CONNECTICUT REVOLUTIONARY WAR - MANUSCRIPT DOCUMENT SIGNED 06/01/1781 CO-SIGNED BY: WILLIAM MOSELEY, GENERAL JEDIDIAH HUNTINGTON - HFSID 252687

CONNECTICUT PROMISSORY NOTE: JEDEDIAH HUNTINGTON, and WILLIAM MOSELEY. Manuscript Document signed: "Huntington" (vertically) and "William Moseley", 1p, 7¾x3¼. (Connecticut Pay Table Office, 1781 June 1. Issued in the name of John Lawrence, State Treasurer. "Pay to Ralph Pomeroy D.Q. M. Three pounds in bills of this State and charge the State £3." Pomeroy was a Military Paymaster. 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 which 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 and, at the insistence of Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton, assume the state debts. HUNTINGTON (1743-1818), a Harvard graduate with a Masters from Yale, joined the Continental Army outside Boston one week after the Battle of Lexington (1775). He commanded a Connecticut brigade throughout the Revolutionary War, being promoted to Brigadier at George Washington's personal request. After the war, he engaged in private business and served in local offices before being appointed Collector of Customs for New London, Connecticut - then the gateway for Connecticut River commerce - by President Washington (1789), holding that post through four administrations until shortly before his death. He was a delegate to the state convention which ratified the U.S. Constitution and a founding member of the Society of Cincinnatus, an association of Revolutionary War officers. MOSELEY (1755-1824) later served in the Connecticut state senate (1822-1824). Lightly creased and soiled. Irregular lower edge. ½" paper separation at right edge of lower horizontal fold. Horizontal fold crosses both signatures. Overall, fine condition.