but were meant to give such authority only in case of Governor Morgan's refusal to comply with the order. John Tucker is the only duly authorized transportation agent of this Department, and no obligations contracted for that purpose can be recognized or acknowledged if made by any one else.

SIMON CAMERON,

Secretary of War.

EXECUTIVE CHAMBER, Harrisburg, Pa., May 20, 1861.

Honorable SIMON CAMERON,

Secretary of War:

SIR: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your telegram of the 13th instant, and in reply desire to say that the regiments that have been mustered into the service of the State for three months are, so far as I am at present able to ascertain, willing to be mustered in for three years, and although some recruiting may be necessary at the end of the three months to fill the ranks of the regiments, it is known that this can be done with such ease and promptness that little if any delay will occur thereby. No regiments have as yet been mustered in for three years. Several of the regiments are already equipped and have gone forward.

I learn that General Patterson, under an order given him by me, claims that his entire division has been mustered into service. An order was issued by me on the 17th of April last, under what was then deemed the immediate danger to the capital of the country, directing Major-General Patterson to march his division at once. Under this order General Patterson now claims that the following regiments, viz, First Regiment Artillery, Colonel F. E. Patterson; Second Regiment Infantry, Colonel W. D. Lewis, jr.; Third Regiment Infantry, Colonel J. T. Owen; Fourth Regiment Infantry, Colonel T. G. Morehead; Fifth Regiment Infantry, Colonel Peter Lyle; Sixth Regiment Artillery, Colonel Charles P. Dare; Seventh Regiment Rifles, Colonel John F. Ballier, and a regiment of infantry, commanded by Colonel Gray, commonly called the 'Scott Legion," which regiments General Patterson contends were mustered because the first seven named had a legal existence in his division at the time of my order, and the eighth was at once taken to make up the division, I make this explanation in justice to Major-General Patterson, and desire also to express my obligations to him for valuable assistance and advice, but I respectfully submit that the order to advance his division on the 17th of April, the greater portion of which was not carried out until the 14th of May, as will be seen by the fact that Colonels Lyle's, Lewis', and Morehead's regiments only left Philadelphia on that day, while I was compelled, in my great anxiety to protect the General Government, to throw into Washington City regiments without uniforms, arms, or accouterments. Under such circumstances, would it not be manifestly unjust that the men who fell into line early and marched weeks ago in obedience to my orders should now be called s "excess regiments," while those who remained at their homes and (perhaps more wisely) secured full uniforms, arms, and accouterments are to be preferred? It cannot be denied that it would demoralize the whole force, and destroy the effect of our own united State feeling, were any of the regiments now organized, encamped, and almost ready to send forward to be disbanded, or, indeed, turned over to the State. They were regularly mustered in by the authorized officer of the U. S. Army selected by the War Department, and I respectfully submit that they