Continental Congress Report on a Memorial of Lieutenant Colonel Jean Baptiste de Ternant, 23 July 1783
Continental Congress
Report on a Memorial of Lieutenant Colonel Jean Baptiste de Ternant
[Princeton, New Jersey] July 23, 1783
The Committee on the letter from the Secretary at War respecting Lt Col Ternant submit the following [r]esolution:
That Lt Col Ternant be informed that Congress in continuing General Armand in the command of his corps at the time of his promotion to his present rank had reasons of a peculiar nature without any intention derogatory to the merit of Lt. Col Ternant of whose useful and distinguished services in the several confidential and important stations in which he has been employed they entertain a just sense.
That Lt. Col Ternant receive the emoluments of Lt Col Commandant.1
AD, Papers of the Continental Congress, National Archives.
1. On March 26, 1783, Congress promoted Colonel Charles Armand to the rank of brigadier general. On May 14, the Secretary at War wrote to Congress that Lieutenant Colonel Jean Baptiste de Ternant believed “the continuance of General Armand in the command of the Corps conveys a tacit reflection on him.” The Secretary recommended the promotion of Ternant to the rank of colonel ( , XXIV, 344–45). The committee to which the Secretary’s letter was referred changed membership several times ( , XXIV, 435, note 1). When the report was made, the committee consisted of H, James McHenry, and Richard Peters.
The endorsement states that the report was delivered July 23, but there is no record in the Journals that it was read on that day. It is printed in the Journals under date of September 27, 1783, and the endorsement states that it was passed, except for the last paragraph, on that date.