[August 7^th 1797 / Nath: Brush Esq^r / a [undecipherable] / Recorded] [Vol. 32 No. 133] 133 PD. Aug^t 7^th 1797. Sir The Secretary at War has requested that an arrangement might be made for furnishing Supplies to a recruiting party intended to be stationed at Windsor in Vermont, under the command of Ensign Parmele — Convinced that under your care, the business would be ^well conducted, I have concluded to ask you to take the trouble of having it done. You will therefore be pleased to take measures by means of some person, in whom you can confide to obtain by contract, the provisions, Quarter Masters utensils and Medical Assistance, which may be required for the service in question. The course will be to contract for provisions at a given rate per ration and to allow the Contractor for all other supplies which he also engages to furnish, a commission of five per Cent upon his expenditures. The usual mode of inviting proposals for a contract has been by advertising — it will be adviseable therefore to give notice for two or three Weeks in the Bennington Gazette of your intention so to do — indeed it might not be improper to have a few advertisements printed at Bennington, and fixed up at the Taverns on the road to Windsor and at Windsor. But as supplies may be wanted before you can obtain a regular Contract. You must if called on by Ensign Parmele, make a temporary arrangement with some person to supply the Recruits in the mean time. The rations to be supplied are to con[undecipherable: probable reading consist] of the following Articles Viz: One pound of Bread or Flour One pound of Beef or ¾ of a pound of Pork Half a Jill of Rum, Brandy or Whiskey One Quart of Salt } Two Quarts of Vinegar } p Hundred Rations Two pounds of Soap } One pound of Candles The provisions must be furnished upon Returns of the Commanding Officer, specifying the number of Men for whom rations are required, and a receipt upon the return at each delivery for the number of rations delivered must be obtained from the same Officer. Similar receipts and Certificates must be obtained for all other issues, specifying particulars as accurately as the nature of the case will admit, and the accounts must be finally adjusted at the Treasury — Money may be advanced by you to the Contractor on account for which duplicate receipts must be taken agreeably to the subjoined form, one of which when Transmitted to the Treasury will procure you a credit for the sum advanced, and must be charged by you in your Weekly Returns as a remittance to the Treasury. I shall just add that for your information I have sent you herewith the form of a contract for the due performance of which a Bond in the common form with approved Security must be taken— I am &c for the [P. You must not forget to take Secy of the Treas measures before the expiration of the Signed W^m Steele present year — to obtain a new Comptroller contract for the ensuing year —] Nath. Brush Esq^r } Supervisor for the } District of Vermont } Form of Receipt Rec^d of Samuel Meredith Treasurer of the United States by the hands of Nath. Brush Supervisor for the District of Vermont, the sum of Dollars, on account of Supplies furnished and to be furnished to the recruits of the United States at Windsor in Vermont — for which I have signed Duplicate Receipts