[undecipherable] [To Oliver Wolcott Jr. 10 May [undecipherable]] [Ent^d] Office of Accounts [undecipherable] 10 May 17[undecipherable]0 Sir I have considered the subject of your letter of the 6^th Inst. & am of opinion that Congress by their Act of the 1^st May [undecipherable: half pay of the Widows &] pay to any other class of Officers then those termed Military of which Regimental Surgeons composed a part and as the Medical Staff were not considered [as part] of the Line of the Army, I conceive they cannot [claim] any [privilege] from those Acts. But in [reference] to the Act of the 17 June [17—] only[,] [provides] for those who continued to the end of the War or were disbanded. I would not wish this opinion to be conclusive with you but beg to refer you to the Sec[retary] of War whose province it is to decide on Rank & whose knowledge of the Customs & Usages of Nations in these cases is far Superior to that of Sir Your Obed[ient] [undecipherable: J. Howell?] Oliver Wolcott Jr., Esq.