Scope and Content: The munitions laboratory erected by Massachusetts at Springfield in 1777 on behalf of the Continental Congress had its origins in the colony’s own arrangements for self-defense in the early days of the American Revolution.  Resolves 1775-76, c 961 (May 2, 1776) licensed John Hale to erect a powder mill in Springfield; Resolves 1776-77, c 336 (Sept. 17, 1776) authorized funds to allow Capt. James Sikes to procure saltpetre on behalf of the colony to allow manufacture of gunpowder at the mill to proceed; Resolves 1776-77, c 593 (Nov. 29, 1776) directed that Hale purchase sulphur from state stores through the commissary general and thereby convert the saltpetre to gunpowder at a price of seven pence per pound; Resolves 1776-77, c 675 (Dec. 10, 1776) directed Hale to supply powder to towns in Hampshire and Berkshire counties; Resolves 1777-78, c 48 (June 13, 1777) provided state subsidy for rebuilding the mill after it was accidentally demolished by explosion the previous December. –In Dec. 1776, the Continental Congress had resolved that a laboratory for supplying the Continental Army be built in Brookfield, Mass. On Apr. 6, 1777, Gen. Henry Knox wrote James Bowdoin, Massachusetts Council president, conveying Gen. George Washington’s suggestion that the proposed laboratory and accompanying magazine be built instead at Hartford.  However, Gen. Knox favored a Springfield site (Massachusetts. Office of the Secretary of State. Massachusetts archives collection ((M-Ar)45X) (MA), v. 196, p. 367-369; v. 197, v. 42) and Congress ratified that choice per a resolve of Apr. 14 (Journal Cont. Cong.) –On Aug. 6th, Congress authorized payment of 30,000 dollars to Massachusetts to build the magazine, laboratory, and barracks (known collectively as the arsenal at Springfield).  The Massachusetts Council was responsible for the project; related petitions, orders, and correspondence are found in Council records contained in: MA v. 167, p.93 and v. 198, p. 40-43.  The laboratory was staffed by the artillery company headed by Capt. Benjamin Frothingham and Capt. Lieut. John Bryant, listed in: Massachusetts. Office of the Secretary of State. Muster rolls of the Revolutionary War ((M-Ar)57X), v. 46, p. 55. (Guards for the facility are listed in the same series, v. 25, p. 172-194.)
Arrangement: Arranged chronologically
Notes: Aside from the overall supervisory role of the Council, no direct evidence of laboratory governance has been located; series has been assigned to the records of the Commissary General’s department, the agency most frequently responsible for military procurement
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