Books and Manuscripts

Clark, George Rogers
Partially-Printed Document, signed
(Williamsburg), Virginia, January 29, 1780. Single oblong sheet, 6 1/2 x 8 1/4 in. (165 x 209 mm). Partially-printed Commonwealth of Virginia Land-Office Treasury Warrant (#2331), issued to Revolutionary War officer George Rogers Clark, for “five hundred and Sixty Acres of Land, due uno the said Clarke in trust for recruiting his Batalion & in lieu of the bounty of 750 dollars & in Consideration of the Sum of two hundred & twenty four pounds…”; signed by George Carr as member of the Virginia Land Office. Engraved border; red wax seal intact; light mat burn; creasing from old folds; light wear along edges. 

On the heels of George Rogers Clark's successful campaign in 1779 that saw the capture of Kaskaskia and Vincennes in Illinois Country, on January 29, 1780, Virginia Governor Thomas Jefferson authorized Clark to recruit troops to begin building defensive positions in the Ohio River Valley. Jefferson sent 300 of the above documents to Clark, noting in his accompanying letter that, “Instead of bounty money I send you three hundred Land warrants for five hundred and sixty acres of Land each, which at forty pounds the hundred being the Treasury price, amounts to the bounty allowed by Law. These we think more likely to induce men to enlist than the money itself.” (The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, Vol. 3, 18 June 1779 – 30 September 1780, pp. 273–278). Over the spring and summer of 1780 Clark and his men successfully repulsed attacks from British-aligned Native American forces in the Kentucky region.

A fine copy.