| PREVIOUS | NEXT | NEW SEARCH |
A Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation: U.S. Congressional Documents and Debates, 1774-1875
Journals of the Continental Congress --FRIDAY, AUGUST 3, 1781
A letter, of 23 June, from Major General Greene, with one enclosed and directed to him from Lieutenant Colonel H. Lee, dated 20th of the said month, was read, respecting a proposal for arming in a new manner the infantry of Colonel Lee's legion:3
[Note 3: 3 This letter is in the Papers of the Continental Congress, No. 155, II, folio 187.]
Ordered, That the same be referred to the Board of War to take order.
A letter, of 30th July, from General Washington; and
A letter, of 26th July, from Major General the Marquis de la Fayette, were read.4
[Note 4: 4 Washington's letter is in the Papers of the Continental Congress, No. 152, X, folio 179; Lafayette's is in No. 156, folio 204.]
A letter, of 21 July, from the navy board eastern department was read, recommending that Mr. Buckley, who has
Page 829 | Page image
served as a master of the Alliance from her first going to sea may be promoted to a lieutenancy in the ship:
Ordered, That the navy board eastern department be informed that as there is no vacancy Congress do not think proper to agree to the recommendation.
A memorial of the delegates, as agents for the State of New York, respecting the controverted jurisdiction of the district called the New Hampshire Grants, was read.1
[Note 1: 1 This memorial is in the Papers of the Continental Congress, No. 40, II, folio 37.]
The committee, ∥consisting of Mr. Boudinot, Mr. Sharpe, Mr. Clymer,∥ appointed to take into consideration the state of the American prisoners in the power of the enemy, report,
That they have collected together and cursorily looked into various evidences of the treatment our unhappy fellow-citizens, prisoners with the enemy, have heretofore and still do meet with, and find the subject of so important and serious a nature as to demand much greater attention, and fuller consideration, than the present distressed situation of those confined on board the prison-ships at New York will now admit of; wherefore, they beg leave to make a partial report, and desire leave to sit again:
They accordingly submitted a report; Whereupon,
Resolved, That it appears to Congress that a very large number of marine prisoners and citizens of these United States, taken by the enemy, are now close confined on board prison-ships in the harbour of New York:
That the said prison-ships are so unequal in size to the number of prisoners, as not to admit of a possibility of preserving life in this warm season of the year, they being crowded together in such a manner as to be in danger of suffocation, as well as exposed to every kind of putrid and pestilential disorder:
That no circumstances of the enemy's particular situation can justify this outrage on humanity, it being contrary to
Page 830 | Page image
the usage and custom of civilized nations, thus deliberately to murder their captives in cold blood, as the enemy will not assert that prison-ships, equal to the number of prisoners, cannot be obtained so as to afford room sufficient for the necessary purposes of life:
That the enemy do daily improve these distresses to inlist and compel many of our citizens to enter on board their ships of war, and thus to fight against their fellow-citizens and dearest connections:
That the said marine prisoners, until they can be exchanged, should be supplied with such necessaries of cloathing and provisions as can be obtained to mitigate their present sufferings:
That, therefore, the Commander in Chief be, and he is hereby, instructed to remonstrate to the proper officer within the enemy's lines, on the said unjustifiable treatment of our marine prisoners, and demand, in the most express terms, to know the reasons of this unnecessary severity towards them; and that the Commander in Chief transmit such answer as may be received thereon, to Congress, that decided measures for due retaliation may be adopted, if a redress of these evils is not immediately given:
That the Commander in Chief be, and he is hereby, also instructed to direct the supplying the said prisoners with such provisions and light clothing, for their present more comfortable subsistence, as may be in his power to obtain, and in such manner as he may judge most advantageous for these United States.1
[Note 1: 1 This report, in the writing of Elias Boudinot, in in the Papers of the Continental Congress, No. 28, folio 49.]
Ordered, That the committee have leave to sit again.
The report of the committee on the letter from the president of New Hampshire, with the papers enclosed, was taken into consideration, and after debate:
Page 831 | Page image
Ordered, That it, together with a motion made by Mr. [Elias] Boudinot, seconded by Mr. Mathews [John] Sullivan, be re-committed.1
[Note 1: 1 Boudinot's motion was as follows:
Resolved, That a Committee ofbe appointed to repair toand there to meet Committees from the State of New York and New Hampshire and the people inhabiting &c. in order to settle and adjust the terms on which the said people may be recognized as a free and independent State and received into the General Union.
It is in the Papers of the Continental Congress, No. 40, II, folio 82.]
The Board of War, to whom was referred part of the letter of J. Storey, delivered in a report; Whereupon,
Ordered, That a warrant issue on Thomas Smith, commissioner of the continental loan office for the State of Pensylvania, in favour of John Storey, late assistant quartermaster, for two hundred dollars in specie on account of his former pay, for which sum Major General Greene, late quartermaster general, is to be accountable;
That J. Storey, late assistant quartermaster, settle the pay due for his services from the time of the late quartermaster general's resignation until the twenty-first day of April last with Major General Greene, and from and after the said twenty-first day of April he shall settle his accounts for pay with the auditors of the army and receive warrants for such sums as may be found due, from the Commander in Chief on the paymaster general in the usual manner.2
[Note 2: 2 This report is in the Papers of the Continental Congress, No. 148, II, folio 113.]
The delegates for the State of New York laid before Congress sundry papers relative to the subject contained in the letter, of 27 July, from Colonel T. Pickering:3
[Note 3: 3 These papers are in the Papers of the Continental Congress, No. 78, XVIII, folio 427--451.]
Ordered, That they be referred to the Board of War.
Adjourned to 10 o'Clock on Monday.
PREVIOUS SECTION .. NEXT SECTION .. NAVIGATOR
| PREVIOUS | NEXT | NEW SEARCH |