Sincerely obliged servant,

C. LEE.



After the battle of Monmouth, in June, 1778, Colonel Burr was
constantly employed. His health, from the fatigues of that and the
subsequent day, was greatly impaired. Early in October, he found
himself, in a measure, unfit for active service. He left West Point,
where his regiment was stationed, and repaired to Elizabethtown, in
the hope that a few weeks of repose might prove beneficial; but in
these hopes he was sorely disappointed. He then determined to ask a
furlough, and retire from the army for a few months, provided the
furlough was granted without his receiving pay. On this point he was
very fastidious. By these feelings he was uniformly governed through a
long life. He never sought nor accepted an office for the emolument it
afforded. He wrote the commander-in-chief on the subject, as
follows:--


TO GENERAL WASHINGTON.

Elizabethtown, 24th October, 1778.

Sir,

The excessive heat and occasional fatigues of the preceding campaign,
have so impaired my health and constitution as to render me incapable
of immediate service. I have, for three months past, taken every