Stoneware owned by Colonel Burgess Ball

Stoneware owned by Colonel Burgess Ball

This German Westerwald Enghalskanne (long-neck pitcher) stoneware pitcher (beer stein – ca 1750) with pewter top with engraved initials “BB” was owned by Colonel Burgess Ball, Loudoun County, Virginia. As a captain, Colonel Ball was a Revolutionary War patriot and served in 1776, as Aide-de-Camp to his lifelong friend, General George Washington. Early in the war, preferring the action of the field he exchanged his position with General Washington for the appointment as a captain in the 5th and 9th Virginia regiments and then promoted as a Colonel in the 1st Virginia Regiment in 1777. He served in the Northern and Southern Revolutionary War campaigns. After the war he returned to family, farming and political life in Loudoun County, Virginia.

Provenance: Ball Family, Spotsylvania County, Virginia;
Henry Pickett, Fredericksburg, Virginia,
Gordon Barlow. Swoope, Virginia (1976).