Alexander Hamilton Papers

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 JCC description begins Journals of the Continental Congress, 1774–1789 (Washington, 1904–1937). description ends , 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.

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    Hamilton Papers
    Title
    Continental Congress Report on Sale of Military Equipment, 17 April 1783
    Authors
    Hamilton, Alexander
    Continental Congress
    Date
    17 April 1783

    Reference

    Cite as
    “Continental Congress Report on Sale of Military Equipment, 17 April 1783,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Hamilton/01-03-02-0215. [Original source: The Papers of Alexander Hamilton, vol. 3, 1782–1786, ed. Harold C. Syrett. New York: Columbia University Press, 1962, p. 332.]