[Copy] Copies of letters from the Secretary of War to John Wilkins Jun^r Esq. Quarter Master General. War Department June 4. 1796 Sir, I have the pleasure to inform you of your having been nominated by and with the consent of the Senate appointed Quarter Master General to the Legion of the United States, and to request in the event of your accepting the Office, that you will forthwith join the Army, and enter upon its functions.— Permit me to suggest that as the Service will require that you should reside with the Army, so your absence from it (unless in the discharge of some indispensable duty of which the Officer Commanding the Army is to judge) will necessarily call for a new appointment. I trust therefore, that you can consistently with your private affairs devote your whole time and talents to the Department. It may perhaps be proper to mention to you as you may not have seen the late law, making certain modifications in the Military Establishment, that after the first of next March, the Quarter Master General must be an Officer in the line of the Army. You will be pleased to favour me with an answer. Sir, July 8 – 1796 I have received your letter of the 10^th ultimo, signifying your acceptance of the Commission of Quarter Master General. It may be proper for the present, that you should appoint an Agent in this [undecipherable], to accept your Bills, and receive the money from the Treasury, which you may be authorized to draw for. I shall expect to be furnished with a quarterly Estimate of the sum of money, and the Items for which it may be wanted in your Department, that I may take measures with the Treasury to meet your demands. You will forward the Statement for the present Quarter, as soon as possible, it being proper that I should see, and decide upon Estimates previous to granting permission to draw. — In the mean while, should any pressing occasion arise, you may draw to a moderate amount on such person here as you may constitute your Agent, giving me due notice of the amount, and the purpose it is to answer. Sir, October 7. 1796 I have received your letters of the 7^th, 9^th and 10^th ultimo. The Bills which you have drawn on [strikethrough: me] shall be accepted, and paid when presented. Sir, October 28. – 1796. I have been favoured with your letter of the 16^th instant, by yesterday's Mail. As the Accounts of the Contractor must be settled in the Treasury Department, I shall submit that part of your letter relative to the aid afforded him in the transporting of Provisions to the Secretary of the Treasury, for his information, and such instructions as he may thinks