To George Washington from Major General Artemas Ward, 19 April 1776
From Major General Artemas Ward
Boston 19 April 1776
Sir
This day I received a letter from the Paymaster Genl informing me that he cannot without an immediate supply of money pay the drafts that must soon be made upon him.1 The Commissary & Quartermaster having drawn such large sums, with what has been drawn to pay the men on board the Continental Privateers, &c. that the Treasury is nearly exhausted: And unless there should be an immediate suply, we shall be reduced to great difficulties. I therefore hope your Excellency will be pleased to direct2 that the Paymaster Genl be supplied with a sufficient sum as soon as possible. I am Your Excellency’s Obedient Humble Servant
A[r]temas Ward
LB, MHi: Ward Papers. This document was dated originally “18 April” and then was changed in the same writing to read “19 April.”
1. James Warren wrote to Ward on 18 April: “As I presume you Conceive it Important that the pay of the Militia & of the Regiments for the Month of February should be Completed perhaps in preference to any others I think it my duty to Inform you that there is on hand very little if any more money than is sufficient for those purposes” (MHi: Ward Papers).
2. The copyist inadvertently wrote “directed.”