[Captt Gates Feb 13 . 1799 proposes the Discharge of Rand a [underline: Soldier]] Castle William Harbour of Boston Feb'y 13^th 1799 Sir Abraham Rand a soldier in the company under my command has by extreme intemperance, in my opinion, rendered himself unfit for the service of the United States. He is forty two years of age and has become very much debilitated, and as there is now a plenty of young hardy men comes forward to enlist I think it would be doing justice to the service to discharge him; if you should think proper I would be glad that it might be done as soon as convenient And Sir, I would inform you that I have now seventy four men, enlisted and have not received a sufficient supply of clothing and blankets, the want of the latter is felt very severely I am, Sir H'r (Signed) Lemuel Gates