[CHAP. XXVIII.

this place might assist him very much in maturing his plans of operation.

Board's cavalry is here. Their services are indispensable, and cannot be spared. It is also very desirable that the whole of the First Ohio Cavalry be sent here.

GEO. H. THOMAS,

Major-General, U. S. Volunteers.

HDQRS. FIRST DIVISION, ARMY OF THE OHIO,
McMinnville, August 29, 1862.

Colonel J. B. FRY, Chief of Staff, Decherd:

General Buell informs me that Davis' and Paine's divisions are across the Tennessee. Cannot one of them be sent to Pelham and my division sent to me? I fear it will be ruined unless I get it soon.

I have a boy here, picked up near Reynolds' Station, who says he belongs to the Forty-seventh [?] Pennsylvania Regiment; was discharged from the hospital in Nashville and told to hunt up his regiment, which was somewhere South. What shall I do with him? I don't think he is a deserter.

GEO. H. THOMAS,

Major-General, U. S. Volunteers.

WASHINGTON, D. C., August 29, 1862- 4 p.m.

Major-General WRIGHT:

Great evils attend the issue of ordnance upon requisitions of State authorities and it is sanctioned by no law or regulation. You must either take the responsibility of making specific requisitions yourself, for the propriety of which you will hold yourself responsible, or you should qualify your order to Lieutenant Edson to the effect that when he receives a requisition from State authority he shall first communicate it to the Department for approval before filling.

EDWIN M. STANTON,

Secretary of War.

CINCINNATI, OHIO, August 29, 1862.

Honorable E. M. STANTON:

I will countermand the other to Lieutenant Edson, which was in accordance with usage in many States and what I understood to be General Halleck's views. I say, however, that unless carried out we risk the loss of many recruits from Kentucky regiments. They are being formed in districts liable to raids, and they can't defend themselves without arms, even if fully organized. I am sensible of evils to which you refer, but in the condition in which the State of Kentucky now is I am sure they are the lesser. The rebels sent off bodies of recruits within 30 miles of Louisville while I was there.

H. G. WRIGHT,

Major-General, Commanding.