Beschreibung:

11.5" horn inscribed Beriah Stiles His Horn Made in Camps March 10, 1777. Horn engraved with houses depicted with stippled windows, images of three different types of ships, a fortress with letters "BH" and another fort with initials "FW." Engrailed edge where the body of the horn meets the spout, smooth spout with double engrailed edge at the tip. Original butt plug. Connecticut patriot Beriah Stiles (1760-1839?) is well documented online in both Ancestry.com and Fold3 which includes 43 pages of Private Stiles’ military records as well as his later Revolutionary War Pension file from New York State. No question that this horn was actually there. Born September 19, 1760 in Hebron, Connecticut, Beriah Stiles served at least three enlistments during the Revolutionary War. Given his young age he is listed as a “fifer” in US Revolutionary War Rolls 1775-1783. He mustered in Capt. Joseph Blague’s Company at age 16 and served during the winter and spring of 1776 as part of Colonel Thaddeus Cook’s Regiment of Connecticut Militia. Stiles’ second enlistment was short service in Captain David Smith’s Company. Smith’s Company was attached to Colonel Thomas Belding’s Regiment of Connecticut Militia. It was while waiting “in camp” to be mustered that Stiles’ skillfully carved this horn. Company payroll records show that Pvt. Beriah Stiles formally joined on April 1, 1777, being discharged on May 19, 1777. Ten days later Stiles’ enlisted for three years in Captain Fitch’s Company, 4th Connecticut Regiment organized at Norwich and commanded by Colonel John Durkee. Composed of eight companies, the regiment had been assigned to the 2nd Connecticut Brigade, an element of the Highlands Department. In September 1777 the brigade was assigned to Washington’s main army. During Private Stiles’ enlistment the 3rd Connecticut Regiment was engaged during the Defense of Philadelphia and the Philadelphia-Monmouth campaign. Not yet twenty years old, Stiles was discharged May 29, 1780 and saw no further military service in the Continental Army. The 1790 Census has Beriah Stiles living in Cambridge near Albany, New York. He apparently settled there and achieved some measure of success and social prestige, as by 1800 his name appears in the Annual Report of the New York Militia as a Lieutenant enrolled in Lt. Colonel Peter Swart’s Regiment of Schoharie County (NY) Militia. The aging patriot was later granted a Revolutionary War pension beginning in 1818, confirmed on the Pension Rolls for New York State. He is still living in Albany, but disappears from the New York Pension Rolls after the March 1839 adjudication suggesting that the old veteran died sometime in that time period, age approximately 79. Aside from the horn’s artistic beauty, the initials “BH” may indicate Boston Harbor although based on his early enlistment Stiles’ probably saw no service there. The enticing “FW” may stand for Fort Washington, a typical star fort built of reinforced turf near the north end of Manhattan Island. Fort Washington became significant during the defense of New York City in 1776. When Washington was finally forced to abandon the city, he had intended Fort Washington as a bridge to cross over to New Jersey and escape. The fort was held to the last by a rearguard commanded by Col. Robert Magaw and fell to a combined Hessian and British assault on November 16, 1776. While a large number of Connecticut Militia Regiments were present during the New York campaign (commanded by Brigadier General Oliver Wolcott), it does not appear that Colonel Thaddeus Cook’s militiamen was among them. The rapidly expanding volume of online sources allows us to breathe life into a long vanished Revolutionary War veteran and his powder horn now approaching 250 years old. Parenthetically, we noted a considerable amount of raw data relating to Beriah Stiles suggesting that there is more information waiting to be mined. Condition: Excellent.