JOHN HANCOCK-SIGNED COMMISSION OF ENSIGN AARON BUTLER

John Hancock (1737-1793) as President of the Continental Congress. Congressional military appointment, partially-printed, document signed; "Dated at Hartford in the state of Connecticut this first Day of January A: Dom 1777", on watermarked, laid paper, folio, 8 1/4 x 13 inches. A rare Congressional commission appointing "Aaron Butler Esqr....Ensign of a Company in a Regiment commanded by Colo. Samuel Wyllys [of the Connecticut Line] in the the Army of the United States, raised for the Defense of American Liberty, and for repelling every hostile Invasion thereof...". The document is boldly signed by Hancock, with the same flourish as applied to that on the Declaration of Independence, as President of the Second Continental Congress and countersigned by Charles Thomson as Secretary. An unusual example of an early war, blank commission signed by Hancock and Thomson and then sent then sent to Connecticut otherwise blank, to be filled in on the spot during the emergency raising of Connecticut's regiments for Continental service--all regiments raised the previous year having their service expired at the close of 1776. Aaron Butler was born on October 7, 1753 and served during the 1775 campaign in Captain Abijah Rowlee's Company of the 8th Regiment. The next year, as corporal in Captain Abijah Sedgewick's company of volunteers, he marched to New York for a term of service. He was the most junior officer in Captain Barnard's company in Wylly's 3rd Connecticut Regiment of 1777, serving with it in the Philadelphia campaign and died while in Pennyslvania on November 12, 1777. CONDITION: Flattened folds, complete and with no losses to paper. Very strong signature and bright paper. The finest Congressional appointment signed by Hancock that we have seen on the market in the past 30 years. JLK