Autograph letter signed by John Mix to General Enoch Foot. New Haven, [Connecticut], 27 April 1814. 1 page, 4to, 6 5/8 x 7 7/8 in. With integral address panel to verso.

Written by John Mix (1753-1817), who was a veteran of the Revolutionary War, serving as a lieutenant of marines, and during which time he was captured and imprisoned on the infamous prison ship Jersey in New York harbor for 6 months. With the outbreak of the War of 1812, he engaged in arms dealing in support of his country, serving as Quartermaster General for the State Militia of Connecticut until his resignation in November 1814. Here, he writes to General Enoch Foote who served as an officer in the Connecticut militia before and during the war. Gen. Foote had been tasked by the governor of Connecticut, where the war was deeply unpopular, to maintain a militia to protect the coastal region between Stratford Point and Black Rock.

John Mix addresses General Foot with information about the arms provided to him and his militia, possibly Springfield Model 1795 .69 caliber flintlock muskets: “I shall forward to you in a short time by order of his Excellency, Gov. [John Cotton] Smith, one box of muskets (25) for the use of the matross [artillery] company at Bridgeport. For these guns you will consider yourself responsible (casualties of war excepted) and are not to be given out to individuals except on a pressing emergency, to be returned to you again when such emergency cease. It will be found that the bayonet has the same character on it as there is on the sight of the gun which it fits; flints and cartridges you will find in your magazine."

Condition: brown spotting, small separations along old folds.

[War of 1812, Revolutionary War, Militaria, Militia, Manuscripts, Letters, Documents, Ephemera]