Fort Pickering 26 May 1796 Sir I have to acknowledge the Receipt of yours to me dated the 23^d Dec^r 1795 and the orders therein also the Clothing, arms assortment &c This was a seasonable Shipment the Clothing has certainly sav'd the lives of many Soldiers now on publick The Soldiers from Virginia a near [undecipherable: hundred] were crowded in One Schooner and almost suffocated in the hold of the Vessel when landed in the [undecipherable: Garrison] many of them without shirts to wear, or blankets to [undecipherable] of course got very bad colds and fell sick, but [undecipherable: Officers being] much better accommodated on Ship board had a very long Passage, and were landed sick - you may suppose I was alarmd on my arrival to find Seventy six in a very bad Hospital and not well furnished with Stores they most required, after all I have said of their Situation I can with great pleasure inform you we only lost eleven, and at this time have only Seventeen in the Hospital and none of ill, no such thing, as a fever at this place We have got well through our buildings, our men are comfortably Hutted and in high Spirits, want for nothing but provision to make us the happyest people in the United States [Docket notation: Cap^t [undecipherable] / from [undecipherable] May / [undecipherable] 1796 / Rec'd [undecipherable]]