Ordered, That the said Report lie for consideration till to-morrow.

Ordered, That Mr. Hooper and Mr. Penn be added to the Committee of Secrecy, War, and Intelligence.

Mr. Spicer, Mr. Hunt, and Mr. Tignal Jones, have leave to absent themselves for a few days.

Ordered, That Mr. Rochester, Mr. Dickson, Mr. Lawrence Baker, Mr. William Williams, Mr. Thomas Harvey, and Mr. Benajah Doty, be added to the Committee of Claims and Military Accounts.

Ordered, That Mr. Thomas Person, Mr. Kinchen, Mr. Thomas Jones, Mr. Whitmell Hill, Mr. Locke, Mr. Cumming, Mr. William Williams, and Mr. Thomas Benbury, be a Committee to prepare a number of Resolves to expedite the business for emitting Money.

The Recruiting Officer having certified that Mr. Charles W. Jacocks was duly elected a Delegate for the County of Bertie, pursuant to a Resolve issued from this Congress the 10th instant, the said Mr. Jacocks appeared and took his seat.

The Congress adjourned till to-morrow morning, nine o’clock.

Saturday, April 20, 1776.

The Congress met according, to adjournment.

The Committee to draw up Instructions and Orders for the Recruiting Officers, reported as follows:

1. They are to inlist none but able-bodied men, fit for service, capable of marching well, and such whose attachment to American liberties they have no cause to suspect. Young, hearty, robust men, whose birth, family connexions, and property, bind them to the interest of their country, and well practised in the use of fire-arms, are much to be preferred.

2. They are as much as possible to have regard to moral character, particularly sobriety.

3. They are not to inlist any imported servant, nor, without the leave of his master, any apprentice.

4. They are to be careful in inlisting such men for Sergeants and Corporals, whose ability, activity and diligence make them fit for that appointment; they are also to appoint a Fifer and Drummer.

5. They are to exert themselves to complete their companies, and punctually to report to their Colonels.

6. That the soldiers be allowed one shilling per day each for their subsistence till they join their Regiment.

7. They are to take notice that the Colonel of their Battalion, or some Field-Officer appointed by him, are to inspect their men, and to reject such as are not fit for service.

8. They are to furnish the subaltern officers of their Companies with a copy of their instructions.

9. They are to inlist their men according to the following form, viz:

10. “I have this day voluntarily inlisted myself as a soldier in the American Continental Army, and do bind myself to conform in all instances to such rules and regulations as are, or shall be, established for the government of the said Army; as witness my hand, &c.”

11. That they inlist no soldier under five feet four inches high, able-bodied men, healthy, strong-made, and well-limbed, not deaf, or subject to fits, or ulcers on their legs, or ruptures.

12. That they pay to each soldier they shall inlist forty Shillings bounty, and three Pounds advance; and that every recruit take the following oath: “I             do swear, that I will be faithful and true to the United Colonies; that I will serve the same, to the utmost of my power, in defence of the just rights of America, against all enemies whatsoever; that I will, to the utmost of my abilities, obey the lawful commands of my superior officers, agreeable to the ordinances of the Congress, and the articles of war to which I have subscribed, and lay down my arms peaceably, when required so to do by the Continental Congress. So help me God.”

The House taking the same into consideration, concurred therewith.

The Committee appointed to settle and allow the pay of the Light-Horse heretofore in the service, and also the pay of those Light-Horse directed to be raised by this Congress, reported as follows:

Your Committee are of opinion that each Light-Horseman employed in the late expedition against the Insurgents in this Province, should be allowed two shillings and six pence for every day he served, and that for every horse (where the publick found forage) the owner should be allowed two shillings, and two shillings and six pence where forage was supplied by the owner. That to every Captain in such service should be allowed ten shillings, Lieutenants seven shillings and six pence, and to every Cornet five shillings per day. That two shillings and six pence for every day’s service should be allowed to every Light-Horseman who shall hereafter enter into the regular service, (exclusive of the horse,) and to every Captain the same pay as a Major of Foot; to every Lieutenant the same pay as a Captain of Foot; and to every Cornet the same pay as a Lieutenant of Foot.

The House taking the same into consideration, concurred therewith.

Ordered, That Mr. Abraham Sheppard, Mr. William Johnston, Mr. Samuel Spencer, and Mr. Thomas Wiggins, have leave of absence.

The Order of the Day being read, for taking into consideration the defenceless state of the Sea-Coast,

Ordered, That the same be deferred till Monday next.

The Congress adjourned till Monday morning, nine o’clock.

Monday, April 32, 1776.

The Congress met according to adjournment.

Resolved, That Major Peter Dauge and Mr. Demscy Gregory, be appointed to take immediately into their possession all the Negroes belonging to the Estates of Thomas Macknight, late of Currituck County, and also of James Parker and Robert Gilmore, and cause them to be immediately brought to this place, that the said Negroes may be subject to the further order of this Congress.

On motion, Resolved, The Congress resolve itself into a Committee of the Whole, to take into consideration the state and arrangement of the Militia in this Province.

The Congress resolved itself into a Committee of the Whole accordingly, and chose John Campbell, Esq., Chairman; and after some time spent therein, came to several Resolutions.

Then, on motion, Mr. President resumed the Chair, and the Chairman reported as follows:

Resolved, That a Brigadier-General of the Militia be appointed in each District of this Province.

Resolved, That Richard Caswell, Esquire, be appointed Brigadier-General of the Militia for the District of Newbern; John Ashe, Esq., for the District of Wilmington; Thomas Person, Esquire, for the District of Hillsborough; Griffith Rutherford, Esq., for the District of Salisbury; Edward Vail, Esq., for the District of Edenton; Allen Jones, Esq., for the District of Halifax.

Resolved, That each of the Brigadier-Generals shall take rank in their respective Districts.

Resolved, That the following persons be appointed Field-Officers in the respective Counties, viz:

ANSON County: Charles Medlock, Colonel; David Love, Lieutenant-Colonel; William Picket, First Major; George Davidson, Second Major.

BEAUFORT: James Bonner, Colonel; Thomas Bonner, Lieutenant-Colonel; William Brown, First Major; Henry Bonner, Second Major.

BERTIE: Thomas Whitmell, Colonel; Thomas Pugh, Lieutenant-Colonel; James Moore, First Major; Arthur Brown, Second Major.

BLADEN: Thomas Robeson, Colonel; Thomas Broun, Lieutenant-Colonel; Thomas Owen, First Major; James Richardson, Second Major.

BUTE: Thomas Eaton, Colonel; William Alston, Lieutenant-Colonel; Thomas Sherwood, First Major; Green Hill, Second Major.

CRAVEN: John Bryan, Colonel; Lemuel Hatch, Lieutenant-Colonel; John Bryan, First Major; John Tilman, Second Major.

CARTERET: William Thompson, Colonel; Solomon Shepherd, Lieutenant-Colonel; Thomas Shadwick, First Major; Malachi Bell, Second Major.