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1777 Captain Jonathan Wadsworth & His Company’s Pay Issued Two Weeks Prior to His Death at Battle of Saratoga

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August 23rd & 27th, 1777-Dated Revolutionary War Period, Lot of Two Manuscript Pay Orders to Captain Jonathan Wadsworth on the State of Connecticut and his Company, both Issued Two Weeks Prior to Jonathan Wadsworth’s Death at the Battles of Saratoga, New York, both Choice Extremely Fine.

Lot of Two Manuscript Pay Orders, each made to Captain Jonathan Wadsworth on the State of Connecticut and to his his Company, both Issued Two Weeks Prior to Jonathan Wadsworth’s Death at the Battles of Saratoga on September 19, 1777. Both Documents are boldly handwritten and signed on clean fresh laid period paper by the State of Connecticut at Hartford. Lot Includes:

1. August 23, 1777-Dated, “To Repairing Arms for Capt. Johnathan Wadsworth’s Company of Militia Under Marching Orders to Join the Northern Army ---- Recd. October 6, 1777, an Order on the Treasury for the Same. - (Signed) Tho(mas) Sloan”

Note: As a Captain in Colonel Thaddeus Cook's Regiment of the Connecticut Militia, Jonathan suffered mortal wounds in Battle of Stillwater on September 19th, 1777 during the Battles of Saratoga. The Pay order dated August 23rd,was just about 2 weeks prior to his death at Saratoga. (2 items)

2. August, 27, 1777-Dated, Manuscript Pay Order to Captain Johnathan Wadsworth for 80 Pounds for him and his militia company. As a Captain in Col. Thaddeus Cook's regiment of the Connecticut Militia, Jonathan suffered mortal wounds in Battle of Stillwater on 19 Sept 1777 during the Battles of Saratoga. This Pay Order paid out about two weeks prior to his death at Saratoga.

Jonathan Wadsworth was pressed into military service in the summer of 1777. The Connecticut Legislature held an emergency session ordering two battalions of 728 men for two months service to join the northern army at once. The legislature did offer a ten-pound incentive to join, but also issued a blunt directive that came very close to compulsion. The commanders of the two legions were Colonel Jonathan Latimer of New London, and Colonel Thaddeus Cook of Wallingford. Jonathan served as a captain under the command of Colonel Cook. Jonathan's company consisted of 69 men. On August 26, 1777, the militia began their march to Saratoga. The distance from Hartford, Connecticut, to Saratoga, New York, is about 140 miles, and can be covered today in about three hours over beautifully landscaped highways. However, the march in 1777 was over rough trails winding through the mountains of western Connecticut and eastern New York. The journey took several days to complete and ended with Colonel Cook's regiment arriving at the battlefield during the first part of September.


Jonathan Wadsworth was pressed into military service in the summer of 1777. The Connecticut Legislature held an emergency session ordering two battalions of 728 men for two months service to join the Northern Army at once.

The Connecticut legislature did offer a ten-pound incentive to join, but also issued a blunt directive that came very close to compulsion. The Commanders of the two legions were Colonel Jonathan Latimer of New London, and Colonel Thaddeus Cook of Wallingford. Jonathan served as a Captain under the command of Colonel Cook. Jonathan's company consisted of 69 men. On August 26, 1777, the militia began their march to Saratoga. As a Captain in Colonel Thaddeus Cook's Regiment of the Connecticut Militia, Jonathan suffered mortal wounds in Battle of Stillwater on September 19th, 1777.

The distance from Hartford, Connecticut, to Saratoga, New York, is about 140 miles, and can be covered today in about three hours over beautifully landscaped highways. However, the march in 1777 was over rough trails winding through the mountains of western Connecticut and eastern New York. The journey took several days to complete and ended with Colonel Cook's regiment arriving at the battlefield during the first part of September.

The Battle of Saratoga pitted the British army of General John Burgoyne against the American forces of General Horatio Gates. General Burgoyne was moving his army of over 9,000 men from Canada with the intent of reaching Albany, New York, by the early fall of 1777.

Meanwhile, the American forces were "digging in" at Saratoga, New York, to stop the advance of the British. If the British were to reach Albany, NY, the Revolutionary War could be all but over.

Jonathan Wadsworth and his company of men spent their time during the first part of September preparing to meet the British Army.

The American encampment was located on Bemis Heights. A line of entrenchments was established, running from west to east about half a mile in length. The site of the battlefield is bordered on the east by the Hudson River and on the west by a line of mountains. The men built up the fortifications for one reason-stop the advance of the British troops. Saratoga, New York, was the location chosen by General Gates to stop the British advance.

General Burgoyne's army was encamped approximately three miles north of the American forces, and the General had two choices: avoid an engagement by trying to get to the road that ran between the river and the entrenchments, or go to battle against the Americans. He chose the latter. The first battle took place on September 19, 1777.

The battle began around 12:30 p.m. when Colonel Daniel Morgan's riflemen surprised the British in a clearing known as the Freeman farm. Jonathan's company, under the command of General Benedict Arnold's division engaged the enemy in an area known as the Middle Ravine.

The battle swayed back and forth throughout the afternoon, and except for a timely arrival of German reinforcements and the lack of ammunition for the Americans, Burgoyne might have been defeated that day. Jonathan Wadsworth was killed sometime in the afternoon of September 19, 1777.

Jonathan's body was buried somewhere on the battlefield, perhaps beside a person he had just been fighting. The two armies did not exchange bodies, and the men from both armies were simply buried in common graves. Approximately 350 Americans and 600 British were killed or wounded during this first day of battle.
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Lot Number: 123
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