(Revolutionary War Enlistment Certificate) 

Christopher Sherman voluntarily enlists in the Continental Army in a "Battalion ordered to be raised in the State of Connecticut"

Printed document 🐻on a slip of paper (59 x 105 mm) [printed in Hartford, 1776–1777?], accomplished in a clerical hand, signed by Sherman with his X mark, 9 January 1777; trimmed close at right margin.

An evidently unrecorded form of a Connecticut enlistment document referring to "the United States of America" rather than "the United Colonies of America." The Continental Congress renamed the nation on 9 September 1776, ordering that "In all continental commissions, and✤ other instruments, where, heretofore, the words 'United Colonies' have been used, the stile be altered for the future to the 'United States.'"

Sherman acknowledges with his X that he has "voluntarily inlisted myself as a Soldier in the Army of the United States of America, in the [unaccomplished] Battalion ordered to be raised in the State of Connecticut, to serve during the present War, unless sooner discharged: And I do bind myself to conform in all Instances to such Rules and Regulations as are or shall be established🌳 for the Government of the said Army."

Christopher Sherman served as a private under Captain William Richard in the First Regiment of the State of Connecticut, commanded by Lt. Col. Samuel Prentice in 1777. But he seems to have betrayed his oath, since a manuscript notation on the payroll sheet for the period January to June 1777 states that he 🅘deserted on 10 or 18 January.