CHICAGO, July 28, 1863.

Honorable E. M. STANTON:

Much inquiry is made as to the raising of colored regiments in Illinois. Is Major George L. Stearns authorized or raise such regiments in this State? Please advise me what is the course to be pursued in this State on this subject.

RICHD. YATES,

Governor.

WAR DEPARTMENT,

Washington City, July 28, 1863.

Governor YATES,

Chicago:

Major Stearns is assigned to duty in this Department as general recruiting agent for recruiting colored troops in the Northern States, and as such his acts are recognized. The Department is anxious to raise colored troops wherever it can be done. If you can raise one or more regimens, authority will be given you to do so under the general regulations of the Bureau having charge of that branch of service.

EDWIN M. STANTON,

Secretary of War.

INDIANAPOLIS, IND., July 1863.

E. M. STANTON:

A company of one hundred, ready to be mustered in with their own horses, is colored for twelve-months" service on the Ohio River border for scouting, watching guerrillas, and guarding fords. I request you to accept them. Generals Burnside and Willcox urge formation of such companies. Officers await your decision, which I trust will [be] favorably to these views.

O. P. MORTON,

Governor.

WAR DEPT., PROVOST-MARSHAL-GENERAL'S OFFICE,

Washington, D. C., July 28, 1863.

His Excellency HORATIO SEYMOUR,

Governor of New York, Albany, N. Y.:

SIR: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt this day of your note by the hand of General Waterbury of your staff requesting that I will send by him a few statements in relation to the rules upon which the draft is made.*

I have given to General Waterbury as full barbel information as he desire on all points connected with the draft, and have furnished him with transcripts from such of the records in my office as he deemed of importance to you. I presume he will communicate fully with you in regard to the interview we have held, but there are one or two points which it may be best for me to mention in this letter.

The enrollment has, so far as I can judge, been made in accordance with the law, and is as nearly correct as it could, in the nature of things, have been made. In its main features in the city of New York it agrees very well with the enrollment made last year by General Anthony.

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*See [July 26], P. 575.

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