[undecipherable] [Docket: [undecipherable] G— / Oct 11. 179[?] / War department / James McHenry / $1 [undecipherable]] Major General Alexander Hamilton New York [p. 189] [undecipherable] War Department [undecipherable] 11^th [October] 179[8] [undecipherable] [undecipherable] Dear Sir, [undecipherable] may be attended with very great inconvenience to add any new buildings this season to the Barracks on Governors Island, to [undecipherable] the men on Bedloes, or Oyster Islands, to accommodate the men at present on one of these Islands, I [undecipherable: probable reading - submit it to] your decision, whether it would not be best, after retaining such a number of the troops as can be comfortably wintered at Governors Island, to remove the others to the Garrison at West Point where they can be accommodated, and may be in a situation to receive instructions and [undecipherable] whence they can be easily drawn at any time. [undecipherable] shall then have the whole of [undecipherable] year [undecipherable] as to ascertain respecting the necessary [undecipherable] for the Islands, and, consequently, the necessary barracks required to be erected I am Sir, your most Obed^t H^o Ser^t James McHenry [Maj. Gen^l A. Hamilton]