Sold for $63

No. V.  Portion of a report issued by the War Office, 20 January 1796. American State Papers  records this pronouncement under "Progress Made in Building Frigates" as part of a report on "Frigates and Galleys" communicated to the 4th Congress, House of Representatives, January 20 1796. Signed in type by Timothy Pickering as Secretary of War (though his term officially expired 10 December 1795, his predecessor James McHenry did not take office until 27 January 1796). 1p, 7 1/2 x 13 1/4 in. (disbound, soil bottom right corner, losses along edge lines). Report states in part: "One frigate of 44 guns, being 1713 tons, and one of 36 guns, 1333 tons, making 3046 tons, at 120 dollars per ton, will cost, exclusive of provisions and men, as aforesaid, dols. 365,520."

[With:] HIGGINSON, George (1779-1812). Autograph letter signed ("George Higginson") for "S.H. Higginson & Co." Addressed to Mr. Matthew Cushing of Pembroke, Massachusetts. Boston [Massachusetts]. 3 December 1799. 1p, 8 x 10 in. (creasing, dampstaining, light soil). Higginson writes to Cushing regarding the repair of an eighteen-pound cannon onboard the sloop Fair Play, and indicates it is being directed to him at Hingham [MA]. Stephen Higginson was an American merchant and shipmaster whose company namesake company "Stephen Higginson & Company" were navy agents at Boston from 1798-1801. The elder Higginson had served previously as a delegate for Massachusetts to the Continental Congress and took part in the suppression of Shay's Rebellion.