Autograph note signed by John Trumbull. Connecticut, 7 October 1777. 1 page, ## x ## in. WITH Autograph receipt note. Hartford, [Connecticut], 21 February 1778. WITH Autograph receipt note signed by George Smith to verso. Hartford, [Connecticut], 18 June 1778. AND Autograph receipt note signed by General Erastus Wolcott. [Connecticut?], 20 June 1779.

A very rare military document signed by “Painter of the Revolution,” John Trumbull (1756-1843). Here, Trumbull writes to Connecticut militia commander Erastus Wolcott (1722-1793): "Gentlemen. Please to Deliver to Brigadr. Gen. Erastus Wolcott or his orders Three Hundred weight of powder to be by him made up into Cartridges for the use of his Brigade in the Defense of this State." Interestingly, the verso appears to have been used several times, with at least three notes of receipt of powder. One of these notes was written and signed by Wolcott.

Trumbull entered the war as a soldier in several capacities, serving as second aide-de-camp to General George Washington and as deputy adjutant general to General Horatio Gates. In 1777, he resigned from the army after a dispute with Congress regarding his officer’s commission. Trumbull would go on to a celebrated art career, painting dramatic scenes that romanticized the American Revolution and portraits of several Founding Fathers, including well-known images of George Washington. His masterpiece “Declaration of Independence” (1817) currently hangs in the United States Capitol rotunda.

A very rare opportunity to own a military document from the hand of the foremost artist of the American Revolution.

[Art, Revolutionary War, Colonial America, Founding Fathers, Connecticut, Militia, Militaria, George Washington, Manuscripts, Documents, Ephemera]