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[The signers acknowledge payment from Drury of] “the full of all our Wages as officers & Soldiers in his Company in Colo Wards Regt in the Continental Army for the Months of November & December Last."

Summary:
Payment to Massachusetts volunteers as they besieged Boston. This 1776 document bears the signatures of 35 members of Captain Luke Drury’s Company, including 15 who had responded to the Lexington alarm of April 19, 1775. It is rare to find such a large number of Minutemen’s signatures on a single document.

[Captain Luke Drury’s Company]. Manuscript Document Signed by 35 men. Dorchester, February 9, 1776. 1 p.

Inventory# 20781.02 $20,000

Historical Background:
Captain Luke Drury of Grafton had commanded a company of Minutemen since 1773. When word of the Lexington alarm arrived, Drury and his men began the 40-mile march to Cambridge. They arrived the following morning to join a massive army of volunteers from across Massachusetts. Drury’s company was soon incorporated into a Continental regiment and stationed on the lines at Dorchester. Many of his men reenlisted when their term of service expired on January 1, 1776. Most likely some of this document’s signers also took part in the overnight seizure of Dorchester Heights on March 4, 1776 – that daring action forced the British to evacuate Boston before the month was out.

This 1776 document is dated less than a month before American forces took Dorchester Heights and forced the British from the city. The minutemen signing are: Zadock Putnam, Nathan Morse, Isaac Brigham, Joseph Leland, William Walker, Ebenezer Phillips, Jonah Goulding, Matthias Rice, Ebenezer Melendy, Samuel Starns, Shelomith Stow, Isaac Brigham, Peter Butler, William Walker, and Thomas Pratt.)

The signers acknowledge payment from Drury of “the full of all our Wages as officers & Soldiers in his Company in Colo Wards Regt in the Continental Army for the Months of November & December Last." In addition to pay rates, ranging from £2 per month for a private to £4 per month for a first lieutenant, the receipt also notes that the company members have “Re[c]d the money Due to us for milk Peas & Indian meal & Rations Money to Carey us home in full As witness our hand….”

The terms minuteman and militiaman are often used interchangeably, but there was a distinction at the time; colonial militias could designate up to one quarter of their force as Minutemen, who were specially trained to respond immediately to a call to arms.

Luke Drury (1734-1811) of Grafton, Massachusetts joined the militia in 1757 during the French and Indian Wars. As captain of a company of Minutemen, he responded to the Lexington Alarm, and later joined Colonel Jonathan Ward's regiment to fight at Bunker Hill. Drury and his men served in different areas during the war, from West Point to Grafton, where his company guided military stores. He also supported the Continentals financially, at one point giving £50 fifty pounds to enlist soldiers in Grafton.

In 1786-1787, Drury became deeply involved in Shays' Rebellion, a tax revolt led by farmers in western Massachusetts. The uprising was quashed, and Drury imprisoned as “a person dangerous to the state.” He was eventually released on good behavior. Drury remained active in state and local politics, serving terms as a constable, deputy sheriff, tax collector, assessor, selectman, and state legislator.

References:
Bunker Hill Monument Association. Proceedings of the Bunker Hill Monument Association, at the Annual Meeting, June 17, 1907. Boston: The Association, 1907.