Four primary documents from the Connecticut leader who voted for independence in Philadelphia, signed the Declaration at home in Litchfield, melted a royal statue into musket balls, and died as governor.
Oliver Wolcott was born November 20, 1726 in Windsor, Connecticut, the fourteenth child of Roger Wolcott, governor of Connecticut. He graduated from Yale in 1747, studied medicine briefly, then turned to law and politics. He was sheriff of Litchfield County from 1751 to 1771 and served in the Connecticut colonial assembly. By 1775 he was one of Connecticut's most trusted public officials.
Elected to the Continental Congress in 1775, Wolcott voted for independence as a Connecticut delegate on July 2, 1776. He fell ill before the formal signing on August 2 and had to return home to Litchfield. When the engrossed parchment was later sent to Connecticut for his signature, Wolcott signed it there, making his one of the only signatures not affixed in Philadelphia.
When British forces approached New York in 1776, a statue of King George III in Bowling Green was pulled down by a Patriot crowd. Wolcott arranged for the lead from the statue to be transported to Litchfield, where it was melted and cast into musket balls. His family and neighbors reportedly made 42,088 musket balls from the statue. The lead was distributed to the Continental forces.
Wolcott then served in the field during the Saratoga campaign of 1777, commanding Connecticut militia forces. He was present during the campaign that culminated in Burgoyne's surrender in October 1777. His Saratoga service is documented in the Letters of Delegates to Congress and the Founders Online correspondence.
Oliver Wolcott · Delegate from Connecticut · voted for independence July 2, 1776 · signed Declaration in Litchfield, Connecticut · served at Saratoga 1777 · Brigadier General Connecticut Militia · Lieutenant Governor of Connecticut 1787-1796 · Governor of Connecticut 1796-1797.
After the Revolution, Wolcott was appointed to the Connecticut bench of the Superior Court of Errors in 1784. He served as lieutenant governor from 1787 to 1796. When Governor Samuel Huntington died in 1796, Wolcott succeeded him as governor of Connecticut. He served until his own death the following year, on December 1, 1797, at seventy-one. He was buried in the East Cemetery in Litchfield, Connecticut.
His papers are at the Connecticut Historical Society. His congressional correspondence is in the Letters of Delegates to Congress at the Library of Congress.