[Copies of letters from the Secretary of War to M^r [undecipherable] &c.] [verso: undecipherable text, partially obscured by damage and staining] Copies of letters from the Secretary of War to John Wilkins Jun^r. Esq^r. 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 if 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 appoint- [strikethrough: ment] and 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