Resolved, That the Committee of Safety be desired to complete the furnishing General Washington’s House, and in particular to provide him four or five more Beds.

On a motion made, it was Resolved, That the House proceed to the choice of a Chaplain, agreeable to the Order of the Day.

Accordingly Mr. Partridge, Mr. Nye, and Mr. Green-leaf, were appointed a Committee to collect and sort the votes: who reported that the Rev. Mr. William Gordon was chosen.

Whereupon, Ordered, That Colonel Davis be desired to inform Mr. Gordon thereof.

A Petition of Messrs. Levi Sheppard and Ebenezer Hunt* was read, and committed to Dr. Rice, Colonel Freeman, and Dr. Fletcher.

Afternoon.

The Doorkeeper was directed to keep all persons from the House for the present, except the Members.

Ordered, That Major Hawley, the Speaker, and Colonel Foster, be a Committee to prepare a Letter to Generals Thomas, Whitcomb, and Frye, desiring that they would continue in the service of the Colony, and assuring them that they shall receive a suitable and adequate reward for their services.

Resolved, That the Receiver-General be directed forthwith to lay before this House an account of the Moneys he has put into the hands of the Muster-Masters, for Advance Pay to the Soldiers. And that the Muster-Masters be directed in like manner to lay before this House an account of the disposition of such Moneys.

The Committee appointed to consider the circumstances of the Soldiers, with regard to their month’s Advance Pay, reported.

The Report was ordered to lie on the table.

The Committee appointed to prepare a Letter to Generals Thomas, Whitcomb, and Frye, reported. And the galleries being cleared by order of the House, the Letter prepared by the Committee was read, and accepted, and ordered to be fairly transcribed, and a copy sent to each of the Generals above mentioned.

The Committee appointed to consider the Petition of William Greenleaf and others, reported. After debate thereon,

Ordered, That the further consideration thereof be referred till to-morrow morning, eight o’clock.

The House then adjourned till to-morrow morning, eight o’clock.

Sabbath-day, July 23, 1775.

Ordered, That Mr. John Pitts, Mr. Oliver Wendall, and Mr. William Greenleaf, be a Committee to repair immediately to Salem, and confer with the Selectmen and Proprietors of the Hospital at that place, on the subject of providing for and accommodating the Poor and other Inhabitants of the Town of Boston, and to concert measures for their further reception and accommodation.

A Petition of Mr. John Pigeon, Commissary-General, was read; whereupon,

Ordered, That Deacon Cheever and Captain Parker be a Committee to confer with Mr. Pigeon on the subject of it.

Afternoon.

The House adjourned to eight o’clock, to-morrow morning.

Monday, July 24, 1775.

Resolved, That Mr. William Baker be for the present employed as Doorkeeper to this House, and that Mr. Hustings be excused, to prepare the room engaged for the honourable Council.

Ordered, That Mr. Hobart repair immediately to Cambridge, to direct the attendance of Colonel Asa Whitcomb at this House.

The Report of the Committee appointed to consider the Petition of Mr. William Greenleaf and others, was again read, and being considered, was recommitted; and Major Hawley and Major Bliss were added to the Committee.

A Petition from the Committee of St John’s was read.

The Committee appointed to prepare Rules and Orders for the regulation of the House, reported. Read and accepted; and Mr. Dix, Major Fuller, Captain Bragdon, and Mr. Durfee, were appointed Monitors agreeable thereto.

Ordered, That Mr. Watson, Mr. Greenleaf, Mr. Rice, Colonel Grout, and Colonel Sawyer, be a Committee to consider a request made by Mr. Dummer Sewall, that he might be released from his Bond to the late Provincial Congress, as surety to Edward Parry, Esq.

Afternoon.

The Petition from St John’s was committed to Colonel Thompson, Captain Parker, and Mr. Woodbridge

The Petition of Mr. John Pigeon was again taken up, and ordered to lie on the table.

A Letter from General Ward, requesting this House to provide suitable accommodations for himself and attendants at Roxbury, was read, and committed to Colonel Mitchell, Colonel Dwight, Mr. Mills, Major Bliss, and Mr. Webster

Ordered, That Mr. Abraham Watson, Captain White, Mr. Mills, Colonel Freeman, Mr. Dix, Mr. Aikins, and Major Bliss, be a Standing Committee to examine all Accounts and Muster-Rolls that may be laid before the House during its present session.

A Petition of Colonel James Easton,* praying for an order on the Receiver-General for twelve hundred Pounds, or one thousand Pounds, to pay the Soldiers under his command at Ticonderoga, their Advance Pay, &c., was read, and committed to Deacon Rawson, Deacon Plympton, and Captain Parker.

*To the Honourable the Council and House of Representatives of the Colony of the MASSACHUSETTS-BAY, assembled in WATERTOWN, this 19th day of JULY, 1775:

The prayer and petition of Levi Sheppard and Ebenezer Hunt, of Northampton, in the Province aforesaid, sheweth: That on the 11th of this instant July, Colonel James Easton, commander of a Battalion stationed at Ticonderoga, in the service of this Colony, made application to your Petitioners for a certain quantity of Medicines, agreeable to the account; which Medicines have been delivered, which is certified by said Easton, aforesaid, by his order given to your Petitioners, annexed to the account aforesaid. And your Petitioners further show, that Colonel James Easton, aforesaid, was empowered to provide such Drugs and Medicines as should be thought necessary for said Battalion, by a Committee sent by the last Congress, sometime in June last, to Ticonderoga, in order to examine into the state of the Troops, and provide for the same, who were stationed at the place aforesaid. Your Petitioners therefore humbly pray your Honours to allow said account, and grant us, your Petitioners, an order whereby they may avail themselves of the sum aforesaid. As in duty bound your Petitioners shall ever pray.

SHEPPARD & HUNT.

*To the Honourable Council and House of Representatives of the MASSACHUSETTS-BAY:

MAY IT PLEASE YOUR HONOURS:

The Petition of James Easton, of Pittsfield, in the County of Berkshire, and Colony aforesaid, humbly sheweth: That some time the beginning of May last your Petitioner raised fifty men, in concert with Colonel Ethan Allen and others, and stormed and took the Fortress of Ticonderoga. Soon after taking that very important place your Petitioner, seeing great contentions arising about the command of that station, by reason that the little army then there was not properly regulated, your Petitioner then, at his charge, made a journey from thence to the honourable Provincial Congress, then sitting at Watertown, to give intelligence of the reduction of the above fortress to the United Colonies; and also, if possible, to get a proper regulation at the said fortress. The honourable Provincial Congress thought proper not to intermeddle in this affair, as they understood the taking of the fort had its origin in the Connecticut General Assembly, and ordered their President to write to the said Assembly, and sent me express there, desiring them to regulate and garrison the same; which they did not at that time incline to do, but furnished me with five hundred pounds of powder and some cash, and ordered me as fast as possible to proceed forward with it to Ticonderoga, and on my way to raise as many men at the United Colonies’ expense, as I could: which I did. On arriving there, I found matters in a much worse situation than when I left the place. I was then by an express sent for, home, by some Companies’ I had raised, and were ready to march. Soon after my return, hearing that agents were sent from the Provincial Congress to settle matters at Ticonderoga, I again set off for that place, and at my arrival had the honour to be appointed to the command of a Regiment, and received of the aforesaid agents two hundred and eighty Pounds, and have paid it out to the several officers of the Regiment, to be by them paid to the soldiers, as advance pay for one month’s wages. And your Petitioner begs leave to inform your Honours, that he humbly conceives that forty Shillings advance pay is wholly inadequate to the soldiers for their present necessity, many of them having been there ever since the fort was taken, and having only a day’s warning to prepare for the campaign; and most of them extremely poor. The new-raised Companies are much in the

*