Gen. George Washington Signs a Discharge for the Last Fifer of the 1st Massachusetts Regiment, Who Was Present at Yorktown

The 1st Massachusetts Regiment was first organized as a militia unit just days after the outbreak of the American Revolutionary, and saw action at the Battle of Bunker Hill. After joining the Continental Army and receiving its name, it fought at the Battles of Princeton and Monmouth, suffered at the famed encampment at Valley Forge, and remained with the army through the victory at Yorktown. The 1st Massachusetts was truly one of the great battle regiments of the Continental Army.

During the Revolutionary War, armies communicated over long distances with fife and drum. The fife was used because of its high pitch and the drum because of its low pitch, and both instruments could be heard from great distances. On the battlefield, musicians had the responsibility of helping keep order in battle and make sure the soldiers functioned well as a unit. Drummers would play beatings telling the soldiers to turn right or left as well as to load and fire their muskets. There was a tune called Cease Fire that fifers and drummers would play to tell the soldiers to stop firing at the end of a battle, while a tune called Parley was used to signal to the enemy that a surrender or peace talk was desired. In the camp, fifers and drummers were used to help regulate the working day. Every task that needed to be carried out would be signaled by a fife and a drum. For a march, tunes were played while armies marched through towns to show the people that the armies were in high spirits. One of the most famous images to come out of the Revolution was Archibald Willard’s painting of drummers and a fifer, “The Spirit of ’76.”

Joseph Winter was the fifer for the 1st Massachusetts Regiment from its last reorganization in 1780 to the final disbandment of the Continental Army in 1783, and thus would have been present at Yorktown. He assumed the fifer post when he was 18 years old, and according to “Massachusetts Soldiers and Sailors of the Revolutionary War”, likely served previously in another unit.

Document Signed, Head-Quarters, June 9, 1783, being Winter’s discharge. It states: “By His Excellency George Washington, Esq; General and Commander in Chief of the Forces of the United States of America. These are to Certify that the Bearer hereof Joseph Winter, Fifer, in the 1st Massachusetts Regiment, having faithfully served the United States two years and four months and being inlisted for the War only, is hereby Discharged from the American Army.” It is also endorsed by Washington’s aide, Jonathan Trumbull, Jr., and by an adjutant indicating that the document was “Registered in the Books of the Regiment”. This is only our second Washington discharge for a military musician, and a search of public sale records going back 40 years discloses only a handful of others.

The story is that Washington signed these discharges himself because he wanted each soldier of the Continental Army to know that he was personally grateful for his service. Many of the discharged soldiers carried these precious discharges around with them, and those that reach the market are often in poor condition. This is in as good a condition as you will find, and bears a strong signature.

On December 23, 1783, General Washington himself resigned his commission and left for home. The American Revolution was over.