REVOLUTIONARY WAR ARTILLERIST ALEXANDER RAMSEY THOMPSON, SR. PAINTING AND COMMISSION SIGNED BY GEORGE WASHINGTON AS PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES.

One of the finest Revolutionary War groupings we have encountered. The group includes an officer's commission for Captain Alexander Ramsey Thompson, Sr., signed by George Washington as President, accompanied by a period portrait of Thompson holding the same commission.

Washington signed officer's commissions are near non-existent. This exceedingly scarce document is enhanced immeasurably by the accompanying portrait and additional New York Militia commissions.

Items include:

1. Partly printed document signed by George Washington as President of the United States and Henry Knox as Secretary of War. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 26 December 1794. 1 page. Docketed with original seal. Modern mat and frame.  

President Washington's appointment of Alexander Thompson as "Captain in the Corps of Artillerists and Engineers". Finely engraved with patriotic masthead and panoplies of arms.

2.  Oil on canvas portrait of Alexander Ramsay Thompson. American school. Circa 1794. Visible 26 1/2 x 33 7/8 in. Framed to 32 1/4 x 39 in. 

A fine military portrait of Thompson. Wearing his Revolutionary War-era uniform of Captain of Artillery in Lamb's Artillery in the Continental Army, his sword at his side. Posed before a draped background lifted to reveal a scene of his military triumph in the late Revolution. Notably, he is shown holding what is almost certainly his United States Army appointment, the original document included here. 

3. Partly printed document signed by George Clinton (1739-1812) as Governor of New York and Secretary Robert Harpur (1731-1825). New York City, New York, 4 October & 25 December 1786. 1 page. With original seal. 

A 1786 New York Militia officer's commission. Promoting Thompson to "Captain Lieutenant of a Company in the militia Regiment of Artillery in the City and County of New York whereof Sebastian Bauman Esquire is Lieutenant Colonel Commandant." 

4. Partly printed document signed by George Clinton (1739-1812) as Governor of New York and Secretary Robert Harpur (1731-1825). New York City, New York, 9 & 16 October 1793. 1 page. Modern mat & frame.

A 1793 New York Militia commission for Thompson. Promoting him to "First Major of the Regiment of Artillery in the City of New York whereof Sebastian Bauman is Lieut. Colonel Commandant."

Provenance: Descended within the Thompson family to Alexander Ramsey Thompson IX of Deerfield, Massachusetts. Lot is accompanied by a signed letter of provenance. 

Alexander Ramsey Thompson, Sr. (1759-1809) was a native of New York City and served as an artillery officer in the Continental Army during the American Revolution, serving under fellow New Yorker General John Lamb. 

The Ancestry and Descendants of John Alexander Thompson Nexsen (Samuel Emory Rogers, 1925, pg. 16) notes that Alexander Ramsey Thompson, Sr. "enlisted for the American Revolutionary struggle at the age of eighteen in the Artillery Regiment of Colonel John Lamb. He was soon promoted to Captain of Artillery and later served as Captain of Engineers. He drew the plans for the siege of York town, which plans hang under his portrait in the United States Military Academy at West Point. He entered New York with the victorious American troops and was selected by General Washington to bear the dispatches to the frontier forts at Oswego, Niagara, and Detroit, ordering cessation of hostilities. At the close of the Revolution, his company was the only company of the American army not disbanded. On October 1, 1787, Captain Alexander Thompson was promoted to First Major in Lieutenant-Colonel Sebastian Baum's Artillery. He resigned his commission as Major on October 9, 1793 in order to accept appointment as Commissary of Ordnance at West Point at the foundation of the Military Academy, which post he held until his death. He is buried at the Military Academy at West Point."

After the war, he remained deeply involved in the fledgling Army. He was put in charge of the garrison on Governors Island, exchanging several letters with prominent leaders, including Alexander Hamilton and New York Governor George Clinton. (c.f. Alexander Thompson papers, 1793-1932, William L. Clements Library, University of Michigan).

After additional assignments at Fort Niagara and Detroit, he became involved in the foundation of West Point as a military academy. Built during the Revolution as a fort of significance, it was mostly used as a storage facility for the Army after the war ended. Henry Knox and Alexander Hamilton first recommended the foundation of a military academy in 1790, but it would not be established until 1802. It was here that Thompson died in 1809.

Importantly, Thompson's son, Alexander Ramsey Thompson, Jr., entered the Academy the next year and would go on to lead a military career, fighting in the War of 1812 and the Second Seminole War where he was killed in action at the Battle of Lake Okeechobee. For items related to Thompson, Jr., please see Lot 2. 

Note: This lot cannot be packaged and shipped in-house. Successful bidders winning items marked as being packaged and shipped by a third-party service are responsible for paying the third party directly. We are happy to offer complimentary drop-off service to local third-party packing/shipping companies in Columbus, Ohio.

[Manuscripts, Documents, Letters, Ephemera, Signatures, Autographs] [Art, Paintings, Folk Art, Military Art, Etching, Engraving, Lithographs, Prints, Ephemera] [Colonial America, 13 Colonies, Thirteen Colonies] [American Revolutionary War, American Revolution, Founding Fathers, Declaration of Independence, Colonial America, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton, James Monroe]

Toning/mat burn to perimeter of 1793 New York document.