Richard Varick Papers

This collection of Richard Varick's papers contains items resulting from his military, legal, and political careers, as well as personal and family papers such as correspondence and accounts. The majority of the collection dates from the Revolutionary War, and over half of the collection consists of correspondence.

The collection includes letters received, drafts of letters sent, accounts, receipts, military orders, inventories, muster and pay rolls, military pay accounts, indentures, court-martial papers and civil court papers. Also contained within the collection are papers about veterans' claims to military lands in New York State, including some maps; papers relating to the settlement of the estate of Derick Dey, Varick's maternal grandfather, and the affairs of other members of the Dey family; personal and family correspondence and accounts; and a few documents signed by Varick in his capacity as mayor of New York.

The papers in the collection pertain to a variety of subjects, including Varick's command of a company in Alexander McDougall's battalion at Ticonderoga and in Canada during 1775; his service on courts-martial in 1775; problems of the bateau service in northern New York State in 1776; his position as secretary to Gen. Philip Schuyler in 1775-1776; his work as deputy muster master general, inspector general at West Point, first aide-de-camp to Benedict Arnold (including papers about Arnold's defection and subsequent investigations), and as recording secretary for George Washington (including papers about the transcription of Washington's letters); and suits handled by him as an attorney practicing in Poughkeepsie in 1782-1783, and in New York City after the war.