From Alexander Hamilton to Caleb Swan, 5 December 1799
To Caleb Swan1
New York Decr. 5th. 1799
Sir:
I have received your letters of the fourth of October,2 and of the fourteenth and twenty sixth of November.3
Lt. Col. Burbeck commands the first regiment of Artillerists and Engineers. He is now at Michillimackinac, but will be stationed at the future Head Quarters of General Wilkinson upon the Ohio. Major Tousard commands the Field battallion to be stationed during the Winter at Harper’s ferry. His office however will be in Philadelphia on special service.
Major Rivardi commands at Niagara. Major Freeman is stationed in Georgia or South Carolina.
Major Brooks who is now absent on furlough will command [all the Garrisons in the States from N York to Maryland inclusively].4 He is expected to arrive every moment. Major Hoops commands the Field batallion [of the troops within my district]. The Major will however be in Philadelphia [this Winter] on special service.5 Major Jackson commands [all the Garrisons from Connecticut to Maine inclusively his station personally] at Fort Woolcot in Rhode Island.
No Quarter Masters have [that I know of] been appointed to these regiments. Of paymasters and their stations you are informed.
I have directed Major Craig6 to take charge as Paymaster of the Forts Fayette, Franklin, Le Beof, and Presqu’Isle or of such of them as may have garrisons.7
It will be proper to establish a regular connection between him and the deputy Pay Master General to the western army so as to preserve the unity of the system. [You will consider whether all Bill transactions by him ought not to be regulated in the plan suggested respecting the Posts on the lower part of the Mississippi]. Captain Williamson has arrived at this place and entered upon the duties of his office.8
Caleb Swan Esqr
Df, in the handwriting of Thomas Y. How and H, Hamilton Papers, Library of Congress.
1. For the earlier assignments of the individuals mentioned in this letter, except for Isaac Craig and Benjamin Williamson, see “General Orders,” May 16, 1799.
2. Swan wrote two letters to H dated October 4, 1799. Both these letters are listed in the appendix to Volume XXIII. One letter enclosed Charles Cotesworth Pinckney to Swan, September 26, 1799 (copy, Hamilton Papers, Library of Congress), in which Pinckney proposed the appointment of two deputy paymasters for the forces in the South. In the second letter dated October 4, 1799, Swan stated that he had never been informed where the officers “of the field or staff of either of the Regiments of Artillerists and Engineers … are stationed.”
3. In this letter, which is listed in the appendix to this volume, Swan asked H “to appoint Major Craig to act as paymaster” at “Forts Fayette, Franklin, Le Beof and Presq’isle.”
4. The material enclosed in brackets is in H’s handwriting.
6. Craig, a veteran of the American Revolution, had served as deputy quartermaster general of the United States Army during the Whiskey Insurrection.
7. H to Craig, December 4, 1799 (listed in the appendix to this volume).
8. See Swan to H, November 9, 1799.