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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 4, 1782
On the report of a committee, consisting of Mr. [Samuel] Osgood, Mr. [James] Madison and Mr. [Alexander] Hamilton, to whom was referred a letter of 29 November from the agent of marine, enclosing a copy of a letter of the same date, to him, from Captain J.P. Jones;
in which the latter requests permission of Congress to serve the ensuing campaign with his Excellency the Marquis de Vaudreuil, report the following resolution:
Resolved, That the agent of marine be informed, that Congress [having a high sense of the merit and services of Captain J.P. Jones, and] being disposed to favour the zeal manifested by him to acquire improvement in the line of his profession, do grant the permission which he requests; and that the said agent be instructed to recommend him accordingly to the countenance of his Excellency the Marquis de Vaudreuil.
[do authorize the said agent to act therein as shall be agreeable to the wishes of Captain Jones and at the same time consistent with the views of the Admiral.]2
[Note 2: 2 This report, in the writing of James Madison, except the parts in brackets, which is in Alexander Hamilton's writing, is in the Papers of the Continental Congress, No. 19, III, folio 303. The letter of the Agent of Marine is in No. 137, II, folio 47.]
On motion of Mr. Fitzsimmons [Alexander] Hamilton, seconded by Mr. Hamilton [David] Howell,
Resolved, That a committee be appointed to confer with a committee of the legislature of Pensylvania, relative to the subjects of their late memorial to Congress: the members, Mr. [John] Rutledge, Mr. [James] Madison, and Mr. [Alexander] Hamilton.
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The committee, consisting of Mr. [Alexander] Hamilton, Mr. [Richard] Peters, and Mr. [Samuel] Osgood, to whom were referred a report of the Superintendant of finance, on a letter of 22 November, 1782, from Captain Schreiber, and a letter of 25 of the same month from Lieutenant ColonelCambray; report,
"That although they consider the situation of foreigners in the service of this country, remote from any resources which they may have in their own, and destitute of any competent provision here, as involving a peculiar hardship, and requiring if possible some discrimination in their favour; yet in the present embarrassed state of the public finances, they cannot recommend advise any measure for their relief, which may derange the general plans of the Superintendant of finance; and they therefore recommend, that the matter may be left to his discretion, to act therein as he may conceive most proper."1
[Note 1: 1 This report, in the writing of Alexander Hamilton, is in the Papers of the Continental Congress, No. 19, V, folio 299.]
Resolved, That Congress agree to the said report.
The committee, consisting of Mr. [Daniel] Carroll, Mr. [Samuel] Osgood, and Mr. [Richard] Peters, to whom was referred a letter of 29 October, from the Secretary at War, on the subject of future promotions of colonels to the rank of brigadiers; report,
That for the purpose of promotions of colonels or lieutenant colonels commandant, the army of the United States shall be considered as classed in the following divisions; the eastern, middle, and southern. The troops of New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut, shall form the eastern; those of New York, New Jersey, Pensylvania, Delaware, and Maryland, the middle; and those of Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia, the southern division:
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That whensoever it shall be deemed necessary for the service, to appoint brigadiers in any state or states where the number of troops in the field are sufficient to form one or more brigades, the brigadiers shall be appointed from the senior colonels or lieutenant colonels commandant in the lines of such states; and when brigadiers shall be wanted to command brigades within either of the divisions composed of the troops of such states, who have not individually numbers in the field sufficient to form a brigade, the brigadiers shall be appointed from the senior colonels or lieutenant colonels commandant in such brigades.
On the question to agree to this report, the yeas and nays being required by Mr. [Abraham] Clark,
{table}
So the question was lost.
A motion was then made by Mr. [Samuel] Osgood, seconded by Mr. [John Taylor] Gilman, as follows:
Whereas it appears, that there are two brigades of troops of the Massachusetts line now commanded by colonels; therefore,
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Resolved, That Colonel John Greaton, and Colonel William Shepard, the two senior colonels in the Massachusetts line of officers be, and hereby are, promoted to the rank of brigadiers general in the army of the United States.1
[Note 1: 1 This motion, in the writing of Samuel Osgood, is in the Papers of the Continental Congress, No. 36, I, folio 451.]
And on the question to agree to the motion, the yeas and nays being required by Mr. [Samuel] Osgood,
{table}
So the motion was lost.
The committee, consisting of Mr. [David] Ramsay, Mr. [Abner] Sash, and Mr. [Richard] Peters, to whom was re-committed the draught of the supplemental ordinance for regulating the Post Office, reported the draught of an ordinance for amending the ordinance for regulating the Post Office of the United States, which was read a first time:
Ordered, That Friday next be assigned for the second reading.
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