The Nathaniel Perry drill book (4" x 6.5", 25 pages) contains 17 pages of instructions for several military drills performed by the Massachusetts Militia in the 1750s and 8 pages of an unknown author's exercises in writing letters of the alphabet.
Brief instructions for individual drills are organized under the following headings:
- "Eight Entire Several Doublings with their Reducements"
- "Eight Several Countermarches with their Reducements"
- "Eight Entire Doublings by Wheeling with there [sic] Reducement"
- "Ten Several Wheelings with their Reducement"
- "Of Ranks Wheeling to the Midst of files"
- "Twelve Several Countermarches with there [sic] Reducements"
- "The following Exercise is to be Performed with four files Six deep"
- "Thirty Several words of Command of Inversion and Conversion"
Nathaniel Perry was born on July 2, 1713, in Sandwich, Massachusetts, the son of Benjamin Perry. He married Mehitable Willis (née Leonard) in 1736, and soon thereafter moved to Easton, Massachusetts. He received a commission from Governor Shirley in the Massachusetts Militia in 1754, and served as a captain under Colonel John Winslow. Perry saw action during the French and Indian War and fought at the Battle of Fort Cumberland in 1755. Following the surrender of the fort, Perry's unit remained in Nova Scotia, where he died of illness on June 15, 1756. Perry had several children, including Nathaniel Perry, Jr., and Samuel Perry, both of whom served with their father at Fort Cumberland.
