Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1909-03-23
OLD DOCUMENTS
Some Relate to Battle Of Bennington
of Revolutionary Fame.

who has requested us, for personal rea-
sons, not to use his. name in connection
with this write-up. showed us a bundle
of old documents yesterday, which are
very interesting. All OF them are
nearly 100 years old, some being much
older than that. All were executed In
the state of New York, and some show
their age by the rayages of book worms.
The paper on which they. are printed or
written is of finer texture and more
INK holds its color remarkably well.
Some OF the paper is hand made, as is
evidenced by the deckle edge, which
has been copied after in recent years by
paper manufacturers.
A large portion of these documents
are deeds to and mortgages on land
owned by the ancestors of the gentle
men who now has possession of the
papers and are of no particular inter
est to the public, except that some of
the lands included are part of the old
battlefield OF Bennington. This battle
was fought Aug. IS, 1777, Col. Stark,
with force of New Hampshire militia,
defeating detachment of Lord Bur-
goyne's army under Gen. Baum, killing
200 British and capturing 600 prisoners
1t was at the beginning of this BATTLE
that Col. Stark made the exclamation,
.'I'll beat the British today or Betsy
Stark will be a widow" Needless to
say, Betsy did not become a widow
until many years afterward. The town
of Bennington is situated in Vermont
and historians usually credit the battle
with being fought in that state, whereas
the cold facts are that it was fought
just across the line separating Vermont
from New York.
One of the documents, liz years old,
reads as follows:
''The people of the state of New York,
by the grace of God, free and independ-
ent.
TO Samuel Milliman, Esquire, greet
ing-We, reposing especial trust and
confidence. as well in your patriotism,
conduct and loyalty, as in your valour
and readiness to do us good and faithful
service, have appointed and Constituted
and by these presents do appoint and
constitute you, the said Samuel Milli-
man, captain of troop of horse, in the
brigade of militia in the county of
Rensselaer,, whereof Henry III. Won
Rensselaer,, esquire, is brigadier general.
"You are therefore to take the said
troop into your barge and care as cap
tain thereof, and duly to exercise the
officers and soldiers of that troop in
arms, who are hereby commanded to
obey you as their captain, and you are
also to observe and follow such orders
and directions, as you shall from time
70 time receive from our general and
commander in chief of the militia of
our said state, or any other your super
ior officers, according to the rules and
discipline of war, in pursuance of the
trust reposed in you, and for so doing
this shall be your commission, for and
during our good pleasure, to be signi-
fed by our council of appointment.
I'm testimony whereof, we have
caused our seal for military commits
sions to be hereunto affixed
Witness our trusty and well beloved
John Jay esquire, governor of our state
of New York, general and commander
in chief of all the militia and admiral
of the navy of the same, by and with
the advice and consent of our said coun-
Gil of appointment, at our city of Albany,
the twenty-second day of March, in the
year of our Lord, ono thousand seven
hundred and ninetyseven and in the
twenty first year of our independence"
This was signed nine days later by
the governors secretary. John Jay
was a national character.
One of the papers is lease given by
Jas. Hamilton to Jonathan Waldow,
a "Whitestown yoeman," to tract of
land. The parchment upon which is
written shows the wear of time. In
one corner, where the seal was placed,
book worm has gnawed zigzag hole
The seal is . common piece of paper,
cut in the shape of diamond, and
stuck onto the sheet with red sealing
wax. The top of the sheet has an
irregular, saw tooth edge, denoting a
style of drawing such instruments those
days Where, for instance, a lease
was given, the parts to be performed
by the two parties was written separate
ly on one sheet of paper. Then the
paper was cut in two in al irregular
line, each piece having written upon it
the stipulations of the lease. Later, if
litigation arose, the genuineness of
either of the copies could be determined
by fitting the irregular edges together.
The custom is no longer followed. The
tract involved in the lease above men
toned was what was known in those
days as military lands, and embraced
$50 acres, the lease running 60 years.
The stipulation of the lease was that
an annual rental be paid, of lone shill-
| ing for each aud every acre." and o
plant and set out fifty apple trees for
each hundred acres of the leased prem
ises" Provision was also made that
tie frees, when t;icy died, were to be
lrepiaced with others.
In one of these papers 81 Isaac Mosh-
er formerly private of Captain James
Taylor's company. thirtieth regiment
Iof infantry" in consideration of $40,
releases TO David Pearcy 'the certii,
cate of my enlistment and faithful ser
vice in the said company, and all the
rights, privileges and benefits resulting
therefrom. The date of this instru.
ment is given as 1916. Mosher was
evidently soldier of the war of lSl2-l4
and the rights he surrendered were
probably those to public lands, under s
military act.