Express Rider Hartford Guard Member Paid For Delivering Information To Hartford Convention -- Notable Signatures

Express Riders provided a valuable service during the Revolutionary War delivering information by riding horseback to various persons and towns. While Paul Revere and William Dawes were the most famous of all riders, there were others who performed this enormously valuable service for the war effort. ASHBEL DODD was one. Pleased to offer his bill and the instructions to pay him, signed and approved by ELIPHALET DYER, WILLIAM PITKIN and OLIVER WOLCOTT JR., 3 ¼ x 8, front and back for for "riding express" regarding the "convention" to Col. Champion, 30 miles, 3 dols. Per mile, including expenses on the road and two days of service for himself, Hartford, Nov. 15th, 1780. The verso contains a note, dated Harford, Nov. 24th, 1780, directing treasurer John Lawrence to "please pay Ashbel Dodd the sum of two pounds, ten shillings.for the service within charged adjudged and allowed and signed by Dyer, Pittman and Wolcott Jr. who has signed across the endorsement. ASHBEL DODD (born about 1857) served as a member of the Hartford Guard, providing security for the sundry offices in Hartford in February 1778. The Hartford Convention was a meeting in 1780 where delegates from the New England states proposed Constitutional amendments to limit the power of the federal government. Citizens were concerned that economic and military interests of the New England states was being threatened. The convention resulted in a declaration calling for the federal government to protect New England and provide financial aid to its trade economy. OLIVER WOLCOTT JR. (1760-1833) was born in Connecticut and graduated from Yale College and Litchfield Law School. During the Revolutionary War, he served as his father's aide-de-camp and then as quartermaster from 1779 to 1781. He left the army to practice law and served on the Connecticut Committee of the Pay Table from 1782 to 1784. After serving as Connecticut Comptroller of Public Accounts, he became the first auditor of the federal Treasury Department in 1789. In 1791, he became the Comptroller of the Treasury Department. In 1795, he succeeded Alexander Hamilton as Secretary of the Treasury and served until the end of 1800, when he resigned under accusations by political enemies. President John Adams appointed Wolcott as judge of the U.S. Circuit Court for the Second Circuit, one of Adams's "midnight judge" appointments at the end of his administration. Wolcott held the position until President Thomas Jefferson and the Republican-controlled Congress abolished it in mid-1802. After serving as a director of the Bank of the United States from 1810 to 1811, he established the Bank of America in 1811 and continued with it until 1814. He served ten consecutive one-year terms as Governor of Connecticut from 1817 to 1827 and served as a delegate to the state constitutional convention in 1818. ELIPHALET DYER (1721-1807) served in the French and Indian War and was a delegate to the Continental Convention. WILLIAM PITKIN JR. (1725-1789) was the son of Governor William Pitkin and served as an officer during the French & Indian War and as a member of the Council on Safety during the Revolution. He owned one of the first powder mills in colonial America, from which he supplied gunpowder to the Continental Army. He also served as assistant to and clerk of the Connecticut General Assembly and was judge of the Hartford Superior Court. JOHN LAWRENCE (1719-1802) served as treasurer of the colony and then the state of Connecticut for twenty years from 1769 to 1789. During the Revolutionary War, he was also commissioner of loans for the United States. Folds, light toning. An excellent example of Revolutionary War Americana. Everything we sell is guaranteed authentic forever to the original buyer. We also offer a 30-day return policy. If you discover a problem or are dissatisfied with an item, please contact us immediately. Our goal is to please every customer. We are pleased to be members of The Manuscript Society, Universal Autogra. …