This is an original document June 26, 1711, (Battle of Bloody Creek )Taunton, Massachusetts, a scarce Queen Anne's War military document written and signed by Major Thomas Leonard to Sergeant John King....

To Sergeant John King of Taunton, These are to order you and direct you to impress forwith for Her Majesties service in the present intended expedition to Canada, John Leronard, Abraham Fonds, John Williams, John Dean Jr.,Edward Richmond, Sergeant Henry Andrews, Jacob Staples, William Caswell, Benjamin Dean, John Malcomber Jr., John Tisdale, David Gaschild, Benjamin Shaw and Nathaniel Holloway.

And warn them to appear at the house of Joseph Tisdale, Innholder in said Taunton on Wednesday the 27th day of June, 1711 two house before sun setting, there to receive further orders for Her Majesties service or else by said time bring five pounds in money or bills with them to proceed and hire men to serve the quota in this Expedition which shall excuse them at this time...by me Thomas Leonard.

Signed on front by Major Thomas Leonard and on back by John King stating he posted these orders.

Document is 3x6, folds, overall good condition.

John King was lieutenant of the Taunton Company for several years and rose to the ranks of captain succeeding James Leonard. He was a selectman for Taunton in 1721, 1722, 1724 and 1727 and a representative from Taunton in 1722.

 John King was the majority owner of King’s Furnace in what is now East Taunton. The furnace was on the land that is now Massasoit State Park. King’s Furnace was built about 1724. John King owned the land and the stream the furnace was built on. One of the first in the colony, this furnace specialized in the developing of hollow-ware. It was sold throughout the Colony of Massachusetts, Rhode Island and even in New York and New Jersey.

Thomas Leonard, son of James and Jane Leonard, was baptised at Kinver, Staffordshire, England on August 7, 1641. Thomas came to New England with his father, mother, and uncle Henry "when a small boy." He married Mary Watson of Plymouth in August of 1662. They had eleven known children who were born in Taunton.

Thomas worked for his father at the forge and was manager of the Taunton Iron Works for thirty years. He held commissions, including Major in the Bristol Company Regiment, was a probate Judge, town clerk, deacon of the Church.[ homas' military career was especially storied, spanning 48 years. 

He was elected Ensign of the first Military Company in 1665. He also served as Captain and Major of the First Regiment of the County of Bristol. Thomas died at Taunton on November 24, 1713. He is buried with Mary Watson, his wife, in the Neck Of Land Cemetery, Taunton, Bristol County , Massachusetts.

The Battle of Bloody Creek was a military engagement which was fought on 21 June 21,1711, during Queen Anne's War. A Wabanaki Confederacy force of 50–150 warriors successfully ambushed 70 provincial troops of the British New England Colonies at a place that became known as Bloody Creek after the battles fought there.

The battle was part of an orchestrated attempt by the leaders of New France to weaken the British hold on Annapolis Royal. The British had only captured the fort the previous year and they only had a very tenuous control of the area. The battle, in which the entire New England force was captured or killed, emboldened the French and their Indian allies to blockade Annapolis Royal. Without heavy weapons, the force was unable to effectively attack the fort, and abandoned the siege when British reinforcements arrived by sea.

Queen Anne's War (1702–1713) was the second in a series of French and Indian Wars fought in North America involving the colonial empires of Great Britain, France, and Spain; it took place during the reign of Anne, Queen of Great Britain. In the United States, it is regarded as a standalone conflict under this name. Elsewhere it is usually viewed as the American theater of the War of the Spanish Succession. It is also known as the Third Indian War.

In New England, English colonists and Indigenous allies fought against French colonists and their Indigenous forces, especially in Acadia and unsettled border frontier with Canada. Quebec City was repeatedly targeted by British colonial expeditions, and the British captured in 1710 the Acadian capital Port Royal. French colonists and the Wabanaki Confederacy sought to thwart British expansion into Acadia, whose border New France defined as the Kennebec River in what is now southern Maine.

 They executed raids in the Province of Massachusetts Bay (including Maine), most famously the Raid on Deerfield in 1704 and one on Groton in 1707, in both cases taking numerous captives to Montreal and Kahnawake (a Mohawk mission village) for ransom or adoption by Mohawk families.


Please view the other historical and Civil War related documents I'll be listing this week. SEE SCAN.I now accept PAYPAL but PREFER other forms of traditional paper payment. Buyer pays shipping see payment schedule, payment must be received within 5 days.