Washington, DC, 1994.
Preceding element provides place and date of transcription only.
For more information about this text and this American Memory collection, refer to accompanying matter.
The National Digital Library Program at the Library of Congress makes digitized historical materials available for education and scholarship.
This transcription is intended to have an accuracy of 99.95 percent or greater and is not intended to reproduce the appearance of the original work. The accompanying images provide a facsimile of this work and represent the appearance of the original.
IN CONGRESS,
APRIL 1, 1777.
FOR the better regulating the PAY of the ARMY, Resolved, That the Paymaster or Deputy Paymaster General shall pay no money but by warrants from the Commanders in Chief, in their respective departments, countersigned by their respective Secretaries; and that the money be paid only to the person specified in the warrant, or to his order in writing, excepting in cases otherwise provided by Congress.
That the regimental abstracts be made up by the regimental Paymasters, at the close of every month, and certified by the respective Colonels or Commanding Officers and Brigadiers General, who shall carefully examine and compare the same with the weekly returns, after which they shall be lodged with the Paymaster or Deputy Paymaster General, until orders are given for the payment.
That the Regimental Paymasters only, shall receive from the Paymaster or Deputy Paymaster General the money due, upon abstracts, to the officers and soldiers; and the said Regimental Paymasters alone shall settle with, and pay the money due to the officers and soldiers of the regiments to which they respectively belong, either in person or to their order, and take receipts for the same, to be produced as vouchers on the settlement of their respective accounts. That officers and soldiers, who may be prisoners of war, shall be made up in the abstracts of the regiment to which they belong, to the time of their captivity, and authentic returns shall be made with such abstracts of the names of the officers and soldiers aforesaid, their rank, and the company to which they belong, the time of their captivity, and the pay that was then due. And whenever such prisoners are to be exchanged, a pay-roll shall be made out by the Paymaster, or Deputy Paymaster General, for the pay due to them to the time of their return, and the money shall be sent to them, and paid by the officer appointed to receive them, and their receipts immediately lodged with the Paymaster or Deputy Paymaster General.
That whenever any Regimental Paymaster leaves the service, or is dismissed, he shall make a return to the Paymaster or Deputy Paymaster General of the names of the commissioned, non-commissioned officers, and soldiers of his regiment, who remain unpaid, the sum due to them respectively, and what balance of cash he has remaining, all which shall be lodged with the Paymaster, or Deputy Paymaster General, to be by him delivered to the next Paymaster of the said regiment, or otherwise disposed of as the Commander in Chief in the department may think proper.
That no commissioned, or non-commissioned officer or soldier, coming from any department where a Paymaster or Deputy Paymaster General is appointed, shall receive in any other department the pay that may be due to him, unless he produces a certificate from his Colonel or Commanding Officer, countersigned by the Paymaster or Deputy Paymaster General, of the department to which he belongs, of the sum bona fide due to him, and deliver the same with a receipt thereon.
Resolved, That no officer, already appointed, or to be hereafter appointed in the army of the United States, shall take rank by virtue of a commission antedated, but rank shall be determined by the time of appointment, unless otherwise directed by special resolution of Congress.
Resolved, That it be recommended to the legislatures, and in their recess, to the executive power of the respective States, that they forthwith transmit to the Board of War, exact lists of all officers appointed by them in the Continental Army, with the dates of their commissions, and times of appointment.
APRIL 2.
Resolved, That the Paymaster and Deputy Paymaster General, at the end of every month after the first of May next, shall make up rolls containing the names of the General and other officers of the army to which they respectively belong, who are not comprised in the regimental abstracts, excepting only the Commanders in Chief of the several departments, who shall respectively examine such rolls, and issue their warrants on the Paymaster or Deputy Paymaster General for the sums due on the same.
That the Commanders in Chief of the several departments be directed to order payments to such officers and detachments of the army as shall at any time be ordered to other departments, to be made to the day of their marching or leaving the camp, and that certificates be given by the respective Paymaster or Deputy Paymaster General, mentioning the names of such officers and corps, together with the time to which they are paid, which certificates shall be delivered by the Commanding Officers of the respective detachments (or by such officers as shall be ordered without detachments) to the Paymaster or Deputy Paymaster General of the department to which they are ordered, to enable him to examine and make up their future rolls and abstracts.
APRIL 9.
Resolved, That the Paymaster, and the Deputy Paymaster General, be directed forthwith to consult the Commanders in Chief of their respective districts, and appoint Deputies to repair to such posts and places of rendezvous, and answer the draughts of such officers stationed thereat, as the said Commanders in Chief shall respectively direct; that the Deputies be supplied with money by the respective Paymasters and Deputy Paymasters General, and account with them therefor; and that all other Paymasters of the army cease to act as the posts and places provided with Deputies as aforesaid.
APRIL 10.
Resolved, That the Commanders in Chief of the several departments, previous to the discharge of any regiment or corps of Militia reinforcing the army, be respectively directed to issue their warrants on the Paymaster and Deputy Paymaster-General, for the amount of the pay due to the same; and, when the Military Chest is unsupplied, the Paymaster or Deputy Paymaster-General is authorized to draw on the President for the amount of such warrants.
Extract from the Minutes.
Published by Order of CONGRESS,
CHARLES THOMSON, SECRETARY.
PRINTED BY JOHN DUNLAP.