Hancock, John, Signer of the Declaration of Independence from Massachusetts

Autograph letter signed ("John Hancock"), one page bifolium (9 1/2 x 7 5/8 in.; 240 x 195 mm), with integral address leaf, Castle Island, Massachusetts, 5 November 1779, to the Massachusetts Board of War, requesting clothing for slaves and a new bell; minor staining and age darkening on address leaf. Together with: Autograph letter signed ("Chas. L. Hancock"), 10 Court St., [Boston], 29 March 1955, to an unknown recipient, explaining that his store of John Hancock signatures has been depleted.

The Acts & Resolves, Public & Private of the Province of ... Massachusetts (Boston, 1922), 21:90

Hancock requests clothing for rescued slaves. "The Return I made to your Honl Board of the Carolina Negroes, who are the Objects of the Resolve of the Assembly with respect to Cloathing ... as the poor Fellows are Suffering for want of the Cloathing, I am to Request the fav^r you will be pleased to deliver the Cloathing to M^r Salisbury ... & I will See that the Cloathing is properly deliver'd ..."

On 24 June 1779, a resolution was passed regarding African slaves seized on board the prize Snow Victoria to which Hancock's November letter undoubtedly refers:

"Resolved, That the Board of War be and they hereby are directed forthwith to write to our Delegates in Congress, informing them of the state of Facts relating to said Negroes, requesting them to give Information thereof to the Delegates from the State of South-Carolina, that so proper Measures may be taken for the Return of said Negroes agreeable to their Desire. And it is further

"Resolved, That the Board of War be, and they hereby are directed to put the said Negroes, in the mean Time, into the Barracks on Castle Island in the Harbour of Boston, and cause them to be supplied with such Provision and Cloathing as shall be necessary for their comfortable Support, putting them under the Care and Direction of some prudent Person or Persons, whose Business it shall be to see that the able-bodied Men be usefully employed during their Stay in carrying on the Fortifications on said Island, or elsewhere within the said Harbour; and that the Women be employed according to their Ability, in Cooking, Washing, &c. And that the said Board of War keep an exact Account of their Expenditures in supporting said Negroes."