Resolved, That this Convention will on Monday next again resolve itself into a Committee to take into their further consideration the state of the Colony.

The Order of the Day, for the Convention to resolve itself into a Committee on the Ordinance to amend an Ordinance entitled An Ordinance for augmenting the Ninth Regiment of Regular forces, providing for the better defence of the frontiers of this Colony, and for raising six Troops of Horse, being read,

Ordered, That the same be put off till Monday next.

An Ordinance for establishing a Board of Commissioners to superintend and direct the Naval affairs of this Colony, was read a second time, and ordered to be committed to a Committee of the whole Convention.

Resolved, That this Convention will, on Tuesday next, again resolve itself into a Committee on the said Ordinance.

An Ordinance to amend an Ordinance entitled An Ordinance to provide for paying the expenses of the Delegates from this Colony to the General Congress, was read a second time, and ordered to be fairly transcribed, and read a third time.

Mr. Digges, from the Committee of Safety, informed the Convention that the Committee had taken into their consideration how the Prisoners lately taken by the Captains James and Richard Barron, being two hundred and seventeen Scotch Highland Regulars, might be best disposed of, were of opinion that the non-commissioned officers and Cadets should be sent to some secure place in the frontiers, and there kept as prisoners of war; that the seamen be engaged to serve one in a cruiser or galley, if they shall be willing; if not, that they be disposed of with the privates; and that it will be most prudent to disperse the privates over the middle Counties, where, one in a family, they being well used and employed on such wages as they may be willing to take, may be secured, and probably reconciled to the country, at the same time considering them as prisoners of war; and had therefore ordered them to be sent, in equal numbers, to the following Counties, to wit: Amelia, Amherst, Albemarle, Cumberland, Buckingham, Berkeley, Frederick, Sussex, Goochland, Louisa, Orange, Culpepper, Fauquier, and Loudoun; and that it be recommended to the Committees of the said several Counties to distribute their number amongst the inhabitants respectively who may be willing to take them, and to be careful that the above purpose of the Committee respecting the said men may be complied with, and that the women, if they have husbands, may be sent with them, together with their respective children. That the officers and men in the American service, who were put on board the said ship when she was taken to the northward by Captain Biddle, ought to be engaged in the Naval service, or permitted to return to their places of residence, as they shall choose.

Resolved, That this Convention doth approve of the disposition of the Prisoners aforesaid, as made by the Committee of Safety.

Adjourned till Monday, ten o’clock.

Monday, June 24, 1776.

Mr. Richard Lee, from the Committee of Publick Claims, reported, that the Committee had, according to order, had under their consideration several Petitions to them referred, and had come to the following Resolutions thereupon; which he read in his place, and afterwards delivered in at the Clerk’s table, where the same were again twice read, and agreed to:

Resolved, That the Petition of Peter Wilson, a soldier in Captain John Lewis’s Company, for a further allowance of pay for seventy-five days more than he was returned for in the roll, which was omitted by mistake of the said Captain, is reasonable; and that the Petitioner be allowed the sum of £5 12s. 6d. for the same.

Resolved, That the Petition of James Shanks, praying to be allowed for his services thirty-eight days as Packhorse-master on the late expedition against the Indians, is reasonable; and that the Petitioner be allowed the sum of £4 155, for his services.

Resolved, That the Petition of Ahraham Hite, the younger, praying an additional allowance for his services as Commissary of Provisions for the Northern Department On the late expedition against the Indians, is reasonable; and that the Petitioner be allowed the further sum of five shillings per day for twenty-six days, the time he served in that office, amounting to £6 10s., exclusive of the allowance already made him by the Commissioners for those services.

Resolved, That the Petition of William Talbott, a soldier of the Militia, of Charles-City County, who was wounded in the arm and shoulder in an engagement with two of the enemy’s tenders at Sandy-Point, praying to be allowed the Surgeon’s account against him, for visits and dressing his wounds, is reasonable, and that the Petitioner be allowed £16 13s. 3d., the amount of the said account.

Resolved, That the Petition of Edward Cowper, praying to be allowed for the damages he sustained by means of the enemy having burnt His Houses, killed and taken away a considerable number of Cattle and other Stock, be rejected, it being no publick claim.

Resolved, That the Petition of Joseph Boot, a soldier and artificer in the service during the last war, who was wounded in several parts of his body, whereby he is rendered incapable of getting support by labour in his present declining state, and praying relief, is reasonable; and that he be allowed £5 for his present relief, and £5 per annum during his life.

Resolved, That the Petition of George Beckett, a soldier in Captain Lee’s Company, of the Third Virginia Regiment, who, by an overstrain in lifting pieces of wood for the use of the said Company, received a hurt which renders him incapable of walking, and consequently of getting a livelihood by labour, and praying relief, is reasonable, and that he be allowed the sum of £5 per annum during his life towards his support.

The Convention then, according to the Order of the Day, resolved itself into a Committee on the Ordinance to amend an Ordinance intituled An Ordinance for augmenting the Ninth Regiment of Regular forces, providing for the better defence of the frontiers of this Colony, and for raising six Troops of Horse; and after some time spent therein, Mr. President resumed the chair, and Mr. Cary reported, that the Committee had, according to order, had under their consideration the said Ordinance, and had gone through the same, and made several amendments thereto; which he read in his place, and afterwards delivered in at the Clerk’s table, where the same were again twice read, and agreed to.

Resolved, That the said Ordinance, together with the several Amendments, be fairly transcribed, and read a third time.

Whereas divers Petitions from the Inhabitants on the Western frontiers have been presented to this Convention, complaining of exorbitant demands made on them for Lands claimed by persons pretending to derive titles from Indian deeds and purchases:

Resolved, That all persons actually settled on any of the said Lands ought to hold the same, without paying any pecuniary or other consideration whatever to any private person or persons, until the said Petitions, as well as the validity of the titles under such Indian deeds and purchases, shall have been considered and determined on by the Legislature of this country; and that all persons who are now actually settled on any unlocated or unappropriated Lands in Virginia, to which there is no other just claim, shall have the pre-emption, or preference, in the grants of such Lands.

Resolved, That no purchases of Lands within the chartered limits of Virginia shall be made, under any pretence whatever, from any Indian Tribe or Nation, without the approbation of the Virginia Legislature.

Mr. Richard Lee, from the Committee of Publick Claims, reported, that the Committee had, according to order, had under their consideration a claim of Captain Joseph Haynes, Lieutenant Daniel Smith, and Ensign John Smith, to them referred; and that it appeared to them that the said Joseph Haynes, in the month of June, 1774, received orders from Colonel Abraham Smith, of Augusta, to raise as many men as the short notice would admit, and march to the North fork of the South Branch of Potomack River, to protect the inhabitants of that place, who at that time were threatened with an invasion by the Indians; that the said Haynes, within six days after receiving the orders, marched with thirty men to the place aforesaid, leaving his Ensign to proceed with the remainder that were inlisted as soon as they could be convened, who two days after joined him with twelve men; that the said Colonel Smith, thinking these forty-two men, with the officers, would be a sufficient reinforcement for the garrison, ordered the Captain not to inlist