person being enlisted by different officers, and for different Regiments, it is positively ordered, upon pain of being cashiered, that no officer, knowingly, presume to enlist any soldier who has been previously enlisted by another officer; where such a mistake happens, undesignedly, the first enlistment is to take place.

The officers are to be careful not to enlist any person suspected of being unfriendly to the liberties of America, or any abandoned vagabond, to whom all causes and countries are equal, and alike indifferent. The rights of mankind and the freedom of America will have numbers sufficient to support them, without resorting to such wretched assistance. Let those who wish to put shackles upon freemen fill their ranks and place their confidence in such miscreants. Neither negroes, boys unable to bear arms, nor old men unfit to endure the fatigues of the campaign, are to be enlisted, the preferences being given to the present Army.

The officers are vigilantly to try what number of men can be enlisted in the course of this week, and make report thereof to their Colonels, who will report it to the General. This to be done every week, until the whole are completed. The Regiments are to consist of eight Companies; each Company of a Captain, two Lieutenants and an Ensign, four Sergeants, four Corporals, two Drums and Fifes, and seventy-six Privates. As the Regiments are completed, they will be mustered, and then reviewed by the Commander-in-Chief, when a roll of each Company, signed by the Captain, according to a form previously delivered by the Adjutant-General, is to be delivered to his Excellency. The Colonel of each Regiment will receive a list of the officers upon the new establishment from his Brigadier-General. The commissioned, non-commissioned officers, and soldiers of the present Army are notwithstanding their new engagement, to continue in the Regiment and Company they now belong to, until further orders. Upon any soldier being enlisted, from the present, into the new establishment, the Regiment he now belongs to, with his name, Town, and County, are to be entered in a roll kept for that purpose by each officer. A copy of this roll, signed, to be sent every Saturday morning to the Colonel of each Regiment. When the new Regiments are completed, the Colonels may, upon application, receive their Continental commissions for themselves and their officers.

Head-Quarters, Cambridge, November 13, 1775.

The Colonels upon the new establishment to settle as soon as possible with the Quartermaster-General the uniform of their respective Regiments, that the buttons may be properly numbered, and the work finished without delay.

Head-Quarters, Cambridge, November 14, 1775.

This moment a confirmation is arrived of the glorious success of the Continental arms, in the reduction and surrender of the fortress of St. John’s, the garrisons of that place and Chambly being made prisoners of war. The Commander-in-Chief is confident the Army under his immediate direction will show their gratitude to Providence for thus favouring the cause of freedom and America, and by their thankfulness to God, their zeal and perseverance in this righteous cause, continue to deserve his future blessings.

That no kind of confusion or disorder may arise between the old and new appointments, in case the despair and malice of the enemy should call us into action, it is again declared that the men who enlist into the new Army are to continue in the Regiments and Companies they at present belong to, until further orders.

It is earnestly recommended to all the officers of the old Regiments, to see that their men’s arms are always in good order, and the men not suffered to straggle from camp, nor, on any account, to quit their post when upon duty, but be ready to turn out at a moment’s warning; and they may rely upon it they will be suddenly called upon whenever it happens.

Very pointed complaints having this day been made against the Commissary-General, from several Field-Officers, &c., of General Sullivan’s Brigade, the Commander-in-Chief assures the complainants, that the strictest examination shall be made into the conduct of the Commissary-General, as soon as he arrives in Cambridge, which is expected this week.

Whereas the General has been informed that the orders of the 6th of September have been construed to permit any approved Sutler to sell spiritous liquors to the soldiers belonging to other Regiments, without the permission of the commanding officer of the Regiment to which such soldier belongs; it is therefore ordered, that no commanding officer of a Regiment shall authorize more than one Sutler to a Regiment, and such appointment shall be notified in regimental orders; and no person, being authorized, shall presume to sell spirituous liquors to any soldiers belonging to any other Regiment, without leave in writing, under the hand of the commanding officer to which such soldier belongs.

Head-Quarters, Cambridge, November 15, 1775.

Lieutenant Lyon, of Major Johnson’s Company, in the Thirty-Fourth Regiment, tried at a late General Court-Martial, whereof Colonel Patterson was President, for “aiding and countenancing a mutiny in the camp.” There being no proof of the charge, the Court unanimously acquit the prisoner.

Lieutenant Soaper and Ensign Parker, tried at a General Court-Martial, whereof Colonel Douglass was President, for “striking and abusing Lieutenants Henshaw and Craig, and keeping Lieutenant Craig in the Meeting-House Guard all night.” The Court are of opinion that the prisoners are guilty of a breach of the forty-sixth article of the rules and regulations for the Massachusetts Army, and therefore unanimously adjudge the prisoners to be discharged the Continental Army.

Lieutenant John Bowher, tried at a late General Court-Martial, for “divers times leaving the camp without leave, and for countenancing the soldiers in disobedience of orders.” The Court are unanimously of opinion, that the prisoner is guilty of quitting the camp without leave, but acquitted of the latter part of the charge; therefore only adjudge the prisoner to be mulcted four Pounds of his pay, to be appropriated as directed by the fifty-first article of war, and be severely reprimanded by his Colonel, at the head of the Regiment.

Sergeant Jonathan Putney, Corporal Harwood, Thomas Rollins, Isaac Larriley, Samuel North, and Ebenezer Williams, soldiers of Captain Hatch’s Company, in the late Colonel Gerrish’s Regiment, tried at a late General Court-Martial, whereof Colonel Patterson was President, for “mutiny.” The Court are of opinion that the prisoners, Sergeant Putney, Corporal Harwood, Rollins, North, and Williams, are guilty of the crime laid to their charge, and adjudge the said Sergeant to be reduced to the ranks, and fined forty-eight Shillings, to be appropriated as directed by the fifty-first article of war. The said Corporal to be reduced to a private, and whipped with thirty-nine lashes. The said Rollins to be whipped with thirty-nine; the said North with twenty-five; and the said Williams with thirty-nine lashes, upon their bare backs, with a cat-o’nine-tails.

The Commander-in-Chief approves all the above sentences of the several Courts-Martial, mentioned in this day’s orders, and directs the execution of them accordingly.

Head-Quarters, Cambridge, November 16, 1775.

Motives of economy rendering it indispensably necessary that many of the Regiments should be reduced, and the whole put upon a different establishment, several deserving officers, not from any demerit, but pure necessity, have been excluded in the new arrangement of the Army; among these was Colonel Whitcomb; but the noble sentiments disclosed by that gentleman upon this occasion, the zeal he has shown in exhorting the men not to abandon the interest of their Country at this important crisis, and his determination to continue in the service, even as a private soldier, rather than by a bad example, when the enemy are gathering strength, put the publick affairs to hazard—when an example of this kind is set, it not only entitles a gentleman to particular: thanks, but to particular rewards; in the bestowing of which, Colonel Jonathan Brewer is entitled