The President delivered to General Whitcomb a Commission as a Major-General of the Massachusetts Army.

A Petition from the Committee of Correspondence for the Town of Plymouth* was read; whereupon

Resolved, That the prayer thereof be granted, and that General Ward be directed to countermand his orders for drawing off the forces stationed at Plymouth.

On a motion made,

Voted, That this last Resolve be reconsidered, and Ordered, That the Petition from Plymouth be committed to Capt. Parker, Colonel Lincoln, Colonel Davis, Mr. Phillips, and Mr. Webster.

Ordered, That Commissions be delivered to the Officers of Colonel Little’s Regiment, agreeable to a list recommended by the Committee of Safety.

A list of the Officers and Soldiers of Captain Samuel Sprague’s Company was presented to the Congress; whereupon,

Ordered, That Commissions be delivered to the said Officers, viz: Samuel Sprague, Captain; Joseph Cheever, Lieutenant; William Oliver, Ensign; and that the Company be joined to Colonel Gerrish’s Regiment.

Mr. Goodwin, agreeable to order, reported the following Resolve; which was accepted, viz:

Whereas, Captain Mackinster, of Spencer, and Captain Porter, of Becket, have enlisted, each a Company of men on the establishment of this Colony, and not joined as yet to any Regiment:

Resolved, That the said Companies be joined to Colonel John Patterson’s Regiment, now stationed at Cambridge, immediately: provided said Companies are full, or near full, and that each man is equipped with a good and sufficient Firelock; and that they join their Regiment as soon as may be.

Ordered, That Commissions be delivered to Captain Reuben Dow and Lieutenant John Goss, as officers, agreeable to the respective titles affixed to their names, in Col. Prescott’s Regiment.

The Committee appointed to consider and report to whom the Arms, procured by a Committee of this Congress, should be delivered, &c., reported the following Resolve; which was read, and accepted, viz:

Whereas, this Congress have ordered a number of Fire-Arms to be furnished from several Towns and Districts in this Colony, to be forwarded to the Army to supply those who are destitute of Arms, but no provision is. made for delivering them out, and taking proper receipts for the same:

*PETITION FROM THE COMMITTEE OF CORRESPONDENCE OP PLYMOUTH.

To the Honourable Provincial Congress, note sitting at WATERTOWN: The Petition of the Committee of Correspondence for the Town of PLYMOUTH humbly sheweth:

That your petitioners have this day received intelligence that a vote passed your House the . . . . . instant, determining to remove to Head-Quarters that part of Colonel Cotton’s Regiment which has been, by order of your most respectable body, stationed in this place for the security and protection of the lives and property of this greatly exposed and much threatened Town. We your petitioners, have lately received undoubted intelligence, by one of our townsmen, who has been taken by a tend3r, and carried into Boston, that Admiral Graves made particular inquiry into the circurnstance of this Town, and said that we were a rebellious people, and that, in consequence of our building a fort in opposition to the King’s Troops, it should not be long before he would blow the Town about our ears. Your petitioners are very sensible that, should the troops be called away from, this station, the Town of Plymouth, as well as the adjacent Villages, will lie open to the ravages of our enemies, and that it will be no difficult matter for them to plunder and destroy us. The poor of this Town are already much distressed, by reason of the stop put to the Fishery, and can scarcely subsist upon what they get out of the clam banks, and by fishing in boats; and should they be driven from their huts into the barren country that surrounds us, they must (for aught we see) perish with hunger and for want of habitations, there not being houses within twenty miles sufficient to receive them. These poor people consist principally of women and children, their husbands and parents having enlisted themselves into the service of the Colony. Your petitioners are very far from desiring to create any unnecessary expense to the Colony; but, at the same time, think it necessary that said troops remain with us, and are of opinion that, should they be withdrawn, the Town will be immediately evacuated. And, for the above reasons, your petitioners, as in duty bound, &c.

For and by order of the Committee of Correspondence for the Town of Plymouth:

ANDREW CROSWELL, Clerk,
GAMALIEL BRADFORD, JUN.,
JOHN GRAY.

P. S. The Committee of Correspondence for the Towns of Duxbury and Kingston, which lie on Plymouth Bay, join in the general prayer of the above Petition.

Therefore, Resolved, That all the Small-Arms that are or may be procured by the above order, be delivered to Major Nathaniel Barber, Military Storekeeper at Cambridge, he to giye his receipt for the same to the person or persons from whom he receives them; thai the same be delivered out to such officers as shall produce orders there for from the Hon. General Ward, they giving receipts for the same to the said Major Barber, to be returned in good order, unless lost in the service of the Colony. And every soldier who shall receive any such Fire-Arm, shall give his receipt for the same to the officer from whom he shall receive it, to be returned as aforesaid; and in case the same shall not be returned at the close of the campaign, or sooner, the value of the said Fire-Arm shall be deducted out of the wages of the person receiving the same; and that the sum of six shillings shall be deducted out of the wages of each soldier who shall receive such Fire-Arm, for the use of the same, in case he returns it again in good order.

The Committee on the Petition of Edward Parry, &c., reported. The Report was read, amended, and accepted, and is as follows, viz.*

The Committee on the Petition from Plymouth, reported. The Report was read, but not accepted.

Ordered, That the Hon. Colonel Gerrish, Captain Bragdon, Colonel Thompson, Colonel Freeman, and Mr. Lothrop, be a Committee to consider what measures are proper to be taken for the defence and protection of the sea-coasts.

Ordered, That the Committee last chosen consider several Petitions which were committed to the Committee some time since appointed to consider the state of the sea-coasts; and. that said Committee tirst consider the case of the Town of Plymouth, as represented in the Petition from that Town.

The Committee appointed to consider the conduct of Colonel Thompson, at Falmouth, with respect to Captain Mouatt, reported. The Report was ordered to subside; it was as follows:

The Committee appointed to consider the conduct of Colonel Thompson, at Falmouth, with respect to Captain Mowatt, &c., and his laying Mr. Barnard under bond, are of opinion that said Thompson’s conduct was friendly to his Country and the cause of liberty, and that said Barnard’s conduct appears to have been inimical to both. All which we humbly submit to this Congress.

Adjourned to Tuesday morning, eight o’clock.

Tuesday, June 27, 1775.

A Letter from the Committee of Albany, dated June23, 1775, was read; whereupon,

Ordered, That Doctor Whiting, Mr. Greenleaf, and Mr. Hopkins, be a Committee to consider the same, and prepare an; answer thereto.

Resolved, That four persons be added to the Committee of Supplies, and that eleven o’clock this forenoon be assigned for the choice of them.

The Committee appointed yesterday to consider General Ward’s Letter, reported a Resolve; which was accepted, and ordered to be printed in handbills, and dispersed throughout the Colony. And thereupon,

Ordered, That Captain Goodridge, Mr. Partridge, and Mr. Caldwell, be a Committee for that purpose.

A Letter from Isaac Stone, relative to Francis Moore, a baker, was read, and is as follows, viz:

“June 25, 1775.

“MR. PRESIDENT: I arn, Sir, now upon my return to visit my family; have just been informed by Mr. Isaac Shearman, a baker at Marlborough, that he has been employed by one Francis Moore, of Cambridge, a baker for our Army, for a considerable time; that the said Moore bakes one or two batches of, biscuit every day out of the flour belonging to the Colony, to the value of twenty shillings, lawful money, per batch; which biscuit, together with some quantity of eight-penny loaves, are sold constantly for private use to any body who wants to purchase, and no account is kept of the flour used for that purpbse, or of the biscuit

* The report referred to in the text is neither entered on the Journal, nor preserved on the files of Congress.—Lincoln.