The Connecticut Committee of the Pay Table, at War and Peace

Posted on March 29, 2026

The Connecticut Committee of the Pay Table, at War and Peace

On March 29, 1776—250 years ago today—the Connecticut Committee of the Pay Table was at work. The committee was responsible for Connecticut’s military finances, authorizing payments for war expenses and settling accounts for supplies purchased by the government. Three members—Thomas Seymour, Ezekiel Williams, and Oliver Ellsworth— signed this order, which directs that Yale Bishop be paid for feeding sick riflemen who had been left behind by their unit en route to New York. Each of these three men would serve America in this and other ways.  

Thomas Seymour used both the pen and the sword in defense of his country. A lawyer by training, Seymour was also lieutenant colonel of a troop of militia light horse. In the summer of 1776, he led a detachment to the defense of New York City, although Washington sent them home since the army lacked fodder for horses. He served on Connecticut’s Council of Safety and other wartime committees. After the war, he became Hartford’s first mayor and speaker of the state General Assembly.  

Ezekiel Williams was a captain in the Connecticut militia, but he devoted his wartime efforts to government work. Williams, who was also sheriff of Hartford County, served on a committee for the guard of prisoners in 1775, and from 1777-1783 he was the deputy commissary of prisoners for Connecticut. 

Oliver Ellsworth was a prominent official during the war but would rise to even greater heights in the new United States. After his Pay Table service, he was named to the Continental Congress, serving from 1777-1783. He was part of the Constitutional Convention in 1787 and helped to broker the Connecticut Compromise, which established the current bicameral legislature. From 1796-1800, he was Chief Justice of the US Supreme Court.  

These three talented men all chose to devote their energies to the Pay Table, ensuring that contributors to the war effort were paid. While their day-to-day work was not glamorous, their role in keeping the gears of the war machine turning was vital.  

Learn about this pay order (object ID MS.7658, property of Robert Nittolo) on the Ticonderoga Online Collections database: https://fortticonderoga.catalogaccess.com/archives/31560