Gideon WELLES (1802-1878) Autograph Letter, 3pp. 251 x 201 mm. (9 7/8 x 7 7/8 in.), “Comptroller’s Office” Hartford, [Conn.], 10 Nov. 1842, a partial draft with numerous edits and annotations concerning the Revolutionary War service of Perchas Capin on behalf of the veteran’s widow, Theodosia.1
Welles, then serving as Connecticut Comptroller, provides evidence in support of the “application in behalf of the Widow of Perchas Capin for testimony of his services during the Revolutionary war as one of the Guard at New Gate, or the Prison in Simsbury Ct…” In an attempt to substantiate the claims in Widow Capin’s application, Welles “searched the record of the Council of Safety and the books of the Pay Table remaining in this office.”
In the first paragraph, Welles took time to confirm the prison’s existence at the time, and that that the facility was actually a cave, “an extensive cavern, or caverns, which was and during the revolutionary war for conspiring Tories, suspected persons, and state offenders.” (The prison had been established in 1773 by the State of Connecticut in an abandoned copper mine.)
Welles’ first citation is dated the 15 July 1776 minutes of the Simsbury Council of Safety remarking on the “‘dangerous situation of New Gate Prison, and especially since a number of Tory Prisoners are committed there, and the great uneasiness of the People concerning them, and that the keeper is uneasy with his situation &c &c and requesting liberty of a guard &c…'” The council of safety resolved to provide for two or more “‘faithful men every night … carefully to watch and guard sd Prison…'” Welles continues with several citations from the public records mentioning Capin and the management of New Gate Prison but ended the draft mid-sentence on the third page with, “I would also state that”.
The following day, Welles drafted another version of this letter which was sent to Washington and became part of Theodosia Capin’s application file.2 The letter begins in the same manner and contains some of the same content, Welles decided to rework the letter significantly. Although according to another affidavits found in the pension application file, Capin was the chief of the guards for approximately two years at New Gate Prison, Welles was unable to discover any evidence in the state records of Capin’s employment as a guard. He only found references two bills for unspecified goods or services submitted to the State by Capin in connection with the prison.3
Usual folds, a few other minor creases, else very fine condition.
(EXA 5083) $350
_________
1 Case Files of Pension and Bounty-Land Warrant Applications Based on Revolutionary War Service, compiled ca. 1800 – ca. 1912, documenting the period ca. 1775 – ca. 1900. (NARA 300022)
2 Ibid. Letter of Gideon Welles, 11 Nov. 1842.
3 Ibid. Affidavit of Timothy Holcomb, 21 Oct. 1842. “…I well recollect that the name of the officer of the Guard was Capin and that he was here as officer of the Guard for the space of two or more years during which time I frequently saw him at the Prison on duty.” This claim is seconded by Heziah Viet’s affidavit, 20 Oct. 1842: “I think he was the principal man of the guard. There were other men as assistant guards…”; Welles: “I do not find the name of Purchas Capin on the Pay Table books, nor any mention of individuals connected with the guards, from the time that the duty of selecting a keeper was delegated to the overseers, until the commissioning of Lieut. Owen in 1780 by the General Assembly.”
