HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF THE NORTHWEST,
Milwaukee, Wis., January 12, 1865.

Brigadier General A. SULLY,

Commanding, &c., Dubuque, Iowa:

GENERAL: your letter of the 10th instant, concerning apprehended difficulties about the draft in Iowa, and suggesting that certain companies of cavalry be brought down from Sioux City in that view, has been received. The whole arrangements concerning the draft are under the exclusive jurisdiction of the provost-marshal's department, the military only being auxiliary, and to be used when the necessity arises, on requisitions of the acting assistant provost-marshal-general or the governor of the State. No trouble has occurred in Iowa about drafts heretofore made, nor is there, in my opinion, any sufficient ground for apprehension now. However that may be, your proper course is to communicate with the acting assistant provost-marshal-general, Major Duncan, and the governor of the State, and, if reasonable grounds are found to exist for alarm, to ascertain from them precisely the means at their command to enforce the draft; and, if these means be not sufficient, to designate precisely the force needed and the point where it will be required. It will then be time enough to act, bearing in mind always that you are only furnishing military aid no requisition of proper officials, and by no means originating measures of security yourself for the protection of these officers in their duties. My belief is, from my own knowledge of the governor of Iowa, that you will find him prepared for any such emergency as you suggest, and that his militia is so well organized as to [be] efficient and sufficient. At all events, before moving in the matter, I desire written statements of the necessity for calling troops from the frontier at this time for such a purpose, and a requisition therefor from Major Duncan, acting assistant provost-marshal-general for Iowa.

I am, general, respectfully, your obedient servant,

JOHN POPE,

Major-General, Commanding.

HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF THE NORTHWEST,
Milwaukee, January 12, 1865.

Brigadier General A. SULLY,

Commanding, &c., Dubuque, Iowa:

GENERAL: Your dispatch and letter to Colonel F. Myers, chief quartermaster of this department, in relation to seizing trains of the Illinois Central Railroad, and asking that locomotives be seized on the roads in this State and sent down to be used on the Illinois Central road, have been laid before me. No railroads, even within the limits of your own command and for troops within your jurisdiction, should ever be seized except under the gravest necessity. Still less is it justifiable for you to seize cars and railroads lying within the limits of another department and for transporting forage for troops far removed from your jurisdiction. If the necessity really exists, proper representations to that effect should be made by the proper officer sending or ordering forward this forage to these headquarters for any railroad property lying within the department limits. Railroads in Illinois are neither within your jurisdiction nor mine, and I would never think of seizing them or any of their stock without orders from the War Department or some superior authority. I know nothing of the necessities of the