Seth Kaller, Inc.

Two weeks after his second inauguration, President George Washington appoints William Winston as Captain of Light Dragoons. By the time Winston joined the army in the Northwest Territory, he had been promoted to command the entire cavalry of the new Legion of the United States. In that position, he fought at the Battle of Fallen Timbers, the decisive U.S. victory against the Native American confederation and their British allies in that area.

George Washington-signed military commissions are rare on the market, and we don’t recall ever seeing a more attractive example.

GEORGE WASHINGTON. Document Signed, Philadelphia, Pa., March 19, 1793, appointing William Winston as Captain of Light Dragoons. Co-signed by Henry Knox, Secretary of War, and John Stagg, Chief Clerk of the War Department. Imprint at bottom, “Drawn and Engrav’d by Thackara and Vallance, Philada.” With paper seal of the United States. 1 p., 16 x 20 in., on vellum. Framed with rag mats and UV-filtered plexiglass to 29 x 34¼ in.

Inventory #20626.99       Price: $55,000

Historical Background
William Winston (1747-1815) of Hanover County, Virginia, began his military career in April of 1778, as a sergeant in Henry “Light Horse Harry” Lee’s Legion, earlier known as the 5^th Virginia or 1^st Continental Light Dragoons. That elite mounted infantry troop served with great distinction, notably at the battle of Paulus Hook, New Jersey, in August 1779. Winston became a cornet that year, rising to lieutenant and adjutant in 1781. He served until the end of the war.[1]

Winston rejoined the United States Army in March 1792 as a lieutenant in the new Legion of the United States formed to expand the tiny postwar army.[2] Despite fears of a standing army, Congress authorized its expansion, and Secretary of War Henry Knox proposed its reorganization into the Legion of the United States.[3] The Legion was to consist of more than 5,000 soldiers and officers, but only 2,600 ultimately joined. Among those who served in the Legion were future president William Henry Harrison and explorers Meriwether Lewis and William Clark.

Washington signed this rare Presidential military commission just two weeks after his second inauguration in February 1793. At the time, the young nation’s main military challenge was securing peace with Native Americans (allied with the British, who still occupied the Northwest) along the frontier, the present-day border of Ohio and Indiana. General “Mad Anthony” Wayne organized and trained the Legion of the United States before embarking on a scorched-earth campaign in Ohio.

Washington nominated Winston for promotion to captain in May 1792, after John Watts of Virginia declined the position. Winston’s new commission was not issued until ten months later. In the meantime, Winston, who had served as sheriff of Hanover County from 1786 to 1788, informed Secretary of War Henry Knox that he could not leave Virginia until the resolution of lawsuits involving 124 Negroes, 45 horses, 208 cattle, and 22 hogs. Winston’s delays led to a series of exasperated letters and orders from Knox.[4]

Still, in May 1794, Washington nominated Winston for promotion to major in command of the Legion’s entire cavalry (Light Dragoons). The Senate confirmed the promotion a few days later, with his rank dated from July 1793.[5] Winston did not finally join the Legion in the Northwest Territory until early in 1794, nearly two years after receiving his initial appointment.

On August 20, 1794, Winston fought at the Battle of Fallen Timbers. The decisive U.S. victory marked the end of the Native American confederation in that area. Wayne won large land concessions from the tribes in the 1795 Treaty of Greenville, securing much of the Midwest – including the sites of present-day Chicago, Detroit, Toledo, and Cleveland – for American settlement while promising that Indiana would be perpetually reserved for the tribes.

William Winston was honorably discharged from the army in 1796, the same year that the Jay Treaty officially ended British occupation of the northwest.

That December, after developing a stomach ulcer, Wayne died. It is possible that his second in command, General James Wilkinson, who was under investigation and about to be court-martialed, had Wayne assassinated. After Wayne’s death, Wilkinson was given command of the army - until his and Aaron Burr’s treasonous activities were uncovered. Unfortunately, promises in the treaty to Native Americans were never enforced. The treaty is considered a turning point in Western movement that sparked the idea of manifest destiny.

Provenance: Sotheby’s (William Guthman Collection), December 1, 2005, lot 252.

Condition: Very fine overall.