Now On View: Letterbook and Officer's Commission

Two new documents are on display in the Declaration of Independence gallery.

Letterbook

George Morgan, the Continental Congress's agent for Indian affairs, kept this letterbook in 1776 while stationed at Fort Pitt (modern-day Pittsburgh). In the 1760s, Morgan formed trade connections with American Indian nations of the Ohio River Valley and farther west. Just prior to the Revolutionary War, Morgan was made a member of the Lenape and befriended chief Koquethagechton (White Eyes). As a colonel in the Continental Army, Morgan negotiated alliances with local tribes. Native American leaders in the Ohio River Valley faced pressure from both the Continental Congress and the British, whose agents operated out of Fort Detroit. The war forced Native Americans to choose sides, which tore communities apart.

Officer's Commission

The British Army officers who defended King George III’s realm carried commissions like this one, which bears the king’s wax seal and signature. In the minds of these officers, they were carrying out the will of King George III and his elected government. Officers typically purchased commissions, which officially established their rank in the army. Richard St. George Mansergh St. George, a member of the Irish landed gentry, purchased this ensign’s commission (the lowest rank for a commissioned officer in an infantry regiment) in April 1776. He sailed for America that summer. Approximately one-third of the officers who served in the British Army in America were Irish.