[Nehemiah Freeman / Ansd 15 Reply / Ap^l 16. 96] William Simmons Esquire Accountant of the War Department Philadelphia West Point, April 18^th 1796 Sir, I have received your letter of the 6^th instant. Your presumption that I should be absent without transferring my business to another; and the dispatch with which you would transmit the money, now due, to West Point, I consider as particular indulgencies; and enumerate them with the other marks of attention and goodness shewn to me, acting in a subordinate station. But as diverting from your plan I am sorry to observe, that although a staff appointment is to me a convenience, yet I view a furlough of three months, as an object of greater importance. It is a term which my business in New England requires; and which the Commandant, considering that I have not been a moment from my duty since my appointment, nor once absent from West Point since I first joined the Corps, has promised to grant. By the direction of Colonel Rochefontaine I observe also, that the making of two payments within the [strikethrough: short period contemplated] would excite [undecipherable: a considerable] degree of intoxication, to which the men are addicted whenever they obtain money. Should I not decline my staff employment, I should myself wish that the payment for the months of March might not be made till after my departure from from corps here. Whoever you [undecipherable: chuse to send here] for the money will pass some time in the city before his return. Considering these circumstances, I would with deference mention to you my desire that Mr. William Williston might be permitted to act for me in my absence. He is a nephew to Captain Fleming, has been for a considerable time employed in his office and has acquired a habitual attention to business. He has every qualification that the nature of the employment demands. Should this plan be thought inadmissible, I wish the resigning of my paymaster-ship will not be deemed by you an unmeritorious relinquishment of that which I highly value, the mark of your approbation. I have received from Lieutenant William Wilson the amount for the months of January 1796 of the pay, forage, and subsistence, which you had transmitted to me through the hands of the Subinspector of New York. I enclosed to you an account current on the 18^th of February, and another on the 21^st of March; both accompanied by a number of vouchers of payment made at West Point. I have yet received no reply. I shall strive to hand you by the next post the muster and pay roll for the last month. with respect, I have the honour to be, Sir, Your very humble Servant, Nh. Freeman Lieut^t & Paymaster at West Point [William Simmons Esquire]