Proceedings to the Council of Safety of Connecticut

v5:754

Monday, April 1, 1776.

At a meeting of the Governour and Council of Safety:

Present: His Honour the Governour, his Honour the Deputy-Governour, Jabez Huntington, Jedediah Elderkin, Joshua West, Benjamin Huntington, Esquires.

Voted, That fifteen Men, heretofore allowed to guard the coast of the Town of Lyme, in this Colony, under Lieutenant Lee Lay, be augmented to thirty, (Officers included,) with three Sergeants, and to be posted at different places on said coast, by the advice and direction of his Honour the Deputy-Governour.

Voted, That the number of Men in Colonel Gurdon Saltonstall' s Company, in the Colony service, at New-London, be augmented to ninety, by inlistment.

Voted, That two Companies, of ninety Men each, (Officers included,) be raised or drafted out of the Militia, to go to New-London, for the Colony service at New-London Harbour; and that one of these Companies shall be raised out of the Third Regiment, and the other out of the Eighth Regiment of Militia in this Colony, and be officered out of the Officers of their respective Regiments, with a Captain, two Lieutenants, and one Ensign to each Company, observing the same rank they sustain in the Militia.

Voted, That the Colonels, or Commanding Officers of the First, Fifth, Eleventh, Twelfth, Nineteenth, Twenty-First, and Twenty-Second Regiments, in this Colony, be directed, forthwith, to draft out one-quarter of their Men in their respective Regiments, (exclusive of those who are inlisted into the Continental service for the current year,) and see that they are completely equipped with Arms and Accoutrements, and two pounds of Ball to each man, fit for his Gun, and six Flints, and to hold themselves in readiness to march, on the shortest notice, for defence of any invaded place or places in this or the neighbouring Colonies; and that the Colonels, or Commanding Officers of the Third, Eighth, and Twentieth Regiments, draft out, or detach, one-third part of their Men, (exclusive of those inlisted in the Continental service for the current year,) and see that they are equipped and held in readiness in the same manner, and for the same purpose, aforementioned; and that one Company to be raised in the Third Regiment, and one Company to be raised in the Eighth Regiment, in manner aforesaid, be immediately employed at the Colony Works at New-London; and their pay, wages, and allowance, when in actual service, is to be the same as the Troops in the Continental Army.