(AMERICAN REVOLUTION) Willett Marinus Affidavit concerning a

Sale 2344 - Lot 26

Price Realized: $ 3,750

?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price

Estimate: $ 400 - $ 600

(AMERICAN REVOLUTION.) Willett, Marinus. Affidavit concerning a promise made to the Oneida Indians in 1781. Document Signed. 2 pages, 9 1/2 x 7 1/2, plus integral blank; minor repairs at intersection of folds. New York, 26 January 1792

Set Alert for Similar Items

Additional Details

Colonel Marinus Willett (1740-1830) was an important militia leader on the western New York frontier during the Revolution. This formal statement recalls a promise he made while pursuing the routed British forces in the aftermath of the Battle of Johnstown, one of the last major battles of the war: "I hereby certify that on a pursuit of the enemy in the county of Montgomery the latter end of October in the year 1781, in order to stimulate a party of Oneida Indians then with me, I promised in case of exerting themselves to overtake the enemy who were put to flight, that they should each of them have a blanket. That in consequence of this promise they began a vigorous pursuit and in a short time overtook and killed a number of the enemy." Ten years later, with the war long over, he was still trying to get these blankets delivered to the Oneidas. Apparently the blankets never were delivered--a lawsuit was filed regarding this case in 2005. Provenance: George A. Baker sale, 4 May 1943, lot 90, to Allyn Kellogg Ford.