Henry Kuhl, Treasury Department clerk

This is a letter written to the Comptroller of the Currency Oliver Wolcott, Jr.. Wolcott had moved his office outside the city but clerks had to remain in the city to continue working. This is a letter from a clerk in New York City responding to Wolcott's request that he and his fellow clerks come to Philadelphia and help prepare reports for the upcoming session of Congress in Philadelphia.

In 1793, the federal government formed under the Constitution was only 4 years old. It had moved from New York City to Philadelphia in 1791. It lacked traditions on how to respond to an epidemic.