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WILLIAM BEDLOW COMPLAINS AFTER HIS DISCHARGE

Autograph Letter Signed, "William Bedlow." Two pages, 8" x 13 1/4". Pay Office, Fishkill. February 24, 1778. Bedlow writes to ROBERT R. LIVINGTON (1746-1813). Delegate to the New York state constitutional convention and a member of the Committee of Five that drafted the Declaration of Independence. Under the Articles of Confederation, Livingston, then Chancellor of the State of New York, administered the first term oath of office to George Washington. Bedlow writes, in part: "From the many testimonies of Friendship I have for many years received from your late Father yourself and Family, I have taken the Liberty to request your interposition in my behalf with the Honorable Congress respecting the following case … In June last ( at which time I held a Genteel office from this state) I received a letter from Major General Putnam offering me the Office of Deputy Pay Master General for the Eastern Department … His Excellency Governor Clinton from his Friendship for me, persuaded me to accept of it, on the principle of thinking it would be an office I would enjoy during the Warr, and when we should be so happy as to be restored to peace & safety, it might be a means of my being th'ot of in some publick way … I frequently wrote to Colonel William Palfrey Pay Master General who had approved of my appointment to let me know what my sallary [sic] was to be … When I accepted the office, I own I felt a secret satisfaction at so high a trust being reposed In me, but I have a much greater on the Consciousness of having discharged it with care and Fidelity, and that all my Accounts are ready for Examination. What a wound then must it be to a person of the least sensibility after nine months service to be superseded with only an allowance of pay equal to a pay master of Artillery, the Duty of whome with mine will bear no comparison … my being discharged in the manner I am to be, without any farther imploy [sic] from the Publick and with a Sallary [sic] for my past services that will not defray my own expenses, as I have been constantly obliged to be with or near the Army, away from the Family, which was the case on the Alarm of Fort Montgomery being taken when Mrs. Bedlaw with my Children fled to the Mountains back of New Windsor, leaving the greatest part of my affects in the house … which was all plundered and carried by our own people … " A interesting account of apparent mistreatment of a public official, and a window into the hardships suffered by those that served the fledgling cause of colonial independence. Tape repair to center split. Minor edge wear. Else Fine.