Jonathan Trumbull Jr. Signed Militia Appointment Documenting Connecticut’s Military Chain of Command, 1799

Jonathan Trumbull

Manuscripts & Autographs

Trumbull, Jonathan, Jr. military commission for Abel Rossetter, dated October 12, 1799, documents Connecticut’s post-Revolution militia system through a gubernatorial appointment issued during Trumbull’s tenure as governor. The document supports research into early federal military preparedness, state command structures, and the continuing role of the militia in the generation after independence. Signed by Jonathan Trumbull Jr., who had served as George Washington’s aide-de-camp during the Revolution and became governor of Connecticut in 1797, the commission shows how state military authority operated in practice through formal gubernatorial authorization of local officers.
Trumbull, Jonathan, Jr. Military commission for Abel Rossetter. New Haven, October 12, 1799. Partially printed document signed. 1 page. Folio. The document appoints “Abel Rossetter... Lieutenant of the fifth Company in the 27th Regiment of Militia,” placing the item within Connecticut’s structured system of regimental and company-level organization. Its printed form with manuscript insertions and gubernatorial signature preserves the bureaucratic process by which state executives confirmed rank and delegated military authority to local officers. Rather than merely naming an individual, the commission records the mechanisms of militia administration in the early republic through its formulaic language, rank designation, place of issue, and executive authentication.
Issued in 1799, the commission belongs to the period of military reorganization and vigilance that followed the Revolution and accompanied the unsettled international climate of the late 1790s, when state militias remained central to internal defense and public order. The document therefore carries value not only as a Trumbull signature piece but as evidence of how Connecticut maintained military readiness through local regimental appointments under state supervision. Mild wear consistent with handling; overall very good condition. A strong early republic militia document linking gubernatorial authority, local command, and the administrative afterlife of Revolutionary military culture.

Item #11189

Price: $380.00