Original papers of five frontier soldiers:

1) William Harrod papers, 1760-1806 (4 NN 1-85). Born on the Pennsylvania frontier, William (1737-1801) was the elder brother of James Harrod, founder of Harrodsburg, Kentucky. William's papers include an assortment of letters, accounts, muster rolls and payrolls, certificates of service, and other military records, most of which relate to his service as commissary during Dunmore's War in 1774 and as militia captain for western Augusta County in 1776-1777. Other papers include commissions as captain under David Shepherd and George Rogers Clark (1778-1779), land warrants and land claim records, two letters written to his wife in 1780 during a hazardous trip to Kentucky, and copies of Virginia legislative papers. Among the latter are a proposed scheme for a new western government (1786), petitions (1777) from frontier inhabitants requesting militia protection, and a printed letter (1806) on Kentucky legislative actions. Numbered among Harrod's correspondents were Robert Beall, Collin Campbell, John Canon, Abel Kennon, Angus McDonald, Edward McLaughlin, Zackwell Morgan, and Dorsey Pentecost.

2) John McCulloch, Sr. (died before 1780) and John McCulloch, Jr. papers, 1748-1810 (4 NN 86-112). The McCullochs were members of a well known frontier family, who settled in what is now Ohio County, West Virginia. Among their business and military papers are the will (1748) of Samuel McCulloch of New Jersey, father of John, Sr.; commissions to John, Sr. as captain (1763) and major (1766) of the Hampshire County militia signed by Governor Francis Fauquier of Virginia; the commission (1792) of John, Jr. as captain of volunteer rangers signed by Governor Henry Lee; muster roll of scouts (1793); and a letter (1793) to Governor Lee by McCulloch. A printed circular letter (1810) by Matthew Lyons, a Kentucky congressman, was addressed to his constituents. Among signers of letters and documents were Joseph Biggs, John Campbell, John Crow, William Crow, Abraham Hite, Gabriel Jones, James McMechen, David Shepherd, Garret Van Meter, Jacob Wetzel, and Silas Zane.

3)Samuel Brady papers, 1779-1794 (4 NN 113-120). Receipts, accounts, bills of sale, land entries, his commission (1779) in the Eighth Pennsylvania Regiment, subscriptions for a spy company called the “Sandusky Spies” (1792), and a letter (1795) from his brother John Brady compose this small group of papers of the noted scout, Samuel Brady (1756-1800), about whom Draper collected extensive data in Series E.

4) Hugh Brady papers, 1793-1795. Brady (1768-1851), a Pennsylvanian, entered the United States Army in 1792 and served as an officer under command of Anthony Wayne. A letter from Wayne and a military return signed by Brady in 1793 and an order and a personal letter both from William Preston to Brady in 1795 constitute the major items in this small sample of Brady's military records.

5) David Williamson papers, four documents of scattered dates, 1790-1808. Although Williamson (d. 1814) has achieved notoriety as leader of the expedition which massacred the peaceful Moravian Indians in 1782, he was popular among his contemporaries as a military officer and longtime sheriff of Washington County, Pennsylvania. These papers concern only miscellaneous business matters; one bears Williamson's signature.