Document signed by mark by William Robinson. [Connecticut?], 25 [December] 1776. 1 page, witnessed on verso, approx. 3 5/8 x 6 in. 

A very scarce Connecticut enlistment document from the early days of the Revolutionary War. 

The document was penned by an untrained hand that suggests the enlistments may have been somewhat impromptu. The recruit, William Robinson, signed by mark acknowledging that he "voluntarily enlisted myself a soldier to serve in a Battalion of Foot raised by the Colony of Connecticut to join the Continental Army in New York, to be commanded by Col. Fisher Gay" for a full year.

Colonel Fisher Gay was a wealthy Connecticut businessman and politician. He joined the army in February 1776 and was commanded by General George Washington to procure gunpowder throughout New England.

Although the document is dated December 1776, Colonel Fisher Gay had died in August 1776 and it seems unlikely that the document's author would have been unaware of his death 5 months later. It's more plausible that the document was signed in December 1775, while Gay was actively recruiting his regiment, and that the scribe accidentally wrote the date on which Robinson would complete his year-long enlistment. 

Further supporting this theory, the document notes that the regiment will serve in New York, and Gay's regiment was ordered to New York in early 1776 to protect the city from British Capture. It was here that Colonel Gay died in camp during the Battle of Brooklyn Heights. 

An excellent Revolutionary War enlistment document.   

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