Colonial Note 1783 Connecticut Captain Daniel Allen Pay Table Voucher (£16/9/-)

Description

Colonial Monetary Immediate Payment
Connecticut Pay Table Office Voucher Note
16 Pounds 9 Shilling in Connecticut Money
April 17th 1783 to Captain Daniel Allen
1783 Connecticut Pay Table Order/Voucher for 16 Pounds 9 Shillings is payable to Revolutionary War Hero Capt. Daniel Allen. The note was authorized by the signatures of Pay Table committee members William Moseley (1755-1824) and Fenn Wadsworth (1750-1785), the horizontal signatures on front, and Hezekiah "Hez" Rogers (1753-1811), who countersigned vertically as auditor.
"Hez" Rogers
was an aide-de-camp to General Jedidiah Huntington (who was also a Pay Table committee member). Rogers was later a member of the Connecticut House of Representatives from Norwalk in the sessions of May 1786, and October 1787. In 1788, Rogers was a delegate to the Connecticut convention to ratify the United States Constitution. Later, Rogers served as chief clerk in the War Office in Washington, D. C.
Fenn Wadsworth
had been a brigade major to General James Wadsworth from 1776-1779. He saw action in many battles but his health began to fail and he had to leave field service. Wadsworth remained in service to the United States and Connecticut by serving on the Pay-Table, which was responsible for military expenditures during the Revolutionary War.
William Moseby
later served in the Connecticut state senate (1822-1824) until his death. Scans are of the actual item listed.
From its beginning, Daniel Allen had an exemplary history of participation in the Revolutionary War. Allen is a true unsung Continental hero. Starting as a Connecticut State Militia Sergeant, Daniel Allen was among the first men who marched in April, 1775 from various Connecticut towns (his being Ashford, Connecticut) "for the relief of Boston in the Lexington Alarm." Between 9 and 10 pm on the night of April 18, 1775, Paul Revere and William Dawes found out that the British troops were about to embark in boats from Boston bound for Cambridge and the road to Lexington and Concord.
"The British are coming, the British are coming,"
to Lexington to destroy the Colonists' stores of arms and other supplies and to capture Samuel Adams and John Hancock. Daniel Allen was one of the first Americans to respond to Paul Revere's legendary "Midnight Ride."
C. Booth
countersigned the Voucher on its back. Like Daniel Allen,
Calab Booth Jr.
is among the Men who Marched from the Connecticut Towns "for the Relief of Boston in the Lexington Alarm, April 1775."  Booth came from Enfield, Connecticut.
On May 1, 1775, after the Lexington-Concord Skirmish ("The shot heard round the world."), Daniel Allen was commissioned as a Lieutenant in the 5th Company of Gen. Putnam's Third Regiment 1775. That Regiment was raised on the first call for troops by the Connecticut Legislature at special session in April-May 1775. The Regiment marched in May by companies to camps forming around Boston. In July 1775, the Regiment was adopted as Continental Army and stationed during the siege of Boston in Putman's Center Division at Cambridge until expiration of the term of service, December 10, 1775.
Daniel Allen re-entered service in 1776 as a Captain in Colonel Ward's Regiment. Ward's Regiment was raised in Connecticut, on requisition of the Continental Congress, to serve for one year from May 14, 1776. It stood on the same footing as the other Continental regiments of 1776, joining General George Washington's army at New York in August, 1776. Ward's Regiment was stationed first near Ft. Lee. Marching with the troops to White Plains, and subsequently into New Jersey, Ward's Regiment took part in the Battles of Trenton, December 25, 1776, and Princeton, January 3, 1777. It encamped with Washington at Morristown, N. J., until expiration of it term, May, 1777.
Capt. Daniel Allen was taken Prisoner by the British at Fort Washington on Nov. 16, 1776, as part of Bradley's Battalion (of Wadworth's Brigade). In October 1776, Wadworth's Brigade had moved up the river to the vicinity of Ft. Lee, then under Gen. Greene's command. In November 1776, most of the Regiment was sent across to assist in defending Fort Washington. On the fall of Fort Washington to the British on Nov. 16, 1776, Capt. Allen was captured with the entire garrison. The prisoners included the "Lieut. Col., 4 Captains, 10 Lieutenants, 1 Sergt. Major, 10 Sergts., 11 Corpls., 6 Drums and Fifes, and 238 privates."
Captain Daniel Allen was re-commissioned January 1, 1777, as part of his service through July 1, 1779. During that time he was part of the Third Regiment, "Connecticut Line" Formation of 1777-1781. The Third Regiment had been raised for the new array or "Continental Line" and recruited mainly in Hartford County and eastern part of Connecticut with general rendezvous, Middletown. The Third Regiment in part assisted in repelling the enemy at Danbury, April 26-7, 1777. The Regiment camped at Peekskill in May, 1777, and served in Parsons' First Brigade under Putnam along the Hudson until January 1778, when the Brigade took post at West Point, then later began the construction of permanent works there. Fort Wyllys at that Point is doubtless named after the Colonel of the Regiment. In the summer of 1778, it encamped at White Plains with Washington's main army and wintered 1778-79 at Redding.
Not done yet, Capt. Daniel Allen re-enlisted July 9, 1780 as a Private among the levies who served in the 4th Connecticut Regiment for the Year 1780, and was discharged December 14, 1780.
The 1840 "Census of Pensioners for Revolutionary and Military Services under the Act for the 6th Census 1840," lists Daniel Allen Age 82, as residing in Orange, New Haven County, Connecticut.
Pay Table Vouchers are often misdescribed as "promissory notes." They are Vouchers to the State of Connecticut for immediate payment for goods and services being provided for the War of the Revolution. When delivered to the Connecticut State Capitol, they were instantly exchanged for lawful money. When delivered to the officer in the field or elsewhere, the vouchers were accepted as a local medium of exchange and circulated, and were eventually taken to the Capitol for redemption. When they were for back pay, a receiving officer would send those men owed back pay to the Capitol for the exchange.
The voucher here is of an earlier printed variety containing the phrase, "granted in
January
last," referring to its authorization by the Connecticut Assembly. Subsequent printed varieties were issued in larger quantities.
Information above is from various sources including the "Record of service of Connecticut men in the I. War of the Revolution, etc.," by Henry Phelps Johnston, Connecticut Adjutant-General's Office, 1889 Hartford. Part I (War of the Revolution). This 125 year old Connecticut State published book has over 700 pages of detailed information, but even by the time of its publication, many historical records had been lost.
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