ELIAS BOUDINOT and BENJ. LINCOLN, Document Signed

AutographsImportant 1783 Signed Military Commission by President Elias Boudinot of the Continental Congress and Benjamin Lincoln Appointing Caleb Brewster
One of the Continental Army’s “Culpeper Spies”

ELIAS BOUDINOT, President of the Continental Congress, Director of the U.S. Mint, & BENJAMIN LINCOLN, Revolutionary War General and Secretary of War.
Partially printed Document Signed “Elias Boudinot” in brown ink on vellum, as President of the Congress of the “United States of America”, April 28, 1783, Philadelphia, PA, 7” x 11.25” vellum sheet laid down onto thick paper backing--could be easily removed from its backing--Choice Very Fine. Also signed by “B. Lincoln” in lower left corner; Boudinot signs along the upper left corner, beneath an original paper seal, completely intact but with trimmed left and top corners. Over 2” long Boudinot signature with loopy flourish beneath--slightly trimmed “E” in his first name. Benjamin Lincoln’s signature is crisp and brown, nearly 2.5” long. Rare Revolutionary War Officer’s Commission paper, appointing “Caleb Brewster” to the rank of Captain Lieutenant in the New York Regiment of Artillery. The brown-ink manuscript wording is moderately faded, but the signatures are quite distinct. The document displays scattered edge and surface wear but the seal, “The Board of War & Ordnance”, is very nice.
Caleb Brewster was known as one of the famed “Culpeper Spies” who served under Major Benjamin Tallmadge, George Washington’s right-hand man, who sent men on reconnaissance into British-occupied New York City. The spies would travel in the dead of night across Long Island Sound, into and out of the city, with Tallmadge located in Southern Connecticut. A very interesting document, needing only modest restoration before matting and framing. Important content and Rare!

Boudinot was a member of the committee on correspondence (1774-1775) and the New Jersey Provincial Congress (1775). In 1777 he was appointed commissary-general of prisoners. He was a member of the Continental Congress (1777-1788; 1781-1784) and its President (1782-1783). It was he who signed the treaty with Great Britain to end the war. He served in first Congress of 1789; in 1795 was made director of the Mint and from 1816 to 1821 served as the first president of the American Bible Society.

Benjamin Lincoln (1733Ð1810), was in charge of the militia in Vermont, then in command of the American army in the southern department. He was captured with his army at Charleston and exchanged; he served in the Yorktown campaign with George Washington in 1781 and accepted General Cornwallis’ sword from British General O’Hara when the British surrendered. He was elected Secretary of War by Congress and served from 1781 to 1783. Following the war he stayed active in public life in various capacities. In 1787, he led the force that suppressed Shays’ Rebellion. He retired in 1809 and died in Hingham in 1810.

Caleb Brewster was perhaps the most bold and daring of the “Culpeper Ring” of spies for the American Revolutionists. He was the only one of the group that the British had definitely identified as a spy. When the Revolutionary War broke out, he immediately enlisted in the local militia. After the Battle of Long Island he joined the Continental Army with the rank of a lieutenant of artillery. He returned to Setauket CT, in August of 1777 as part of the attacking force from Connecticut that fought in the "Battle of Setauket." In November 1780 he was one of the officers under Major Benjamin Tallmadge who captured Fort St. George at Mastic. Throughout the war he commanded a fleet of whale boats operating from the Connecticut shore against British and Tory shipping on Long Island Sound. He also ran messages back to Setauket for Tallmadge to deliver to Washington. Perhaps most importantly, the Culpeper Ring provided intelligence to Washington that Benedict Arnold was plotting with Major Andre to turn over the fort at West Point to the British in September 1780; Andre was captured and hung as a British spy, Arnold escaped to England, but West Point remained in the hands of the Americans.