Ensign Hugh McBall Accountants Office Paymaster Fort Pickering Geo. November 2^d 1797 — Sir I have now to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 3 ulti, and shall proceed to answer in turn the different questions stated by you. The public horses which "Captain Webb says the Quarter Master General at [undecipherable], authorized him and d^r Slough to take out of the Troop for their own use, and that they might account to the United States for the original purchase at a future day" appears to me to be improper and this will more fully appear by perusing the 7^th article of the enclosed regulations for Dragoons by the President of the United States, I shall however forbear to decide on the subject as it more properly belongs to another department, in the mean time Webb had better represent the matter to the Sec. of War, and account for the horse as he will be expected, and in respect to d^r Slough you will retain in your hands all arrears of pay &c which may have been due him, untill the business is decided by the Secretary of War — It will be proper at all times where public property is in question for you to communicate with this department on the subject, whether it comes within your duty as paymaster, and I will at all times with pleasure furnish you with every necessary information.— Of the six months pay and subsistence due to deranged Officers you will refer to my letter to you of the 26 July last a copy of which is enclosed. The balance due to Captain Tinsley adjusting his account appears to be two hundred & fifteen dollars & for this sum you may pay him provided you have unappropriated monies in office, should this not be the case, application may be to M^r Habersham, in the event of paying him duplicate receipts are to be taken and one of transmitted to this Office, as a voucher for the ment.— The Hospital nurses & matron who receive the pay allowed by law provided their services are properly certified. Ensign Allison's claim for appo[intment] while on command had better be transmitted to this Office, where a decision will take place and he will be duly informed thereof.— There is no authority or appropriations for the pay of Capt Mobb after he became a deranged Officer.— the enclosed duplicate of my letter of 26 July will more fully inform you. The last act of Congress does not augment the pay of a Cornet it therefore remains at Twenty 22 per month and the forage of an Infantry Major remains as usual at Ten dollars per month.— Doctor William a M^cGrea had his account of pay and forage settled at this Office to the 1^st Novem. and subsistence to the 1^st December 1796, he also received two months pay in advance which completes his pay, to the end of the year, and leaves him entitled to forage for November & December & subsistence for December. Your account and vouchers transmitted by you in June last are under examination, and would before this have been complicated, had the unfortunate epidemick not made its appearance in the city, and obliged us all to fly, we are now returned, and the city is again restored to its usual health and business will continue to be pursued as usual — of the examination of your account you will be duly informed. I am very anxious to receive the estimates of the arrears of pay due to the Troops in Georgia to the end of the present year — and I beg you