A remarkably rare copy of the Declaration of Independence has been uncovered in London, tucked away among letters dating back to the Revolutionary War.
Michael Scurr, a retired insurance executive, has volunteered at Britain’s National Archives for 11 years, dedicating his Thursday mornings to carefully cataloging historical records for future scholars.
Last May, while reviewing correspondence connected to an 18th-century Royal Navy captain, Scurr stumbled upon a discovery of extraordinary historical significance.
The document had been attached to a report describing the capture of the American privateer Dalton on Christmas Eve in 1776. It was listed only vaguely as “another paper.”
As Scurr gently opened the folded sheet, he paused when he noticed the word “Declaration” printed prominently at the top.
“I thought: ‘Oh, right, okay, this is definitely a Declaration of Independence,’” he told The Associated Press. “How exciting is this.”
Scurr also told the BBC that he felt butterflies in his stomach as he realized the importance of what he had found.
Experts at the National Archives have since confirmed the paper is a rare early printing of America’s founding text, produced only days after the original was signed on July 4, 1776, as news spread that 13 North American colonies had declared their break from Britain.
It is one of just 11 original copies of the so-called Exeter printing of the Declaration that are known to exist, and the only one identified outside the United States, the National Archives said on Thursday, when it unveiled the document.
Michael Scurr, a volunteer at Britain’s National Archives, discovered a rare copy of the Declaration of Independence inside a Revolutionary War letter
The National Archives unveiled the find ahead of today’s 250th anniversary of American independence.
This version was printed in Exeter, New Hampshire, by John Dunlap between July 16 to 19, 1776. One way to tell is that Founding Father Charles Thomson’s name is misspelled, The New York Times reported.
But it isn’t just the age of the document that makes it important; it is also the fact that it was captured from a ship under the direction of the recently formed Continental Congress, with orders signed by its president, John Hancock, said Amanda Bevan, head of the National Archives’ project to catalog the correspondence of Royal Navy captains during the American Revolution.
While the public has heard about the dreadful conditions faced by the Continental Army at places like Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, little attention has been given to the Americans who went to sea to disrupt British trade and battle the mighty Royal Navy, Bevan said.
Finding a copy of the Declaration of Independence on board the ship also suggests how it might have been used, Bevan said. She believes the Dalton’s captain would have read out his orders, as was customary, and also the declaration itself.
‘They know why they’re fighting, but this puts it in a language which makes it greater than them,’ Bevan said. ‘They’re not fighting because they’re aggrieved in particular. They’re fighting for an ideal.
‘And I think that just to find the Declaration in a theater of war where people are committing themselves to fight for their country on the wide ocean is really something special.’
As a privateer, the 18-gun Dalton was a privately owned vessel that fought under the auspices of the Continental Congress to supplement the tiny navy of the new nation.
The document was taken off the privateer the Dalton, which was a boat captured by the British in 1776
He found it in May, but it was unveiled by the Archives on Thursday. This version was printed in Exeter, New Hampshire, by John Dunlap between July 16 to 19, 1776. Pictured: A different Declaration on display at the archives
Captain Thomas Fitzherbert, commander of the 64-gun HMS Raisonnable, chased the Dalton for seven hours on Christmas Eve 1776 before capturing her off the coast of Portugal.
The Dalton’s 120-man crew was imprisoned in Plymouth, England, under harsh conditions.
Charles Hebert, who was just 19 when he was captured, described hunger, illness and repeated punishment in the journals he kept during more than two years of captivity before his release in a prisoner exchange.
Despite it all, many survived.
The letter containing the copy of the Declaration of Independence should have gone to a wartime court, The Times reported, but Fitzherbert, instead, sent it to the Admiralty, which oversaw the country’s navy.
He described it as ‘another document.’ Some researchers believe Fitzherbert knew the significance of the document, which is why he sent it to the Admiralty.
Historians in the United States are also excited about the National Archives’ discovery.
This copy of the Declaration of Independence provides a direct link to the Dalton’s captain, who carried news of American independence to the world, said Matthew Skic, director of collections and exhibitions at the Museum of the American Revolution in Philadelphia.
The National Archives’ copy is the only one known to be outside of the US
‘It’s not just a document, it’s an artifact,’ he said. ‘It’s a tangible connection to the past, because holding that piece of paper in the archivist’s hand today is a way to transport us back to 1776. The baton being passed, in a way.’
The document did suffer a tear that historians had to repair after Scurr discovered it, The Times reported.
It is believed 200 Dunlap-printed copies were produced, but only 26 are known to have survived, the outlet said.
Only 10 copies of those printed in Exeter are thought to have survived. One sold for $5.6 million in January.
The discovery is also proof that there’s still more for historians to uncover, Skic said.
‘Even though 250 years has gone by, we still do not know everything about the American Revolution, and there are still finds left to be discovered.’
