[1798 Apr 2] War Department 2 Apr[il] [1798] Dear Sir. Inclosed is the Official information of your appointment to the office of Captain of Infantry in one of the new Regiments directed to be raised by the act of July the 16^th 1798. You will wish perhaps, to know, whether your presence here may be dispensed with for a short time. Upon this point you are in a very good position to judge for yourself, and will no doubt determine when it will be indispensable from the indications of your neighbours the French to join your Regiment. If you do not come over immediately, and accept the appointment, it may be proper th[at] you [strikethrough: shd] signify, that until you [undecipherable], you do not expect your pay to commence. This letter will be presented to you by M^r Littleton Dennis Teackle of Virginia who has been recommended to me in such terms by men I have the [undecipherable] esteem for, as to make me desirous you should cultivate his acquaintance. I am D^r Sir your truly James McHenry [Address:] Barth.^o Dandridge. [Marginalia, right margin:] names — which. — viz. "[undecipherable] — [undecipherable] — [undecipherable] — you, a[nd] — and in — [re]sembl[e] — for the — in the — On bia[s] — [undecipherable]