General Orders, 18 January 1779

General Orders

Head-Quarters Middle-Brook Monday January 18th 1779.

Parole Wittenburgh—C. Signs Witney. Worms.

The Honorable the Congress have been pleased to pass the following Resolve (viz.)

Whereas it may happen that part of the monies paid for the months of September, October and November to the Officers and soldiers of the United States for their pay and subsistence may be of the emissions of the 20th of May 1777 & April 11th 1778.

Resolved—That in such case the Pay-Master General and Pay-Masters of the respective departments be directed to exchange such monies, to the end that the said officers and soldiers be not deprived of the use of the same.1

The officers and soldiers of the Army who are possessed of any bills of credit of Continental money of the emissions abovementioned, are desired to carry them in to the Pay-Master General’s Office, in order to have them exchanged for bills of other emissions, which have not yet been counterfeited.

Varick transcript, DLC:GW.

1. Congress had passed this resolution on 12 Jan. (JCC description begins Worthington Chauncey Ford et al., eds. Journals of the Continental Congress, 1774-1789. 34 vols. Washington, D.C., 1904–37. description ends , 13:52–53). Counterfeiting of the 20 May 1777 and 11 April 1778 currency emissions had prompted Congress on 2 Jan. 1779 to order them taken out of circulation by 1 June (see JCC description begins Worthington Chauncey Ford et al., eds. Journals of the Continental Congress, 1774-1789. 34 vols. Washington, D.C., 1904–37. description ends , 13:21–23). For soldiers’ abuse of this resolution, see General Orders, 10 February.

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Source Project: Washington Papers
Title: General Orders, 18 January 1779
Author: Washington, George
Date: 18 January 1779

Reference

Cite as: “General Orders, 18 January 1779,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/03-19-02-0016. [Original source: The Papers of George Washington, Revolutionary War Series, vol. 19, 15 January–7 April 1779, ed. Philander D. Chase and William M. Ferraro. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2009, p. 14.]