Autographs
Militia Order Mourning the Death of George Washington From Levi Lincoln to Lexington & Concord Minuteman Willliam Green who was also Wounded at Bunker Hill
LEVI LINCOLN, SR. (1749 - 1820) - (GEORGE WASHINGTON - Related). American Patriot, Massachusetts Minuteman and Member of House of Representatives and Senate, United States Congressman, President Jefferson’s Secretary of State who also appointed him Attorney General of the United States, Governor of Massachusetts, who was distantly related to Abraham Lincoln.
(December 1799) Death of George Washington Period, Autograph Letter Signed, “Levi Lincoln,” regarding a Militia Order to Mourn the recent Death of George Washington, “our late Commander in Chief,” Very Fine. George Washington died on December 14, 1799 at age 67. This is an original letter, measuring 12.5” x 7.5” that is boldly written and addressed in rich brown ink on clean period watermarked laid paper by Levi Lincoln. It was folded and sealed, having an integral address panel addressed to Lincoln’s Massachusetts “Brother” (in arms), William Green as “Adjutant Green of the 1st Reg.(iment) 1st Brig(ade)”. This well written letter is in nice quality, having expected folds and just a small splits where opened. It reads, in full:

“Brother Green -- At a Meeting of the Officers last evening, at which I was to have given you notice, but which was most accidentally neglected, it was voted unanimously that we attend Public worship the next Sabbath in Uniform with Side Arms & Crape on the Left arm in pursuance of General Orders filed at Boston on the occasion of the death of our late Commander in Chief that we meet for this juxtapose at Chamberlain’s at the ringing of the first bell in the morning, and that your Humble Servant be directed to request the company of Adjutant Green. - (Signed) Levi Lincoln”. The reverse side docket reads: “L. Lincoln - Letter for the officers to appear in mourning.”

William Green entered the service on April 19, 1775 during the Battle of Lexington and Concord at the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War, as a Minuteman who served as Adjutant, a staff officer under Colonel William Prescott, and was later ordered commissioned on May 26th. He was wounded at the Battle of Bunker Hill on the 17th of June 1775. William Green died in 1810.

This is a truly remarkable and historic letter, directly involving two of the first participants who served at the very outbreak of the American Revolutionary War and now serving together in the honoring and commemoration of their General and President George Washington, “our late Commander in Chief”.
Levi Lincoln, Sr. (May 15, 1749 – April 14, 1820) was an American revolutionary and statesman who served as a Minuteman at the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War, a state legislator in Massachusetts, a participant in Massachusetts' state constitutional convention, Governor of Massachusetts, Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts, a U.S. Representative, Attorney General for President Thomas Jefferson and Acting Secretary of State.

Lincoln was born in Hingham, Massachusetts, on May 15, 1749. He graduated from Harvard in 1772 and studied law under Joseph Hawley. When the Battle of Lexington occurred he volunteered to fight with the Minutemen. From 1775 to 1781, he served as clerk of the court and probate judge of Worcester County. Though elected to the Continental Congress in 1781, he declined to serve. Lincoln was a member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives in 1796, and of the Senate in 1797. In 1800, he was elected to Congress and served until March 5, 1801, when President Jefferson appointed him Attorney General of the United States. He held the office until March 5, 1805. Lincoln was acting Secretary of State from March 5, 1801 to May 2, 1801.

Lincoln was a member of the Council of Massachusetts in 1806, and served as Lieutenant Governor in 1807-1808. Upon the death of James Sullivan, he became Governor, but was not elected in 1809. In 1811 he was appointed Associate Justice of the Supreme Court but declined. He died in Worcester, Massachusetts on April 14, 1820.

Lincoln was distantly related to Abraham Lincoln, sharing a common ancestor with the sixteenth U.S. President in Samuel Lincoln, who had settled in Hingham, Massachusetts, in the 17th Century.

The 1st Massachusetts Regiment was authorized on 23 April 1775 in the Massachusetts State Troops as Paterson's Regiment under Colonel John Paterson and was organized at Cambridge, colony of Massachusetts during the spring of 1775 constiting of eleven companies of volunteers from Berkshire, Hampshire, Suffolk, Middlesex, Worcester, York counties and the county of Litchfield in the colony of Connecticut.

The regiment was adopted into the main Continental Army on 14 June 1775 and was assigned to Heath's Brigade on 22 July 1775. On 1 January 1776 the regiment (less two companies) was consolidated with Sayer's and Sullivan's companies of Scammon's Regiment; re-organized to eight companies and redesignated as the 15th Continental Regiment of Heath's Brigade.

The regiment would see action at the Battle of Bunker Hill.

On 1 August 1779 Vose's Regiment was redesignated as the 1st Massachusetts Regiment of the 2nd Massachusetts Brigade in the Highland's Department. On 1 January 1781 the regiment was re-assigned to the 1st Massachusetts Brigade in the Highland's Department and was disbanded on 3 November 1783 at West Point, New York. Lineage carried on by the U.S. 104th Infantry Regiment.

(Wikipedia)