To James Madison from James Craik, 21 February 1787
From James Craik
Alexanda. February 21th 1787
Dr Sir
Presuming on my former acquaintance with you I take the liberty to trouble you on a subject now before Congress. I wrote Colo. Benjamin Walker some time last summer respecting the settlement of my Account with the Publick for my services during the late War he being appointed by Congress to adjust the Accounts of the Hospital Department.1 Some time in October I received a letter from the Colo. on the subject informing me that he could not settle my Account as I had stated it to him because I had charged four Dollars pr. day for my pay as Assistant Deputy Director from the sixth of February one thousand seven hundred & seventy Eight, whereas it was conceived that under the Resolve of Congress of the 16th. Of January 1782, which directs “that in the settlement of the Account of such officers of the Hospital Department as are intitled to Depreciation the establishment of Pay made on the 8th. of April 1777. be considered as specie”—I was not intitled to more then three dollars pr. Day as that was the establishment of the 8th. of April 1777.2 Doctor Ledgard & the heirs of Berrian who were simular circumstanced with myself were of opinion, that as Congress had granted us an additional Dollar pr. day in consequence of representation that our pay was too low, they never intended to deprive us of that additional allowance by the Resolve of the 16th. of January 1782; they therefore made an application to Congress some time ago on this subject which was not determined on when I last heard from New York.3 As I was not informed of the objection before Doctor Ledgard & the heirs of Berrian handed in their application I had not an opportunity of making myself a party to it tho’ the hardship of the dedu[c]tion from my pay struck me as forcibly as it could have done them. As my case will be involved in the determination of that of Doctors Ledgard & Berrian I have postponed the final settlement of my Account untill I know the result of their memorial. The great distance of my residence from New York makes me anxious to have a settlement as soon as possible. I have therefore taken the Liberty to request your notice in bringing the affair to a determination as soon as convenient to Congress, at the same time I must beg leave to trouble you to receive the Certificates for the Ballance due me as soon as my account shall be settled and if a safe opportunity should offer to Alexanda. to transmit them to me, which will infinitely oblige Your very humble servant.
Jas. Craik4
I have wrote to Colo. Walker to pay the Ballance into your hands as soon as the Account is settled.
RC (DLC). Docketed by JM.
1. Benjamin Walker (1753–1818), an officer in the Revolutionary army, became commissioner for settling the accounts of the hospital, marine, and clothiers departments in May 1786 (, XXX, 240, 288 n.; , pp. 564–65).
2. On 8 Apr. 1777 Congress determined the personnel and pay of its medical department, assistant deputy directors to receive three dollars and commissaries to receive two dollars per day. Owing to the depreciation of currency Congress had raised the salaries of assistant deputy directors and commissaries in the hospital department on 6 Feb. 1778 to four dollars per day. To settle accounts of its hospital and medical officers, Congress on 16 Jan. 1782 resolved that “the establishment of pay made upon the 8th day of April, 1777, be considered as specie” (, VII, 244–46; X, 131; XXII, 36). Walker, after considering the claims of John Berrien’s executors, reported on 15 Sept. 1786 that Congress, according to its resolution of 16 Jan. 1782, must have intended the increased pay granted in 1778 to be specie as well (, XXXI, 652 n., 664–65).
Walker’s report disturbed Congress, which appointed a committee to review it on 25 Sept. 1786. Their report on 9 Oct. considered that Congress had not intended the higher salary to be paid in specie, “nor is there any probability that some of the lowest Hospital Officers would be put upon a footing, with respect to pay, nearly equal to the Brigadiers and far superior to all the Field Officers of the Army.” The report recommended that Walker settle the pay in specie as established from 8 Apr. 1777 to 6 Feb. 1778 and on the scale of depreciation as fixed by Congress after that date (, XXXI, 690 n., 757–58).
3. Isaac Ledyard (d. 1803) served as a surgeon’s mate in the 1st New York Regiment from March to November 1776. On 7 Oct. 1780 Congress elected him assistant purveyor of the hospital department, a post he held until July 1782 (, p. 344; , XVIII, 909).
Ledyard’s account was settled by act of Congress on 2 Mar. 1833. Section 2 of the act stipulated that Ledyard’s account be paid at the rate of four dollars per day, according to the act of 6 Feb. 1778. The account was also to be figured in specie to accord with the report of Benjamin Walker to Congress in September 1786 (Resolutions, Laws, and Ordinances, Relating to the Pay … to the Officers and Soldiers of the Revolution, pp. 100–101).
John Berrien (d. ca. 1785) was a merchant in New York (Collections of the New-York Historical Society for the Year 1904, XXXVII [New York, 1905], 85–86).
4. Dr. James Craik (1730–1814), physician, friend, and neighbor to George Washington, was known to JM at least by name. In 1780–1781 JM had helped secure Craik a position in the reorganized medical department. In 1781 Congress appointed Craik chief surgeon and physician of the Continental Army, a post he held until 23 Dec. 1783 (, IV, 498–99; , II, 108 n. 7, 122, 140; Flexner, Washington and the New Nation, pp. 157, 212).