Sold – Washington Signs a Discharge For a Member of Lamb’s Legendary Unit

Colonel John Lamb commanded the most legendary artillery unit in the Continental Army. Initially known as Lamb’s New York Artillery, it served in the abortive campaign into Canada in 1775-6. In 1777 it participated in the battles of Brandywine, Freeman’s Farm, and Germantown, and then went into the encampment at Valley Forge. In 1778 it was at Monmouth and the Morristown encampment, and in 1779 was sent on Sullivan’s Indian Campaign. The unit was at West Point when Benedict Arnold fled and the next year participated in the New Jersey Summer Campaign. But it is best remembered for, and has a famed reenactor regiment because of, the part it played at Yorktown. There, utilizing siege cannon, seasoned American gunners and professional French artillerists fired over 15,000 rounds into British lines during the nine day bombardment. Their effectiveness, accuracy, and destructiveness helped convince Britain’s Lord Cornwallis to surrender. A favorite unit of General Henry Knox, chief of artillery for the Continental army, General George Washington issued a General Order relaying his thanks and appreciation to Lamb’s 2nd Continental Artillery.

Elisha Shell was a stalwart of the unit, enlisting in Lamb’s regiment in 1776, and serving until he was discharged in 1783. Thus he was with Lamb for some seven years, seeing the American cause from its darkest days through to victory. Document Signed, Head-Quarters, June 9, 1783, being his discharge. It states:?“These are to Certify that the Bearer hereof Elisha Shell, in the 2nd New York Artillery Regiment, having faithfully served the United States from the 1st May 1776 until the present period and being inlisted for the War only, is hereby Discharged from the American Army.” It is also endorsed by Washington’s aide, Jonathan Trumbull, and beneath that Colonel Lamb himself has signed a statement that Shell has been honored with the Badge of Merit for his years of “faithful service.” The Badge of Military Merit is considered the first military award of the United States Armed Forces.

The story is that Washington signed these discharges himself (unlike Lincoln who used a form with a printed signature) because he wanted each soldier of the Continental Army to know that he was personally grateful for his service. Many of the discharged soldiers carried these precious discharges around with them, and those that reach the market are generally in awful condition. This is a particularly nice one. One the verso of the document is an ANS by Shell himself, signing over land to which he was entitled for his service, and mentioning that he was a “soldier in Colonel Lamb’s Regiment.” The transaction is recorded in Shell’s Revolutionary War pension records at the National Archives.