December 10-13, 2024 Firearms & Militaria
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 12/10/2024
A small, but fascinating archive relating to the discharge of a former sergeant of the 5th Battalion, 60th or Royal American Regiment consisting of three documents. The first is a partially-printed discharge for Corporal John Erkens, dated Halifax, Nova Scotia, 24 January 1804, noting that the soldier had served for six years and is signed and sealed by the unit commander, Lieutenant Colonel Francis de Rottenburg. The discharge further describes Sergeant Erkens as being 27, standing at 5 feet 8, with fair complexion, blue eyes, brown hair and "long Visage", born in Dillenburg, Holland. The second document is written in German gothic script and indecipherable to this cataloger but dated 1805. The third document is essentially a blanket letter of reference for the discharged corporal, noting that he "he behaved well and with propriety in 6 Years Service" in the battalion. It is signed and dated Halifax, 12 March 1805 and bears a strong signature of von Rottenburg, as well as a very fine impression of the regimental seal in wax in the lower left corner of the document. Very few regiments during this period had such seals and fewer still survive on documents of this nature. The signatory is none other than future Major-General Sir Francis de Rottenburg, baron de Rottenburg (1757-1832), who spent most of his military career in British service, primarily in the West Indies and Canada through the War of 1812. He originally was an officer in Hompesch's Hussars, but helped form and train Hompesch's Light Infantry, which later became part of the 5th Battalion of the 60th Regiment of Foot. De Rottenburg rose to the rank of lieutenant-colonel in the unit and commanded it during the Irish Rebellion of 1798 and the capture of Surinam in 1799. De Rottenburg wrote a series of manuals which became the basis for the training of riflemen and light infantry under Sir John Moore. PROVENANCE: Acquired from Mike Kramer in 2002. CONDITION: Very good as conserved and presented; some of the flattened folds mended with Japanese tissue; the paper with light to moderate toning; the wax seal on the first document with heavy loss. An extremely rare set of papers relating to the discharge of a Dutch soldier in British service, who served in the West Indies and Canada as a NCO in a famous rifle corps, the first in the British Army.