By his Excellency
William Tryon, Esquire;
Captain General and Governor in Chief, in and over the Province of New-York, and the Territories depending thereon in America, Chancellor and Vice Admiral of the same.
To George Mann Esquire of the County of Albany Greeting.
Wm Tryon
Reposing especial Trust and Confidence, as well in the Care, Diligence, and Circumspection, as in the Loyalty, Courage and Readiness of You, to do his Majesty good and faithful Service; Have nominated, constituted, and appointed; and I Do, by Virtue of the Powers and Authorities to Me given by his Majesty, hereby nominate, constitute and appoint You the said George Mann Captain of a Company of (foot) in the Regiment of Military in during Schoharie Breakabeen and adjacent settlements in the County of Albany where of Jacob Sternbergh Esquire is Colonel.You are therefore to take the said Company into your Charge and Care, as Captain thereof, and duly exercise both the Officers and Soldiers of that Company in Arms. And as they are hereby commanded to obey You as their Captain so you are likewise to observe and follow such Orders and Directions from Time to Time, as you shall receive from Me, or any other your superior Officer, according to the Rules and Discipline of War, in Pursuance of the Trust reposed in You; and so doing, this shall be your Commission.
Given under my Hand and Seal at Arms, at Fort-George, in the City of New-York, the Fourteenth Day of July in the Twelfth Year of the Reign of our Sovereign Lord George the Third by the Grace of God, of Great Britain, France and Ireland, Defender of Faith, &c. Annoq; Domini, 1772.
By his Excellency’s Command,
Edm. Fanning
Captain George Mann lived at the sight of the current day Tory Tavern, just across Fox Creek from what is today the Old Stone Fort Museum. On July 14, 1772 this commission was signed and called on Captain Mann to take charge of a company of foot in Colonel Jacob Sternbergh’s militia regiment.
The original document received by Mann in 1772 is currently in the collections of the Schoharie County Historical Society and is a well preserved example of how King George III called on his loyal subjects to take up arms and defend the crown.
Mann’s answer to that call sparked centuries of debate and speaks to the struggle of what it must have been like to choose between being a “patriot” or “loyalist” in the colonial frontier.
More information on Captain Mann and how his service impacted the revolutionary history of the Schoharie Valley is available in Jeff O’Connor’s book Thunder in the Valley which is available for purchase in the Old Stone Fort Museum Store.
