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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 --WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 19, 1781
On motion of Mr. [Ezekiel] Cornell, seconded by Mr. [Samuel] Osgood,
Resolved, That in case the superintendant of finance shall find it convenient and proper to provide by contract for supplying the recruits at and from the places of rendezvous until they join the army, the states may be relieved from that duty.
On the report of the committee, appointed to report the number of men, &c.
The Committee appointed to confer with the Commander in Chief on the report of the Board of War, respecting the General Officers submit the following resolutions:
Resolved, That the Commander in Chief do from time to time, as occasion may require, make known to the Secretary at War, the number of general officers which he shall judge necessary to be in the field, in the main and seperate armies, and in different parts of the United States, and that on the receipt thereof, the Secretary at War shall issue his orders to such general officers as he shall think proper, to remain in or take the field for the purpose of compleating the said number, and that he report to Congress the names of the officers remaining in, or called into the field.
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Resolved, That every general officer who shall not be in the field agreeably to the foregoing resolution, shall be considered as being on the half pay establishment, but liable to be called into the field; and that every general officer who shall have been on the half pay establishment according to the preceding resolution, and shall be recalled into the field, shall receive during his continuance in actual command every allowance and emolument incident to his rank.
Resolved That if any General Officer shall at the time of entering upon the half pay establishment, certify to the Secretary of War his election to continue thereon he shall not be liable to be called into the field as aforesaid.1
[Note 1: 1 This report, in the writing of Daniel Carroll, is in the Papers of the Continental Congress, No. 19, VI, folio 375. The motion following it, in the writing of Charles Thomson, is on the same folio.]
A motion was made by Mr. [William] Ellery, seconded by Mr. [Arthur] Middleton, to add the following proviso, to wit:
Provided nevertheless, that no general officer shall remain in or take the field without the approbation of Congress.
On the question to agree to this proviso, the yeas and nays being required by Mr. [William] Ellery,
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So it passed in the negative.
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