Continental Congress Report on Sale of Military Equipment, 17 April 1783
Continental Congress
Report on Sale of Military Equipment
[Philadelphia] April 17, 1783
The Committee1 to whom was referred the letter from the Secretary of war of the 14th. instant2 submit the following resolution
Resolved that immediate measures be taken for the sale of all the dragoon horses belonging to the United States and of all such articles in the several military departments as may not be necessary for the use of the army previous to its reduction or for the formation of magazines on a peace establishment.3
AD, Papers of the Continental Congress, National Archives.
1. The committee consisted of Samuel Osgood, Theodorick Bland, H, Oliver Wolcott, Sr., and Richard Peters.
2. The letter from the Secretary at War, Benjamin Lincoln, is printed in , XXIV, 253–54. Lincoln, after discussing the problem of pay for the Army, recommended that horses and other articles which might be sold for cash, be sold to public creditors who would be “debited for the value of what they buy.”
3. The endorsement states that the report was adopted on April 17, 1783.