(American Revolution) | Instructions for Inlisting Rifle-Men, in the Service of Pennsylvania, 1776

(American Revolution). Pennsylvania. House of Representatives. Instructions for Inlisting Rifle-Men, in the Service of Pennsylvania. [Philadelphia?: no printer, ca. March 1776]

3 pages letterpress on a folio bifolium (334 x 202); leaves now disjunct. Direction line on third page accomplished in a secretarial hand, “To Captain Whitzell Esquire, Captain of the [blank] Company of Rifle-Men, in the Service of Pennsylvania. March 14^th, 1775. Signed by Order of the House, John Morton Speaker” and endorsed at foot, “The above and foregoing is a true Copy from the Original per Cas. Weitsel Captn."; lightly browned and soiled, some neat reinforcement at horizontal folds.

A rare Revolutionary imprint documenting Pennsylvania’s mobilization on the eve of independence, here preserved with contemporary endorsements.

In June 1775, the Continental Congress authorized the raising of six companies of expert riflemen in Pennsylvania for the Continental Army. The Pennsylvania Rifle Regiment, commanded by Colone Samuel Miles, was formed in March 1776. The 1st Battalion was commanded by Colonel Miles and the 2nd by Lieutenant Colonel Daniel Brodhead. On 9 March Casper Weitzel of Sunbury was appointed Captain of a company which he raised at his own expense from the vicinity of the Forks of the Susquehanna river. It was raised in just six weeks and was composed of seventy men. Weitzel was a lawyer in Sunbury, Pennsylvania and had previously been a major in the Northumberland County Associators. 

This document, issued on March 14, 1776, provides detailed instructions for recruiting riflemen into the Pennsylvania militia and offers a revealing window into the political and military conditions of the American colonies on the eve of the Revolution. It sets out the criteria for enlistment, requiring men to be able-bodied, sober, and of sound moral character, with a firm attachment to the liberties of Pennsylvania and America. Indentured servants and apprentices were excluded without formal consent, and recruits were expected to supply their own arms and demonstrate proficiency with them, an indication of both practical constraints and the emphasis on individual readiness and skill.

Each man was to take an oath before a justice of the peace, swearing loyalty to the Pennsylvania Assembly and vowing to serve until January 1, 1778, unless sooner discharged. The oath framed military service not simply as a civic duty but as an ideological commitment to defending the rights and freedoms of the colony and resisting enemy forces. The document also addresses logistical aspects of enlistment: recruiting officers received a bounty for each approved man, and soldiers were granted weekly subsistence and a month's pay in advance.

The manuscript endorsements certify that the instructions have been examined and approved "by order of the House" by John Morton, whose pivotal vote in the Continental Congress some three months later ensured the support of Pennsylvania's delegation for the Declaration of independence.

Very rare: no copies are recorded in Rare Book Hub, and ESTC records only a “mutilated” copy in the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, with loss of text and accomplishment on the third page. It appears the HSP copy is the original of which this is “a true Copy.”

ESTC W42421; Bristol B4334; Shipton & Mooney 43133. Not in Evans