[rec'd 1 [undecipherable] 1798] [undecipherable: probable reading Brugh?] 276 January 18^th 17[9]8 Tho' you have made or come some remarks on your Essay, [at] Rules & Regulations, for the government of the Troops of the United States, dignified with that attentive consideration, which the importance of the subject claims, & submitted with all due deference— On commencing this task, I find the objects much more extensive than I had conceived on a cursory reading of the Essay; I will however proceed in the examination & report, with all the assiduity my other engagements may Permit.— The Ohio is now free from [ice?], & the present [freshet?] must soon carry Capt. Pierce to the point of his destination. we have no mail from Cincinnati, I am inform'd, since the commencement of the [severity?] of [winter?], & to this cause I attribute the [silence?] below, as I have not received the [strip?] of a line from that quarter, since my arrival here, except an unimportant note from Capt. Harrison & a private letter from [undecipherable], by the Pay Master [undecipherable]— I have therefore nothing new to add, [and remain] with great respect. Your Obeds. Servant Jab: Wilkinson Honble Sec^t McHenry Sec. of War