Commonwealth of Massachusetts. In the House of Representatives, March 3, 1781 : On the petition of Cols. Putnam, Jackson, and Brooks, a committee from the army ... Resolved, that if any officer or soldier of the Massachusetts line of the Continental Army ... shall purchase at public vendue any confiscated estates in this commonwealth, on his paying ... the debts due from said estate, he shall have liberty to pay the remainder in depreciation notes ...