[REVOLUTIONARY WAR]
Group of three appointments of Oliver Prescott, 1776-1778. Includes his appointments as a "Brigadier of all the Regiments of Militia in the County of Middlesex..." February 14th, 1776; as a Justice of the Peace in the County of Middlesex, 24th October, 1776; and as the Third Major General of the Militia of the State of Massachusetts Bay, 1778. The first two on printed forms with wafer seals, various signatories, completed in manuscript; the last entirely engrossed on vellum, with wafer seals, various signatories (and includes a copy of an order by Prescott on a separate sheet). Usual folds, some separations on the folds of the paper documents, a few minor losses (including one to a signatory of the first item), moderate toning and stains, in general in sound condition.

The first document is single-page, 13 x 16 1/4 inches (32.5 x 41 cm), a rare Revolutionary War militia (i.e. a Minuteman) appointment, signed by sixteen members of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, including the Deputy Secretary, Perez Morton. The second document, single-page, 17 3/4 x 10 1/2 inches (45 x 27 cm), uses a preprinted form in which the authority of George III has been crossed out and replaced with the authority of "the Government and People of Massachusetts-Bay." An identically printed and similarly defaced example (with a variation in signatories) can be seen at
https://americanhistory.si.edu/collections/search/object/nmah_530363.
The final example is a single-page document, 11 7/8 x 12 3/4 inches (30 x 32 cm), and is entirely in manuscript, signed by John Avery as Deputy Secretary
.

The appointee in these documents, Oliver Prescott (1731-1804), was a doctor for much of his life, having graduated from Harvard in 1753 and apprenticed as a physician with Dr. Ebenezer Robie of Sudbury. He was active as a brigadier general of the Middlesex County militia during the Revolutionary War (see the first appointment here), and was responsible for guarding the bridges during the Siege of Boston. He was one of the original fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and many other professional and learned societies, and was a prominent figure in Revolutionary-era Massachusetts.