c. 1776 Manuscript Document, 1 page, measuring 4.5” x 7” having no date or place, the Docket on the blank reverse reads: “Mem of Colo. Wayne for Dr. Johnston.” This well written clean appearing Letter must be dated circa 1776. At the onset of the Revolutionary War in 1775, Anthony Wayne raised a militia unit and, in 1776, became Colonel of the 4th Pennsylvania Regiment. He and his regiment were part of the Continental Army's unsuccessful invasion of Canada where he was sent to aid Benedict Arnold, during which he commanded a successful rearguard action at the Battle of Trois-Rivires, and then led the distressed forces on Lake Champlain at Fort Ticonderoga, and Mount Independence. His service there then resulted in a promotion to Brigadier General on February 21, 1777. This specific period in 1776 is when “Colonel Wayne would intersect in history with the historic Dr. Robert Johnston.

Dr. Robert Johnston (1749-1808). On January 16, 1776, the Committee of Safety at a meeting held in Philadelphia resolved: "That Robert Johnston is hereby appointed a Surgeon to the Sixth or Col. William Irvine's Battalion." Dr. Johnston continued in service until 1781, when he was ordered by General Greene to leave the regimental service and assist the wounded officers and soldiers of the American Army, prisoners in the British Hospital at Charleston, SC.. After the war Dr. Johnston made a trip to the Orient and was the First Minister to China from the new United States Government. In 1807, Dr. Johnston was appointed Major General of the 7th Division of Pennsylvania Militia. This current Document reads, in full:

“Doc’r Johnston will wait on Genl Schuyler and let him know that there is no time to be lost in Sending troops to the Relief of this place - Burrells Reg’t will go off the last of this month - and the 6th Pennsyl(vania) Reg’t have agreed to stay two weeks - which will be twenty Days after their term of Inlistment expires; - which was the time the 2nd and 4th Remained after theirs expired before the troops Arrived to Relieve them.”