Partially Printed Document, completed in manuscript. Approximately 8" x 3¾". Signed by Treasurer John Lawrence (1719-1802) as "J. Lawrence". Printed on laid paper with a black decorative border, numbered in ink "3959" for "£9,9,0." Circular cancellation punch hole affects part of Cuff Liberty's name written in manuscript on recto. Written on verso in ink is the docketing of interest payments made annually from June 1783 through February 1789. One vertical fold split and a second partially split have both been expertly mended, else very good. A scarce payment order issued to Cuff Liberty, who was one of approximately 300 enslaved or freemen from Connecticut who fought for the Continental Army, often for the promise of freedom. The cash-strapped government issued vouchers promising full payment by a certain date and paid interest until the full amount was collected. For this voucher, the principal was probably paid soon after 1789, as indicated by the interest payments and the circular punch cancellation, evidence that the debt was cleared and the voucher was no longer valid for payment. According to research sponsored by the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR), Cuff Liberty had been enslaved by William Ward of Middletown and manumitted in 1776 after purchasing his freedom. He enlisted in 1778 and served in the 6th, the 4th and 2nd Regiments of the Connecticut Continental Line. The pattern - particularly the placement in Captain Humphrey's segregated company of the 4th - was common among African Americans serving on the Continental Line. Discharged in 1783, he later applied for and received bounty land. He is listed by William Cooper Nell in *Coloured Patriots of the American Revolution* (1855); Thomas Moebs, *Black Soldiers, Black Sailors, Black Ink*: Liberty p.261; Bryna O'Sullivan, *Who was Private Cuff Liberty?* (Charter Oak Genealogy, July 2, 2021).
