1775 MASSACHUSETTS PROVINCIAL COUNCIL
Fine 175 Massachusetts provincial document signed by 16 patriots, including two Revolutionary War generals, a signed of the Articles of Confederation, a Lexington Minuteman, and others. In 1774 Parliament annulled the provincial charter of Massachusetts and Gov. Thomas Gage dissolved the assembly. Members of the assembly met regardless, and in 1775 organized a Provincial Congress which assumed all local authority and continued to meet until 1780. This document issued by a committee of the congress, 1p. legal folio, Watertown, Sep. 6, 1775 appoints Josiah Batchelder to serve as Coroner in Essex County. It is signed by 17 members of the council, including: JOHN WHITCOMB, first Major General of the Mass. Army who led part of the battle line at Lechmere Point in the Battle of Bunker Hill, a Continental Army brigadier general who turned down Washington's offer to command all forces in Massachusetts; BENJAMIN LINCOLN (1733-1810), Continental Army major general fighting at Charleston, Saratoga and Yorktown; SAMUEL HOLTEN, President pro tempore of the Continental Congress, signed of the Articles of Confederation; CHARLES CHAUNCY (1705-1787) patriotic clergyman and pamphleteer; CALEB CUSHING (1737-1806) Quartermaster and Brigade Quartermaster in the Continental Army, a Lexington Minuteman; PEREZ MORTON (1751-1837) member, Committee of Safety and Committee of Correspondence, Mass. Speaker of the House and Att'y Gen'l.; MOSES GILL (1734-1800) served on the Provincial Congress' executive committee, headed the supply committee during the Siege of Boston; WILLIAM SPOONER, Boston privateer owner; and JOSEPH GERRISH (1708-1776), a colonel who served under Amherst in the invasion of Canada. Weak folds expertly repaired on verso, a fold through Whitcomb's signature and typical toning, else quite good.