September 26, 2018 O'Connor's Americana Collection
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 9/26/2018
James Grant went on half-pay as a lieutenant with the disbandment of the 77th Foot at the close of 1763. Rather than returning to Scotland, like many of the Scottish troops, he chose to stay in North America and take possession of the military bounty lands they had received for their past service in the war, most of which were located in the Hudson River Valley, beginning just below Albany and extending west to the Mohawk Valley and eastward to the Hampshire Grants (Vermont) and north into the Adirondacks. Grant initially settled in Fredericksburgh, New York, where he married and raised a family, but later moved to Paulins Town [Pawling, Dutchess County], where he died in 1796. The earliest documents include 1760s-1770s James Grant correspondence with family members in Scotland, Grant family land and business documents from the 1760s-1830s, James Grant's 1796 will and estate papers, and family correspondence into the mid-19th century. There are also a few New York militia records from the early 19th century for two of his sons, including an officer's commission. An interesting piece is an 1817 recipe for cider.
There is a fascinating letter (ALS) from Archibald Campbell, a former comrade, written from Montreal on 1 March 1777, in which Campbell informs Grant that "His Excellency has not forgot in the promotion of field officers, the North Britains...in honnour to there former Commissions, and Examplary Merit dewring [sic] the last war, in the service of King and Country" and he is now serving in the Royal Highland Emigrants, which "will keep the Yanky Divels at proper Distance." It may have been receipt of this letter that brought James Grant's loyalty under suspicion, for he writes in an retained copy of an undated petition (ADS) to Governor Clinton of New York that "Certain I have ever Behaved myself agreeable to the Articles of Probity & Honor ....that I have had no Hand in the present War, Notwithstanding am a great sufferer by it....[being] a Prisoner, which is Five years and Six Months" and requests "Leave to go to New York, by Flag, to Procure such an Exchange as may be Proper." This petition was probably written in 1779, as it appears to have been precipitated by a letter to Grant from Brigadier General Alexander McDougall of the Continental Army, at Peekskill, dated 8 May 1779 (ALS), denying his request for a permit to into New York "without the Governor's consent." Approximately 1/2 linear foot of documents.
Item Dimensions: 17" x 14 - 1/2".