SOLD Washington Signs an Ornate Society of the Cincinnati Document for John Rogers
For the youngest Captain in the Army, this document is among the finest of its kind we have ever seen and has never before been offered for sale.
Rogers was a cousin of Gen. George Rogers Clark, and Served With Clark on the Illinois Expedition that wrested the Northwest from the British
John Rogers was born in 1757 to a noted Virginia family, and in 1776 at age 19 he enlisted in the Continental Army. His cousin was Gen....
Rogers was a cousin of Gen. George Rogers Clark, and Served With Clark on the Illinois Expedition that wrested the Northwest from the British
John Rogers was born in 1757 to a noted Virginia family, and in 1776 at age 19 he enlisted in the Continental Army. His cousin was Gen. George Rogers Clark (another was William Clark of Lewis and Clark fame) who appointed him Lieutenant in 1778. The following year, 1779, at age 22, he was recommended by the Virginia Assembly and commissioned Captain of Light Dragoons by Gov. Thomas Jefferson. Rogers’ biography relates that he was the youngest officer of his rank in the Continental Army. In the spring of 1778 he joined George Rogers Clark’s expedition to the Northwest, where he participated in the capture of Kaskaskia and the brilliant victory at Vincennes that effectively wrested control of that region from the British. Clark gave Rogers command of the guard that conducted the captured British Governor Henry Hamilton and the other prisoners through the wilderness nearly 1000 miles to Richmond, Virginia. Rogers died suddenly April 16, 1794 at age 37.
The Society of the Cincinnati was founded in 1783 to preserve the ideals and fellowship of the Revolutionary War officers and to pressure the government to honor pledges it had made to officers who fought for American independence. George Washington took a great interest in the Society and was its first president. A gorgeous engraved membership certificate was produced on vellum, showing American Liberty with a Union Flag and eagle, as well as broken British emblems and Britannia herself fleeing America. These certificates, signed by Washington as Society president and General Henry Knox as Society, were presented to their former colleagues in arms.
Document Signed, Mount Vernon, March 1, 1787, being Rogers’ certificate as a member of the Society. Because the ink so often took poorly to the sheepskin, these certificates often have uneven, faded or defective signatures of Washington, and overall foxing or discoloration. This magnificent one is the best we have carried (or indeed ever seen), and moreover is our first in quite a few years. We obtained this letter directly from the Rogers descendants.
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