The Colonels and Officers commanding Corps are immediately to have their men completed with twenty-four rounds of powder and ball, properly and completely made up into cartridges, six rounds of which each man is to have in his pouch or cartridge-box, for ordering duty; the remaining eighteen are to be wrapped up tight in a cloth or coarse paper, and marked with the name of the soldier to whom they belong, and carefully packed into an empty powder-barrel. The Captains or Officers commanding Companies are to see that this is done, and to take into his own possession the barrel, with the cartridges so packed, and to have them delivered to the men as occasion may require; and whatsoever soldier shall be found wasting or embezzling his ammunition, shall not only be made to pay for it, but be punished for so base and shameful a neglect and disobedience of orders.

Notwithstanding the care and pains that have been taken to provide good arms for the troops, on examination they are found to be in the most shocking situation. The Colonels, or Commanding Officers of the Regiments, are requested to get the arms belonging to their Regiments put in good order as soon as possible, the work to be executed at the Continental armory or elsewhere, so as to have them repaired in the most expeditious manner. Every man to be furnished with a good bayonet; but all that have had bayonets heretofore, and have lost them, to pay for the new ones. Wherever a soldier is known to have injured his gun on purpose, or suffered it to be injured by negligence, to be chargeable with the repairs. An account to be rendered of the expense of those repairs, and, after deducting what each individual ought to pay, a warrant will be given the Commanding Officer of the Regiments for the discharge of the same.

All repairs that are done to the arms hereafter, except unavoidable accidents, to be paid by the men, and stopped out of their wages by the Commanding Officer of the Regiment; an account to be rendered to him by the Captains or Commanding Officers of Companies.

Captain Joseph Butler, of Colonel Nixon’s Regiment, is to be furnished with a copy of the accusation lodged against him by Lieutenant Silas Walker, and both are to attend the next General Court-Martial with their evidences.

The lads lately picked out of Colonel Nixon’s and Colonel Webb’s Regiments, are to be immediately discharged, and their accounts settled and paid. In order the better to enable them to return to their respective homes, ten days’ provision and pay is to be allowed them from this day.

John Leiwis, of Captain Hardenbergh’s Company, in Colonel Ritzema’s Regiment, tried by a late General Court-Martial, whereof Colonel Ritzema was President, “for insulting and striking Lieutenant Cole, of Colonel Wylly’s Regiment, when on command:” The Court find the prisoner guilty of the charge, and a breach of the seventh article of the Continental Rules and Regulations, and do sentence him to be whipped thirty-nine lashes for said of-fences.

The General approves of the above sentence, and orders it to be put in execution to-morrow morning, at guardmounting.

Head-Quarters, New-York, May 20, 1776.

The sentries at all the batteries where cannon are placed, are to be increased to the number the Brigadier finds necessary; and they are all to be doubled at night. They are not to suffer any person whatever (excepting the rounds, or officer of the guard) to go into the batteries at night; nor is any person whatever (but the Generals, or Field Officers of the Army, and officers and men of the Artillery, who have not business there) to be permitted, even in the day time, to go on the platforms in the batteries, or to approach the cannon, or to meddle with the rammers, sponges, or any of the artillery stores placed there. The officers of every guard are to see that their men are particularly alert in executing this order.

No person whatever belonging to the Army is to be inoculated for the small-pox. Those who have already undergone that operation, or who may be seized with symptoms of that disorder, are immediately to be removed to the Hospital provided for that purpose, on Montresor’s Island. Any disobedience to this order will be most severely punished, as it is, at present, of the utmost importance that the spreading of that distemper in the Army and city, should be prevented,

Head-Quarters, New-York, May 21, 1776.

That no confusion may ensue when the troops are called into action, the General has ordered that all the posts of the lines, redoubts, and batteries, be so fixed and regulated as that every officer and soldier may know his place and duty; which will be explained to them by the Brigadiers-General, according to the orders of yesterday. And further, to confirm the order and discipline of the guards of the Army, the General orders that the officers and men who are to mount guard do parade by half past six o’clock, where they are, by their Adjutants, in the presence of a Field Officer, to be reviewed and their arms and ammunition to be examined, according to the orders of the 19th instant; which last mentioned officers are to see that their ammunition and accoutrements are complete, and the men dressed in a soldierlike manner. The Adjutants are then to march them to the parade of the Brigade, and to deliver them over to the Major of their respective Brigades, who is very minutely to inspect and see that the guards are complete in the particulars above-mentioned. The Brigade-Majors are then to march them to the grand parade on the Common, in the Artillery Park, and from thence the several out-guards are to be relieved. On the grand parade, the Brigadier, with the Field Officers of the day, will attend to see the guards paraded and marched to their several destinations. The Brigade-Major of the day is also to attend on the grand parade, and make up the guards before he repairs to Head-Quarters, for the purpose of reporting the same, and to receive any orders from the Commander-in-Chief to the Brigadier-General of the day, and to the other Brigadiers of the line. The Brigadier-General of the day will give his orders on the parade to the Field Officers of the day, at what time he would have them go the visiting and grand rounds. At reveille-beating, which is to be at the dawn of day, all the guards are to be under arms at their proper posts, and visited by the Field Officers of the picket, (who are all esteemed Field Officers of the day,) who are to see that the guards are properly placed, and that everything is in good order for defence, in case of an attack. The Brigadier-General will, on the parade, assign to each Field Officer of the day the posts he is to visit for this purpose.

The Artillery guard is to parade at the same time and place. The Matrosses and Gunners necessary to be constant at each battery are, with their proper implements, to march off from the grand parade at the head of the guards to be stationed at the respective batteries.

The Field Officer who goes the grand rounds is to visit the camp-guards, as well as the guards stationed in the town and at the batteries. The other two Field Officers of the day are to do the like, at such hours of the night as will be assigned them by the Brigadier of the day.

By the present demand for flints by some of the troops, the General has reason to apprehend that due care has not been taken of those lately delivered to the soldiers, who have had no occasion to make an extraordinary use of them. And it is well known that a good flint, well screwed in, will stand the firing of sixty rounds, after which, it may still be repaired. It is therefore presumed that the men have either lost their flints through negligence, or abused them by that worst of practices—snapping their pieces continually, which not only spoils their lock, softens the hammer, and destroys the flint, but frequently causes the death of many a man, by the gun being unknowingly loaded. The officers are therefore required to pay a very strict attention to this particular, and have their men’s flints examined when they review their ammunition; for men being surprised with bad flints in their guns may be attended with fatal consequences. The officers are also desired to be careful that, when their men turn out to exercise, their flints be taken out and a wooden snapper screwed into their gun, until their exercise be over, when the flint is again to be well screwed in, and their arms immediately put in proper fighting order, after which no man is, on any account, to snap his piece. One flint per man will be delivered to the troops, and it is expected more care will be taken of them than has been done heretofore.