A Guide to the Virginia Auditor of Public Accounts - Commissioner for Commonwealth to Settle Claims with the United States Records, 1777-1795
A Collection in
the Library of Virginia
Accession Number APA 200
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Library of Virginia
The Library of Virginia800 East Broad Street
Richmond, Virginia 23219-8000
USA
Email: archdesk@lva.virginia.gov(Archives)
URL: http://www.lva.virginia.gov/
© 2016 By The Library of Virginia. All Rights Reserved.
Processed by: Renee M. Savits
Administrative Information
Access Restrictions
There are no restrictions.
Use Restrictions
There are no restrictions.
Preferred Citation
Virginia. Auditor of Public Accounts (1776-1928). Commissioner for Commonwealth to Settle Claims with the United States Records, 1777-1795. Accession APA 200, State government records collection, The Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia.
Acquisition Information
Transferred from the Auditor of Public Accounts in 1913. Includes Accession 76 and Accession 13648 (March and October 1913).
Biographical Information
The Virginia Commission to Settle Accounts Between the State and the United States for Claims Arising from the Revolutionary War was established by the General Assembly during its session begun in May 1782. Colonel William Davies (1749-1805) was appointed commissioner for Virginia soon thereafter; he closed the Richmond office and moved to Philadelphia in 1789 and then to New York City. By 1794 the claims had been submitted to the United States for settlement. Under Davis' zealous guardianship, Virginia emerged with the largest credit of any state for wartime expenditures. In 1800 Davies was appointed collector of the customs for Norfolk and Portsmouth by President John Adams.
Scope and Content
Commissioner for Commonwealth to Settle Claims with the United States Records, 1777-1795, are housed in two boxes and arranged alphabetically into two series. Series have been designated for Series I: Commissioner Records and Series II: Ledgers, Lists of Supplies Issued. Included are accounts, correspondence, ledgers, and vouchers relating to the Virginia Commission to Settle Claims with the United States arising from the Revolutionary War.
Arrangement
This collection is arranged in the following series:
Series I: Commissioner Records, 1781-1795 (bulk 1788-1793) Series II: Ledgers, Lists of Supplies Issued, 1777-1791 (bulk 1777-1780)Contents List
The Commissioners Records, 1781-1795 (bulk 1788-1793), include accounts, correspondence, memorandum book, and vouchers relating to expenses occurred by Colonel William Davies as commissioner. Included are accounts and vouchers for his salary; purchases of office supplies such as postage, paper and quills; travel and moving expenses to New York and Pennsylvania; pay for office attendants; and rent, among other expenses. Some of the accounts are signed by Virginia Governor Beverley Randolph (1788-1791) and Henry Lee (1791-1794). The correspondence, 1784-1795, include orders from Governor Beverley Randolph and also relate to the payment of Davies' accounts. Also included is a letter, 21 June 1784, to Thomas Smith, instructing him to examine the accounts of expenditures from September 1775 to January 1781 with the Commissioner of Congress and to create a list of charges against the Continent. Possibly this has to do with Virginia's cession of the Northwest Territory or relate to the reimbursement due Virginia for expenses in providing defense of the frontier.
Of note is the Commissioner's Memorandum book, 1787 May, a partial journal of commissioners John Pierce, William Heth, and David Henley. Heth and Henley were appointed by the Virginia government to join John Pierce, the United States commissioner of army accounts, to determine the amount of reimbursement due Virginia for expenses in providing defense of the frontier from the British and Indians during the Revolutionary War. Included are the commissioners opinions on the subject in written statements and replies. Also of note is an undated list of queries and answers proposed by Lewis Pintard (1732-1818) of New Jersey and Daniel De Saussure of Maryland, Commissioners for liquidating the state accounts with the United States. Also included is a subsistence warrant, 8 May 1781, for monies due Captain William Scott, commander in the British 17th Regiment of Foot. This warrant was to reimburse him for monies he paid to British prisoners at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Arranged alphabetically by folder title.
- Box 1
Folder 1
Accounts and vouchers, 1788 .
- Box 1
Folder 2
Accounts and vouchers, 1789 .
- Box 1
Folder 3
Accounts and vouchers, 1790 .
- Box 1
Folder 4
Accounts and vouchers, 1791 .
- Box 1
Folder 5
Accounts and vouchers, 1792 .
- Box 1
Folder 6
Accounts and vouchers, 1793-1795 .
- Box 1
Folder 7
Accounts and vouchers, nd .
- Box 1
Folder 8
Account book, 1789 October-1793 July .
- Box 1
Folder 9
Commissioner's Memorandum book, 1787 May .
- Box 1
Folder 10
Correspondence, 1784-1795 .
- Box 1
Folder 11
Queries and answers regarding the settlement of debt, undated .
- Box 1
Folder 12
Subsistence claim of Captain William Scott, 1781 .
The Lists of Supplies Issued Ledgers, 1777-1791 (bulk, 1777-1780), consists of twelve volumes covering Bath Town, Chesterfield Court House, Fredericksburg, Hanover Town, Manchester (Richmond), Petersburg, Portsmouth, Winchester, and York, Virginia. The ledgers are titled, "The State of Virginia against the United States for disbursements and supplies to the Army during the late war." The ledgers list supplies such as candles, flour, bacon, mutton, vinegar, bread, soap, rum, and day rations provided various Virginia regiments (and some North Carolina regiments) from Virginia supply depots during the Revolutionary War. Listed is the amount of supplies, date, name of who ordered the supplies, and which company received the supplies. Assumably these ledgers were used to obtain reiumbursement from the United States government.
Arranged numerically by ledger number.
- Box 1
Folder 13
Ledger No. 1, List of supplies Issued York and Portsmouth (Va.), 1777-1778.
- Box 1
Folder 14
Ledger No. 2, List of supplies Issued York, Portsmouth, and Chesterfield Court House (Va.), 1777-1780 .
- Box 1
Folder 15
Ledger No. 7, List of supplies Issued Fredericksburg Station (Va.), 1779-1780 .
- Box 1
Volume
Ledger No. 9, List of supplies Issued Fredericksburg Station (Va.), 1780 .
- Box 1
Volume
Ledger No. 10, List of supplies Issued Fredericksburg Station (Va.), 1780 .
- Box 2
Volume
Ledger No. 11, List of supplies Issued Petersburg (Va.), 1779 .
- Box 2
Volume
Ledger No. 12, List of supplies Issued Petersburg, Bath Town, and Fredericksburg (Va.), 1778-1780, 1791 .
- Box 2
Folder 1
Ledger No. 13, List of supplies Issued Hanover Town (Va.), 1779-1780 .
- Box 2
Volume
Ledger No. 14, List of supplies Issued Winchester (Va.), 1780 .
- Box 2
Folder 2
Ledger No. 16(?), List of supplies Issued Winchester and Manchester (Va.), 1779 .
- Box 2
Folder 3
Ledger No. (no number), List of supplies Issued Winchester (Va.), 1777-1781 .
- Box 2
Volume
Ledger No. (no number), List of supplies Issued Winchester (Va.), 1777-1779 .