Receipt for pay due to "Cato Negro" for service during the American Revolution

Book Description

Hartford: August 1, 1783. 21 x 17 cm. Partially printed document, accomplished in manuscript. Docketed on the reverse. Excellent condition. Connecticut pay voucher in the sum of "twelve pounds 3/6, being the Balance due to Cato Negro on the first day of January 1782 as stated by the Committees of the State and of the Army." Signed on the recipient's behalf by William Bassett. Extensive information on the participation of African Americans in the Connecticut militia is recorded by the Liberty Fund DC project (a non-profit dedicated to erecting a monument on the National Mall to Black and American Indian Revolutionary War patriots), available online. After several years of indecision, the Connecticut militia included 210 black soldiers by 1780, many of whom served in return for eventual manumission. The name of Cato Negro appears several times in the list of known Connecticut soldiers of color.

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