Based on the three readable images (page 1 corrupted), here is the transcription: --- [Page 1 image unreadable — file corrupted] [Postal notation, left margin cut off: [undecipherable]ille, th. March 2. Three / Th. Months] James McHenry Secretary of War [at] Philadelphia [undecipherable] [Docket: 21 March 1797 / Herdman] [my dear Sir] Pittsfield March 21. 1797 4 I reach'd Home on the Tuesday after I left Philadelphia having had a very tempestuous and [undecipherable] cold Ride; — [on/in] my Return I have [received] Bache's two Letters, [one] M^r [undecipherable] to a M^r Pinckney, the last is most highly thought of by both Parties, & will have a most excellent Effect, as it must partly open the Eyes of the People towards the French, from what I can learn it has already made a great & good Impression; I find that Bache's Letters are not approved particularly by those who are tinged with Jacobinism. [for] it [calumnies] his Performance[,] very unworthy of the Author, it will not be prudent to distribute them here — do I [undecipherable], [undecipherable] will not be read, being too lengthy [&] of high & acknowledged Merit. — I have not yet seen M^r Pe[r]y, I mean to meet Him two or three Days, I will remind Him of the Propriety of getting [his] Money here, as soon as possible. — Ther[e has been] received here [undecipherable] that M^r Pinckney [was] [dismissed] and [returned] by the French Directory, & was --- Page 1 couldn't be read (the file has an unrecognized byte signature — likely a corrupted microfilm scan). The letter continues beyond the visible bottom of page 4. The docket "Herdman" on page 3 identifies the author as Herdman, writing from Pittsfield to Secretary of War James McHenry on March 21, 1797.