[Copy of a letter to the Secretary of War June 20^th 96] Sir Albany June 20^th 796 Sh I ave the Honor to acknowledge the Receipt your letter of 14^th Inst^t together with a Copy of the act relative to the military esta-blishment of the United States. I should wish to be considered as one of that establishment, altho' my health is much impaired occasioned by the wound I received on 20^th of August 796 yet I have a hopeful prospect that in a few [strikethrough: ths] ths I will be rendered capable of discharging that duty which I have been intrusted with, and which was my greatest pleasure. Having abandoned at an early part of my life every prospect held out by my friends here, I entered the army very young, with an unalterable determination to follow the profession of arms — and should it now be my lot to be obliged to retire in consequence of my wound, it would be a circumstance I should unwillingly subscribe to — as there is no active service I should hope for a [undecipherable] but whether I am entitled to