[American Revolution] Group of 2 Documents Related to Revolutionary War Pensions: For a Soldier who Helped Establish West Point Military Academy and a Soldier who Defended West Point as a Fortress

Printed Broadside
Philadelphia: (Francis Childs and John Swaine), April 30, 1794. Printed broadside, 13 1/4 x 8 in. (336 x 203 mm). Small chipping and light scattered wear along edges. Evans 27848

An Act allowing Lieutenant Colonel Tousard an Equivalent for his Pension for Life. Louis de Tousard (1749-1817) was a French artillerist who served in the Continental Army during the American Revolution, and later greatly influenced the formation of the United States Army. Tousard arrived in America in April 1777, and first joined the staff of General George Washington in June 1777, and then as a captain under the Marquis de Lafayette, between 1777-78. He fought in the Battles of Brandywine (September 11, 1777) and Germantown (October 4, 1777), wintered at Valley Forge (1777-78), and fought in the Battle of Rhode Island (August 29, 1778) where he lost an arm in an attempt to capture British artillery. After the war's conclusion, he returned to France in 1784, where he received the Order of Saint Louis, and was later imprisoned as a Royalist, during 1792-93. In 1794, he led a regiment in Haiti against the slave uprising, and was briefly imprisoned, before he escaped to America.

In 1795, President Washington commissioned Tousard a Major in the Corps of Artillerists and Engineers, and was later promoted to Lieutenant Colonel and Inspector of Artillery, and helped plan several forts along the eastern seaboard, including Fort Mifflin. During this time he was instrumental in establishing a national military school, a proposal for which he sent to Secretary of War James McHenry in 1798, and helped transform the garrison at West Point to an academy, in 1800, and trained the first 12 cadets. His book, American Artillerists Companion (1809) became the standard text for the instruction of artillery use in the United States. He later served as French Vice-Consul in Philadelphia, in 1805, French Consul ad Interim in New Orleans from 1811-1816, and supported the work of General Jackson during the War of 1812. He returned to Paris in 1816, where he died the following year.

Together with:

Partially-Printed Pension Claim
Steuben County, New York, February 3, 1829. Partially-printed war pension claim on bifolium, signed by court clerk John Metcalfe, certifying Samuel Slarrow's Revolutionary War pension claim. Docketed on verso. Creased from old folds, tape repairs along same verso; unevenly toned; lightly soiled.

Fifty years after serving in the Continental Army, 68-year-old Samuel Slarrow (1759/61-1839) is approved for a war pension. Slarrow enlisted for nine months of service in the Massachusetts Line in June of 1778, and was placed in the company commanded by James Keith, in the 8th Massachusetts Regiment commanded by Col. Michael Jackson (1734-1801; one of the few soldiers who served in the Continental Army for the entirety of its existence). During Slarrow's service, the 8th Massachusetts was assigned to the Highland's Department charged with defending the Hudson River north of New York City. For the entirety of his term, Slarrow was likely stationed at the newly erected fortress at West Point, where he was then discharged in "the last of March or April 1779". In answer to the long time gap in filing a claim, according to the document, Slarrow did try to previously, but it was denied because he "had not sufficient proof" of his service.

Lot includes approximately 46 disbound Congressional reports regarding various veteran's pensions, ca. 1840s-1880s.

This lot is located in Philadelphia.

[American Revolution] Group of 2 Documents Related to Revolutionary War Pensions: For a Soldier who Helped Establish West Point Military Academy and a Soldier who Defended West Point as a Fortress