American Historical Ephemera & Photography

"A Pay Roll of Capt. Lemuel Clap Compa --- In the Service of the United States Stationd ---." 6 3/4 x 30 1/4 in. (creasing, scattered ink marks, missing portion of right side of document). Unsigned. ca 1779-1880.

Manuscript roll listing the names of 94 men including Captain Lemuel Clap, one first lieutenant, one second lieutenant, eight sergeants, eight corporals, one drummer and one fifer, and 73 privates. Roll identifies each man by name, rank, time of engagement, time of discharge, and pay due. Among the listed are minutemen from Lexington and Concord and soldiers who fought at the Battle of Dorchester Heights. Notable family names appearing on the roll include Clap, Bird, Wiswell, and Withington.  

Lemuel Clap (1735-1819) was a tanner by trade who was born in Dorchester, Massachusetts. When the first shots of the war rang out in April 1775, he served as a lieutenant of a company assembled in Dorchester as part of the Lexington alarm. During the Revolutionary War, he commanded several companies that enlisted for short-term service. George Washington's troops encamped on the Clap estate during the Siege of Boston.