July 4, 1775: A Typical Day, One Year Before Independence
Stoddard Pay Order
Posted on July 4, 2025
July 4, 1775: A Typical Day, One Year Before Independence
250 years ago today—July 4, 1775—the Continental Congress was a year away from adopting the Declaration of Independence, but this year, the day was ordinary for most Americans. Big questions of independence or reunion with Britain aside, there were encampments to defend, structures to build, troops to supply, strategies to plan, and bills to pay.
One bill that Connecticut owed was to Josiah Stoddard. This pay order, signed by Oliver Ellsworth and Thomas Seymour of the Connecticut Committee of the Pay Table on July 4, 1775, directs treasurer John Lawrence to “Pay Mr. Josiah Stoddard of Salisbury the Sum of Seven pounds, ten shillings, and three pence money in Bills for what he paid out & Expended in the late Expedition to reduce Tainderoga & Crown point”.
Stoddard was part of the party authorized by Connecticut for the capture of Ticonderoga. As a resident of Salisbury, CT, Stoddard may have known former Salisbury resident Ethan Allen and his family. At least two of Ethan’s brothers, Levi and Heman, still lived in Salisbury in 1775. Levi joined the Ticonderoga expedition with Stoddard, and the two reunited with Ethan, now leader of the Green Mountain Boys. Stoddard likely returned to Connecticut by mid-June at the latest, but had to wait several weeks to receive his money.
Each of the men who signed this pay order would have further roles to play in history. Stoddard returned to the military, becoming a Continental captain of dragoons before his death in 1779 from a lung disease contracted in service. Thomas Seymour served in Connecticut’s General Assembly, directing its Congressional delegates to vote for American independence in 1776. Oliver Ellsworth joined the Continental Congress later in the war and was one of the originators of the Connecticut Compromise during the Constitutional Convention, giving the nation its bicameral legislature. 250 years ago today, though, the men went about their typical days, taking the everyday actions that kept the colony and the army running.
Learn more about the pay order (object ID MS.7614, property of Robert Nittolo) on the Ticonderoga Online Collections database here.