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A Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation: U.S. Congressional Documents and Debates, 1774-1875
Journals of the Continental Congress --TUESDAY, MAY 20, 1777.
Sundry letters and petitions were read, viz:
A letter, of this day, from General Arnold, with a printed paper enclosed, signed John Brown;
One from H. Williamson; and one, of the 19th, from Dr. W. Shippen, director general; one from Joseph Trumbull, ∥commissary general∥;
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One, of the 10, from Alexander Martin, colonel of the 2d batallion of North Carolina forces, at Fredericksburgh;
One, of the 17th, from President M'Kinley, at Wilmington;
Also, a memorial from John Cary, and a petition from Timothy Folger.1
[Note 1: 1 The letter of Arnold is in the Papers of the Continental Congress, No. 162, folio 86; that of Williamson in No. 78, XXIII, folio 405; that of Shippen in No. 78, XX, folio 403; that of Trumbull in No. 78, XXII, folio 217; that of Martin in No. 78, XV, folio 189, and that of McKinly in No. 70, folio 611.]
The Board of War laid before Congress a petition from George Lyne, major of the 12 Virginia regiment,2 wherein the major prays that the rifles and powder-horns of Captain Michael Bowyer's company of the said regiment, may be received by the commissary general of military stores, and that the men receive for them a reasonable price, the said company having been raised by the convention of the State of Virginia, for the defence of the frontiers, and not to be drawn from thence without their consent, and each to receive, for the use of their rifles, 20/ per annum; but, being taken into continental service, and having agreed to march with the regiment, fourteen of them have brought their own arms with them, not having had time or opportunity to dispose of them before they began their march; Whereupon,
[Note 2: 2 This petition is in the Papers of the Continental Congress, No. 42, IV, folio 136.]
Resolved, That the said arms be received by the commissary general of military stores; and that they be appraised, and the appraised price paid to the men; also that the difference between the appraisement and what the said arms cost the men, be also paid them as a compensation for the use of the arms.
Resolved, That the quarter master general be directed to procure a horse, and present the same, properly caparisoned, to Major General Arnold, in the name of this Congress, as a token of their approbation of his gallant conduct
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in the action against the enemy in their late enterprize to Danbury, in which General Arnold had one horse killed under him, and another wounded.
Ordered, That the letter from General Arnold, with the paper enclosed, be referred to the Board of War, together with such complaints as have been lodged against General Arnold:
That the letter from Dr. Shippen be referred to the Medical Committee;
Ordered, That Dr. Williamson's letter be dismissed.
Resolved, That the vessels now laden on account of the United States, by Mr. Commissary Aylett, with flour for the eastern states, excepting such as are to be employed in transporting provisions to the Head of Elk, may sail at such time as Mr. Aylett shall think proper.
Ordered, That the petition of T. Folger be referred to the Marine Committee;
That the petition from John Cary be referred to General Schuyler.
A letter, of the 2d, from J. Warren, speaker of the House of Representatives of the State of Massachusetts bay; and one, of the 7, from E. Hancock, deputy pay master general in the eastern department, were read:1
[Note 1: 1 The letter from Warren is in the Papers of the Continental Congress, No. 78, XXIII, folio 401.]
Ordered, That the former be referred to the Board of War, and the latter to the Board of Treasury.
Resolved, That the sum of five millions of dollars, in bills on the credit of the United States, of the same tenor (excepting the date), and ∥of the same∥ denominations as the last emission, be forthwith emitted under the direction of the Board of Treasury.
The several matters to this day referred, being postponed,
Adjourned to 10 o'Clock to Morrow.
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