RARE 1782 LOYALIST MILITARY PASSPORT FROM CHARLESTON

Isaac Allen (1741-1806). Partially-printed, autograph document signed, 1 p., folio, 12 1/4 x 7 7/8 inches, laid paper bearing crown/Britannia watermark, dated "Charlestown, this 17th Day of October 1782." Apparently a unique surviving example of a 1782 Charleston, South Carolina imprint, this "Passport and Flag of Truce" was originally published "By NISBET BALFOUR, Esquire, Lieutenant-Colonel of His Majesty's 23d Regiment (or Royal Welsh Fusiliers) and Commandant of CHARLESTOWN, &C. &C. &C.", but has Balfour's name and regiment lined out in ink, with Allen's name and regiment, the "3d Battn. New Jersey Volunteers" inked above on the header, when Colonel Allen replaced Balfour as commandant of Charleston that month. The document gives permission "to Mr. Thomas Young to proceed with a Flag of Truce to Mr. Izard;s Plantation on his private Business from whence he is to return to this Town." Thomas Young was a Loyalist who had been "Barberly Used" as a prisoner of the Patriots for 7 weeks and fought with the British forces in the South from the 1780 siege of Charleston until the evacuation of that city in December 1782. "Izard's Plantation" probably refers to "Fair Spring", a plantation on the outskirts of the city near Dorchester owned by Patriot Ralph Izard, who served as the volunteer aide-de-camp of Colonel John Laurens during the 1782 campaign and whose property was variously occupied by British and Patriot during the skirmishes during the final year of conflict in the South. Isaac Allen's signature is on the bottom of the form, and countersigned by Captain John Blucke of the 23rd Foot, acting as "Sec[retar]y." The reverse of this form is inscribed with an "Assurance" to "Wm Irving" and "The Schooner Mary, fourty tons, John Hays [captain and] five Seaman...[to the] Port of Savannah in Georgia & from thence back to this place." Isaac Allen graduated from the College of New Jersey (today Rutgers Univ.) in 1762 and practiced law in Trenton. When the Revolutionary War broke out, he remained loyal to the Crown and commissioned lieutenant colonel in Skinner's Brigade of New Jersey Volunteers (NJV) in December 1776. He commanded the 3rd Battalion of NJV, which he developed into a crack corps and gallantly led it during the Southern campaigns, including the 1779 Siege of Savannah, the taking of Charleston in 1780, and the battles of Hobkirk's Hill, the Siege of '96, and Eutaw Springs in 1781. During the war, his property in Trenton and Philadelphia was confiscated by the patriots. When the war ended, Allen resumed his legal profession in St. John, New Brunswick, Canada, eventually becoming a judge on the Supreme Court and a member of the Council of the province of New Brunswick. The document is accompanied with a 19th century print of the Siege of Charleston. 2 pieces. CONDITION: mending and reinforcing of the folds with archival tape on reverse of sheet, otherwise a very clean and visually-appealing document with strong printing and inked inscriptions. JLK From an important Charleston, South Carolina collection. Paperwork: Documents