Sep 28, 2017 - Sale 2455

Sale 2455 - Lot 278

Price Realized: $ 500
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 300 - $ 400
(WAR OF 1812.) Clark, Isaac. Letter concerning the confirmation of the 11th Infantry's regimental staff. Autograph Letter Signed as colonel to paymaster Robert Brent in Washington. One page, 10 x 8 inches, plus integral address leaf with faint inked Burlington postmark stamp, on one folding sheet; seal tear on address leaf, minor wear at folds. Burlington, VT, 14 August 1812

Additional Details

Isaac Clark (1742-1822) was a Revolutionary War veteran in Vermont, and was 70 years of age when he took command of the 11th United States Infantry at the outset of the War of 1812. Composed entirely of Vermont and New Hampshire troops, the regiment would participate in several battles and also patrolled Vermont's northern border. Clark wrote this letter before the regiment was deployed: "I rec'd directions from the inspector gen'l to appoint the staff of my regiment, which I did on 17th of April last. . . . I named Lieut. Walter Sheldon, who has considered himself as paymaster of the regiment ever since. . . . He is a gentleman of undoubted veracity, he has the benefit of a coleget education. I wish, sir, he may be confirmed in the apointment." Provenance: sold by Scott J. Winslow to collector Milton R. Slater, June 2006.