[New Hampshire]. Dow, Moses - [Holograph Manuscript] Draft of Discharge Request of New Hampshire Major General Moses Dow to Governor John Taylor Gilman

Haverhill, [NH], 1798. 1 sheet. 7.75 x 13 inches. Dated June 4th, 1798, Haverhill, NH. Unsigned draft of a resignation letter to Governor John Taylor Gilman requesting to be discharged from service with the New Hampshire State Militia. "It is now almost fourteen years since I was called into the military line: And going on the sixth, however unworthy - since I have been honoured with the command of the second division of militia in this state, in the office of Major General.. Now being considerably advanced in years & not enjoying a firm state of health.. I am desirous of returning to retirement, & making room for the better experienced & more alert officers." Moses Dow (1747-1811) born in Haverhill, graduated Harvard in 1769, took up law, was Kings Attorney (1774-5) under the Royal Governor and served in the New Hampshire colonial legislature(1775-6). a Revolutionary War soldier, state senator for the Fourth Provincial Congress, president of the Senate; postmaster, registrar of probate and Justice of the Peace. He served in the state militia from 1784 to 1798 with his final service as Major-General, and though elected to Congress by the New Hampshire Assembly, he wrote to Gilmore that he could not accept, as in this case, based on his ill health. References: Hamilton Child: Gazetteer of Grafton county, N. H. 1709-1886 (Syracuse, NY. Syracuse Journal Company, 1886); Francis Parkinson Keyes: "Moses Dow, Citizen of Haverhill," Granite Monthly, 3rd Quarterly Issue, 1918, pp 141-144; Chandler E. Potter: Military History of the State of New Hampshire, from its Settlement in 1623 to the Rebellion in 1861 (Concord, NH : McFarland and Jenks, 1866),Vol I; Dartmouth has his papers. Very good, two chipped corners, light tearing and soiling along folds, contents slightly faded, but clean.