November 17, 2020 Early Arms & Militaria: Age of Exploration, Empire & Revolution
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 11/17/2020
An 18th-century rosewood fife, 15-1/4" long by 13/16" diameter (at widest point), with 1-1/2" long ferrules of silver set at each end. The ferrule closest to the mouthpiece or hole is engraved crossways, “Nathaniel Peck / Benedict’s Company” while the other ferrule is engraved “Sixteenth Regiment / Connecticut Militia.” The engraving is done in gothic letters, suggesting later 19th-century application when in the hands of a descendant, possibly done during the Centennial of 1876. Nathaniel Peck was born to Jesse and Ruth (Hoyt) Peck of Danbury in Fairfield County, Connecticut on 12 December 1757. His father served in the French & Indian War. Nathaniel was enrolled in the 16th Regiment of Connecticut Militia (formed in 1771 and composed of Fairfield County men) at the beginning of hostilities with Britain, but enlisted as a fifer in Captain Noble Benedict’s Company of Colonel David Waterbury’s 5th Connecticut Regiment of the Grand (later Continental Army) in May 1775, serving with them first at Fort Ticonderoga and subsequently participating in the successful siege of St. Johns and the capture of Montreal. Nathaniel mustered out of service on December 1st and returned home, but reenlisted again as a fifer on June 21st, 1776, this time in a company raised by Captain Benedict for Colonel Philip Burr Bradley’s Connecticut Regiment. His father Jesse was a corporal in the same company and his younger brother Eliphalet served as a private. After the retreat from New York, Bradley’s Regiment composed part of the garrison at Fort Washington and approximately half of its men were captured when the fort was taken by assault on November 16th, including the two Peck brothers. They were incarcerated, first at the Sugar House and later, aboard the equally infamous Jersey prison ship. Contracting smallpox, they were released by the British and managed to return home to Danbury, where their father (who eluded capture and was discharged in December) was infected by them, tragically dying on 28 January 1777 and followed by his eldest son, Nathaniel, who succumbed a few days later on February 1st. PROVENANCE: By descent in the family and thence by purchase to the Dr. John Lattimer Family Collection. CONDITION: Very good, with a few slight dings to the wood and silver ferrule tips. JLK
CORRECTION: Further research reveals that the fife is probably an 1876 Centennial fife commissioned by a descendant in commemoration of Nathaniel Peck’s Revolutionary War service.
Item Dimensions: 16 - 1/4 x 12 - 1/4 x 2"