[Valley Forge]. Manuscript document signed, "In camp" [Valley Forge, Pennsylvania], 20 Feb 1778

[VALLEY FORGE — REVOLUTIONARY WAR]

MANUSCRIPT DOCUMENT SIGNED ("JOHN BAILEY" "HUGH MAXWELL" "WILLIAM TAYLOR" AND "H. SEWELL"), BEING A MUSTER ROLL OF CAPTAIN MAXWELL'S COMPANY IN THE SECOND MASSACHUSETTS REGIMENT, COMMANDED BY JOHN BAILEY 

1½ pages (12⅜ x 15⅜ in.; 314 x 390 mm) double folio, "In camp" [Valley Forge, Pennsylvania], 20 Feb 1778, apparently accomplished in Maxwell's hand, docket to verso; minor marginal wear and folds, slight ink erosion, and a few small wormholes. 

A scarce document from the depth of the Valley Forge winter

A company muster roll from the storied Valley Forge encampment listing, by name, four officers and forty-seven enlisted men of Captain Maxwell's company in the Second Massachusetts Regiment commanded by Colonel Bailey. Sewall has signed the mustering statement at the lower edge as "DMM" (Deputy Muster Master), while on the verso the "Proof of Effectives" Table is signed by company officers Maxwell and Taylor, and witnessed by Bailey who has signed "John Bailey Colo. Commandt." The enlisted men are named with their terms of enlistment (mostly "3 years: but a few for "during war"). 

About one half of the company was present, including "Catto Gray" of Pelham Massachusetts, a private enlisted for three years. Gray was "reported a negro" and he appears in Moebs's Black Soldiers Black Sailors Black Ink. Others had marched with their town's companies to Lexington and Concord on the war's first day. One died at Valley Forge; later one became disabled, one hired a replacement, and another deserted.

LITERATURE:

Thomas Truxtun Moebs, Black Soldiers Black Sailors Black Ink, Moebs Pub. Co (1994)