November 7-8, 2018 Edged Weapons, Armor, & Militaria
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 11/7/2018
Joseph Cobin (sometimes spelled Coban or Corbin) enlisted "for three years or the war" on 5 May 1777 in Leavenworth's Company of the 6th Connecticut Regiment commanded by Colonel Return Jonathan Meigs. Per the muster rolls of the regiment, Cobin spent a good part of six years' service either "sick in Reg[imen]tal Hospital", on furlough, or sick at "Wallingford" (his home town). With the consolidation of the Connecticut Line in 1781, he was reassigned to the 4th Connecticut, serving in that regiment until being honorably discharged on 12 February 1782. Cobin's discharge paper (ADS, 1 page, folio), bears the handwritten medical opinion of regimental surgeon John Noyes that Cobin "hath a continual series of Epileptic Fitts, which render him unfit for the duty of camp" and with "no prospect of recovery or abatement of the disorder, he is adjudged an improper Subject for the Army and recommended for a discharge therefrom." Brigade inspector Thomas Grosvenor endorses the doctor's affidavit, and "for the Reasons above certified" the regimental commander, Colonel Heman Swift, signs Cobin's honorable discharge , noting that "tho' otherwise, he has been a fine Soldier." Accompanying this triple-signed discharge is a certification of Cobin's military service, signed by two Wallingford selectmen on 23 September 1782 (ADS, 1 page, quarto); a letter from Cobin to the Committee of Pay Table authorizing Jeremiah Farrington to collect "the Notes due to me for Continental Service, dated Wallingford, 28 October 1782 (DS, 1 page, quarto); and two partly-printed Committee receipt forms (each DS, 1 page, quarto, some splitting at fold edges), both dated and signed by Farrington at Hartford on November 21st acknowledging receipt of 25 pounds and 15 shillings and 18 pounds and 18 shillings, respectively, on behalf of Cobin. From the Walter O'Connor collection.