The Sec^y of War Account^ants O[ffice] Sir February [7] I have just received your letter of this [date] wishing to know I should my presence be required at West Point, by the [Board] of enquiry to be held there, whether it can be given without material in[jury] to the business of my Office; In reply I have, to observe, that the [business] of this Office has lately very considerably increased, and is likely to [continue] so for a length of time, that notwithstanding I should my presence [not be] indispensable &c: any moderate p[r]ice, I shall make the necessary arr[angements] so that the business of my Office shall not suffer in my absence — I [must] however, to request should my presence be necessary, to receive early [notice] thereof that I may have time to make those arrangements — Sam^l R[e] W[ar] Lieu^t Horatio H. Dayton Accountants Office Elizabeth Town. New Jersey February 7 [179]9 Sir I received your letter of the 16^th [inst.] enclosing your account for Subsistence from 1^st September to 31^st Dec[ember] on reference at the Department of the Treasury, I find the Contract price for 1797 at New Brunswick was only Sixteen Cents, it is not likely it [would] be more at Elizabeth Town, I had a contract existed there for the same [price] I have accordingly had your account stated at that Price, which am[ounts] to forty Eight Dollars & ninety six cents, and which sum Together [with] that of your pay from 1^st August to 31^st December 1797, you will rec[eive of] Nicholas Fish Esq^r Supervisor at New York, on your giving him the [proper] receipts for the same, both amounting to one hundred sixty eight [Dollars] & ninety five cents — Sam^l R[e] W[Sim]o[n]