John Pierce, Jr., to George Washington, 6 April 1781
From John Pierce, Jr.
Phila. Apl 6. 1781.
Sir
I have taken the Liberty agreeable to your Excellencys permission, to lay before Congress your Letter of the 24th Ulto & expect their determination on the subject to day or tomorrow.1
Warrants on the seven Northern States are Issued in my favor for 879.342 dols. new Emission and for about three Millions & an half in the old Money on the Eastern States, for the payment of the Army—a grant as generous as I wish provided it could be complyed with. the Warrants are forwarded except the one in old money on Massachusetts2—I have at Hartford near 120.000 dols. old Money which waits your Excellency’s directions to Mr Wetmore whether to be sent for or not.3
The business, & the perplexities we are involved in for want of money has hitherto prevented Congress from permitting my return, I hope however if any money can be obtained to be in Camp before its arrival. I have the Honor to be, with sentiments of the highest respect, your Excels. Most Obt Servt
Jno. Pierce: P.M.G.
ALS, DLC:GW.
1. Pierce had written Samuel Huntington, president of Congress, from Philadelphia on 3 April: “I do myself the Honor to inclose Congress a Letter of the 24th Ulto from his Excellency the General, on the propriety of charging the extra ration which has been drawn by the Officers of the Army since November last.
“I take the liberty also to suggest that the six or nine Months Men or new Levies of the last Campaign, being discharged, are now scattered in such manner through their different States that it may perhaps be almost impossible to have their pay transmitted them from Camp.
“I would therefore request that Congress would please to take these subjects into consideration and give such directions as shall be proper” (DNA:PCC, item 165; for the enclosure, see GW to Pierce, 24 March). Congress read Pierce’s letter on 4 April and referred it to the Board of War (see , 19:347). In a report dated 7 April, the board stated its agreement with GW “that the extra ration should be considered as a gratuity” and advised Congress to authorize Pierce “to settle with the Officers independent of the extra Ration.” Congress then ordered on 13 April that Pierce’s letter to Huntington “be referred to the Board of War to take order” (, 19:383–84). For the board’s action to consider the extra ration as a gratuity, see General Orders, 5 May, and n.1.
2. Congress had authorized the warrants on 28 Feb. and directed the application of these funds to pay soldiers in the Continental lines of New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania (see , 19:203–4). For the new emission, see Philip Schuyler to GW, 12 March 1780, and notes 3 and 4.
Between 3 and 12 May 1781, GW recorded payments to several regimental paymasters in his warrant book (see Revolutionary War Warrant Book 5, 1780–1783, DLC:GW, ser. 5).
3. No written directives from GW to Hezekiah Wetmore, Pierce’s deputy paymaster general, have been found.
Hezekiah Wetmore of Stratford, Conn., served as an adjutant in Ebenezer Stevens’s independent artillery regiment from September 1777 until September 1778, when he resigned. By March 1780, Wetmore had become assistant deputy paymaster general, and by March 1781 he was deputy paymaster general. He served in that office until 1783. After the war, Wetmore became involved in mercantile pursuits and resided in New Haven, Connecticut. Jeremiah Wadsworth wrote Alexander Hamilton from Hartford on 26 Aug. 1787 that “Wetmore has always associated with Men who wished well to America & a good Government.” Wadsworth described Wetmore as “sanguine” and “fickle” (, 4:237).