AMERICAN ANTIQUARIAN SOCIETY
M ANUSCRIPT COLLECTIONS
NAME OF COLLECTION:
LOCATION(S):
French and Indian War Collection, 1754-1774
Mss. boxes F
Mss. octavo volumes F
Mss. folio volumes F
Mss. oversize boxes F
SIZE OF COLLECTION:
3 octavo volumes; 4 folio volumes; 1 manuscript box; 1 oversize folder
SOURCES OF INFORMATION ON COLLECTION:
See accompanying sheet(s) for additional information.
SOURCE OF COLLECTION:
The Burke Collection was the gift of Henry W. Cushman, 1834.
COLLECTION DESCRIPTION:
This collection of French and Indian War Papers includes papers of several individuals. The Burke
Collection includes the military correspondence of Major John Burke (1717-1784), with letters to Burke
from Governor Shirley, Robert Hale, Ephraim Williams, William Pitt, Timothy Ruggles, John Chandler,
and others. The collection of Sir William Johnson’s (1715-1774) letters consists primarily of drafts of his
correspondence with General Thomas Gage, Benjamin Franklin, and others, dealing with his activities
among the tribes of the Six Nations.
Robert Hale (1703-1767), a physician who commanded a regiment during the Louisburg Campaign,
1745, kept a chronicle of the major political and military events in America and Europe for the war
period. The first volume was begun in July 1755 but some items dating back to 1748 were entered at the
start of the volume. There are three volumes, the third ending October 30, 1762. There is also a small
folder of Hale correspondence.
The 1756 Receipt Book of Sir John St. Clair, Quartermaster, is an account of men employed and receipts
for the money expended in the bateau service, New York. Other accounts have been preserved in a
“Book of Ballances 1759,” a record of money paid and due to men of several of several Massachusetts
companies.
There are two diaries of soldiers. The first is by Lieutenant Cornelius Stowell (1724-1804) of Worcester
who was stationed at Crown Point, N.Y., 1759. This volume includes regimental orders for the 1 st
Battalion of Brigadier General Timothy Ruggles’ regiment. The second diary is composed of two
separate accounts: the first part was written while the soldier was stationed at Fort William Henry, N.Y.,
1758, and the second, written by the same soldier, describes an expedition to Louisburg, 1759. The
volume includes scattered orders for 1760 and ends with the announcement on September 24 th of the
surrender of Montreal to General Amherst.
The rest of the collection is composed of an assortment of returns, rolls, lists, bills and receipts,
documents, commissions and enlistments, and a memorandum book for 1755-1761.
Included in the miscellaneous documents is a series of four letters and one undated letter fragment
addressed to Michael Martyn who participated in the 1759 campaign against Louisburg. Three of the
letters and the fragment were written in 1759 by Benjamin Kneeland from Boston to Martyn in
Louisburg. These letters mention other military campaigns, as does a 1762 letter from Rush Salter to
Martyn.