STATE OF RHODE ISLAND, EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT,

Providence, September 4, 1863.

Honorable E. M. STANTON,

Secretary of War:

SIR: I have the honor to inform you that I received this a. m. an extract from Special Orders, Numbers 209, Paragraph VIII, Headquarters Department of the Gulf, dated August 24, 1863.

By this order-

The enlisted men of the Second Rhode Island Cavalry are transferred to the First Louisiana Cavalry, and will be assigned to companies by the commanding officer of the latter regiment.

The officers of the Second Rhode Island Cavalry are hereby mustered out of the service.

This order cannot do otherwise than conflict with our ideas of right and justice.

These officers so summarily mustered out were commissioned by the Governor of Rhode Island, and, even should they be re-appointed, they would lose rank by date of commission, while the men who enlisted in a Rhode Island regiment lose all their identity with their native State, and are coolly thrust into a new organization, and "assigned to companies by its commanding officer."

I do, therefore, in justice of the Thode Island men enlisted in that regiment, and to the regiments now being raised here, most respectfully but urgently request that the order in question be revoked by your Department, and the Second Rhode Island Cavalry be allowed to maintain its name and organization.

I am, sir, your most obedient servant,

JAMES Y. SMITH,

Governor of Rhode Island.

WAR DEPARTMENT, ADJUTANT-GENERAL'S OFFICE,

Washington, September 6, 1863.

GOVERNOR OF RHODE ISLAND,

Providence, R. I.:

SIR: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 4th instant, in relation to the action of Major-General Banks, disbanding the Second Rhode Island Cavalry.

In reply, I am directed by the Secretary of War to inform you that the matter has already been brought to the notice of this Department, and to inclose you copy of letter to General Banks on the subject.

I am, sir, &c.,

THOMAS M. VINCENT,

Assistant Adjutant-General.

STATE OF RHODE ISLAND, EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT,

Providence, November 7, 1863.

Honorable E. M. STANTON,

Secretary of War, Washington, D. C.:

SIR: On the 4th of September last I wrote you, requesting the immediate disapproval by your Department of the order of Major-General Banks, by which our Second Cavalry was consolidated under the officers mustered out of service. Your reply was a copy of a letter requesting