Catalogue Note: Lost to time for over two hundred years and recently rediscovered, this silver seal is one of only two surviving objects related to the famous 1st Continental or Rifle Regiment, the first American unit to be raised, equipped and paid directly by the Continental Congress. Also known as the Continental Rifle Regiment, [...] Click here to continue reading.]]> Sotheby’s Catalogue Note regarding the silver hand seal of the 1st Continental Rifle Regiment.

Sotheby’s, Important Americana, 24-25 January 2014.

Catalogue Note: Lost to time for over two hundred years and recently rediscovered, this silver seal is one of only two surviving objects related to the famous 1st Continental or Rifle Regiment, the first American unit to be raised, equipped and paid directly by the Continental Congress. Also known as the Continental Rifle Regiment, it was organized on January 1, 1776 from remnants of Thompson’s Pennsylvania Riflemen (then serving at the siege of Boston). The 1st Continental served with great distinction during the 1776 campaign, fighting valiantly against overwhelming odds during the battles of Long Island, Throg’s Neck and White Plains, and playing decisive roles in the American victories at Trenton and Princeton. In the ensuing years of the Revolution, it fought in nearly every major battle fought by Washington’s main army (Brandywine, Germantown, Monmouth, and Yorktown) and was disbanded in 1783 at the close of hostilities.

Colonel Edward Hand (1744-1802), its first commander, was one of General George Washington’s most valued and trusted subordinates. (1) Upon assuming command of the regiment, Colonel Hand, to promote in his riflemen a sense of esprit de corps, commissioned the fabrication of a regimental standard according to the specifications prescribed by General George Washington’s General Order of February 20, 1776:

As it is necessary that every Regiment should be furnished with Colours, and that those Colours should, if it can be done, bear some kind of similitude to the Uniform of the regiment to which they belong, the Colonels with their respective Brigadiers and the Qt. Mr. Genl. may fix upon such as are proper, and can be procured.–There must be to each Regiment, the Standard (or Regimental Colours)…The Number of the Regiment is to be mark’d on the Colours, and such a Motto, as the Colonel may choose, in fixing upon which, the General advises a Consultation amongst them. The Colonels are to delay no time, in getting this matter fix’d, that the Qr. Mr. Genl. may provide the Colours as soon as possible… (2)

A March 8, 1777 letter from Colonel Hand to Jasper Yeates describes the design selected for the 1st Continental’s flag:

Our standard is to be a deep green ground, the device a tiger partly enclosed by toils [a net], attempting the pass, defended by a hunter armed with a spear (in white), on crimson field the motto ‘Domari nolo.’ (3)

Through Hand’s lobbying effort, Congress authorized spending $9000 to provide uniform and other martial equipment for the Rifle Regiment. (4) The colonel subsequently wrote to James Milligan to oversee the contracting of distinctive green uniforms, a regimental standard made to the description noted above and a “regimental seal.” Milligan paid a good sum for the flag and the seal, being reimbursed 29 pounds, 13 shillings and 6 pence for the pair. (5)

Seals were of circular or oval form and crafted from either silver, gold, copper alloy or soft mineral. Those intended for heavy use were typically mounted on turned handles of hardwood, ivory or precious metal. Seals were used to ensure a document’s privacy and authenticity and their primary military use was for the authentication or notarization of important documents, such as discharges, that were frequently forged. (6)

While the maker of the 1st Continental’s seal is unknown, he was likely a leading silversmith working in the greater Philadelphia area. The stamp itself replicates the device found on the field of the regimental standard as described in Hand’s letter of March 8th. Both the standard and seal have ‘P.M. / 1st Rt.’ Superimposed above the device, for ‘Pennsylvania Militia, 1st Regiment’ (Milligan not realizing that Hand’s 1st was a regular Continental regiment, not Pennsylvania militia). Below the device is a scroll bearing the patriotic motto DOMARI NOLO or ‘I will not be subjugated’. As with the standard, the seal was entrusted to the successive regimental commanders and carried through the entire war, as evidenced by Hand’s May 12, 1777 letter to Lieutenant Colonel James Chambers, the new commanding officer of the 1st Pennsylvania Regiment (as the 1st Continental was redesignated in 1777):

Dear Sir,

No. 15 The Seal was Sent by C [aptain James]. Ross against Mr. [Frederick] Hubley in the Qr. Mastr. G[enera]ls Bill No. 4 you can pay by his Acct… (7)

Irrefutably authenticating this seal to the 1st Continental Regiment is Private Christopher Hartong’s surviving discharge paper from the regiment dated Long Island, July 1, 1776, which bears the wax impression from this seal next to Colonel Hand’s signature. (8)

Notes

(1) Hand (1744-1802) originally came to Pennsylvania in 1767 as a surgeon’s mate in the 18th (or Royal Irish) Regiment of Foot, having earlier completed his medical studies in Edinburgh, Scotland. Part of the 18th Foot, Hand included, were stationed at Fort Pitt (Pittsburgh). In 1772, Hand obtained an ensign’s commission, serving simultaneously as a company officer and regimental surgeon. When the 18th Foot returned to Philadelphia in 1774, Hand sold his commission and resigned from the army, married, and took up the practice of medicine in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Mark M Boatner III, Encyclopedia of the American Revolution, NY: David McKay Co, Inc., 1974), 484-485, 1099.

(2) The Library of Congress; George Washington Papers, Series 3g, Letterbook 1, p. 185.

(3) Latin for ‘I will not be subjugated; letter, Hand to Judge James Yeates of Lancaster, in Pennsylvania Archives. 2d series, X (1890), 12.

(4) Peter Force, American Archives, v. 5: 1178 and v. 6: 1202.

(5) National Archives, Record Group 93, M246. Muster rolls, payrolls, strength returns, and other miscellaneous personnel, pay, and supply records of American Army units, 1775-83; reel 80, folder 3, 162.

(6) Thomas Simes, The Military Guide for Young Officers. 2d ed. London: J. Millan, 1776, 172-173; Bennet Cuthbertson, Cuthbertson’s System, for the Complete Interior Management of Oeconomy of a Battalion of Infantry, Bristol: Rouths and Nelson, 1776; unauthorized, revised printing from 1st edition of 1768, 135-136, 141-142.

(7) University of Wisconsin Spec. Colls., Draper Manuscripts, ‘U’ Series, v. 1, Edward Hand Papers, Ltr, Hand to Chambers, May 12, 1777.

(8) National Archives, Record Group 15, Pension Applications of Revolutionary War Veterans; Pennsylvania; S.22810 of Private Christopher Hartong of Captain Charles Craig’s Company, discharged at Long Island on 1 July 1776 (discharge is found on page 22 of this file).

Sotheby’s offers thanks to Revolutionary War material culture expert James L. Kochan of Frederick, Maryland, who kindly granted us permission to publish a heavily abbreviated version of his forthcoming article on the subject, along with his photographs of the seal and related documents. Kochan is the author of numerous books, including Soldiers of The American Revolution, 1775-1783, 2007, and the recently published reference work, Insignia of Independence: Military Buttons, Accoutrement Plates and Gorgets of The American Revolution, 2012.

The Diary of Edward Spencer is copied (in part) into the current volume from memory and notes in 1864, the first of two volumes of Spencer’s diary includes brief and breezy comments on the early months of his service, but he reserved space for the events leading up to and including the Battle of Thompson’s Station, fought near Franklin, Tennessee. A well-educated young man, upstanding [...] Click here to continue reading.]]> Edward Spencer Civil War Diaries

courtesy of Cowan’s Auctions

The Diary of Edward Spencer is copied (in part) into the current volume from memory and notes in 1864, the first of two volumes of Spencer’s diary includes brief and breezy comments on the early months of his service, but he reserved space for the events leading up to and including the Battle of Thompson’s Station, fought near Franklin, Tennessee. A well-educated young man, upstanding and proper, Spencer expresses himself well and displays an awareness of battlefield tactics and attention for the critical details in the engagement that are seldom found in private soldiers. His account includes the following: our brigade with the 4th Ohio Battery was sent out toward Columbia on a foraging and reconnoitering expedition, when about 6 miles from Franklin found the rebs in force preparing to dispute our progress opened upon us with a ten lb. battery shelling quite smartly for a couple of hours, injuring no one…. After a quiet night, they ran into the enemy again the next day, with two Indiana regiments moving forward, leaving the 19th Michigan and 22nd Missouri behind. In a few moments heavy firing was heard on our right where the Ind. regs. went out. At the same time a section of the enemy’s guns opened upon us from the right dropping shell very close. Our guns replied but without effect. We were then ordered to the right of the road as the enemy were flanking our present position. We were to take a position on top of a hill, the rebs seeing our object advanced toward the top of the hill from the opposite side & the two parties met at the top. We charged and drove them back down the hill and then fell back under the brow of it as protection from their guns which were shelling us lively. In a few moments they charged again and again were driven back. This was repeated four times, the rebs being driven back each time with great slaughter.

Seeing that they were being outflanked, the brigade fell back to another hill, where they came under an immediate assault. Col. Coburn, commanding the brigade, then said our only chance of escape was to charge their lines with bayonets fixed and force our way through. This we were preparing to do when another line of cavalry was discovered, a charge then would be insanity and the col. in order to save the lives of his men concluded to surrender. Accordingly the flag of truce was raised and the Johnnies flocked in upon us from every side. Canteens, haversacks, and clothing were taken from the men and swords and pistols from Officers. Upon the whole it was an indiscriminate robbery of private as well as govt. property….

Marched to Shelbyville, the prisoners were given a bit of bacon as large as two fingers, then marched to rail cars, bound for Richmond on a scarring trip, cramped into cars with too little food and too much cold. It got worse: While on the road to Richmond engine gave out leaving us on the track amid one of the most severe storms of the winter. Snow fell one foot deep. Impossible to keep fire as it stormed continuously, feet badly frozen as boots were given out. Some of men thinly clad, trying time indeed….

The regiment’s stay in Richmond was brief, as they were almost immediately paroled. Spencer was sent to hospital to recover from his ordeal, but he suspended his diary keeping until picking up again during a furlough in February 1864, and only resuming in earnest after he reached the front near Dalton, Georgia, in June, the Atlanta Campaign in full swing. Spencer’s description of the scenery on the first day back tells the story of Sherman’s forces. This has once been a fine country town but is now about destroyed. It is situated 39 miles from Cha[tanooga] and at the junction of the Cha. And Cleveland R.R. In this wanton destruction of property the Rebels are reaping the bitter fruits of secession. Good for them.

Spencer’s description of the Battle of Peach Tree Creek (July 20, 1864) is a good example of where the destruction originated, and includes an excellent account of routing the rebels with a fearsome charge. No one but those who have had actual experiences, he wrote that day, can comprehend the feelings of a man when engaged in deadly strife with his brethren or the peculiar sensations of after thought from going over the bloody field, strewn with the dead and dying. A battlefield at night is peculiarly terrible and possesses a horrid sort of fascination to the survivors. Never can I forget the field of the 20th as appeared by moonlight. The stiffened gray forms of friend and foe almost covering the ground, each victim weltering in his own blood, face turned upward in most cases, the pale uncertain light of the moon revealing the expression of countenance which on some was fierce defiant and in others almost the calm repose of sleep…. In the light of the next day, he added that the dead rebs as a general thing were badly mangled. Our fire was so close that several balls took effect in some rendering decomposition rapid this hot weather. A bad stench arose from the bodies before they could be interred….

Two days after Peach Tree Creek, Spencer was detached to serve as dispensing clerk to the regimental surgeon George Martin Trowbridge. The fall of Atlanta and the carnage Spencer witnessed left an impact. Witnessing the flocks of families fleeing Atlanta, following the retreating Confederate army, he wrote, It does seem hard after passing through the trials and deprivations of a siege and presence of an army in their midst with all its attendant evils, to be obliged to leave home for the uncertain support and protection afforded by a retreating army even if friends are there. This is one of the features of the war, sufferings of the innocent, oppression of unprotected women and innocent helpless children. Their situation calls for sympathy if they are Rebels, many of them and I believe most of them, believe their cause to be just and holy.

Spencer’s diary includes insight into the mood of the Union army in Georgia. Despite his deep sympathies for the civilians, the first rumors of the conditions at Andersonville, the reports of prisoners dying at the rate of 130 a day and the dead stripped by Negroes previous to burial, thrown into holes, then covered like govt. mules turned his sympathy into vengeful anger. God help the poor victims of Secession and Treason, he wrote, hasten the day when their wrongs may be avenged in the overthrown and total extermination of the foul conspirators. Their existence and memory should be blotted from the annals of history forever. Like a poisonous reptile crush out life and with it, all power to execute their hellish designs. Other entries include comments on national politics; the election of Abraham Lincoln, family and home, the officers’ lyceum (debating society) held in the regiment, the conduct of the war, sermons attended, his sleeping conditions, and a description of a field hospital of the XX Corps ingeniously heated by underground brick flues.

When XX Corps left Atlanta on Sherman’s March to the Sea in November, Spencer, of course, adopted a small, tight hand to cram more words onto every precious page. His reports indicate that the reputation that followed Sherman’s bummers was well-earned. On November 18, for example, he wrote: passed Social Circle & R.R. Station today. Station burned. Families left very destitute. [Nov. 19] marched about 3 miles and went to tearing up R.R. destroyed about one mile reaching to the town of Madison. [Nov. 19] Conversed with several young ladies found them intelligent and accomplished but thoroughly Rebel. Saw here great numbers of slaves nearly white… People often left destitute, great quantities of cotton burned…. The entries continue in a rich and detailed fashion through fall of Savannah and Sherman’s triumphant review of XX Corps on December 30.

Although Spencer began on the March through the Carolinas, he was soon sent back to Savannah, sidelined by a bout of diarrhea. He remained there working in the hospitals until the last white troops were sent to reinforce Sherman in March, leaving only “Colored” troops to garrison the city. (Not coincidentally, he reported that the Inhabitants of the city very much exasperated at the idea of colored troops doing provost duty in the streets.) By the time Spencer caught up with his regiment, his sympathies appear to have hardened further, and while he reported that most of the citizens near Wilmington, North Carolina, had been pretty well cleaned out already he added, Most of them profess loyalty as a matter of policy but they are not to be trusted. There are able bodied men at nearly every house, perhaps bush whackers as soon as we pass.

Spencer’s diary is slightly less dense for the remaining weeks of the Carolina’s Campaign than it was for the March to the Sea, but includes mentions of the fall of Richmond, Lee’s surrender, and the assassination of Lincoln (mentioned in oddly brief terms). After Johnston surrendered, the 19th moved northward through Richmond, where he caught another glimpse of his former prison and the city surrounding: Old Libby looked very natural and caused a good many remarks – streets filled with people of both colors wishing to see Sherman’s Greasers. The general led the column. Fires have been very extensive throughout the city the ruins still remaining. Cotton and tobacco warehouses suffered the most severely…. He later includes excellent accounts of traversing the old battlefield at Spotsylvania (witnessing the bones of men from both sides still littering the ground and cutting a ball from a tree as souvenir); a nice, unusually lengthy account of the Grand Review in Washington; and an even longer account of a tour of the capitol building. Although he returned home in June, Spencer continued to enter sporadic entries in the diary until 1871.

The first diary, transcribed into this volume in 1864, is part narrative at first, composed largely (he writes) from memory, but after August 1864, his diary becomes a true, straightforward diary, with the detail and emotional depth one hopes for in the best. Expected wear, but an excellent account of an underling’s life in a Civil War medical unit, with great content on the Battle of Thompson’s Station, Spencer’s imprisonment, and Sherman’s war-closing campaigns. An exceptional opportunity to gain insight into the mind and heart of a sensitive Midwestern man thrust into the maw of war.