found on the high seas or elsewhere, bound inwards or outwards, to or from Boston, in the service of the Ministerial Army, and to take and seize all such vessels, laden with soldiers, arms, ammunition, or provision, for or from said Army, or which you shall have good reason to suspect are in such service.

3. If you should be so successful as to take any of said vessels, you are immediately to send them to the nearest and safest port to this camp, under a careful prize master, directing him to notify me, by express, immediately, of such capture, with all particulars, and there to wait my further direction.

4. You are to be very particular and diligent in your search after all letters or other papers tending to discover the designs of the enemy, or of any other kind, and to forward all such to me as soon as possible.

5. Whatever prisoners you may take you are to treat with kindness and humanity, as far as is consistent with your own safety; their private stock of money and apparel to be given them, after being duly searched; and when they arrive at any port, you are to apply to the Committee, or to any officer of the Continental Army stationed at such port, for a guard to bring them up to Head-Quarters.

6. For your own encouragement, and that of the other officers and men, to activity and courage in this service, over and above your pay in the Continental Army, you shall be entitled to one-third part of the cargo of every vessel by you taken and sent into port, (military and naval stores only excepted, which, with the vessels and apparel, are reserved for the publick service;) which said third part is to be divided among the officers and men, in the following proportions: Captain, six shares; First Lieutenant, five shares; Second Lieutenant, four shares; Surgeon, four shares; Ship’s Master, three shares; Steward, two shares; Mate, one and a half share; Gunner, one and a half share; Boatswain, one and a half share; Gunner’s Mate and Sergeant, one and a half share; Privates, one share each.

7. You are particularly charged to avoid any engagement with any armed vessel of the enemy, though you may be equal in strength, or may have some small advantage; the design of this enterprise being to intercept the supplies of the enemy, which will be defeated by your running into unnecessary engagements.

8. As there may be other vessels employed in the same service with yourselves, you are to fix upon proper signals, and, your stations being settled so as to take the greatest range, avoid cruising on the same ground. If you should happen to take prizes in sight of each other, the rules which take place among private ships of war are to be observed in the distribution of the prize money.

9. In case of retaking the vessel of any friend to the American cause, I will recommend it to such person to make a suitable compensation to those who have done such a service; but such vessels are not to be deemed as coming within the directions respecting other vessels.

10. You are to be extremely careful and frugal of your ammunition, by no means to waste any of it in salutes, or for any purpose but what is absolutely necessary.

Given under my hand, at Head-Quarters, Cambridge, this 2d day of September, 1775.

GEORGEt">ASHINGTON.

[No. 5.]

William Cowley, of lawful age, being duly sworn, deposeth and saith: That he has lived with Major John Connolly, of Fort Pitt, in the character of a servant, for two years last past; that the said Connolly was obliged to quit that place, fearing some injury from the inhabitants, who suspected him of being an enemy to his Country; that some time in August last, the said Connolly paid a visit to Lord Dunmore, on board of his Lordship’s ship, the Royal William, then lying at Portsmouth, in Virginia, and took this deponent as his servant; that the said Connolly staid fourteen days on board of the said ship, and afterwards went to Boston in his Lordship’s tender Arundel, with despatches to General Gage, from Lord Dunmore, where he was for the space of ten days. This deponent further faith, that after their departure from thence, the said Connolly asked this deponent if he was willing to go with him into the Indian Country; told him that he had been with General Gage, to get a commission, and orders to go into the Indian Country to raise the Indians and French; that there was some part of the Royal Irish at Fort Chartres, this deponent thinks he said, who had it in command from General Gage to join him, and who had nine twelve-pounders; that as soon as he had settled his business with Lord Dunmore, after his return, he intended, as he dared not go home through the heart of the Country, to take his Lordship’s tender, go to St. Augustine, there get guides to lead him through the Cherokee Nation, Shawanese, Mingoes, and Delawares; that he was to get commissions from Lord Dunmore, for Captain White Eyes and Cornstalk, and other of the chiefs, and designed to make them presents, in order to encourage them to join him; that he intends to stay at Detroit this winter, to furnish himself with boats and canoes, to bring his forces and cannon up the Ohio River; that he then intends to attack Fort Pitt, after taking which, he supposed all that part of the world would join him, especially as he had orders to give three hundred acres of land to every man that would enlist under him. This deponent further saith, that the said Connolly informed him of another scheme he had in view, namely, to proclaim freedom to all convicts and indented servants, then to march down to Alexandria, in Virginia, where he expects a re-enforcement from Lord Dunmore, and to meet with some men of war, with which he intended to sweep the whole Country before him.

WILLAIM COWLEY.

MIDDLESEX, ss., October 12, 1775:

William Cowley, the subscriber to the within deposition, made oath to the truth of the same, before me,

ABRAHAM FULLER, Just. Peace.

ORDERS BY GENERAL WASHINGTON.

Head-Quarters, Cambridge, October 5, 1775.

Lieutenant Zachariah Walker, tried at a General Court-Martial, whereof Colonel Varnum was the President, for “cowardice in the action upon Bunker’s Hill, the 17th of June last.” The Court, on consideration of the evidence, are unanimously of opinion that the prisoner is not guilty of the charge against him. The General commands the prisoner to be instantly released.

Head-Quarters, Cambridge, October 7, 1775.

Lieutenant-Colonel Abijah Brown, tried at a late General Court-Martial, whereof Colonel Hitchcock was President, for “endeavouring to defraud the Continent, in mustering two Soldiers, whom he at the same time employed in working upon his farm.” The Court, having duly considered the evidence, are of opinion that Lieutenant-Colonel Brown is not guilty of any fraud, in endeavouring to have Harrington and Clarke mustered in the manner he did. But the Court are of opinion, that Colonel Brown is guilty of employing Harrington for fourteen days, and Clarke for eighteen days, out of camp, upon his own business, yet are inclined to think it was done rather through ignorance than a fraudulent intent, and therefore adjudge that he be fined four Pounds, lawful money, for the said offence.

The General orders Lieutenant-Colonel Brown to be released as soon as he has paid his fine to Dr. Foster, Director of the Hospital, who will apply it to the use of the sick in the General Hospital under his care. The General hopes the stigma fixed on Lieutenant-Colonel Brown, by the above sentence, will be a sufficient warning to all officers, not to be guilty of the like offence, especially as the General is confident no General Court-Martial will for the future admit a plea of ignorance in excuse of so atrocious a crime.

His Excellency Governour Trumbull’s Commission being produced to the Commander-in-Chief, by Thomas Dyer, Esq., appointing him, the said Dyer, to be a Captain in the Thirty-Fourth Regiment of foot, which Regiment was raised in the Colony of Connecticut, and the officers commissioned by the legislative authority thereof: the General orders Thomas Dyer, Esq., immediately to join his Company, to be received into the said Regiment as a Captain, and to be obeyed as such.

The General Court-Martial, of which Colonel Hitchcock was President, is dissolved.