[Capt. Fleming received [undecipherable] [undecipherable] [undecipherable]] West Point, Feby 18. 179[6] Sir, Your favors of the 15. 19. 27 & 30 ultimo I have received. I have sent to Col. Fish my duplicate receipts for the 267 dollars, being the pay of the ordnance detachment for Oct. Nov. & Dec^r 1795, and my duplicate receipts for the three thousand dollars for contingent expenses in the ordnance department at this post. I now enclose you the ordnance de- tachment's receipts for their Oct^r. Nov^r. & Dec^r. pay amount 265 dollars & 33 cents. I also enclose you a pay roll for last month's pay for said detachment. The having to pay [undecipherable] Bliss & Corp. Peter Davis on the expiration of their terms of service, the former on the 25 of December & the latter on the 10 of January, to prevent their being detained on expenses here, obliged me to let them sign written receipts. The printed receipt roll I received the 23 ultimo. For uniformity the receipt rolls I now send are all dated the 6^th instant. Sickness & death of my son, about 3 years old, prevented my answering your favors sooner, & has prevented my now having ready to send to you a packet of vouchers. There shall not be the least un- necessary delay in closing my accounts. I take the freedom of enclosing you for your perusal, a copy of a small correspondence between Col^o. Rochefontaine & myself relative to the money business. The source of which correspondence was my finding after he took the immediate com- mand of his regiment here, he had in view, (by his requisitions on me for materials &c) to prosecute the plan of building another house, & having other work done for the accommodation of himself & regiment, to the amount of, the head carpenter told me, of about 5 or 6000 dollars. As no estimates had been furnished by him for the money, I conceived it my duty to write to him a letter, of which N^o 1 is a copy — The enclosed, N^o 2 is copy of his answer, & N^o 3 is my reply to his answer. The original of the copy of the letter from the Secretary of War, I referred to in my letter N^o 1, was dated November the 21. 1795. I am, with great respect, Sir, Your most obedient Humble servant, G^o. Fleming. J^r. Will: Simmons Esquire. [Copy] West Point, January 29. 1796. Sir, The preceding is a copy of a letter from the hon. the Secretary of War, the 30^th [undecipherable] I have received. Immediately on receiving the original I shewed it to Col. Howard, who told me he would report the ob- jections [undecipherable] by his directions to the Secretary of War, and asked, he would in future make estimates for him, agreeably to his letter. I then reported to the Secretary of War the work done here for the ordnance department by my directions, in a letter from me, which Col. Rochefontaine acknowledged the receipt of in his letter of which the fore- going is a copy. The original I shewed you some days ago, & informed him that I had shewed it Col. Howard, and on my books, the amount of the money I had received from the War department, &c. his answer was that he told me 5000 dollars more would be sufficient to answer his pur- poses, in completing the accommodations of the Artiller- ists & Engineers. Since I received said 5000 dollars [I] have had to draw for 1000 dollars which you brought me in [the] 3000 dollars that I was informed in a letter I received this Post from the War department are in the hands of Col. Fish of New York, for me. The 1000 dollars & 3000 dollars I imagined would be about sufficient to half the debts contracted for the United States to about the 1^st instant. I now doubt whether these four thousand dollars will be suf- ficient. On estimates being sent to the Secretary of War, & the money deposited in my hands with instructions from him mentioning the use it is to be put to, I will be responsible for what the Accountant mentions in his letters to me accompanying public money — "the due application of it." I have been under the very disag- reeable necessity of borrowing, several times, considerably large sums of money, to prevent the repairing of the quarters of the artillerists & engineers from being stopped. Estimates regularly furnished, & the money deposited in my hands prior to my making purchases of the ma- terials & hiring of the workmen would have prevented my being in such embarrasments. As Col. Howard, at times seemed to contemplate the having your regiment quartered & the tavern handed by the man, to save them here; it may be he has not sent an estimate of what it would cost. I have the honor to be, with great respect & esteem, Sir your most obedient Humble Servant. G. Fleming Col. Rochefontaine, Com^r of the Artillery & Engineers — West Point. The following is a copy of a letter from Col. Rochefontaine to G^o. Fleming in answer to the above. West Point, January 30. 1796. Sir, I received your letter of yesterday with the copy of a letter of the Secretary of War of the 21^st November 1795, by which he desires you to send him the details of the work per- formed with the money expended, and to have in future estimates of the objects to which appropriations are re- quested. I had read this letter I had seen before, and at the time I did not contemplate it as having any other object but to throw some order in future expenditures, and to procure in the mean time some information to the Secretary of War upon the former proceedings — as to what has been done, I have nothing to do with it. Major Howard had his instructions from the Secretary to do it, & he will give it an account himself as to the estimate of what is to be done, I will do it as soon as I have some documents to regulate my calculations upon: a powder Magazine I conceive ne- cessary, and a sort of Military stores, either by repairing the old one, or by erecting a new one. The last estimate given are much better calculated than myself for the other, & I will [undecipherable] the price of Bricks by the thousand brought to Fort Clinton, the price of Lime, the price [undecipherable], Scantling by the thousand & by days Labourer — the general price of lumber will also be requisite, if you can give me what it will be obliged to you. I am with great Esteem, Sir your obedient. The following is a copy of a letter from G^o. Fleming to Col. Rochefontaine in answer to the above. West Point, Aug^t. 12. 1796. Sir, Your favors of the 30 ultimo received the 31. The primary motive of my addressing you by letter N^o [undecipherable] ultimo was to give you a full idea how matters stood here, in the money line, relative to the accommodations in your regiment, on the day you took the command, & bring Col. Howard's next to my claim to get the neces- sity of your money [undecipherable] estimates for the Secretary [undecipherable] there, a prelude to his letter, for money to be forwarded to me in time, for the purchase of materials & employment of persons employed by your directions after your having taken the immediate command of your regiment here. I paid last summer for good hard Bricks 50/ per delivered at the [undecipherable] landing, & they have since cost about 6/ [undecipherable] to cart them from said landing to Fort Clinton. Good slacked Lime I paid last summer 1/6 a bushel for, delivered at said landing — I imagine it would cost about 2/ a bushel to cart it to said fort. I paid Masons & Bricklayers 10/ a day — Carpenters 10/ a day, and for house frame timber about [undecipherable] hundred feet superficial measure. The estimates for the repairs of the ordnance and military stores were fur- nished the Secretary of War with the beginning of last April — he transmitted to me the money for the repairing of them, but the materials that had been purchased with said money, & the workmen I had engaged to repair said store house, Col. Howard [undecipherable] & applied to the use of the Art- illerists & Engineers quarters — informing me he was to make a finish of the repairing of said quarters in time, which enable me to repair the ordnance department store houses before it would be too late in the season. No estimate has been sent, however, relative to a powder magazine to be built. — The head carpenter handed me an estimate this morning of materials for said house. I asked him to make a calculation how much money it would amount to, & then deliver it to you, if his calculation meets with your concurrence, on your sending the estimate to me, I will forward it to the War Department, & request the money to be immedi- ately sent to me. I have the honor to be, with great respect. Sir Your most obedient Humble Servant. Col. Rochefontaine Com. of the Corps of Artillerists & Engineers, West Point.