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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 --MONDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 1777
Absent, Massachusetts. Attended 11 o'Clock
Maryland.
Virginia. Attended ½ after eleven.
A letter, of the 23 December last, from Major General Ward.
One, of the 12th, from G. Morgan, Esq. at Pittsburg, with sundry papers enclosed.
One, of the 22, from the committee of Congress, at Philadelphia. And one, of the 20, from General Washington.
One, of the 20th, from Mr. G. Walton, ∥were read:∥1
[Note 1: 1 The letter from General Ward is in the Papers of the Continental Congress, No. 78, XXIII, folio 335. That of the Philadelphia committee is in No. 137, Appendix, folio 181; that of Washington, in No. 152, III, folio 583. It is printed in Writings of Washington (Ford), V, 240. The letter of Walton is in No. 78, XXIII, folio 373.]
Ordered, That the letter from Mr. Morgan, with the papers enclosed, be referred to the Committee on Indian affairs; that the letter from General Ward, be referred to the Board of War.
Letters of the 8 and 25 October, from Mr. [Silas] Deane, and one of the 15 January, from Mr. W. Bingham, were read and returned to the Committee of Secret Correspondence.
Resolved, That 2,600 dollars be paid to Captain Samuel Woodson Lieutenant Hudson Martin, and charged to the account of the pay master general; the same being in full of an order of General Washington, on W. Palfrey, pay master general, in favour of Levin Joynes, dated 10 February, 1777, and endorsed by the said Joynes to Captain S. Woodson, and by Captain S. Woodson to the said Lieutenant H. Martin.
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Resolved, That the letter from the committee of Congress, and that from General Washington, be referred to a committee of the whole:
Congress, then, resolved itself into a committee of the whole to consider the letters from the Committee of Congress and from General Washington; and, after some time spent thereon,the president resumed the chair; and Mr. [Benjamin] Harrison reported, that the committee have had under consideration the letters to them referred, and have come to sundry resolutions, which he was ready ordered to lay before Congress when they were ready to receive them.
Ordered, That the report be received.
The resolutions reported from the committee of the whole being read, ∥and the question put on each,∥ were agreed to as follows:
Resolved, That General Washington be informed, that it will be agreeable to Congress, that he call over to him, such farther aid from the troops under General Heath, as he shall think proper, and that he order all the continental troops that are at Providence, immediately to join him:
That the convention of New York be desired to place as many militia on the Highlands as may be sufficient to defend those passes against any attempts of the enemy, during the absence of the regular troops.
And, in order farther to strengthen the hands of the General,
Resolved, That the Board of War be directed to send letters by express to the colonels or other commanding officers of the several regiments, now raising and recruiting in the States of Pensylvania, Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia, ordering them immediately to march the troops inlisted under their command, by companies and parts of companies, to join the army under General
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Washington; proper officers being left behind, to recruit the companies or corps that are not yet compleated, and to bring up the recruits:
That General Washington be directed to write similar letters to the colonels or other commanding officers of the regiments now raising and recruiting in the states of New Hampshire, Massachusetts bay, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, and New Jersey, excepting such regiments as he shall destine for the service in the northern department:
That the governor of New Jersey be requested to order the militia of that State properly armed and equipped, immediately to join the General; and that the council of safety of Pensylvania be also requested to send to the aid of the General, such of their militia, properly armed and equipped, as are contiguous to New Jersey. It being the earnest desire of Congress, to make the army under the immediate command of General Washington, sufficiently strong, not only to curb and confine the enemy within their present quarters, and prevent them from drawing support of any kind from the country, but, by the divine blessing, totally to subdue them before they can be reinforced.1
[Note 1: 1 "24 February.
"A letter from General Washington informing that General Howe and Lord Percy were arrived at Brunswick with a reinforcement of troops and heavy artillery; that he apprehended the enemy intended to enlarge their quarters and procure forage in the Jerseys, or to march towards Philadelphia, neither of which was his force able to prevent. The Congress ordered General Washington to call to his aid the Continental Troops under General Heath, and in Providence, and letters were ordered to be written to the Colonels of the Battalions north of N: Carolina, ordering them to send their troops by companies, and parts of companies as fast as they could be got ready, to join the General, except such as were destined for Ticonderoga. N. York was requested to send detachments of their militia to supply the place of General Heath. New Jersey and Pennsylvania were also requested to reinforce the General with militia. To this resolve was subjoined a declaration of Congress, 'that it was their intention to reinforce the General so as to enable him not only to curb and confine the enemy within their present quarters, but, with the blessing of God, entirely to subdue them before they are reinforced.' This pompous paragraph was much condemned by some Gentlemen, as an unworthy gasconade and it was warmly debated. North Carolina observed that threats were unbecoming a private Gentleman, and much more unbecoming a public body: that this pompous boast, if not realized, would render the Congress exceedingly ridiculous, and there was great reason to fear it would not; that our vigour ought to appear by efforts not words; that at best it was a useless superfluity, and ought to be expunged. Jersey, Pennsylvania, North Carolina and South Carolina voted for expunging: the four Eastern States, Virginia, Georgia,m for retaining. There appeared, Through this whole debate, a great desire in some of the delegates of the Eastern States, and in one of New Jersey, to insult the General. georgia always votes with Connecticut, and is of no further use in Congress." Burke's Abstract of Debates. North Carolina Colonial Records, XI, 383.]
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Congress took into consideration the report of the Board of War brought in the 14th: Whereupon,
Resolved, That the several States be requested to take the most effectual steps for immediately collecting from the inhabitants, not in actual service, all continental arms, and give notice of the number they shall collect to General Washington:
That all arms or accoutrements, belonging to the united States, shall be stamped or marked with the words United States; all arms already made to be stamped upon such parts as will receive the impression, and those hereafter to be manufactured, to be stamped with the said words on every part composing the stand; and all arms and accoutrements so stamped or marked, shall be taken wherever found for the use of the States, except they shall be in the hands of those actually in continental service:
That it be recommended to the legislatures of the several States, to enact proper laws for the punishment of those who shall unlawfully take, secrete, refuse or neglect to deliver, any continental arms or accoutrements which they may have in their possession.
Resolved, That the farther consideration of the report be postponed till to morrow.
The several matters to this day referred, being postponed,
Adjourned to 10 o'Clock to Morrow.
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