You are bidding on a Revolutionary War pay voucher/document from September 16th, 1782, Verplanks Point, NY. (Verplanck is also known for its Revolutionary War history, specifically the location of the strategic Kings Ferry between Stony Point and Verplanck's Point, which George Washington's army used to cross the Hudson on its march to Yorktown, Virginia, in 1781). The document originates from the Connecticut 4th regiment, and is signed by two prominent members, Lt. Giles Curtiss as well as Lt Colonel Ebenezer Gray. Gray had communicated at length with General Washington throughout the war, as many handwritten docs by Washington to Gray have shown up for sale in the past. The document is signed boldly by both Giles and Gray, as shown. The seams to the letter show some browning and splitting, but have held up and kep the sheet, which measures roughly 14" x 9", in nice shape. The script is clear and legible, maing this worthy of framing, as it is from two prominent men, during the thick of the Battles for our Independence in 1782. Good luck! More about these men below:
LT COL. EBENEZER GRAY (1743-1795)
At the outbreak of the Revolution, Ebenezer Gray (1743-1795) was a practicing lawyer in his Windham, Connecticut, and was meditating a removal to the Wyoming Valley in Pennsylvania, in the colonization of which his uncle, Col. Eliphalet Dyer (Member of the Continental Congress), was active. On May 1, 1775, he became Second Lieutenant in Israel Putnam’s regiment and served through the siege of Boston. He was promoted on January 1, 1775, to be First Lieutenant and Quartermaster of Colonel John Durkee’s regiment, and marched with it to New York, where General Samuel H. Parsons appointed him his Brigade-Major, on August 31, 1776. On January 1, 1777, he became Major of the Sixth Connecticut, and Lieutenant-Colonel of the Seventh Connecticut on October 15, 1778. On January 1, 1781, Ebenezer Gray was commissioned Lieutenant Colonel of the new Fourth Connecticut Regiment, under Col. Zebulon Butler, serving until January 1, 1783, when Gray was assigned to the Third Connecticut under Col. Samuel B. Webb, serving until June 1783. He then resumed his law practice in Windham, Connecticut.
----------------------------------
EBENEZER GRAY, the eldest child of Samuel Gray, fo Windham, Connecticut, and grandson of Dr. Ebenezer and Mary (Gardiner) Gray, of Lebanon and Windham, was born in Windham on July 26, 1743. His mother was Lydia, daughter of Colonel Thomas and Lydia (Backus) Dyer, of Windham; a brother was graduated at Dartmouth College in 1771, and a sister married the Rev. Enoch Huntington (Yale 1759). At the outbreak of the Revolution he was a practicing lawyer in his native town, and was meditating a removal to the Wyoming Valley in Pennsylvania, in the colonization of which his uncle, Colonel Eliphalet Dyer (Yale 1740), had taken so deep an interest. On May 1, 1775, he became Second Lieutenant in Israel Putnam's regiment and served through the siege of Boston. He was promoted on January 1, 1775, to be First Lieutenant and Quartermaster of Colonel Durkee's regiment, and marched with it to New York, where General Parsons appointed him his Brigade-Major, on August 31, 1776. On January 1, 1777, he became Major of the Sixth Connecticut, and Lieutenant-Colonel of the Seventh on October 15, 1778. He remained in the service until June, 1783. He then resumed his law practice in Windham, and on March 30,1786, married, Sarah, eldest daughter of John and Jerusha (Stoughton) Staniford, of the same town. He died on June 18, 1795, in his 52d year, leaving an estate which was inventoried at 907. His widow died in 1835, at the age of 72. Their children were two sons (one graduated at Yale in 1805) and one daughter. Extracts from three or four of his leters, while in camp during the Revolution, are printed in Miss Larned's History of Windham County. AUTHORITIES Johnston, Yale in the Revolution, 234–35. Larned, Hist. of Windham County, il, 154–44, 160, 177, 184–85, 189, 200–201, 208, 210, 308. Onderdonk, Revolutionary Incidents of Suffolk and Kings Counties, 77." Dexter, F. B. (1896). Biographical Sketches of the Graduates of Yale College with Annals of the College History, Vol II May, 1745–May, 1763. New York: Henry Holt and Company. [p 21–22]
------------------------------------------
Gray, Ebenezer (Conn). 2d Lieuten ant 3d Connecticut, 1st May to 10th De cember, 1775; 1st Lieutenant and Regi mental Quartermaster 20th Continental Infantry, 1st January, 1776: Brigade Major to General Parson s Brigade, 31st August to December, 1776; Major 6th Connecticut, 1st January, 1777; Lieu tenant-Colonel, 15th October, 1778; transferred to 4th Connecticut, 1st Jan uary, 1781; transferred to 3d Connecti cut, 1st January, 1783, and served to 3d June, 1783. (Died 18th June, 1795.)
Lieutenant Giles Curtiss (1753-1842)
Revolutionary War soldier. Served in the Major Eli Leavenworth’s Company of the 6th Regiment of the Connecticut Line, among other units. Later Mayor of Berlin, Connecticut.
Mar. 22, 1764
Wallingford
New Haven County
Connecticut, USAMay 29, 1832
Sheffield
Berkshire County
Massachusetts, USA
Married Hannah Westover. Moved to Ashley Falls, Mass. with his father. Fought in the Rev. War. Ensign 6th Connecticut, 1st January, 1777; 2d Lieutenant, 17th October, 1777; 1st Lieutenant, 10th May, 1780; transferred to 4th Connecticut, 1st January, 1781; transferred to 2d Connecticut, 1st January, 1783, and served to 3d June,
