Mount Vernon 22 July 1798. Dear Sir, 4^s Your favour of the 18^th was brought by the Post of yesterday. — The nominations, according to your list, are as agreeable to me, although I retain the opinion [strikethrough: they had] it is better calculated for a commander the line, than for [a] a [undecipherable] General: — But as that has now done respecting the Quarter Master Generalship I hope, and trust, it is not extended to overlook the character recommended in pointed terms; nor whom, I can confidently add, one more adequate is not to be found in h[is] State, at the operations of the Army have [a] that quarter & Anti-Norso, &c, as they are the Fates South of Maryland, as he has been, and is known by, every one in those Regions, being the Deputy Quarter Master General under General Treety, in all his active movements, and deservedly esteem ed as he is extensively known. — In a word, if this appointment does not take place after my explanations, (which I was careful to have well understood, respecting this Officer) and after it was given specially in charge to you, to consult me thereon, it shall feel on my mind hurt on the general ground I took, and more so by [strikethrough: communications] confidently with sincerity that that Officer, for the reasons I assign, would be made agreeable to me. I wrote to Col^o Carrington & received the answer here with enclosed; which may here turned after the proper use is made of it. I desire it may be understood that my predilection for this Gentleman proceeds from no other cause than a full conviction of his fitness to fill the Office to which he was assigned, in my mind; for being separated from the main Army he is infinitely better known to me by character, than from personal acquaintance (which at best is slight) and from the steady & firm support he has given to the Government ever since. — Such a character with his Military knowledge, intelligence and experience in the duties of Quarter Master, would render him an acquisition and the only [undecipherable] I had was, that he would decline accepting it. — The present D^r Instr. Wilkins, I think his name, may be adequate to the Civil duties of that Office, & while the present Troops are doing garrison duty in the Western Country, little more is necessary; but bring him to an Assembled & moving Army in the field, where nearly all the Millinery & Military duties would be thrown upon him, and he would be found altogether incompetent, from an entire unacquaintedness with the scenes. By that circumstance dont did you come at Severie, in the Wilderness? — He may be an estimable character enough I know, but from the Impression I have of him, he is better qualified to cut off Indians, than to discipline an Army and lead a [undecipherable] to the mouths of Cannon. But as I may have mistaken his character, I shall halt here, in my strictures on it. Also enclosed, you will receive a letter from John Taylor Esq^r to me; who you must know by character, being the brother in law of M^r Lloyd & Tontslaw to M^r Ogle of this politic. — He is among the most wealthy & respectable men in this State, — active, zealous & attentive to whatever he undertakes. — By the Western expedition, against the Insurgents, he commanded a troop of horse, and I believe, but am not sure, [was] Aid to the Commander in Chief. — What he looks to now, beyond the experience of his letters, I know not, with respect to the more definite part of it; I have one answer, and that has, I will be given to every application (unless some very particular one should come forward,) — namely, that until I take the field, or am in a situation to require Aides, I shall hold myself perfectly disengaged, and free; as in the traces of my (established ones) there are many considerations, besides the there indulgence of my wishes; to contin — In addition to this, I have informed M^r Taylor that I would transmit his letter to you, to be laid before the President; doubting but that it would give him as it had done me, pleasure to find Gentlemen in his situation, and Independent fortunes stepping forward at such a Crisis with a tender of their services. — I presume he would prefer an appointment in the Cavalry — and I have no doubt that he could raise a very fine Troop — but whether he would be satisfied with that, or whether more would be offered with due attention to the old Cavalry Officers of known and acknowledged celebrity, I am not prepared to decide. — Possibly, such an appointment with the privilege of chusing his own Lieutenant & Cornet, might induce his acceptance. — And here, I will take the liberty of giving it as my opinion once for all, that when the President has fixed upon Officers of established character to Command Companies — Gentlemen who prize their own honour, and the reputation of their Company, that it would be good policy to let them chuse, or at least to recommend, their own Subalterns. — It would facilitate recruiting — contribute much to the harmony of the Company, — and if the Captain himself is properly chosen, it may be relied on that he will be cautious not to hazard his own, and the reputation of his Company with bad Officers if known or even suspected, to be unfit for his purpose. I do not recollect enough of the present Officers in the Cavalry, or of those who have been disbanded, to say with decision which of them is [underline: best entitled] to the Com^d of that Corps — but I have no hesitation in declaring it as my opinion, that Major Talmadge (formerly of Sheldon's here) would not disgrace it, & to be prepared to, his former Chapel In furnishing the list I gave you, when here, from whom Field Officers might be selected for the Corps to be raised, I omitted (not seeing his name enrolled) Major Ragsdale of the Artillery. — His character in that Corps, I am told, is [undecipherable] high. — How it has happened that he is yet in the background, whether from choice, or occasion, I am unable to say. He is of this State, as Talmadge is in New York. Andrew Handtcher (at present of the Troop of Horse, in Alexandria,) has been recommended to me as a man worthy, and deserving of an Appointment in the Army, about to be raised. — A Doc^t Payton, — son of a very worthy Man, and brother in law to two of the best Officers in Lee's Corps of Horse during the Revolution War, has also applied for a berth in the Medical line. — I have answered that appointments are not with me — that recommendations accompanying my letters, [undecipherable] way to the President directly, or through the Secretary of War. — Possibly you may seek here. — They must speak for themselves. — The [marginalia along left side: Colonel Humphreys, Mr. Lear, Colonel Trumbull, others? — Private] The first is well spoken of as an Officer and Gentleman. — He was in the line on the Western Expedition and by accident received a wound. — The other, (Doc^t Payton) is but lately returned from an absence of five years, in Europe, I believe in the Study of Physick. — I have also been told that the Cap^{t m} (Young) of the Alexandria Troop is desirous of employment, but as his application has not been direct, I but barely mention the fact. — Doc^t Craik did say something too, respecting his Son who was in my family — [undecipherable] the army, but as nothing definite passed I shall say nothing more on the Subject. — His Son in law West, [undecipherable] Major in one of the Uniform Corps, is desirous in case the Provisional Army is raised, of obtaining an unpaid Appointment therein. — And now, having laid before you every thing that occurred to me, I shall add no more, at present, than that I am your Obed^t & Affect^te Servant James McHenry Esq^r G. Washington Secretary of War