[Cover: W^m Simmons Esq^r accountant to the department of war Philadelphia] [Marginal notations on cover, rotated: Cincin[nati] [undecipherable] / Caldton [undecipherable] / [undecipherable] A men[ds] / [undecipherable]] [free] [seal] N^o Cincinnati December 6. 1797. I have received your letters of the 29^th September, 3 November, and duplicate of the 3 November, and of the 10 November 1797. with the two Schedules which were enclosed with them. It is hard to be pressed to advance money [strikethrough: to the] necessities of an officer, where the appointment is so vaguely circumstanced that the law will not define his emoluments; I have been obliged, at the solicitation of the Inspector to advance him 300 dollars. And from the references to be made on the question of his allowance and the absence of the Inspector towards the Mississippi I know not when it will be settled. I am still Collecting the Officers accounts, three of Considerable weight will be forwarded by this post. The following is a Statement of the pay of the army in the North Western territory. — The troops at Michilimackinac are paid in full of all demands up to the ............31. of July 1797. at Detroit ........ d^o ........ 30^th Sept^r. 1797. at Miamis ........ d^o .......... d^o— " " Defiance ........ d^o .......... d^o. " " Fort Wayne .... d^o .......... d^o. " " St Marys ........ d^o .......... d^o. " " Loramies ........ d^o .......... d^o— " " Piqûe ........... d^o .......... d^o— " " Greensville .... d^o .......... d^o— " " Fort Washington d^o .......... d^o " " Fort Knox .... d^o ......... 31 Oct^r. 1797 " Fort Masac ... d^o — — — 31 Oct^r. 1797. The company of Artillery from Niagara destined for the Kaskaskies on the Wabash is paid to the 31 August 1797. — and the Commander in Chief has been paid by me at Loramies in full to the 31 of this month — these payments have been made by the sales of my Bills; and I have a pretty balance of Cash on hand to meet the deficits to the 30 September 1797. — I can offer no reason why the troops are not paid: excepting in the Cases where they are stationed altogether out of the reach of being paid more than once or twice a year, and of the case of the Company of Artillery, who marched from Detroit early in September last and I have not heard of them since. — Generally Speaking, the troops are paid, their pay [strikethrough: being] and subsistence, as you see by the [strikethrough: above] on the other side, up to the 30^th of September 1797, agreeably to the arrangement of the Secretary of War — and some of them farther. — And it is acknowledged that they have never been so punctually paid up before since I have been in the Country. My ideas on future payments are, that if I were to be Stationary at Fort Washington I could pay all the troops by the Sale of Bills which would always be in demand in Kentucky on the one hand and in D[e]troit on [strikethrough: th] [strikethrough: Letter] but as I am bound to Philadelphia I we can there say more about it. I am sorry to find that you think I have again commenced paying money out on estimates. — It was General Wayne who who commenced it 1^st Legion where in 1792 and it is General Wilkinson who has revived it at D'Etroit in 1797. — both Contrary to my wishes or intentions. — And they, and they only must be held solely responsible for the deviation from law, and prescribed forms. — I have acted in those Cases only as I was acted upon — And if it [strikethrough: officially] operates to obstruct the Course of my Credits for disbursements: in the books of the treasury, I shall finally be compelled to resort to those legal Channels for a remedy, which the Constitution and laws of the Country hold open to me. But which I would strenuously wish to avoid. I am with respect Sir Your Most Obedient Humble Servant [signature] [W^m Simmons Esq^r Acc^t W. Dep^t.]