Northwest Territory Document Promises Whisky To The Best Shooter As A Prize

(NORTHWEST TERRITORY). DS. 1 pg. 4” x 4”. August 27, 1795. Greeneville [sic] Indiana. A document signed “Benjn Rand Ensign” and “Wm Peters Major Officer of the Day”: “Please to Pass one Quart of Whiskey to one man of my Guard for making the best shoot agreeable to Generals Orders”. The document is signed by the officer of the day, or the duty officer, of “The Commisary [sic]”, Major William Peters, granting a quart of whiskey as a reward for a shooting contest. The winner is an ensign, Benjamin Rand. Contests such as this likely broke up the fear for soldiers stationed in the Northwest Territory, in this case in Greenville, present-day Ohio. Greenville that year was the site of a treaty between America and the Native tribes of the region. The treaty ended the Northwest Indian War in the Ohio Country, limited Native claims to northwestern Ohio, and set the stage for Ohio statehood in 1803. Yet violence and warfare would continue in the region through the War of 1812. The document is in fine condition.