CONNECTICUT REVOLUTIONARY WAR - DOCUMENT SIGNED 09/20/1781 CO-SIGNED BY: FENN WADSWORTH, RALPH POMEROY, ELEAZER WALES, HEZEKIAH ROGERS - HFSID 173806

AMERICAN REVOLUTION: CONNECTICUT. Partly Printed DS: "Fenn Wadsworth" and "Eleazer Wales" as Members of the Committee, 1p, 6¼x3¾. State of Connecticut, Pay-Table Office, Hartford, 1781 September 20. To state Treasurer John Lawrence, Esq. In full: "Pay unto Ralph Pomeroy, Esq., D. Q. M. or Order, One Pound in Lawful Silver Money, out of the Tax of Two Shillings and Six Pence on the Pound, granted by the General Assembly in May last, and charge the State." Also signed: "Hez[ekiah] Rogers" across the signatures of the Committee members. Endorsed by Pomeroy on verso. This note was issued to RALPH POMEROY, who served as a Military Paymaster, for wages, reimbursement for expenses or loss due to damages during the Revolutionary War, issued one month before British General Cornwallis surrendered to General Washington. The military finances for the colony of Connecticut were handled by the Pay-Table, also known as the Committee of Four, during the American Revolution (1775-1783). Pay-Table members rotated during the lengthy confrontation with England, and included such notables as jurist Oliver Ellsworth, attorney Oliver Wolcott, Jr. (a future U.S. Secretary of the Treasury), HEZEKIAH ROGERS (an aide de camp to General Jedidiah Huntington, who was also a member), William Moseley, FENN WADSWORTH, ELEAZER WALES and General Samuel Wyllys, son of Governor George Wyllys. Financing the Revolution laid a heavy burden upon each colony, especially those that balked at levying taxes. In order to meet immediate needs, such as wages, the colonies relied upon wealthy revolutionists, foreign loans, and taxes and gifts from abroad. Connecticut issued promissory notes such as this. Issuing paper money was only a temporary solution, and worthless without specie or gold and silver backing. The U.S. would establish its standard monetary system in 1791. Lightly creased with folds, not at signatures. Slightly shaded. Overall, fine condition. Framed in the Gallery of History style: 17¼x19½.