revolutionary War. In 1777, he was also named a delegate to the Continental Congress from Connecticut, a position he held until the end of the war. He served on the Supreme Court of Errors in Connecticut from 1785 and later on the Connecticut Superior Court. In 1787, voters selected Ellsworth as a delegate to the Constitutional Convention, where he helped draft the Constitution and created with Roger Sherman the Connecticut Compromise between large and small states. He left the convention before signing the final document but worked for its ratification. He served as one of the first two U.S. Senators from Connecticut from March 1789 to March 1796, when President George Washington nominated Ellsworth as the third Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court, a position he held from 1796 to 1800. After traveling to France as a special envoy to end the Quasi-War, he resigned from the Court in December 1800 because of illness.

Charles Hopkins (1754-1831) was a lieutenant in the battalion commanded by Samuel B. Webb. He served from 1777 to 1779, when he was discharged from the service.

Samuel B. Webb (1753-1807) was born into a wealthy Connecticut merchant family. After his father died in 1761, his mother married the family's attorney Silas Deane (1737-1789) in 1763. Deane later served as a delegate to the Continental Congress, signed the Continental Association, and became the first diplomat from the United States to France. Webb served as an assistant to his stepfather and met many of the leaders of the developing nation. In the Spring of 1775, Webb enlisted as an ensign in the militia and participated in the Siege of Boston and the Battle of Bunker Hill. Webb gained quick promotion and became an aide-de-camp to Major General Israel Putnam. In June 1776, Webb was promoted to lieutenant colonel and aide-de-camp to General George Washington. He was wounded three times in battle while on Washington's staff. While recovering at home from a wound received at the Battle of Trenton, Washington promoted him to the rank of regimental colonel in January 1777 and charged him with recruiting an additional Connecticut regiment for the Continental Army. He was captured by a British warship in December 1777. He was kept in loose confinement on Long Island but made trips to New Jersey, Rhode Island, and even to Washington's headquarters. While still a prisoner in October 1780, Webb married Elizabeth Bancker (1757-1781) of North Raritan, New Jersey. He was finally exchanged in February 1781 and rejoined his regiment until it disbanded in September 1783. After the war, he became a merchant in New York City. In 1790, he married Catherine Hogeboom (1765-1805). His children included journalist and diplomat James Watson Webb (1802-1884).

Elisha Hopkins Jr. (1723-1798) was born in Providence, Rhode Island. He married Martha Cady in 1746, and they had at least twelve children. He served in the Revolutionary War as a private and then as a captain and adjutant in both Connecticut and Rhode Island. Taken prisoner at Long Island in August 1776, he was later exchanged and served until the end of the war.

Thomas Wooster (1724-1798) was born in New Haven, Connecticut. He married Lois Hawkins in 1747, and they were the parents of at least sixteen children. He served as a captain in Col. Samuel B. Webb's battalion from 1777 to 1779, when he was furloughed.

This item comes with a Certificate from John Reznikoff, a premier authenticator for both major 3rd party authentication services, PSA and JSA (James Spence Authentications), as well as numerous auction houses.

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