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directed by them with regard to the mode of taking said copies."
Ordered, That Deacon Plympton, Captain Partridge, and Captain Parker, be a Committee to take into consideration, and report to the House the expediency of considering Petitions of the non-Commissioned Officers and Privates, as well as Commissioned Officers, who were wounded in the engagement of the 19th of April, and 17th of June last, and lost their arms and clothes, and what is to be taken as evidence in support of said Petitions.
Afternoon.
A Letter from the Committee at Point-Shirley, representing the distressed situation of the Poor of Boston, arising from their effects being plundered by the Ministerial troops on their passage.
Read, and committed to Mr. Pitts and Deacon Rawson, with such as the honourable Board may join.
Whereas, John Pigeon, the late Commissary of the Forces raised by this Colony, keeps his books at some distance from the Army, by reason whereof the Officers of the Army are prevented from settling their Rolls as ordered by this Court:
Therefore, Resolved, That the said Pigeon be, and he hereby is directed to furnish the Officers of said forces with such Accounts as said Pigeon is possessed of, necessary to the making up their Rolls at Cambridge, and that he be desired to attend there, to settle said Accounts, as long as his presence there may be necessary.
On a motion, Ordered, That Colonel Williams, Captain Brown, and Captain Adams, be a Committee to hear the Member from Lincoln and the Member from Waltham, relative to carrying Wood to Cambridge and Winter-Hill, and determine where each of said towns shall carry their Wood.
The House then adjourned to ten o'clock, to-morrow morning.
Saturday, December 9, 1775.
The Committee appointed to consider what is proper to be done relative to one Rand, a suspected person, reported. The Report was read, and accepted, and is as follows, viz:
Whereas, by information given to this Court, there is great reason to apprehend Edward Rand, a pewterer, of Newburyport, and brother of Doctor Rand, of Boston, has carried on a criminal correspondence with his brother, aforesaid, who is unfriendly to the cause of America:
Therefore, Resolved, That Captain Epes forthwith repair to Mr. Winthrop Gray, at Maiden, or Point-Shirley, and inquire into the facts aforesaid, in confidence; and, provided the said Gray shall confirm the same, that then the said Captain Epes forthwith repair to the Committee of Safety and Correspondence of Newburyport, with this Resolve, who are hereby directed and empowered to cause said Rand to be immediately put under a sufficient guard, and his papers secured, until the further order of this Court.
Upon a motion, Ordered, That Mr. Cooper bring in a Resolve for agreeing with Mr. Revere.
Upon a motion, Ordered, That Colonel Cutt, Mr. Lincoln, and Mr. Bancroft, be a Committee to take into consideration the circumstances of the Prisoners in Worcester jail, in what method such Clothing as is necessary to make them comfortable shall be supplied, and report.
Moses Gill, Esquire, brought down from the honourable Board a Report of the Committee on the Resolves of the Continental Congress, lately received.
Ordered, That the Clerk write to Mr. Freeman, and desire his attendance as soon as may be.
Mr. Cooper reported concerning Plates for striking off a new emission of Bills, as follows, viz:
Resolved, That Henry Gardiner, Esquire, Receiver-General of this Colony, be, and hereby is directed to deliver unto Mr. Paul Revere, Engraver, the two pairs of Copperplates, now in the keeping of said Receiver-General, from which the last emission of Bills was struck off, one pair of said Plates to be delivered upon the return of the other; and that Mr. Revere be directed to proceed, with all expedition, in the cutting or engraving a new set of Plates for the striking off Bills of publick Credit, to the amount of seventy-five thousand Pounds, of the denominations specified in the Bill now pending for the emission of said sum, provided the same passes into an Act; and that he be allowed for said service one penny and a half-penny, old tenour, for each Bill he shall strike off, he finding paper and every material that shall be necessary, and allowing a deduction to be made from the foregoing allowance of the sum of thirty shillings, lawful money, for the advantage he will receive from the old Plates; and that Colonel Thompson be a Committee to take into keeping said Revere's Press, until the Plates shall be ready for the striking off said Bills, or any part of them.
The Committee appointed to consider the expediency of providing Military Stores reported an Estimate and Resolve, as follows, viz:
Estimate of Military Stores necessary to be procured for this Colony.
| Ordnance, | 4 18-pounders, | at £20, | £240 | 0 | 0 |
| 4 12 do |
| 4 9 do |
| 8 6 do. at £10, | | 80 | 0 | 0 |
| Field-Pieces, | 4 4 do., | at £8, | 160 | 0 | 0 |
| 10 3 do. |
| 6 2 do. |
| 40 pieces in all. |
| Mortars, | 1 10 inch, | | 150 | 0 | 0 |
| 2 8 do. |
| Howitzers, | 2 8 do. |
| Travelling-carriages for two 18-pounders, two 12-pounders, two 9-pounders, four 6-pounders, twenty field-pieces, 30 pieces, at £24, with sponges, ladles, harness, for men and horses, complete, | 720 | 0 | 0 |
| Ten garrison-carriages, at £10, | 100 | 0 | 0 |
| Three mortar-beds, | 72 | 0 | 0 |
| Two carriages for howitzers, | 48 | 0 | 0 |
| Four hundred round-shot for each piece of ordnance, from 24 to 6-pounders, inclusively. One hundred round-shot for each field-piece, 39 tons, at £15, | 585 | 0 | 0 |
| Two hundred shells, 10-inch, | 200 | 0 | 0 |
| Eight hundred shells, 8-inch, at 15s., | 600 | 0 | 0 |
| Fifty rounds case-shot for each 18, 12, 9, and 6-pounder One hundred rounds for each field-piece, 16,000, at 26s. 8d., | 213 | 6 | 8 |
| One hundred thousand flints, at 40s., | 200 | 0 | 0 |
| Twenty tons of musket-ball, at £40, | 800 | 0 | 0 |
| Casting, | 120 | 0 | 0 |
| Two tons of buckshot, | 100 | 0 | 0 |
| Five hundred pickaxes, at 7s., | 175 | 0 | 0 |
| Two hundred and fifty spades, | at 8s., | 200 | 0 | 0 |
| Two hundred and fifty shovels, |
| Two hundred bill-books, at 4s., | 40 | 0 | 0 |
| Five hundred axes, handled, at 7s., | 150 | 0 | 0 |
| Sixty crows, at 20s., | 60 | 0 | 0 |
| Fifty wheelbarrows, at 20s., | 50 | 0 | 0 |
| Ten reams cannon | ditto, | 24 | 0 | 0 |
| Three thousand eight-quart iron pots, bailed, at 4s. id. | 650 | 0 | 0 |
| Three thousand wooden bowls, at 9d., | 112 | 10 | 0 |
| Two chests of carpenters'tools, | 100 | 0 | 0 |
| A gin and blocks, with cordage, | 16 | 0 | 0 |
| Weights and Measures for the Commissary. |
| Twenty sets of tin measures, from a gallon to a half-gill, | 8 | 10 | 0 |
| Twenty sets of weights, from a fifty-six to a quarter-pound, | 37 | 0 | 0 |
| Twenty pairs of scales, £10 10s.—one pair large ditto, £7, | 17 | 10 | 0 |
| To be procured as the Muskets shall be obtained: |
| 5,000 cartridge-boxes and belts, | £832 6 8 |
| 5,000 belts and bayonets, | 750 0 0 |
| 1,000 tents, (if the duck can be procured, | 3,000 0 0 |
| 100 bell-tents, | 150 0 0 |
| 4,733 | 6 | 8 |
| One ton gun-match, | 120 | 0 | 0 |
| £10,917 | 3 | 4 |
And all the powder that can be procured.
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