November 7-8, 2018 Edged Weapons, Armor, & Militaria
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 11/7/2018
Samuel Bowman (1754-1818) was born in Lexington, Massachusetts, and was one of the minute-men on Lexington Common on April 19, 1775. He served in a regiment in the Massachusetts Line and gained promotion to first lieutenant. After the war, he returned to Lexington, then moved to Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, in 1786. In 1794, he organized and commanded the Luzerne Volunteers, a company of light infantry raised to suppress the Whiskey Rebellion in western Pennsylvania. In 1799, he was commissioned a captain in the 11th Regiment, Provisional Army of the United States during the Quasi-War with France, returning to civilian life in September 1800. An important archive (approximately 2-3 linear inches) largely relating to Bowman's military service during the Whiskey Rebellion (9 pieces) and the Quasi-War (25 pieces), with a small group of private and business correspondence (7), as well as one letter written to a descendant in 1868. Bowman's military papers from the Whiskey Rebellion primarily consist: individual pay receipts from members of his company, a pay receipt book, a September 1794 return of arms and accoutrements issues out to each man, and a November 1794 inspection return of the men, arms and equipment of the company while in Westmoreland County, while attached to Fisher's Battalion. The bulk of the Bowman archives relates to Bowman's recruiting activities for the 11th Infantry Regiment in Wilkes-Barre and the surrounding area in northeastern Pennsylvania, 1799-1800. There is an unbound, incomplete account book (of 18 folio leaves, primarily clothing issues to various recruits, along with two 2-page descriptive lists of recruits, noting name, age, description, place of enlistment, place of birth, and occupation); three, large inspection returns and a few receipts, plus 19 incoming military letters, principally from his immediate superior, Major John Adlum, written from Philadelphia or the regiment's cantonment in New Jersey, as well as two from Colonel Aaron Ogden, the balance being from various subaltern officers serving under him; most of the letters relate to various aspects of recruiting service. Mr. O'Connor purchased the Bowman archive from noted dealer-collector Norm Flayderman in the 1970s. From the Walter O'Connor collection.