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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, SEPTEMBER 25, 1780
A letter, of 4, one of 5, and one of 10 June, from the honorable J. Adams, were read:4
[Note 4: 4 These letters axe printed in the Diplomatic Correspondence of the American Revolution (Wharton), III, 762, 767, 774.]
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Ordered, That they be referred to the Committee of Foreign Affairs.
A petition of Captain Rice was read:1
[Note 1: 1 This petition, dated September 23, 1780, is in the Papers of the Continental Congress, No. 42, VI, folio 443.]
Ordered, That it be referred to the Board of War to report specially.
The director general, having made a return of the officers of the hospital;2
[Note 2: 2 Dr. Shippen's letter transmitting the return is in the Papers of the Continental Congress, No. 78, XX, 567. It is dated September 24, 1780.]
Ordered, That it be referred to the Medical Committee.
The committee, to whom was re-committed part of the report respecting salaries, brought in a report; Whereupon,
Resolved, That each commissioner of the respective navy boards be allowed the sum of 1500 dollars per annum.
The clerks of the several boards and offices each according to his merit and services, to be determined by the commissioners of the respective boards, not exceeding 500 dolls. nor less than 300 dollars; and the salary of the clerks of the office of secretary of Congress, to be fixed by the secretary, not exceeding 500 dolls. nor less than 300 dollars; the salaries so fixed to be reported to Congress, and transmitted to the Board of Treasury; the above salaries to be paid in the same manner as those agreed to the 13 instant.3
[Note 3: 3 This report, in the writing of Timothy Matlack, is in the Papers of the Continental Congress, No. 26, folio 205.]
Congress took into consideration the report of the Board of Treasury on the memorial of Mordecai Sheftall.
Ordered, That the same be re-committed.4
[Note 4: 4 From here the entries are in Thomas Edison's hand.]
Congress took into consideration the report of the committee to whom was referred the consideration of the establishment of the inspecting department; Whereupon,
Congress agreed to the following plan of the inspecting and mustering department:
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Whereas the institution of this department hath been found of great utility to the armies of the United States: and experience hath shewn that it may be rendered still more useful by an extension of its powers and objects: Therefore
Resolved, That the former establishment by a Resolution of the 18th. of February 1779, and all subsequent resolutions relative thereto; be repealed; and the departments hereafter have the following form, powers and priviledges.
There shall be an inspector general with the main army of the United States, to be appointed by Congress, who shah be allowed two secretaries, in addition to the aids he is allowed in the line of the army, to be taken from the line of captains and subalterns, who shah receive, in addition to their pay six dollars per month.
There shall be one assistant inspector general with the main army, who shall be adjutant general for the time being, and shall receive, in addition to his pay, ten dollars per month: and one to every seperate army, when consisting of two or more divisions, who shall be the deputy adjutant general, and shall receive, in addition to his pay eight dollars per month.
There shall be one inspector to each division of the army of the United States, one to the corps of cavalry, and one to the corps of artillery: to be taken when the service will admit, from the line of colonels and lieutenant colonels, who shall be allowed, in addition to their pay, seven and a half dollars per month, and forage for three horses, including what they are intitled to in the line of the army, and one extra ration of provisions, when the state of the magazines will admit.
There shall be one sub-inspector to every brigade in the army of the United States; one to the corps of cavalry, and one to the corps of artillery, if thought necessary by the Commander in Chief, or commanding officer of a seperate army; to be taken from the line of majors in the brigade, when the
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service will admit, who shall be allowed, in addition to their pay, five dollars per month, and one extra ration, when the state of the magazines will admit.
The Commander in Chief, and commanding officer of a seperate army, are hereby empowered to appoint inspectors and sub-inspectors to the militia, while in actual service, agreeable to the foregoing plan, who shall have the same powers, priviledges and emoluments, as those serving with the continental army.
It shall be the duty of the inspector general to frame a system of regulations for the exercise and discipline of the troops, in the manual evolutions and manoeuvres, for the service of guards and detachments, and for all camp and garrison duty, and if approved of by the Commander in Chief, and ratified by Congress, such regulations shall be enforced, by the orders of the Commander in Chief throughout the army.
The assistant inspectors general shall assist in the general duties of the department, agreeable to the directions they shall receive from the inspector general (through the order of the Commander in Chief) and when the inspector is not present, shall have the chief direction of the same, agreeable to the orders they may receive as aforesaid; they shall nevertheless continue to perform their duties of adjutant and deputy adjutant general.
The inspectors shall attend to the execution of the regulations established for the army in their respective divisions, and in such garrisons as they may be ordered by the inspector general or assistant inspector general; at all times performing the duty of adjutant general to the same; and when a detachment of more than one division is sent from the army, the eldest inspector of the marching troops shall act as adjutant general to the detachment.
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The sub-inspectors shall do the duty of majors of brigade to the brigades to which they belong, and attend to the execution of the regulations established for the army, in their respective brigades, and such garrisons, detachments and independent corps, as they shall be ordered by the inspector general, or assistant inspector general with a seperate army.
The inspector general and the assistant inspector general shah review and muster the troops, in service, once every month, at which review he or they shall inspect the number and condition of the men, their discipline, the state of their clothes, arms, accoutrements, and camp equipage; the number of rations they have drawn since the last review; reporting such soldiers and recruits as are unfit for service, to the major general or commander of the division, the brigadier or commander of a regiment detached from the division or brigade to which such disabled soldier may belong; to be by them, or either of them, discharged, or transferred to the corps of invalids, if, on the examination of the surgeon of the regiment, they shall be found unfit for further service in the field. But no such soldier shall be deemed legally discharged or transferred, except his discharge or transference is signed by the major general, brigadier or commandant as aforesaid, and a certificate of his inability, specifying the nature of it, signed by the surgeon, is annexed thereto; noting at the same time all alterations that have happened since the last review or muster, and, as far as possible, in what manner, reporting them with the deficiencies, neglects and abuses, to the Commander in Chief, or commanding officer present, and the Board of War.
At every muster, three rolls shall be made out by the commanding officer of each troop or company, signed and sworn to by him, one of which rolls shall be returned to him, certified by the mustering officer; one shall be retained by the
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mustering officer; the other shall be certified and delivered to the regimental paymaster, to be affixed to the payrolls.
Each brigade shall be mustered by its sub-inspector, under the superintendency of the inspector of the division, who shall be responsible, with the sub-inspector, for the exactness and fidelity of the musters; and in like manner, all garrisons, independent corps and detachments, shall be mustered by such inspectors or sub-inspectors, as the inspector general, or assistant inspector general with a seperate army, shall order.
The sub-inspectors shall deliver an abstract of all such musters, regimentally digested, to the inspector of the division, who shall digest them into division abstracts, in the same form, and transmit them to the assistant inspectors general, to be by them transmitted to the inspector general, and in a seperate army to the commanding officer.
The inspector general shall transmit, once every month, a copy of the abstract of the musters of the whole army, to the Commander in Chief, and another to the Board of War.
No commanding officer of a regiment shall muster the regiment he commands, but another inspector shall be ordered to do that duty, by the inspector general.
The assistant inspector in a seperate army, shall do the same duties in that army, as the inspector general doth in the main army, respecting the musters, according to the directions he shall receive, and orders of the commanding officer.
The commissary of issues shall be obliged to deliver to the inspector general, and assistant inspector with a seperate army, an abstract, by brigades, of the rations actually issued, and of all issues to all seperate corps, garrisons and detachments.
All muster rolls shall be sworn to before a general officer, or commandant of a seperate post or detachment, who are
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hereby empowered to administer the oath, and certify it on each muster roll, in the words following, to wit: "I, A. B. do swear that this muster roll is a true state of the company under my command, without fraud to the United States, or to any individual, according to the best of my knowledge.
"A. B. capt. lieut. ensign, or cornet command't. "Sworn before me, thisday of17."
The mustering officers are empowered and directed to require from all the officers whose troops are mustered, all papers and vouchers relative to the inlistments and musters.
The inspectors shall keep accounts with the officers commanding regiments, of all the arms and accoutrements delivered their regiments, and returned in by them. No arms or accoutrements shall be delivered without an order from the inspector of the division, to whom returns for arms and accoutrements wanted shall be made, in the form directed in the resolution for the order and discipline of the troops of these United States.
All officers of the inspectorship shall retain their rights of command and promotion, in the same manner as if they had not assumed the office. They are to suspend the exercise of their respective commands, except when they happen to be the superior in the division, brigade or regiment, to which they belong, or when they are appointed to execute any particular service by the Commander in Chief, or commanding officer of a seperate army; and are exempt from all common camp and garrison duty, that they may attend to that of the inspection, as well in time of action as at all other times.
The inspector general, as often as the Commander in Chief shall think fit to order, shall visit every part of the army, and review the same, to see that uniformity prevails throughout the armies of these United States.
The inspector general shall keep books in which the returns, &c. passing through his office, shall be registered. He shall
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be charged with collecting, into one or more volumes, all the resolves of Congress, and regulations of the Board of War, relative to the army.
The travelling and other incidental expences for the execution of the business of the office, shall be settled by the auditors with the army, upon such principles as shall be established by the Commander in Chief, and paid out of the military chest.
The quarter master general shall furnish all necessary books, paper, &c. for the department.
Each inspector shall be allowed, when the circumstances of the army will permit, a marquee and common tent: each sub-inspector a horseman's and common tent, if not provided for as officers in the line.
All the regulations respecting the objects of this department, shall be finally approved and established by Congress; but, the exigency of the service requiring it, temporary ones may, from time to time, be introduced by the inspector general, with the approbation of the Commander in Chief, and transmitted to the Board of War within one month after their introduction; that being examined and reported to Congress by them, they may be rejected, altered, amended or confirmed, as Congress shall deem proper.
Resolved, That Baron Steuben be, and hereby is, continued inspector general of the armies of the United States, and vested with power to appoint all officers necessary to carry the aforegoing plan into execution, they being first approved of by the Commander in Chief.1
[Note 1: 1 This report is in the Papers of the Continental Congress, No. 22, folios 91--98.]
Resolved, That the assistant inspector be allowed four hundred dollars per month, of the old emission, in addition to his pay as adjutant general, from the first day of February last, to the first day of October next: the inspectors shall be allowed, from the first day of February last to the first day of October
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next, three hundred dollars per month, of the old emission, and the sub-inspectors shall be allowed two hundred dollars per month, of the old emission, from the first day of February aforesaid to the first day of October next, in addition to the pay and subsistance to which they are entitled by their respective ranks.1
[Note 1: 1 Here Thomson resumes the entries.]
The committee to whom were referred the letter of 12 May, from Mr. W. Glascock, and the memorial of Mr. [George] Walton, report:
"That, in the course of their enquiry respecting the business committed to them, they have conferred with his excellency Richard Howly, the present governor of Georgia, and been attended by Mr. George Seegar, clerk of the general assembly of the said state, and have obtained from each of them a state of facts to which they beg leave to refer: that it appears that the paper containing the paragraph respecting Brigadier General M'Intosh, and dated at Augusta, in the State of Georgia, the 30 day of November, 1779, and purporting in general to be a letter or address from the assembly of that state to Congress, did originate in and ought to be considered as an act declarative of the sense of the said assembly; and that the same was officially transmitted with other public papers, by Colonel Walton, then governor of that state, to the President of Congress, and, together with the proceedings of the said governor and council, contained a sufficient ground for the act of Congress of the 15 day of February last, for dispensing with the services of the said Brigadier Gen. M'Intosh, until the farther order of Congress."2
[Note 2: 2 This report, in the writing of James Duane, is in the Papers of the Continental Congress, No. 19, II, folio 419.]
Resolved, That Congress agree to the said report.
Ordered, That a copy of the above report, and of the papers referred to, be transmitted to the governor of Georgia.
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On motion of Mr. [Thomas] Bee, seconded by Mr. [John] Mathews,
Resolved, That two-thirds of the bills ordered by the resolution of the 23 August last to be sold for specie, for the relief of prisoners of war, be now disposed of under the directions of the Board of War, for such necessary articles of clothing or provisions as may, in their opinion, best conduce to supply, in some measure, their present wants.
Congress took into consideration the report of the Committee on the Post office; Whereupon,
Ordered, That a warrant issue in favour of Richard Bache, postmaster general, on Nathaniel Appleton, commissioner of the continental loan office in the State of Massachusetts Bay, for three thousand dollars in bills of credit emitted pursuant to the act of Congress, of the 18 of March last; and that another warrant on the treasurer for twenty thousand dollars continental bills of the former emission, for the use of his department; and for which the said Richard Bache is to be accountable.1
[Note 1: 1 This report, in the writing of Roger Sherman, is in the Papers of the Continental Congress, No. 61, folio 481.]
The committee to whom was referred the motion of Mr. [Samuel] Adams, delivered in a report.
Adjourned to 10 o'Clock to Morrow.
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