[N^o 18 To Gen^l. Knox Sec^y of war.] Pittsburgh 13^th Sept^r. 1792 Sir, The general purport of this letter will be for a variety of articles & necessaries immediately wanted for the use of the Service & for which I pray you to give the necessary orders & directions for their being procured & forwarded to this place with all possible dispatch. — There have been tried, punished & pardoned Fifty Deserters at this place, brought forward by the different Detachments, for which clothing is wanted, — for there are scarce three instances where the uniforms have been preserved — the Deserters having either lost, sold, or defaced them & are actually naked, except a tattered Shirt & overalls & man, which will be generally the case with all that will be brought forward from the respective rendezvous & prisons, which with other [underline: casualties,] we may fairly calculate upon ten Suits to a Company or forty to a Battalion: when any Species of clothing are issued, the Soldier must be put under Stoppages of pay — in order to reimburse the U:S: for the surplus of clothing allowed by Law (I have already ordered Stoppages — for the apprehending of all the Deserters) — the condemned clothing will answer these contingencies — the price of each article ought to be fixed, in order to make the proper stoppages: that kind of clothing being already on hand may be immediately forwarded; say Five hundred & sixty suits, for the Four Sub Legions. which will serve the contractors, as well as the Publick by taking off their hands the condemned clothing at a reduced price. I mentioned in my letter of the 7. inst: that there was a difficulty in making out the Pay rolls of [underline: Ashetons] Detachment, for want of the inlistments or Muster rolls — which I find to be generally the case with all the Detachments that have joined since: I must therefore request that you will be good enough to order copies of the muster roles of the Several Detachments, to be made out & forwarded as soon as possible — for since there has an idea of payment been held out, the men are impatient to receive it. — — Apropos. I also suggested the idea of appointing Lieut. Daniel Britt, deputy Paymaster Gen^l. pro. tem. in order to Pay the troops at this post; as it would be impracticable for the Paymaster General to come forward in any reasonable time, even if an opportunity had offered to order him up the river, which still continues to fall so as to be nearly dry — & fordable every half mile Standards, Battalions & Camp Colours are much wanted for Parade & manoeuvring — Fusee's will also be wanted for the officers in action at present I have armed them with Espontoons. Remnants of cloth, thread & needles are wanting to repair the Soldiers uniforms — also the distinctive binding for their hats (or Caps) I have taken the liberty to make some addition to the distinctive marks of the four Sub Legions to those you directed — particularly that of Metamorphosing the heterogeneous of Hats (for they had got out of shape or form) into uniform Caps agreeably to the enclosed order. Powder Sieves a degree finer than common are immediately wanted to separate the Powder I wish for, from the coarser graind. — If any more Howitz's are contemplated on the light construction, — do, order the Calibers to be one inch more diameter, to give room for the hand to introduce the charge of powder into the chamber: it will not add more than twelve pounds to the weight of the piece & they will be much easier and quicker loaded — I am delighted with them and have an high opinion of their utility in action — do, send on a redundancy of Shells & Canister Shot — there are none in the magazine. — Baron Steubens [underline: blue book,] and the rules & articles of War, are much wanted, and that in proportion to the aggregate number of officers; for they are all new to manoeuver & discipline and some of the old officers are rather [underline: rusty,] though conceited & refractory — however they will be made sensible of their error, or shall quit the Service — they have either been too much indulged or forgot the Service of the late War — therefore complain of hard duty. — I have [underline: comforted] them by an assurance that it will not be lessened, but rather increased I have the honor to be Sir, your most obed^t hum^d Serv^t The Hon^ble Maj^r. Gen^l. Knox Sec^y. of war. Anty Wayne