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cates of the invoice left by the drover, entering in the eighth column the weight of the quarters of the several creatures; in the ninth, the weight of the hide; in the tenth, the weight of the tallow; and at the foot of each invoice, the number of heads and tongues; and the commissary of issues shall endorse his receipt on one of the invoices, and deliver it to the deputy aforesaid, who shall return it to the purchaser as his voucher, and to enable him to fill up the eighth, ninth, and tenth columns of the entries in his book; and the other shall be kept by the issuing commissary for his own use.

XV. That the commissary-general of purchases shall contract, by himself, or the respective deputy commissaries-general, with one or more persons in each district, to make or supply a sufficient quantity of vinegar for the use of the army.

XVI. That the deputy commissaries-general of purchases take special care to procure full supplies of vegetables, as being essentially necessary to the health of the army; and they are respectively empowered and directed, with the advice of the commander in chief, or commander of the respective district, to hire land therein, and raise such quantities of vegetables as are wanted, and cannot be otherwise procured for the army; and for this purpose, to employ suitable persons to conduct, and laborers to assist in carrying on the said business.

XVII. That the commissary-general of purchases shall, from time to time, apply to Congress for all the money wanted in his department, and shall make the necessary advances to the respective deputy commissaries-general, calling them to account as often as he shall judge it necessary; and the deputy commissaries general shall, in like manner, make advances of the money received of the said commissary-general to their respective assistants, and call them to account as aforesaid.

XVIII. That the commissary and deputy commissaries-general of purchases and issues, shall respectively be accountable for the conduct of the of ficers of their own appointment, and all the accounts of purchases and issues shall, once in six months, be settled by the respective commissaries-general with the proper commissioners of accounts; each account of purchases to be vouched by the several bills and receipts of the venders, specifying the cost, and the receipts of the issuing commissaries, shewing the delivery of all articles therein charged; and each account of issues by the victualling returns hereafter directed to be made, and receipts for all provisions charged therein as rations, or sent by the respective issuing commissary to any other : and the commissaries-general shall produce the monthly returns of the several purchasing and issuing commissaries, to be used by the commissioners in adjusting their respective accounts.

XIX. That the commissaries-general of purchases and issues, and their respective deputies, for neglect of duty, or other offences in their respective offices, shall be subject to military arrest and trial, by order of the commander in chief, or any general officer commanding a division of the army, post, or department, where such neglect of duty or offence may happen; and the respective assistants of the deputy commissaries-general of purchases and issues, shall, for the same causes, be liable to military arrest as commissioned officers in the army, by any general officer, or any officer commanding at a detached post to which such assistants may be assigned.

XX. That the commissary-general of issues shall superintend the respective deputy commissaries-general, and assign to each a separate district; and have full powers to suspend them and appoint others for a time, as already appointed for the commissary-general of purchases.

XXI. That every issuing-commissary shall enter, in distinct pages of the book mentioned in the ninth article, each species of provisions or other stores received by him, including the provisions delivered by other issuing-com

missaries, or the present commissary-general, and the same entries shall be made with respect to these, as therein are directed, when provisions are received from the purchasers; excepting that the prices and cost of articles, delivered by the said commissaries, may be omitted.

XXII. That every issuing-commissary shall be furnished with a book of issues, in which he shall open a separate account with each regiment, corps, or detachment to which he may issue, or commissary to which he may send or deliver provisions; and each page thereof shall be divided into columns, in the first of which shall be entered the time of delivery; in the second, the name of the officer upon whose return provisions are issued, or by whom sent to any other issuing-commissary; in the third, the number of rations, and, in other separate columns, the several quantities of each species of provisions delivered as rations, or sent to the commissaries as aforesaid. And, on the last day of every month, he shall foot the said accounts, and also all the accounts of provisions received and entered in the book mentioned in the preceding article.

XXIII. That every issuing-commissary shall take duplicate receipts for each quantity of provisions and stores by him sent to any post, place or magazine, agreeably to the form of the entries directed to be made in the book of issues, one of which he shall deliver to the officer, or person employed to deliver the said provisions or stores; and the issuing-commissary at such post, place, or magazine, or at any intermediate post, who may receive such provisions or stores, or any part thereof, shall certify the quantity on the back of the said receipt, which the officer, or person who delivered the provisions, shall return to the commissary that sent them as his voucher: And, in cases of deficiency, the commissary who sent the provisions shall credit the commissary to whom they were directed for the quantity lost, if the same has been placed to his debit, and shall charge twice the amount thereof to the account of the officer or person employed to deliver it, and shall also transmit a copy of the said account to the pay-master or deputy pay-master general in the district, who shall send to the issuing-commissary a receipt for such account, to be produced by him on settlement, and shall also deduct the amount thereof from the pay of the delinquent, and credit the United States therefor: provided, that if any provisions or stores shall be lost by unavoidable accident, and the same is proved by sworn evidences before the commanding officer of the post from or to which such provisions or stores were sent, his certificate, with the proof annexed, shall authorize the commissary to cancel such charge.

XXIV, That no provisions be issued to any person but by the written order of the commander in chief, the commander of any department, the quarter-master general, any of his deputies or assistants, the commanding officer of a post, describing the person in whose favour such order shall be given; or upon a return signed by the commanding officer of a corps, or detachment thereof, whether commissioned or non-commissioned, or by the regimental-quarter master.

XXV. That when any troops are ordered to quit a post, and the issuingcommissary remains at such post, the respective commanding officers of the several regiments or corps shall call on the issuing-commissary for a certificate, specifying the day to which they were victualled, inclusively; and, in case detachments of different regiments or corps are made, the commanding officer of such detachments shall procure a certificate from the commissary, in which shall be inserted the days to which the different troops, of which his detachment may be composed, were victualled, and the next, and every subsequent provision return for such detachment shall distinguish the corps out of which it is formed, and the number of each corps, to the end that the commissary may charge each corps with the provision issued to it;

and if any commissary, at any other post, shall victual any corps or detachment comprehended in the foregoing description before such certificates are produced, he shall charge the officer commanding the same, with twenty days' provision for the whole number of men under his care, and make return thereof to the pay-master general or deputy pay-master general in the district, who shall make the proper stoppages, and also to the board of treasury, who shall charge him therefor. Provided, That if such certificates be procured and delivered within thirty days after the first drawing of such provisions without certificate, the commissary general shall cancel the charge, keeping the certificate as a voucher for so doing: Provided also, That notwithstanding such certificate may be produced, if it shall appear that the officer commanding any corps or detachment, has drawn more provision than the corps or detachment was entitled to, he shall stand charged the double quantity so over-drawn.

XXVI. That every issuing-commissary shall take receipts for the number of rations, and for so much of every species of provisions as he may issue. XXVII. That every issuing-commissary, on the last drawing day preceding the last drawing day of every month, shall victual the troops up to the last day of the month inclusive; and if provisions should be ordered for troops going on detachments, for such time as would run beyond that day, two returns shall be made out, one to the last day of the month inclusive, and one from the first day of the month inclusive to the time ordered.

XXVIII. That every issuing commissary shall number the provision returns, and endorse the same with the date thereof, and the number of men victualled, and put the returns of each detachment or corps on separate files, each to contain the returns of a month for such corps or detachment.

XXIX. That, wherever any capital magazine shall be established, the commander in chief, or commanding officer of the department, shall order store-houses to be built, and a barrack for fifty men, and the same to be enclosed with a stockade.

XXX. That, whenever any of the provisions or stores in any of the magazines become so damaged as to threaten a total loss of all such damaged provisions, the commissary of issues, to whose care such provisions may be committed, shall make return thereof immediately to the deputy commissary-general of issues, who is to apply to the commander in chief, or some general officer, to order a court of enquiry, who shall thereupon grant one, and such provisions as may by the court be condemned, shall be sold at public vendue, under the direction of the deputy commissary-general of issues, public notice being given of such sale, by advertisements at least ten days before the day of sale, unless the court should determine that the same ought to be sold at an earlier day.

XXXI. That every assistant commissary of issues shall, within six days after the last day of every month, make a return to the deputy commissarygeneral of the district, of all provisions and stores in his magazine or store, at the last preceding return; of all provisions by him received in the preceding month; from whom and whence; of what he has issued, specifying the regiment and corps, and the number of rations, and quantity of each species of provisions drawn by the same; and of what remains in store.

XXXII. That each deputy commissary-general of issues shall, from the monthly returns of the assistant commissaries, make out a general return for the district, specifying what remained in the magazines or stores at the last return; what has been received since; the number of rations and quantity of provisions issued, and what remains in store, distinguishing the several posts, places, magazines, and regiments or corps as aforesaid; one to be sent to the board of war, one to the commander in chief, one to the commander of the department, one to the commissary-general of purchases, and one to the commissary-general of issues.

XXXIII. That the commissary-general of purchases and commissary-general of issues, each in his own department, make a general monthly return to the board of war, the commander in chief, and the commanding officer of the respective districts, and take special care constantly to provide and furnish each of the officers under him with printed forms of the books, invoices, receipts, and returns, to be used by them respectively, agreeable to these resolves.

XXXIV. That no returns of rations drawn or returned by the several regiments be hereafter made by the issuing commissaries to the commissarygeneral of musters, or by him to the adjutant-general, or by the adjutant-general to the board of war, as directed in the regulations of the muster-master general's department, passed by Congress the 4th day of April last.

XXXV. That the commissaries-general and the respective officers under them, apply to the quarter-master general, or his respective officers, for wagons, teams, and horses, wanted in the several districts; and if, at any time, it shall be necessary to hire the same, they are not to exceed the rates stipulated by Congress, or the quarter-master general aforesaid.

XXXVI. That all persons employed to purchase for the United States any articles in the several departments of the commissary-general of purchases, quarter-master, director, or clothier general, or the commissary-general of military stores, shall previously apply to them, or the principal officers under them respectively, for certificates of the several prices by them allowed for such articles, and shall not, on any pretence whatsoever, exceed such prices. And it is recommended to the several states to give their purchasers respectively similar directions.

XXXVII. That the commissary-general of purchases from time to time provide sufficient quantities of salt, and deliver it to the commissary-gene ral of issues, or the respective officers under him, who are directed to issue to the troops only such quantities, and in such manner, as the commander in chief, or commander of the respective district, shall direct. And the commissary-general of issues shall direct the respective deputy commissariesgeneral to employ a suitable number of coopers and packers, who shall salt and pack provisions at the several magazines and stores, and take the proper precautions with respect to all provisions therein deposited.

XXXVIII. And whereas, great confusion hath arisen from the manner in which officers and soldiers have been paid for rations and parts of rations allowed to, but not drawn by, them respectively,

Resolved, That the parts of a ration be estimated as follows, viz: for the daily allowance of beef, pork, or fish, 4-90ths of a dollar; of bread or flour, 2-90ths; of peas or beans, 1-90th; of milk, 1-90th; of beer, 1-90th; of rice, one-half of 1-90th; and of soap, one-half of 1-90th; making, in the whole, 10-90ths of a dollar for each ration: and that, for the future, the quartermaster, or other person drawing provision for any regiment, corps, or detachment, shall, on the last day of every month, make out an abstract of the number of retained rations due to each officer respectively, and also the number of each part of ration due to such regiment, corps, or detachment, and deliver the same to the respective issuing commissary, who shall compare it with his books, and finding it right, shall certify thereon that the several charges in the abstract are just, and that such a sum as he shall find to be due, shall be paid to the respective pay-master of the regiment, corps, or detachment, who shall annex the said abstract to the pay-roll, that the pay-master, or deputy pay-master general of the district, may pay, and he is hereby required to pay, such ration-abstract to the regimental pay-master, who is directed to pay the respective officers and soldiers, and take their receipts. And when any regiment, corps, or detachment, or issuing commissary is ordered to leave a post before the end of the mouth, the ration-abstract shall be made up to the

day of his or their leaving the post, and certified by the commissary as aforesaid.

XXXIX. That the commissary of issues at every post where cattle are killed for the use of the army, appoint a careful person to take charge of the hides and tallow, to see that the former are properly dried, and that the latter is properly rendered, and that both are disposed of as the commissary-general of issues, by order of Congress, shall direct.

XL. That the commissary and deputy commissaries-general of purchases in each department, and every purchaser employed under them, shall take the oath of fidelity to the United States, and the following oath or affirmation, viz.

I

do solemnly and sincerely swear (or affirm) in the presence of Almighty God, that I will not collude with any person or persons whatever to enhance the price of provisions, or any article of commerce which I shall at any time hereafter be directed to purchase for the use of the United States; and that I will endeavor, by every honest means in my power, to procure the articles which I may be directed to purchase at the most reasonable rates; and that I will not charge the public with any advance on any purchases by me to be made, and that I will, in all things, conduct myself as becometh a faithful servant of the public.

XLI. That the commissary and deputy commissary-general of issues in each department, and every issuing commissary employed under them, shall take the said oath of fidelity, and the following oath or affirmation, viz.

I do swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully receive, take the care of, and issue the provisions and other stores committed to my trust, and keep regular accounts and make regular returns, agreeable to the resolutions of Congress, and oftener if thereunto required by any superior officer having right to order returns; and that I will, in all things, honestly demean myself as a faithful servant of the public.

Ordered, That the committee consider and report to-morrow, what compensation ought to be made to the several officers in the commissary's department, for their services:

That to-morrow be assigned for appointing the officers in the commissary's department.

The committee on the treasury reported,

That a warrant should issue on Joseph Borden, esq. commissioner of the loan-office, in the state of New-Jersey, in favor of John Gibson, esq. auditor-general, for 69,100 dollars, the said J. Gibson to be accountable.

Ordered, That a warrant be drawn accordingly.

In consequence of an adjustment by the commissioners of accounts, the auditor-general reports,

That there is due to captain Garland, and other officers, for their expenses, being a second division as officers of a guard with military stores from Sinepuxent to Philadelphia, 120.51 dollars:

To lieutenant colonel Eleazer Oswald, for his pay from the 1st September, 1775, to the 1st January, 1777; as also for 2 months' extra pay, for clothing allowed in Canada, 18 months, at 40 dollars a month, 720 dollars, and for 1825 rations, at 10-90ths of a dollar, 202.70 dollars, the whole amounting to 922.70 dollars.

Ordered, That the said accounts be paid.

Ordered, That a warrant for 5000 dollars be drawn on John Gibson, esq. in favor of William Henderson, pay-master of colonel Moylan's regiment of light-horse, for the use of the said regiment; the pay-master to be ac

countable.

The board of war brought in a report, which was taken into consideration : Whereupon,

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