Scope and Content: Richard Devens, a member of the Committee of Safety, was appointed commissary general by Nov. 1775 (Resolves 1775-76, c 343).  The commissary general was occupied in the delivery of arms and provisions needed by the state for the war effort. 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 office was moved to Boston and a store established there, following the British evacuation of that city.
Arrangement: Arranged chronologically
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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 by account, thereunder chronologically
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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 has cover title: Waste book and spine title: Journal
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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 by account, thereunder chronologically
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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 by commodity, thereunder chronologically
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Scope and Content: Richard Devens, a member of the Committee of Safety, was appointed commissary general by Nov. 1775 (Resolves 1775-76, c 343).  The commissary general was occupied in the delivery of arms and provisions needed by the state for the war effort. 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 office was moved to Boston and a store established there, following the British evacuation of that city.
Arrangement: Arranged chronologically
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Scope and Content: Fort Halifax was built in 1754 in present-day Winslow, Me., at the Kennebec and Sebasticook Rivers. Massachusetts Governor Shirley ordered its construction as a defense against threatened attacks by Indians allied with the Canadian French. Built under the direction of John Winslow, the fort was in use through 1766; William Lithgow replaced Winslow as fort commander shortly after the fort opened. A truckhouse for trade with the Indians was established at the fort per Resolves 1760-61, c 281 (Jan. 26, 1761), with John Preble and then (by 1764) William Lithgow serving as truckmaster. The truckhouse appears to have ceased operation around 1768. –During the Revolution, the Massachusetts Board of War was directed to reestablish the truckhouse at Fort Halifax per Resolves 1779-1780 c 331 (Sept. 27, 1779), with Josiah Brewer as truckmaster, presumably to support the colony’s war ally, the Penobscot Indians.  Massachusetts also supported Juniper Berthiaume, a lay Franciscan recommended by the French consul, who lived with and instructed the Penobscots in 1780-1781. Berthiaume petitioned the General Court per Resolves 1781, Jan 1782 Sess, c 569 (Mar. 8, 1782), accusing Brewer of misconduct as truckmaster and with supplying the enemy. Resolves 1782, Sept Sess, c 63 (Nov. 6, 1782) closed the truckhouse at Fort Halifax, dismissed Brewer and an interpreter, and reinstated Berthiaume as instructor at the request of the Indians.
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Scope and Content: Initial arrangements for provisioning Massachusetts troops during the American Revolution began with the appointment in Feb. 1775 of John Pigeon as commissary of stores (later commissary general) by the Committee of Safety at the request of the Second Provincial Congress.  This record of such provisioning was kept by Isaac Hall of Medford, who served as a deputy commissary under Pigeon, from Apr. 22 until Aug. 3, 1775, after which provisioning functions were taken over by the commissary of the Continental Army, Gen. Joseph Trumbull.
Arrangement: Arranged by regiment
Notes: Cover title: Provisions delivered various regiments
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Scope and Content: During the Revolutionary War, procurement and manufacture of gunpowder were crucial to supplying troops with adequate ammunition. One of the primary components of gunpowder, saltpeter, was in short supply when the war began, and special attention was paid to its manufacture and purchase by the government of Massachusetts. On the recommendation of the Continental Congress, the Massachusetts General Court authorized the creation of a committee on saltpeter (Resolves 1775-76, c 162, Aug. 24, 1775),  consisting of Dr. William Whiting, Deacon Samuel Baker, and Captain John Peck.  (Jedediah Phips was added per Resolves 1775-76, c 326, Nov. 2, 1775.)  They were instructed to identify and publicize methods of manufacture of saltpeter, to buy up all saltpeter available in the colony by Oct. 1776 at half a dollar a pound, and to deliver it to a Court-designated manufacturer.  Meantime the towns were to acquire and prepare raw materials for saltpeter manufacture as well. –Resolves 1775-76, c 319 (Nov. 1, 1775) authorized committee research on saltpeter manufacture in Connecticut, provided for the committee’s subsequent headquartering in Newburyport, and directed it to pay an additional bounty of four shillings a pound to saltpeter manufacturers of fifty pounds or more, vouched for by town selectmen, if delivered before June 1776.  Per Resolves 1775-76, c 470 (Dec. 28, 1775), all assembled saltpeter was to be delivered to Richard Devens, recently appointed commissary general.  Resolves 1775-76, c 625 (Feb. 9, 1776) appointed Dr. John Greenleaf to the committee and appropriated a sum to allow Phips to receive and purchase saltpeter at the Watertown state store twice monthly.  Devens was added to the committee per Resolves 1775-76, c 648 (Feb. 14, 1776); the next month Samuel Tufts replaced Greenleaf on the committee, to receive and purchase saltpeter at Newburyport at the rate of seven shillings a pound through May (Resolves 1775-76, c 737, Mar. 25, 1776), with Edmund Sawyer joining him there per Resolves 1775-76, c 838 (Apr. 16, 1776) –Resolves 1775-76, c 969 (May 3, 1776) set a new purchase rate of five shillings a pound to run from June until October, the original target date set the previous August.  Resolves 1776-77, c 15 (June 6, 1776) clarified procedures for qualifying for that rate, as well as for the four-shilling a pound bounty rate set in November. Resolves 1776-77, c 54 (June 15, 1776) effectively replaced the committee, empowering the commissary general, Zebediah Abbot (at Andover), and Thomas Crane (at Stoughton) to examine and purchase saltpeter.  Resolves 1776-77, c 74 (June 21, 1776) deputized Alexander Sheppard, Jr. to receive saltpeter at Watertown and Resolves 1776-77, c 336 (Sept. 17, 1776)  appointed Capt. James Sikes to do the same at Springfield, future site of the Continental Army’s laboratory ((M-Ar)2357X) –The price of saltpeter was lowered to four shillings a pound by Resolves 1776-77, c 529 (Nov. 16, 1776), and at some point after June 1, 1777, to three shillings.  That the drop in price was the result of a large inventory is suggested by Resolves 1777-78, c 176, 216 (July 5, Aug. 7, 1777), which provides for the delivery to a manufacturer of two tons of saltpeter.  The last references to saltpeter during the Revolution in Massachusetts are in Resolves 1778-79, c 99 (June 20, 1778), directing delivery by the Board of War of stores of saltpeter to Samuel Phillips of Andover, to be manufactured into gunpowder. –Additional references to appropriations by the General Court for purchase of saltpeter are found in Resolves 1775-76, c 1030, and Resolves 1776-77, c 14, 54, 371, 418, 432, 862, 1068.
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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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