[No 27.] To Gen^l Knox. Sep^t 4^th 1792. Pittsburgh November 2^nd 1792 Sir I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of yours of the 26th ultimo with the enclosures it was certainly time to order the recruits to this place from their respective rendezvous; as by the best information their numbers were rather diminishing than increasing; many of the officers spending their time rather idly, & perhaps as deficient in point of discipline as the recruits they have in charge As to the requisition of the Quarter Master General for fifty thousand dollars; I believe it to be proper; perhaps the complete number of five hundred pack horses may not be actually necessary immediately; but the winter will be the season for the deposits of grain — for by the best information the country between Forts Washington & Jefferson is for the greater part inundated late in the fall and early in the spring — therefore pack horses will be the most proper conveyance, unless we should be favored with a hard winter, when Sleds may be used to advantage, agreeably to Gen^l Wilkinson's of the 18th ultimo upon that subject; when the army moves on in force, oxen will most certainly be of the best utility; and a proper use will be made of them, provided they can be obtained. — a great number of pack horses will be indispensably necessary even with the aid of oxen — in fact we shall find difficulties enough in throwing the necessary supplies into the head of the line; we must surmount those difficulties the deposits must be made, but this business cannot