the Sheriff of said Windham County; and said Sheriff of said Windham County is hereby ordered and directed to receive all said Prisoners at the hands of the said New-London County Sheriff, and them hold and keep in safe custody and confinement, in said Windham County Jail, until further orders from the General Assembly, or his Honour the Governour and his Council of Safety.

Monday, April 22, 1776.

At a meeting of the Governour and Council of Safety:

Present: His Honour the Governour, Jabez Huntington, Jedediah Elderkin, Joshua West, Nathaniel Wales, Jun., Benjamin Huntington, Esquires.

Allowed a Bill in favour of Colonel Samuel Abbot for two Pounds eight Shillings, for service done in buying Guns for the Troops in the Continental service last year; and ordered a Draft on the Committee of Pay-Table accordingly. An Order drawn April 22, 1776, and delivered to Colonel Jabez Huntington.

Allowed to Benjamin Huntington, Esq., an Account of twenty-nine Pounds seventeen Shillings and three Pence, New-York currency, to pay for Duck by him purchased for the Colony use; and ordered a Draft on the Pay-Table accordingly. Order drawn April 22, 1776, and taken by himself.

Voted, That his Honour the Governour is desired to write to Colonel Isaac Sears, to answer such Drafts as Captain Ephraim Bill shall make upon, for building and furnishing the Colony Ship for service.

Allowed a Bill in favour of Captain Edmund Badger, for one Pound twelve Shillings and six Pence, lawful money, for going a journey to Providence, in the Colony service; and ordered a Draft on the Committee of Pay-Table. Order drawn April 22, 1776, and delivered to Mr. Wales.

Voted, To draw on the Pay-Table for four hundred Pounds, in favour of Ebenezer Ledyard, Esq., for carrying on the Fortifications at Groton, and render his Account. Order drawn April 22, 1776, and delivered to Ebenezer Ledyard, Esquire.

Voted, That Ebenezer Ledyard, Esq., in behalf of this Colony, apply to Mr. Jonathan Chester, of Groton, for liberty for the Engineers, at the Fortifications at Groton, to survey as much of said Chester’s Land as shall be wanted for the use of the Fort there, and agree with said Chester upon some good men to appraise such Land on oath, to be purchased by the Colony, and make report thereof to the General Assembly, in May next.

Voted, That Prosper Wetmore, Esq., Sheriff of New-London County, be, and he is hereby, directed forthwith to transport Thomas Russell, David Arnott, William Cook, and William Willson, Continental Prisoners, now in his custody, to Windham, in the County of Windham, and there deliver the said Prisoners to the Keeper of the Jail, in Windham, in the County of Windham, within said prison, who is likewise hereby required to receive said Prisoners, and them safely keep, within said prison, until they shall come out thence by order of the Continental Congress, the General Assembly of this Colony, or his Honour the Governour and Council of Safety.

Voted, That Colonel Jedediah Elderkin and Nathaniel Wales, Jun., Esq., take care and provide for four Continental Prisoners now in the custody of Prosper Wetmore, Sheriff of New-London County; which Prisoners are, by order of the Governour and said Council, of this date, ordered to be transported to Windham County Jail, and confined therein until further orders.

Voted, That his Honour the Governour, upon application of Captain John Deshon, be desired to draw on the Pay-Table for such sum as his Honour on consideration shall think best to allow to said Deshon, for the present necessity, for the support of the Troops at New-London. April 23, 1776, Order drawn for four hundred Pounds.

Monday, April 29, 1776.

At a meeting of the Governour and Council of Safety:

Present: His Honour the Governour, Eliphelet Dyre, Jabez Huntington, Jedediah Elderkin, Joshua West, William Williams, Nathaniel Wales, Jun., Benjamin Huntington, Esquires.

Colonel Dyre and Colonel Williams made report of their late journey to Philadelphia, &c., &c., and many other things discoursed, &c.

Moved, That a Committee may be appointed to take care of the Prisoners sent to Windham from on board of Commodore Hopkins’s Fleet, and who are now confined in prison there; and thereupon, Colonel Eliphelet Dyre, Jedediah Elderkin, Nathaniel Wales, Samuel Gray, and Constant Southworth, Esquires, are appointed a Committee to take care of, oversee, and direct the said Prisoners; and, if they shall think proper, to take the Parole of any Officers there, and suffer them to be at large, and to dispose of the men as they think, to be at labour, and on their refusal or ill behaviour of any, to be remanded, and dealt with at the discretion of the said Committee, according to the orders of the Governour and this Council. Copy given.

Simeon Gray exhibited his Account for entertaining the Committee or this Council, from their first meeting till this time, and for sundry services as Express to sundry places, amounting in the whole to thirty-five Pounds seven Shillings and five Pence; which is allowed, and ordered to be drawn for.

Mr. Miner, the Commissary for the Stonington Company, present, moves for a further sum of Money, &c.

And Voted, That the Committee of Pay-Table draw on the Treasurer for the sum of two hundred and fifty Pounds, for said Esquire Miner, to be improved and accounted for by him in that capacity. An order given and delivered him.

Voted, That an Order be drawn by the Committee of Pay-Table on the Treasurer, in favour of William Lux, of Norwich, to pay for Iron and Labour in building Carriages for Cannon in the Colony’s use, to render his Account. Order drawn and left at the Governour’s.

Allowed Mr. Alden’s Account, of thirteen Shillings and four Pence, for entertaining Colonel Dyre and Colonel Elderkin, several times, when attending Council, &c.

Voted, That Adam Babcock, Esq., of New-Haven, be allowed to purchase of Colonels Elderkin and Wales, two hundred pounds of Gunpowder, for the use of his Privateer, now fitting out; and in the meantime, if need be, Colonel Fitch, of said town, is directed to lend him the same quantity, out of the Colony stores, until he can obtain and replace it from said Colonels Elderkin and Wales’s Manufactory, or otherwise. Copy given and delivered Mr. James Rice.

Voted, That an Order be drawn on the Pay-Table for four hundred Pounds, in favour of Captain James Rice, of New-Haven, for expenses of fitting the Colony Brig and building the Row-Galley Whiting, and expenses in the Colony service, and to render his Account. Copy given.

Voted, That Zadock Brewster is appointed Lieutenant of the Row-Galley under the command of Captain Theophilus Stanton.

Voted, That Captain Theophilus Stanton be admitted to pick out four Cannon at New-London, for the use of the Row-Galley under his command, and see that the same be properly bored and fitted for the service. Copy given. Dismissed.

To the Honourable JONATHAN TRUMBULL, Esq., Governour of the Colony of CONNECTICUT, and President of the Committee of War:

MAY IT PLEASE YOUR HONOUR: As Mr. Joseph Hillard has applied to us, the civil authority, Selectmen, and Committee of Inspection, for the town of Killingsworth, to assist in introducing him to your Honour, and the other respectable gentlemen the Committee of War, as a man of industry and mechanical invention, so that his disposition may be indulged, and his abilities exercised for the good of his distressed country, in some proper station and character; we beg leave to inform your Honour, and the rest of the honourable and worthy gentlemen of the said War Committee, that the said Joseph Hillard, the bearer hereof, (an inhabitant of this town,) is a man of steadiness and despatch in business he engages in; is of uncommon genius and readiness of invention in mechanicks and mechanical operations, and has sundry times applied the power of the screw to surprising effect, especially in weighing and getting off vessels, by storms left upon the shore.