[THREE MANUSCRIPT DOCUMENTS, ALL ON A SINGLE SHEET OF PAPER, RELATING TO PAY FOR NATHANIEL SNOW AND HIS MILITIA DURING THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION, SIGNED BY ROBERT TREAT PAINE AND MAJ. GEN. HORATIO GATES]

Raynham, Ma, 1779.. [2]pp. manuscript on a folio sheet. Lightly silked. Paper darkened and stained. Writing on verso a bit faint. Good. In a half morocco and cloth folding box, spine gilt. An interesting group of documents relating to the Revolutionary War service of Capt. Nathaniel Snow's militia, signed by Robert Treat Paine (a signer of the Declaration of Independence) and by Revolutionary War Major General Horatio Gates. The verso of the sheet contains "A Pay Abstract of Capt. Nath'l. Snow's Company of Militia," listing the names and ranks of the fifty-eight men in the militia, their time served, and the pay due them. It is attested to by Snow and dated March 15, 1779 at Raynham, Massachusetts. At the top of the recto of the sheet is an attestation that the information on the recto "is just and true." This attestation, also dated March 15, 1779, is signed by Robert Treat Paine as justice of the peace. Below the attestation on the recto is a letter dated at Providence on May 31, 1779, instructing Benjamin Stelle, deputy Pay Master General of the Army in the State of Rhode Island, to pay Nathaniel Snow $404 for his militia's service. This letter is signed by Maj. Gen. Horatio Gates.

Robert Treat Paine (1731-1814) was one of the five Massachusetts delegates to the Continental Convention who signed the Declaration of Independence. Born in Boston, a graduate of Harvard, Paine was admitted to the Massachusetts Bar in 1757. One of Paine's earliest and most celebrated trials came when the town of Boston hired him as one of the prosecuting attorneys for the Boston Massacre trials, in opposition to John Adams. Paine was elected to the provincial assembly in 1770, and chosen delegate (along with John and Samuel Adams, Elbridge Gerry, and John Hancock) to the Continental Congress of 1774 and 1776.

Horatio Gates (ca. 1727-1806) was a British- born army officer who served with General Braddock during the French and Indian War. He was part of the ill-fated Braddock Expedition (along with George Washington) to capture Fort Duquesne and retake the Ohio Valley in 1755. When the Revolutionary War broke out, Gates offered his services to Washington, and was in command of the Northern Department at the Battle of Saratoga in 1777, an important victory for the Continental Army. His signature is scarce.