This convention also adopted a lengthy resolution which tended toward the regulation of the supply and consumption of foodstuffs, and the necessities of life, especially such as had been regulated by laws of England.
The crisis to which the convention looked forward when framing these resolutions had arrived. The battle of Lexington had been fought and submission to the arbitrary acts of Parliament was attempted to be enforced by the bayonet. Soon as the news of this battle spread multitudes of men, at the suggestion of the county committees of observation, entered into an association for defense.
The officers of these organizations were generally men of unusual military skill, men who were veterans of several campaigns and some of innumerable Indian incursions. This was not as generally true of the older portion of the Province. This had been peaceable, and remote from the frontiers, so the chief officers in these countries were frequently without military experience, who owed their preferment to political activity, or social prominence.
Dickinson accepted the colonelcy of the first battalion, while the others raised in the City of Philadelphia were commanded by Daniel Roderdeau, merchant and politician; John Cadwallader, a shopkeeper, son of one of the Governor’s Council; Thomas McKean, lawyer and lately Speaker of the Delaware Assembly, and Timothy Matlack, politician.
The colonels of the six battalions raised in Philadelphia County, which then included what is now Montgomery County were: William Hamilton, Robert Lewis, Thomas Potts, Samuel Miles, a veteran of French and Indian War, and Hill Tench Francis, brother of Colonel Turbutt Francis, also a hero of the French and Indian War, sons of the deceased Attorney General Tench Francis. The colonels from the other counties were:
Bucks County—Joseph Kirkbride, Joseph Hart, Andrew Kachlein and Arthur Erwin.
Chester County—James Moore, Thomas Hockley, Hugh Lloyd, William Montgomery and Richard Thomas.
Lancaster—George Ross, Matthias Slough, Curtis Grubb, Thomas Porter, John Ferree, James Burd, hero of the French and Indian War and of many other campaigns; Peter Grubb and Bartram Galbraith.
York County—Robert Callender, William Thompson, John Montgomery and James Wilson.
Berks County—Edward Biddle, Mark Bird, Daniel Brodhead, veteran of the French and Indian War; Balzer Geehr and Christian Louer.