Scope and Content: Richard Devens, a member of the Massachusetts Committee of Safety, was appointed commissary general by Resolves 1775-76, c 343 (Nov. 4, 1775).  The commissary general initially was occupied in the delivery of arms and provisions needed by the colonial/state 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 (Mar. 22, 1786)) 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) –The commissary was instructed by the Provincial Congress on Oct. 29, 1776 to manage the provisions procured by the Board of War (Resolves 1776-77, c 455). After the Board of War was dismantled in 1781, following passage of Resolves 1780, Jan 1781 Sess, c 62 (Feb. 8, 1781), its affairs were settled by Caleb Davis, as state agent, who was in turn succeeded in that function as of Jan. 1783  (Resolves 1782, Sept Sess, c 34 (Oct. 21, 1782)), by the Commissary General.  The state commissary was involved in keeping accounts, weighing provisions, making small bill payments, and in the employment of laborers, coopers, cooks, magazine keepers, cattle drivers, butchers, salters, and packers.
Arrangement: Arranged chronologically
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