Scope and Content: Richard Devens, a member of the Committee of Safety, was appointed commissary general by Nov. 1775 (Resolves 1775-76, c 343). A store building was built in Watertown in Feb. 1776 (Resolves 1775-76, c 679), where the state government was then located. In May 1776 the commissary’s office moved to Boston, and a store opened there, following the British evacuation of that city. The commissary general initially was occupied in the delivery of arms and provisions needed by the state for the war effort. As war activity moved outside New England in the late 1770s, and following the end of the war, the office focused on supplying state forces, including  provisioning the garrison established on Castle Island (Resolves 1785, Feb 1786 Sess, c 166)  and the troops fighting Shays’ Rebellion. It also arranged for the building of lighthouses and helped administer a program of tax payments in kind instituted subsequent to the rebellion (St 1786, c 39). Once the Board of War was disbanded in 1781, the military stores in the board’s possession were forwarded to the commissary general. The commissary office closed in June 1792 (Resolves 1792, May Sess, c 61).  Resolves 1793, May Sess, c 52 (June 22, 1793) provided the elderly Devens with one year’s compensation for his services in closing his office.
Arrangement: Arranged chronologically
Notes: Vol. 1: Jan. 1-Dec. 31, 1777; June 19, 1779-Apr. 30, 1785. Vol. 2: Apr. 1781-Aug. 16, 1792
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