In Congress April 6. 1780.
Resolved, That a committee of three be appointed to proceed to Head Quarters to confer with the commander in chief on the subject of his letter of the third instant, together with the report of the board of war and the letter from Baron Steuben on the subject of a reduction of the regiments, and the report of the commissioners on the arrangement of the staff departments of the army, and that a committee of three be appointed to prepare instructions for such committee.(2)
April 12. 1780. Copy of instructions to the committee appointed to go to camp.(3)
Gentlemen
You are to confer with the commander in chief on the subjects contained in the resolution for your appointment, and such others as are committed to your charge by the following instructions.
1. You are to consult him about the propriety of reducing the number of regiments: you may with his advice reduce, incorporate or unite to state lines the several additional corps.
2. You together with the commander in chief are to limit the number of horses to be kept by the officers of the line and regimental staff, and to make such regulations with respect to the soldiers employed as servants as will, as far as is consistent with the convenience of the of ficers they serve, enable the United States to avail themselves of their services as soldiers.
3. Together with the commander in chief you are to suggest such measures, and to form such plans for the general advantage of the officers and soldiers with respect to cloathing and necessary supplies as will tend to remove all just ground of complaint, which Congress sincerely lament that there should be any room for, and to adapt them to the abilities & circumstances of these United States, and immediately to lay them before Congress.
4. You are to consult with the commander in chief and the commissary and quarter master general about the defects of the present system, the abuses to which it is liable, and the best methods of reforming the same. In doing this you will pay a particular attention to the report referred to you in your appointment and adopt, amend or alter the same in such manner as shall upon full consideration appear to you most adviseable, and you are hereby fully empowered to carry into execution any plan for conducting the quarter master and commissary departments which upon advice with the commander in chief and the heads thereof you shall approve; always reflecting that supplies are to be drawn forth by the respective states agreeably to the resolutions of the 25th of Feby. last.
5. You are to inquire minutely into the management of the hospitals and medical departments, & after consulting the commander in chief & director general, you are empowered to discharge unnecessary officers, to retrench expences, to abolish purveyorships, unless when they shall appear absolutely necessary. To contrive modes for checking their accounts, and to limit the number of horses which the officers of that department shall be permitted to keep, providing that they be as few as possible, bearing in mind that the resources of the country are much drained; and that it is more expedient that individuals should feel temporary inconveniencies, than to involve our affairs in general ruin.
6. You are to inquire into the management of the hide department and to reform or abolish the same, substituting contracts in the lieu thereof, if upon advising with the commander in chief it shall appear most salutary.
7. You are to pay particular attention to the department of ordnance and military stores, and after consulting with the commander in chief and the heads of the departments, to lay down such rules for the management thereof as to you shall seem necessary.
8. After the establishment of general regulations you shall visit the different posts as far as you shall judge necessary, in order to see the same carried into execution. In doing of which you are vested with joint and seperate powers; you are at liberty to call to your assistance any officer in the service of the United States, whose expences shall be borne by the states.
You are to abolish unnecessary posts, to erect others, to discharge useless officers, to stop rations, improperly issued, and are hereby further authorized to exercise every power which may be requisite to effect a reformation of abuses and the general arrangement of those departments, which are in any wise connected with the matters committed to your charge.
You are from time to time to inform Congress of the measures you have taken in consequence of these powers and instructions, & to transmit them lists of the names and occupations of the persons
April 13. 1780
Congress proceeded to the election of the committee to proceed to Head Quarters, and the ballots being taken, Mr. Schuyler, Mr. Matthews & Mr. Peabody were elected.(4)
Extract from the minutes
Geo Bond Depy Secy.
1 This is a composite document, copied from the journals of congress for April 6, 12, and 13, for the use of the committee appointed on the 13th-John Mathews, Nathaniel Peabody, and Philip Shuyler. This committee, referred to at times as "The committee of Cooperation" or "The committee at Camp," was most often called the committee at Headquarters, the designation used in these Letters. For the origins of this committee, see John Mathews to Horatio Gates, March 14, 1780. For the role of the committee in congress management of the war, see E. Wayne carp, To Starve the Army at Pleasure: Continental Arm) Administration and American Political Culture, 1775-1783 (Chapel Hill: university of North Carolina Preps), pp. 191-95; and Edmund C. Burnett, The Continental Congress (New York: Macmillan co s 1941), pp. 446-65.
2 The members of the committee chosen on April 6 to prepare instructions were Oliver Ellsworth, Robert K. Livingston, and John Mathews. JCC, 16:332-33.
3 These instructions adopted on April 12 had been considered by congress since the 8th with principal attention focused on the first article describing the powers granted the committee at Headquarters, in consultation with the commander-in-chief, to reduce the number of regiments in the Continental army. In an initial draft, prepared by Livingston, the committee was "invested with every power necessary to carry [the plan] into execution." Livingston Papers, NHi. In Livingston's second draft "every power necessary" was changed to "full powers." PCC, item 21, fols. 225-26. Although secretary Thomson clearly endorsed the latter document "Delivered April 8, 1780" with "Monday next assigned for the consideration of it," he did not record its presentation in the journals. Congress began full debate on the instructions on Tuesday, April 11, when it eliminated altogether the section granting powers, merely directing the committee at headquarters to "consult" with Washington on "the propriety of reducing the number of regiments." The remaining sections of the instructions, as adopted the following day, do not differ significantly from either of the Livingston drafts. For the debate in Congress, see JCC, 16:350-52, 354-57.
4 For the election of the committee, prior to which Thomas Burke secured passage of a resolve that "no person shall be considered as duly elected to serve on any committee empowered to take order or carry any measure into execution unless he shall have the votes of a majority of the states present in Congress," see JCC, 16:35962.