plies for the troops as may be needed, and be prepared to march with the Fifth Division whenever it may be ordered.

I am, general, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

E. B. BEAUMONT,

Major and Assistant Adjutant-General.

NASHVILLE, February 24, 1865.

Major S. B. MOE,

Assistant Adjutant-General:

You can order the Eighteenth U. S. Colored Infantry, at Bridgeport, to Chattanooga.

JAS. B. STEEDMAN,

Major-General.

HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF KENTUCKY, Louisville, February 24, 1865.

Honorable E. M. STANTON,

Secretary of War:

SIR: I arrived here on the 18th instant and then learned that, under orders from the War Department or the Headquarters of the Army, Major-General Stoneman was withdrawing from various points in the State where they had been stationed the Eleventh Michigan Cavalry, reported at 630 men; Twelfth Ohio Cavalry, reported at 683 men; Twelfth Kentucky Cavalry, reported at 430 men; First Kentucky Cavalry, reported at 123 men, which constitutes nearly all the mounted force in the State. As I was unable to obtain any information of the true condition of affairs in the State, I went at once to Frankfort to confer with the State authorities and to meet Major-General Burbridge. On arriving at Frankfort I met His Excellency Governor Bramlette, who I found disposed to co-operate with me in all the measures deemed necessary for the protection of the people of the State. After a general reference to the condition of affairs in Kentucky, we entered upon the discussion of the points of difference between the Governor and General Burbridge. These were mainly the supposed purpose of the Governor to raise what are commonly called State troops [and] arbitrary arrests. It was in the course of conversation easy to detect, on the part of the Governor, a preference or desire to raise that kind of force, but he did not urge it, nor will he, as i think, persist in it if disagreeable to the military authorities of the General Government. He is pressed by many men who desire to enter into such organizations, and he feels the importance of giving protection to the people. The Federal forces employed heretofore in the State have not been relied on for the latter object with absolute confidence, for they are frequently changed, the best regiments naturally going to the front and the least efficient remaining here, so far as I can judge, to grow worse. The withdrawal of the cavalry under the order referred to in t he beginning of this communication, leaving, as it does, many posts in the State without protection, gives force to the feelings of the Governor and the people in this direction. I informed the Governor that, in my judgment, State troops were unnecessary; that the Government would protect Kentucky, but to meet and quiet public apprehension and impatience advised him to apply for authority to raise five regiments to be received upon the quota of the State under the last call, and to serve in the State unless needed elsewhere, the application to include the completion of the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Kentucky