sibly persuade, without the slightest regard to their capacity, either mental or physical, while others labor to labor as little as possible.

The great difficulty appears to me to be the lack of system and direct responsibility. Could some means be devised by which these officers could be properly instructed in their duties and a careful watch set upon their actions, that the inefficient might be weeded out from the worthy, the interests of the service would be greatly advanced. As it now is they seem to be responsible to no one in particular; public property is drawn and into accounted for; valuable time is consumed to no great purpose, and disorder reigns.

There are some points that demand special attention, and one is, virtual impressment and fraudulent enlistment. It has been reported that some officers, availing themselves of the limited knowledge of some of the North Carolinians, have so worked upon their fears by as to compel men to enlist who preferred not to. In other cases (and it is especially true in the enlistments for the colored calvary) mere boys, children, some of them weak, puny, scrofulous, have been enlisted, passed by the surgeon, and mustered in by the mustering officer. And again, old men, eaten by disease or utterly incapacitated by old age and general infirmity, have been enlisted, fed, and clothed until rejected by the surgeon or mustering officer or passed and accepted into the service as able-bodied soldiers.

Numerous instances have occurred of interference with the regularly employed "mechanics and skilled laborers" of the quartermaster's department, thereby causing serious inconvenience to that department. Officers, soldiers, and in one case a white these men, and by extravagant promises induced them to leave the sphere in which their services were so much needed to enlist in colored regiments.

Another inconvenience experienced is that of providing these recruits with clothing. The supply on hand in North Carolina is only provided for the regular force here, and this heavy draft upon it not only deranges the provisions made for proper supply of this army, but also throws personal responsibility upon the officers who order the issues. I am convinced that some of the clothing drawn is lost to the service, from the fact that the moment a recruiting officer finds a colored man wh will consent to enlist, he immediately puts upon him the uniform of the army before the man has been examined by the surgeon. If rejected, this man with his soiled clothing is permitted to depart, and the suit is lost, and, as previously stated, as many of these officers make no returns of the public property intrusted to them, the consequence is the responsibility reverts upon the officer who took the responsibility for the benefit of the service of placing this property in the recruiting officer's hands.

I inclose herewith reports* from the several sub-district commanders of North Carolina, showing the state of things more in detail.

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

JOHN J. PECK,

Major-General.

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*Not found.

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