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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, NOVEMBER 24, 1778

Journals of the Continental Congress, 1774-1789
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 24, 1778

A letter, of 13, from General Washington, was read, relative to the inspectorship under Baron Steuben.³

[Note 3: 3 The letter of Washington is in thePapers of the Continental Congress, No. 152, VI, folio 485.]

Ordered, That it be referred to the Board of War.

A letter, of 23, from B. P. Smith, Thomas Eddison, and George Bond, clerks in the secretary's office; also, one of the 16, from James Stevenson, Samuel Downe, and Moses Emerson, commissioners of accounts, were read:

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Ordered, That they be referred to the Board of Treasury.

A report from the Committee of Treasury was read; Whereupon,

Ordered, That a warrant issue on the treasurer in favour of Lieutenant Colonel Benjamin Temple, for three hundred and seventy seven dollars to enable him to discharge the ballances due on sundry purchases, and for making up cloathing in pursuance of General Washington's orders of the 30 December, 1777; the said Lieutenant Colonel Temple to be accountable.¹

[Note 1: 1 This report, dated November 21, is in thePapers of the Continental Congress, No. 136, II, folio 711. It also contained the grants to Mifflin and others. Passed November 28,post.]

Mr. [Nicholas] Vandyke, a delegate from the State of Delaware, attended and took his seat.

Congress took into consideration the report of the committee of arrangement; and thereupon came to the following resolutions:

Whereas the settlement of rank in the army of the United States has been attended with much difficulty and delay, inasmuch as no general principles have been adopted and uniformly pursued:

Resolved therefore, That, upon any dispute of rank, the following rules shall be hereafter observed:
• 1. For determining rank in the continental line, between all colonels and inferior officers of different states, between like officers of infantry, and those of horse and artillery, appointed under the authority of Congress, by virtue of a resolve of the 16 September, 1776, or by virtue of any subsequent resolution prior to the 1 January, 1777; all such officers shall be deemed to have their commissions dated on the day last mentioned, and their relative rank with respect to each other, in the continental line of the army, shall be determined by their rank prior to the 16 day of September, 1776. This rule

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  shall not be considered to affect the rank of the line within any State or within the corps of artillery, horse, or among the sixteen additional battalions, where the rank hath been settled; but shall be the rule to determine the relative rank within the particular line of artillery, so far as the rank remains unsettled.

• 2. In the second instance preference shall be given to commissions in the new levies and flying camp.
• 3. In determining rank between continental officers, in other respects equal, proper respect shall be had to their commissions in the militia, where they have served in the continental army for the space of one month.
• 4. All colonels and inferior officers appointed to vacancies since the 5th day of January, 1777, shall take rank from the right of succession to such vacancies.
• 5. In all cases where the rank between two officers of different states is equal, or between an officer of state troops and one of cavalry, artillery, or of the additional battalions, the precedence is to be determined by lot.
• 6. That officers in the army shall rise regimentally to the rank of captain, then in the line of the State to the rank of colonel.
• 6. All officers who have been prisoners with the enemy, being appointed by their State, and again enter into the service, shall do it agreeably to the following rule, that is to say: All of the rank of captain, and under, shall enter into the same regiment to which they formerly belonged; and if the regiment is dissolved or otherwise reduced, they shall be entitled to the first vacancy in any regiment of the State in their proper rank, after the officers belonging to such regiment have been provided for.
• 7. The rules of rank above laid down between officers of different states, are to govern between officers of the same State, except in cases where the State may have laid down a different rule or already settled their rank.

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• 8. A resignation shall preclude any claim of benefit from former rank under a new appointment.

And whereas by the rules with have been adopted for promotions and the adjusting of rank in the continental army, as well as by the reduction of several of the battalions, it hath happened that many valuable officers are precluded from rising to that distinction which their abilities and future experience may merit, and also that the public hath been necessarily deprived of the services of many good officers who may incline to continue in the army of the United States, for remedy thereof,

Resolved, That it be recommended to the several states to make provision that officers in the line may be enabled to exchange their commissions with other officers, subjects of the State respectively, of equal rank under such restrictions and limitations as to the several state shall seem proper.¹

[Note 1: 1 In the margin is written: "This to be inserted in the 1st page following, at A." A transcript of this paragraph is in thePapers of the Continental Congress, No. 21, I, folio 175.]

Whereas from the alteration of the establishment and other causes, many valuable officers have [been] and may be omitted in the new arrangement, as being supernumerary, who, from their conduct and services, are entitled to the honourable notice of Congress, and to a suitable provision until they can return to civil life with advantage:

Resolved therefore, That Congress gratefully acknowledge the faithful services of such officers, and that all supernumerary officers be entitled to one year's pay of their commissions respectively, to be computed from the time such officers had leave of absence from the Commander in Chief on this account. And Congress do earnestly recommend to the several states to which such

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officers belong, to make such farther provision for them as their respective circumstances and merits may entitle them to.

Resolved, That all officers who have been in the service, and, having been prisoners with the enemy, now are or hereafter may be exchanged or otherwise released, shall, if appointed by the authority of the State, be entitled, in case of vacancy, to enter into the service of their respective State in such rank as they would have had if they had never been captured; provided always, that every such officer do, within one month after his exchange or release, signify to the authority of the State to which he belongs, his release and his desire to enter again into the military service:

That every officer so released, and giving notice as aforesaid, shall, until entry into actual service, be allowed half pay of the commission to which by the foregoing resolve he stands entitled; provided always, that, in case of his receiving any civil office of profit, such half pay shall thenceforth cease.

Resolved, That in case of future vacancies of and under the rank of Colonels, no officer shall be deemed entitled to succeed to such vacancy as of course; but it shall, with all convenient speed, be certified toRejected 24th Nov. the authority of the State in whose troops such vacancy has happened, by the Commanding officer of the State then present, and no promotion or succession shall take place upon any vacancy without the authority of a State appointment.

Whereas it will be for the benefit of the service that some rule for promotions be established: therefore,

Resolved, That it be recommended to the several states to provide, that in all future promotions officers rise regimentally to the rank of captain, and thence in the line of the state to the rank of colonel, except in cases where

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a preference may be given on account of distinguished merit.¹

[Note 1: 1 The paragraph after 8 was to have been inserted at this point, but the mark of insertion was struck out.]

Resolved, That no brevets be for the future granted, except to officers in the line or in case of very eminent services.

Resolved, That four Brigadier Generals be appointed, viz. one for Massachusetts Bay; one for Pennsylvania; one for Maryland, and one for North Carolina.²

[Note 2: 2 This paragraph was postponed.]

Resolved, That a brigadier general, out of the brigadiers of the infantry, be appointed by General Washington to command the cavalry.

Resolved, That pay masters, not being of the rank of [colonel] captains, quarter masters and adjutants, be entitled to receive 20 dollars per month subsistence money, in lieu of rations.

Resolved, That all officers and persons employed on the staff shall receive for subsistence money, one-third of a dollar for each extra ration heretofore allowed them.

Resolved, That Lieutenant Colonel Stevens, of the artillery, now holding that rank by brevet, be appointed a lieutenant colonel of artillery; and that his commission bear date from that of his brevet; and that he be entitled to take command on the first vacancy that may fall in the artillery.

Your Committee farther beg leave to report that they have arranged the troop of nine states, viz: of New Hampshire, Massachusetts Bay, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New York, New Jersey (except the field officers), Pennsylvania, Virginia, and North Carolina, which with a little revisal will soon be lodged with the Board of War.

That Maryland and the Delaware state, the artillery, the 16 additional battalions and cavalry were not sufficiently prepared with their returns, the rank of the former being yet unsettled, and the two latter

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being so detached, that the Committee could not procure the necessary materials, but have taken the necessary steps for that purpose.

P. S. The chairman of the above Committee begs leave to suggest the propriety of furnishing to General Officers &c. the resolves of Congress already published, the army in general being exceedingly ignorant of their proceedings and many difficulties accrue therefrom.

Resolved, That adjutants, pay masters and quarter masters, taken from the line, be again admitted into the rank they would have been entitled to, had they continued in the line: and such adjutants, pay masters, and quarter masters, not taken from the line, may be admissible into the line, in such subaltern ranks as, by a signed certificate from the field officers of their respective corps, they shall be deemed competent to.

Your Committee have now only to add that it is their duty to represent to Congress that the number of foreign officers introduced into the service, and often into high rank has given great and general uneasiness throughout the army, so as to become a matter well worthy the attention of Congress and that the complaints of the clothing department both in regard to quantity and quality still subsist. That the enlistment of prisoners and deserters is represented to your Committee as highly impolitic and injurious to the service, and that the most effectual measures ought to be taken to prevent such enlistments in future.

The Cases of Colonel Hazen's Regiment and of the Surgeons of the Hospital appear on the face of their applications delivered herewith. Your Committee beg leave to submit them to the wisdom of Congress as they do every other part of their proceedings.¹

[Note 1: 1 A transcript of this report is in thePapers of the Continental Congress, No. 21, folio 161. It was prepared in 1834, by William A. Weaver, from the original, then in theWashington Papers, No. 101. This volume is now in the Department of War. The report is endorsed: "Report Committee of Arrangement. Part recommitted, 12 October, 1778. Returned by Mr. Sherman 13th. Passed November 24, except the appointing four brigadiers, postponed."]

Resolved, That the regiment commanded by Colonel Moses Hazen be continued on its original establishment; and that no new appointments or promotions of officers be made therein until the farther order of Congress.

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Ordered, That the committee of arrangement transmit to the Board of War lists of the officers of the army, arranged by them in the several regiments and corps, specifying the time of their respective appointments or promotions to their present rank, to be registered in the war office; and that commissions be issued to the said officers accordingly: and the secretary of the Board of War is hereby ordered to transmit copies of the said arrangement to the Commander in Chief of the army.

Resolved, That the Board of War be authorized to finish the arrangement of the army agreeably to the resolutions of Congress, and that the committee of arrangement furnish the Board with such papers and documents as they are possessed of respecting the same; and that all disputes about rank in the army be referred to the Commander in Chief, to be determined according to the rules of the army.

Ordered, That the Board of War forthwith lay before Congress a list of the continental brigadiers and battalions, together with the states to which they respectively belong.¹

[Note 1: 1 Transcripts of these paragraphs are in thePapers of the Continental Congress, No. 21, I, folios 173 and 175.]

Adjourned to 10 o'Clock to Morrow.

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