the receipt of your letter to him on the subject of John Watts claim for the pay stoped from desertion - and gives you his opinion - he mentions generally the Resolves of Congress in [undecipherable] of the whole war and general orders for determining such pay, and thinks that the case of John Sullivan is in point - M^r Pierce wants Copies of Major [undecipherable: Gullsbon]'s Receipts for monies charged to him in the account sent on to M^r Hopkins in Virginia - which money [undecipherable: Celester] disputes the receipt of. shall I send them [undecipherable] you? or shall I enclose them from here and with myself? I shall naturally decline either untill I hear from you — I am Dear Sir — yours Sincerely C. Lewis Joseph Howell Esq— Richmond May 18^th 1787 Dear Sir Your letter of the 7^th Instant with its inclosures is arrived. I am so much engaged in the State business that I have not attended to Doctor Bond's claims sufficiently to form an opinion on it. I am doing some other business for him with the State and will [undecipherable] to him on both when I have accomplished this. I rather think that his pay, ought to be extended to January 1783 — I do not well recollect the person who had formed [undecipherable] General [undecipherable: Putnam]'s demands but tho I remember that it appeared to me that he must be charged with the 3000 Dollars he gave his note for to [undecipherable] Bellows or so much of it as is [undecipherable] for. [I] do not appear to me clearly that he was entitled to his rations because he did no actual duty; but his pay and Commutation appeared a sufficient compensation to him Pay. I considered as the equivalent to service & Rations to [undecipherable] in that [undecipherable]; it occurs me however, that the Idea strikes me that his confinement by [undecipherable] might made a difference, [undecipherable] I believe it did not in his case. You must take the opinion of the Treasury or Comptroller and do as you think [undecipherable: Proper]. [undecipherable] in case the allowance is made that there must be [undecipherable: Charging] that he drew no Rations during that time — I have received and already acknowledged your letter of the 19^th Ulto— I [undecipherable] that the duplicates to General Huntington Papers are as good as originals, his [undecipherable] I suppose in the [undecipherable] Monroe's — I wish you to lay the copy of M^r [undecipherable]'s letter before the Board of Treasury and request information from the Board of [undecipherable] of Alexander and where he is— in the mean time as I am now but a little more than an hundred miles from the place where [undecipherable] as Quarter Master, shall endeavour to find him out — I want from you copies of his receipt to the [undecipherable] and of M^r Clair at [undecipherable] Account present with him — you will find them in my letter to [undecipherable] to the Board of Treasury when I first informed them of this money — I am uncertain when my business here will be closed. My Compliments to M^r Howell — Since writing the above I [undecipherable] that I have got a clew to find out where the man is who has or has had the Public money in his hands which was lodged with M^r Alexander. I wish you therefore to advise with the Board and obtain such legal authority as will enable me to pursue Alexander in case [I] find it necessary. His Original receipt is in M^r [undecipherable: Nourse]'s Office among [undecipherable] [undecipherable] attested account present is among his Papers in [undecipherable] [undecipherable: Nourse] Office. Your immediate attention to this may be of importance — I am your friend & [undecipherable] Joseph Howell Esq—