Halifax North Carolina Dec 3^d 99. [440] Sir Inclosed you will receive a recommendation for several company officers, taken from different parts of the State, agreeable to the principle of distribution recommended & in our letter on the [undecipherable] of October; this list is not complete, but as it was of importance that the recruiting [undecipherable] indispensably be going on during the Winter, or as early as possible, I thought it my duty to forward the names of those Gentlemen of whose character I was fully satisfied, and whose willing [undecipherable] [undecipherable] [undecipherable] [undecipherable]; the remainder, from the other Districts, shall be sent on as soon, as the necessary information can be procured, which will be in the course of a Post or two. With this you will also receive, the list of applicants [undecipherable] with your letter of the [undecipherable], [undecipherable] which the necessary [undecipherable] as to the field officers I have not yet procured satisfactory information, as to proper characters for the appointment [undecipherable] but would recommend [undecipherable: James] Read of Wilmington as a Lieut Col; he served through the Revolution War with considerable reputation and was an old Captain at the close of the War; he is the same Gentleman mentioned in the letters from the War office under the Number & I [undecipherable] to have the honor to be with great respect Your mo obt [undecipherable: signature] [Enclosd with the list of applicants from the War office] [Address:] George Washington Esquire / [undecipherable] General &c / Virginia [Postal notations:] [undecipherable] / Post Office / Alexandria A Copy of the List sent to the Secretary of Persons in North Carolina Applying for Commissions in the Army now to be raised — the Provisional Army [Table — columns: No. | Name | Residence | Rank | By whom recommended | On the list for the establishment] 1. | [undecipherable] Williams | [undecipherable] | [undecipherable] | [undecipherable] | [undecipherable] 2. | Benjamin Smith | [undecipherable] | [undecipherable] | [undecipherable] | [undecipherable] 3. | Francis [undecipherable] | [undecipherable] | Ensign | [undecipherable] | [undecipherable] 4. | John Williams | [undecipherable] | Captain | [undecipherable] | on the list for the Estab[lishment] 5. | [undecipherable] | [undecipherable] | [undecipherable] | [undecipherable] | [undecipherable] 6. | Hugh Waddell | [undecipherable] | Captain | [undecipherable] | [undecipherable] 7. | [undecipherable] | [undecipherable] | Lieutenant | [undecipherable] | [undecipherable] 8. | [undecipherable] | [undecipherable] | [undecipherable] | [undecipherable] | [undecipherable] 9. | [undecipherable] | [undecipherable] | Ensign | [undecipherable] | [undecipherable] 10. | [undecipherable] | [undecipherable] | [undecipherable] | [undecipherable] | [undecipherable] 11. | [undecipherable] | Salisbury | Ensign | [undecipherable] | [undecipherable] 12. | [undecipherable] Gregory | [undecipherable] | Captain | [undecipherable] | [undecipherable: informed his object is the Prov't [undecipherable]] 13. | [undecipherable] | [undecipherable] | [undecipherable] | [undecipherable] | [undecipherable: Handy, recommended to me by [undecipherable]] 14. | [undecipherable] | [undecipherable] | Captain | [undecipherable] | [undecipherable] 15. | [undecipherable] | [undecipherable] | [undecipherable] | [undecipherable] | No information 16. | Robert [undecipherable] | [undecipherable] | Captain | [undecipherable] | [undecipherable] 17. | [undecipherable] | [undecipherable] | [undecipherable] | [undecipherable] | [undecipherable] [Final note: for the records in a former letter [undecipherable] not a Citizen of N. Carolina]