for at least 200,000 dollars, as the remainder will undoubtedly be wanted before the end of the month. I have the honor to be, gentlemen, Honorable Board of Treasury. J. BURRALL, Asst. Pay. Gen. PHILADELPHIA, Jan. 4, 1780. SIR-Yours of the 14th of November to Colonel Palfrey came to my hands in his absence. I sent you, under the care of Mr. Coffing, 150,000 dollars. You will be pleased to send Colonel Palfrey a receipt, as usual. The many pressing demands on the treasury has prevented me from obtaining the money earlier. As there is but one man to carry the money, I cannot send the books you requested. I should think you would not need any, except one to enter the monthly returns in, as they are entered in this office. On the receipt of your returns, it is not expected, and indeed there can be no advantage in your keeping a waste-book and ledger. The Deputy Paymaster-general at camp does not keep any. I have not yet received any returns from you. I shall expect them on the return of the bearer of this. I am your obedient servant, J. BURRALL. JOHN BOREMAM, Esq., Dep. Pay. Gen. at Fort Pitt. PHILADELPHIA, Jan. 5, 1780. SIR-You will herewith receive one million of dollars, forwarded under the care of Messrs. White, Gray, and Hunt, escorts. The demands on the treasury have been so pressing, and so many warrants waiting, that I have not been able to procure the money sooner, although the warrant for it was granted the 12th December. I likewise send you my account of advances in December. The discharged privates were paid in certificates from the Regimental Paymasters, and it is probable they will not be included in the rolls. If so, it will save you the trouble of making the stoppage. I have not yet received your return for November, and have concluded it must have miscarried. The Board of Treasury have ordered Mr. Reed to repair to Peekskill or West Point. They tell me they shall send a copy of the order to his Excellency or to you by this opportunity, to be forwarded to him. I am, sir, your humble servant, JOHN PIERCE, Esq. J. BURRALL. PHILADELPHIA, Jan. 7, 1780. SIR-I forwarded you two millions on the 22d ult., under the care of an escort, by whom I also send the Journals of Congress from the 1st of January to the 26th August, 1779, which I believe contain all the alterations of pay which concern your department since the established pay of the army, per resolves of Congress of May 27, 1778. I have since received yours of the 27th of September and 10th of November to Colonel Palfrey, inclosing a receipt from Mr. Lucas. The money he has not delivered, and your returns. As you are considered Deputy Paymaster-general for the southern it makes no difference what State you are in, and there can be no necessity for your keeping separate accounts. army, No pay is yet fixed for any person in the Paymaster-general's department. We are assured it shall be honorable, and rely on the justice of Congress to make it so; and expect, whenever it is fixed, it will commence from May last. I now send you, per express, a draft on the Governor of South Carolina for two millions of dollars, which, together with the sum lately forwarded, I hope will be more than sufficient to pay all arrearages. You will please acknowledge the receipt of the draft by the return of the bearer. I likewise inclose you an account of money advanced to the troops who are ordered to your department, which you will be pleased to stop if they make their next settlement with you. When the General grants a warrant for a sum to be advanced for any special purpose, there can be no occasion for the Auditors to inspect it; but it should be entered in their books, as it is probable the person will account for the expenditure of it with them. The musters must always be delivered to you by the Regimental Paymasters with the pay-rolls, that you may compare them, and certify the sums due. They afterwards go to the Auditors to be examined; and are both left, and the warrant only (in which the purpose for which it is paid should be specified) left with you. This is the practice in the main army. By a resolve of Congress a certificate is necessary from the Deputy Paymaster-general where they received pay last, specifying the time to which the regiment has been paid; but it has sometimes been dispensed with. Indeed, there cannot be much danger of a whole regiment drawing pay for the same month twice, as we cannot suppose all the officers who sign the different rolls would concur in it. With single persons, or small detachments, it ought not to be dispensed with if it can be avoided. Since writing the above, Congress have drawn on the Commissioners of the Continental Loan Office in South Carolina for 200,000 dollars, to be transmitted to you, which draft I likewise inclose you. I am, sir, your most obedient servant, JOSEPH CLAY, Esq., J. BURRALL, Asst. Pay. Gen. MORRISTOWN, Jan. 8, 1780. SIR-It is now seven months since I have had the appointment as Deputy Paymaster-general to the main army, and during that time have not mentioned to the Congress that no allowance has been given me or my department. It is hard to sacrifice the best part of a person's life in a service where he is not certain what reward he shall receive, or that it will be equal to the sacrifices he makes, the attention he pays to the business, or its importance in the general scale. Besides, in the choice of assistants, gentlemen whose abilities and character will nswer the importance of the trust, will rarely venture to leave a certain income for one which is unknown; which, perhaps, may be less than what they would have reason to hope in any other station-for which reasons, I would wish that the pay of my de partment was stated, and that the advantages which shall accrue to us may be known, that I may be enabled to continue gentlemen already in the department, and engage others which shall be equal to the business. The variety which passes through my hands is too great for the few employed, and I wish to have sufficient assistance to transact every part of it with the greatest exactness. I have observed a resolve of Congress, of December the 28th, that all letters to officers of the line and general officers, which come by post, should be free. I would wish to know if the gentlemen who are in the staff of the army were designedly excluded. In the course of my business I am necessarily involved in considerable postage; but independent of that, as I partake in common with the other officers in the public service, a distinction held out between us implies a demerit somewhere, which I should be unwilling to own, and which I do not believe the honorable Congress ever intended. Having the most perfect reliance in the justice of the Congress, who, I do not doubt, will give every encouragement to the department which they merit, I would beg leave to subscribe myself, with the most perfect esteem and respect, Your Excellency's most humble servant, To the President of Congress. JOHN PIERCE. MORRISTOWN, Jan. 9, 1780. DEAR SIR:-You may see by the inclosed letters, that his Excellency has thought proper to have you pay the troops during this winter at West Point. It is supposed you have a sum of money on hand. I would be much obliged to know how much, as I am directed to furnish you with a small sum from my chest, to enable you to discharge the pay of the troops to the first of November. His Excellency particularly desires you to lose no time in coming to that post. The troops have suffered sufficiently, without the addition of want of money. I shall send you a number of warrants in favor of Paymasters in that department, as also an account of stoppages, as soon as I hear of your arrival. I have stopped the money you desired, which I shall transmit to you at West Point. Your obedient servant, JOHN PIERCE. THOMAS REED, Esq., Albany. MORRISTOWN, Jan. 12, 1780. DEAR SIR:-The money which I received the other day was not sufficient to pay the troops for a longer time than the first of October-which payment has already exhausted the chest. His Excellency directed me to reserve 300,000 dollars for Mr. Reed, which I shall send him in a few days. Had the other million arrived with the last, it would have made the troops contented for a considerable time; but now November and December must be paid together, and I am fearful that the contingencies of clothing, recruiting, &c., will make it necessary that a larger sum than has been requested should be sent. I wish, however, to have that forwarded as soon as possible, and to know when I may expect it, that the business may be regulated accordingly. I am, sir, your obedient servant, J. BURRALL, Asst. Pay. Gen. JOHN PIERCE. MORRISTOWN, Jan. 16, 1780. SIR-By his Excellency's direction, I have sent in the care of Lieutenant Sherman 250,000 dollars, for the use of the troops under your command, to be delivered to Thomas Reed, Esq., Deputy Paymaster-general, who, it is expected, by this time has arrived. from Albany. If he has not, I should take it as a particular favor if the money could be lodged in your care until his arrival. Our necessities are so great that a larger sum could not be sent from the department. It is hoped Mr. Reed has a sum on hand, which he will bring from Albany; and that both these will be suf ficient to discharge the arrears of the army to the 1st of November, the time to which the troops are paid in this department. I am, sir, your most obedient humble servant, Major-general HEATH. (By Lieut. Sherman.)Š JOHN PIERCE. |