Robert Treat Paine Papers, Volume 3
Upon motion, Resolved, That a Committee of seven be appointed to devise ways and means to put the Militia of America in a proper state for the defence of America.1
The members chosen Mr. Paine, Mr. Harrison,2 Mr. Sherman,3 Mr. Hopkins,4 Mr. Floyd,5 Mr. Gadsden,6 and Mr. Dickinson.
Journals of the Continental Congress, 2:106.
Congress did not accept the final report of the committee with its recommendations until July 18. It recommended that “all abled bodied effective men, between sixteen and fifty years of age in each colony, immediately form themselves into regular companies of Militia.” The entire text, which 64includes provisions for supplying, arming, and deploying the militias, is printed in Journals of the Continental Congress, 2:187–190.
Benjamin Harrison (1726–1791), a long-time member of the Virginia House of Burgesses and a delegate from that state to the Continental Congress from 1774 to 1777. Following this service, he returned to Virginia where he served several terms as speaker of house of delegates and was governor from 1781 to 1784 (
DAB
).
Roger Sherman (1721–1793) was trained as a shoemaker but in 1754 was admitted to the bar in Connecticut. He served as a legislator, a justice of the peace, and a judge of the superior court. He was a member of the Continental Congress from 1774 to 1781 and again in 1784, and was the only man to sign the Declaration of Independence, the Articles of Confederation, and the federal Constitution. Sherman was elected to the First Congress (1789–1791) and then to the U.S. Senate, where he served from 1791 until his death (
DAB
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Stephen Hopkins (1707–1785) served as governor of Rhode Island for four terms between 1755 and 1768. At this time he was a member of his state’s delegation to the Continental Congress, and in 1776 he was one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. In September 1776 he resigned his seat because of ill health and returned home (
DAB
).
William Floyd (1734–1821) was a member of the Continental Congress from New York (1774–1777 and 1778–1783) and was a signer of the Declaration of Independence. Later he also served in the First Federal Congress (1789–1791) (
DAB
).
Christopher Gadsden (1724–1805), a South Carolina merchant, was a member of that state’s delegation to the Continental Congress (1774–1776). Throughout the rest of the Revolution he served as an officer in the Continental Army, rising to the rank of brigadier general and was simultaneously vice president of South Carolina (1778–1780) (
DAB
).
Mr. Stephen Collins the Bearer hereof a worthy Citizen here & a freind of mankind, being about to visit your Camp deserves some credentials of his great merit. His great kindness to our Country men & Zeal in the Common Cause recommends him to notice; Mr. John Kaighn reputable citizen here & promoter of military Skill among the Quakers travels with him.1
I hope your Welfare & Success & a full reward for your military Labors & am with great Regard & affection your freind & hble. Servt.
A similar note from RTP addressed to Gen. Artemas Ward, but misdated July 6, 1776, is at Houghton Library, Harvard College. On July 4, John Adams wrote his wife a more detailed letter of 65introduction for Collins and Kaighn (“they pronounce his Name Cain”). That letter and Abigail’s response of July 16 detailing the pair’s visit to Braintree are printed in
Adams Family Correspondence
, 1:238, 245–246.