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Recruitment ad for joining the U.S. military...
Recruitment ad for joining the U.S. military...
Item # 705974
June 05, 1799
THOMAS'S MASSACHUSETTS SPY OR WORCESTER GAZETTE, June 5, 1799
* From the year of George Washington's death
Page 2 has a letter from Lord Nelson to his wife. Page 3 also has a very nice recruitment ad for the military headed: "ATTENTION ! " "To all who properly estimate the Independence of America, love its Constitution, and are willing to defend its Government & Laws, in the station of Soldiers, an opportunity now presents." following which are the enticements for joining the military.
Three back page runaway rewards ads, two are "One Cent Reward" ads, another for a "...Negro Boy named Kit..." all with various details.
Four pages, minor loss to the top of the blank spine, nice condition.
AI notes: In 1799, Simeon Draper—already well known as a Revolutionary War veteran and New York civic leader—was serving as a captain in the newly raised 14th United States Infantry, part of the “Additional Army” authorized by Congress during the Quasi-War with France, and his military recruitment efforts would have been communicated through short newspaper notices, handbills, and personal appeals rather than formal standardized posters. Recruitment advertisements of this period typically called for able-bodied young men to enlist for a fixed term, emphasizing regular pay, clothing, rations, and the honor of defending the nation against foreign threat, and Draper, like other captains, was responsible for raising his own company locally through civic influence and correspondence. While no surviving printed advertisement bearing Draper’s name verbatim has been definitively identified, contemporary letters and War Department records show him actively managing enlistments, replacements, and discipline in 1799, demonstrating that he functioned as both a field officer and recruiter during a moment when the United States was rapidly expanding its army in anticipation of possible war with France.
Category: The 1600's and 1700's
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$46.00
