Salt without delay, and that they cause five hundred of the said dissertations to be printed, in order that the inhabitants of this Colony be informed of the process used in the making of Salt; and that the said Committee be also directed to publish, with the utmost despatch, two hundred copies of these Resolutions, and the other Resolutions of this Congress for the encouraging the erecting of Powder-Mills within this Colony.

Ordered, That the Secretaries have such part of the aforegoing Resolutions as relate to the making of Salt in this Colony, printed in the publick Newspapers.

A copy of two Resolutions of the Committee of Albany, on the 1st of March, certified by Matthew Visscher, their Secretary, and covered in a short Letter of the said Secretary, by their order, were read and filed.

By the first of their said Resolutions they recommend Thomas Williams, Jun., for Quartermaster of the Regiment raising for Continental service for the Counties of Albany, Tryon, and Charlotte; and by the second they recommend Peter A. Fonda for Adjutant of the said Regiment.

Ordered, That the Members from Albany County inform their Committee that the appointments of Adjutant and Quartermasters for the Regiments is given to the respective Colonels.

The Congress were informed by Colonel Jesse Woodhull, that, through the unhappy dissatisfaction in the Company of his Regiment whereof Silas Pierson has been appointed Captain, the said Company will be useless in their present state; and he therefore requested the Congress to provide some relief in the premises.

Ordered, That a set of blank Commissions for that Company, signed by the President and countersigned by one of the Secretaries, be sent up to the Chairman of the Committee of Orange County; that he be requested to lay this matter before the Committee of the County; and that the said Committee, if they should think it advisable, order a new election for Officers of the said Company, and fill up the Commissions for the Officers who shall be so elected.

Thereupon, a draft of a Letter to the Chairman of the Committee of Orange County was read and approved of, and is in the words following, to wit:

In Provincial Congress, New-York, March 16, 1776.

SIR: This Congress being informed that a Company of Militia, commanded by Captain Pierson. in Colonel Jesse Woodhull’s Regiment, in your County, is at present in an unhappy situation, occasioned from a party arisen in the election of a Captain, by which means the said Company would be useless should any emergency happen; we have therefore enclosed a set of blank commissions, and recom­mend that you lay this matter before the Committee of the County with all convenient speed; and, if they should think it advisable, to order a new election, and fill up the commissions for the persons so elected.

We are, sir, your humble servants.

By order.

To Elihu Marvin, Esq., Chairman of the Committee of Orange County.

Ordered, That a copy thereof be engrossed, and signed by the President, and transmitted, together with four blank Commissions, signed and attested in the manner above-men­tioned.

A Contract with Abraham Livingston, for victualling all the Continental Troops in this Colony, was read and ap­proved, and is in the words following, to wit:

Articles of Agreement indented and made this sixteenth day of March, in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and seventy-six, between Abraham Livingston, of the City of New-York, Merchant, of the one part, and Nathaniel Woodhull, Isaac Roosevelt, Abraham Yates, Jun., Morris Graham, and William Paulding, and the survivor or survivors of them, on behalf of the Provincial Congress of the Colony of New-York, pursuant to a Resolution of the Continental Congress of the seventeenth day of February last past, of the other part, as follows, to wit:

The said Abraham Livingston doth hereby covenant, promise, and agree to and with the said parties of the second part, and the survivor and survivors of them, that the said Abraham Livingston shall and will furnish and supply such troops as are or shall be employed for the defence of this Colony in the City and County of New-York, King’s County, and at the fortifications now erecting in the Highlands, for the term of six months from the date hereof, with good and wholesome provisions, and with soap and candles, agreeable to the rations or quantities allowed by the Continental Congress, at ten pence half-penny, New-York currency, per ration per man; each ration to consist of the following kinds and quantities of provisions, to wit: one pound of beef, or three-quarters of a pound of pork, or one pound of salt-fish, per day; one pound of bread or flour per day; three pints of peas or beans per week, or vegetables equivalent, at one dollar per bushel for peas or beans; one pint of milk per man per day, or at the rate of one seventy-second of a dollar; one quart of spruce beer or cider per man per day, or nine gallons of molasses for a hundred men per week; half a pint of rice or one pint of Indian meal per man per week; three pounds of candles to one hundred men per week for guards; and twenty-four pounds of soft or eight pounds of hard soap per hundred men per week. Which several articles he, the said Abraham Livingston, is to deliver at the City and County of New-York, and in King’s County, and at the fortifications in the Highlands, at proper storehouses to be provided by the parties of the second part in the City and County of New-York, and in King’s County, and at each of the said fortifications in the Highlands, so as that the said Abraham Livingston may not be put to the expense of more than one cartage to each of the said storehouses; which rations he, the said Abraham Livingston, doth covenant to deliver to the Quartermaster of the troops stationed or to be stationed at each of the said places; and in case it shall be thought necessary for the publick service to transport or carry any of the said rations from the said storehouses, so to be provided as aforesaid, to any other place or places, it is understood that the charge and expense of such second carriage or transportation shall be paid by the parties of the second part, or the survivor or survivors of them. And the said Abraham Livingston doth further covenant, promise, and agree to and with the said parties of the second part, to furnish the troops at each of the aforesaid places with fire-wood, at the rate of twenty shillings, New-York currency, per cord; and straw, at the rate of thirty shillings for every hundred sheafs, including cartage, provided he, the said Abraham Livingston, is put to no more than one cartage to either of the said places. And the said parties of the second part, and the survivor or survivors of them, do hereby promise and agree to and with the said Abraham Livingston, that, if it should so happen that any such provisions, wood, or straw, for the purposes aforesaid, should be taken or destroyed any otherwise than by the carelessness or negligence of the said Abraham Livingston, or his agent or agents, that then, and in that case, the loss that shall or may thereupon accrue shall be sustained by the said parties of the second part, and the survivor or survivors of them.

In witness whereof, the parties to these presents have hereunto interchangeably set their hands and seals the day and year first above written.

Sealed and delivered in the presence of (the word Livingston, in the fifth line, being first interlined:)

Robert Benson,
John McKesson.

Resolved, That Nathaniel Woodhull, Isaac Roosevelt, Abraham Yates, Jun., Morris Graham, and William Paulding, Esquires, shall be, and each and every of them shall be, fully indemnified by this Provincial Congress, or the Pro­vincial Congress of the Colony for the time being, against all losses, costs, charges, payments, damages, or demands that shall or may happen, arise, accrue, or be to be borne or suffered by reason, means, or on account of their having entered into the said contract with the said Abraham Livingston for supplying the said troops with rations, as therein